My own culture is vastly different to the culture of my first immigrant relatives 160 years ago – and their cultures changed dramatically after they arrived here. My culture is distinctly different to the culture of my parents and the culture of my childhood, and it’s change a lot since I was a young adult.
Some parts of Kiwi culture I’d rather see the end of – our culture of violence, our culture of getting too pissed, our culture of getting too fat, our culture of exaggerating differences, and more.
A Kiwi culture I’d like to see more of is being able to “do our own thing” alongside each other.
The ever excellent Bill Maher asks “are Americans closet socialists?”, challenges the myth that the wealthy “create jobs” and asks if things are better now than 30 years ago. His guests from the right seem to be lost for words for once.
His editorial this “overtime” section is responding to is not up yet unfortunately
Have you forgotten that unemployment steadily decreased under Labour until 2008 when the effects of the drought and the world financial crisis, matters beyond Labour’s control, caused the economy to worsen?
Right, party talking points. The decrease heading toward 2008 was the result of Labour’s prudent management but the last year of Labour govt when it all started to crash in horrible ways wasn’t their fault. What a loser – you buy that crap. Next you will be telling us NZ works best when we are heavily unionised. Wake up – your eye patch is starting to cover both eyes and now you only listen to your party talking points without even looking at the real world.
Hey burt time to send those Wairarapa kids off to National’s ever successful boot camps eh? Won’t do anything helpful but NATs core constituency can take pleasure out of young poor kids getting the boot in camp eh?
Frankly mate I don’t see any plans from National to deal with the issue of inter-generational welfare dependency.
Young NZers know pretty clearly that society doesn’t give a shit about them. The options we are giving them are unemployment, crappy jobs (that National want to cut their pay further on), the exciting combo of unemployment or crappy job WITH a massive sudent loan, leaving NZ for Australia, moving on to the benefit system, etc.
This combined with the consumer culture of wanting everything now without having to earn it.
New Zealand does work best when heavily unionised. Just compare the relative pay of workers over the years. Pay rates have dropped as the level of union membership has dropped.
As climate change and peak oil start to destroy our economy we are going to rediscover that its not the size of the economy that matters, its how well we share what we have.
The old right wing bullshit about growing the cake rather than distributing it is being well and truly exposed and the people who pushed are starting to look as silly as flat earthers.
Burt, first up remember i support no particular party and i am a member of none.
Let’s say it’s not National’s fault, OK. Got that. They are in Power though, people are losing work, left, right and center. Companies are relocating off shore, industries are being bought up by Foreign Corporations all over the place pushing wages down and work hours up.
SO what do you do? Is this really the environment that you shift a huge Tax burden onto the shoulders of those lest able to afford it in order to build a few roads no-one really needs at this time? Is this the best time to hike GST? Why, when retraining is the buzz word around the world do you remove Adult Education Classes, raise the costs of Early Childhood Education, and gut University and other Tertiary development.
With a growing number of people on diminishing incomes is it really the time to rip the heart out of a savings scheme that was producing regular income for the country. Is it really the time to hand out Industry contracts to every man and his dog except the families that live in your own backyard. Why in all that is sane and sensible would you take the Billions of cash reserves that were stable and producing income, then give it as tax cuts to a privilidged few who are generally only in that position because of an inter-generational advantadge that highlights the depths hidden by the canyons of opportunity most are stuck in the bottom of.
Oh, and it’s not my view – I didn’t write the article. It’s interesting though because the chickens of increasing welfare for the benefit of political popularity are coming home to roost.
Over the years a lot of different people from different stripes have debated the effects of multiple generations on benefits. This is a small window and it’s an ugly view.
In the 80’s there was some very good research done in the UK about what happened to young people when there were no jobs.
All young people need a transition to adulthood. In many respects that was why many cultures had some sort of rite of passage.
When you take the role of moving from training to employment away then you don’t leave a hell of a lot other than disaffection for the males and becoming parents for the females.
The curse of no jobs – which the free market cannot always provide – ultimately disadvantages women first and foremost because not only do they have the least work options but they also end up with the responsibility of raising the children.
The need to ensure young people have a meaningful role in communities and make that transition to adulthood has been known throughout many cultures for many many generations.
The policies of the past in this country to ensure young people had jobs, and often apprenticeships, through the public sector and who then often moved into the private sector when the job market improved held us in good stead in the past. It ensured they didn’t become disaffected.
Even if we disregard the fact that there are not enough jobs Burt tell me what should happen to those who can’t compete for work in the private sector – those with significant disabilities, or intellectual problems and psychiatric conditions, or facial disfigurements.
Where do you draw the line on who is deserving of help and who isn’t?
At want point are you making a moral judgement rather than for instance a medical one?
One of the things about our welfare system is that the people administering it don’t have to make moral judgements – and I’m not sure we as a society would want them to.
In the past all government departments had to take on some school leavers at the end of each year.
It’s called a commitment to youth employment.
They also employed people with disabilities – something else the private sector isn’t great at.
It’s never the whole solution – but it should be part of the solution.
Shit if the government can provide subsidies to multi-million dollar profit making companies like McDonalds surely it can commit to employing some young people as well.
If 100’s of thousands of dollars can be given to private providers to train people in crappy dive courses then surely a few million can be spent giving some on the job training in the public service – at least clerical skills are needed.
If 100′s of thousands of dollars can be given to private providers to train people in crappy dive courses then surely a few million can be spent giving some on the job training in the public service – at least clerical skills are needed.
Clerical job applicants already far exceed available positions.
The on the job training provided by the government in the past was often the opposite of what is required. My first career job after I left school was with the Post Office, and I found it stiflingly boring and uninspiring – it often involved trying to avoid doing jobs that didn’t need doing, and trying to avoid supervisors that hardly supervised anyway.
“Many either enjoyed the laziness or left for something challenging.”
What a load of crap.
I had family in both the public service and in private enterprise and there was and often is little difference between good and bad managers / jobs in both sectors.
Those who were in the public service worked for a fair days pay for a fair days work, often did shift work at unsociable hours and contributed much to their communities and work places over and above the hours they were paid for. All in all they also had a sense of commitment to their communities and to New Zealand.
After leaving school I worked in the freezing works, in the bush with a chainsaw and for several years in the banking industry.
If you want a boring job – banking was a pretty good bet. I’m sure waitressing, working in a car factory and working for a take away joint are pretty exciting jobs as well.
When you left school it wasn’t hard to get a job in the private sector yet somehow you ended up in the post office. How did that come about if you were so shit-hot and skilled?
In a modern context you would say that they were often overstaffed but remember there was a social commitment to employ young people and people with disabilities and intellectual and psychiatric problems – you know like the man who used to sweep the railway platform and keep it clean and tidy, or the alcoholic who used to go out and keep the blackberry from growing over the tracks along with others who had difficulty getting work.
$14,000 per year to do that or $12,000 a year on Invalids Benefit doing nothing – tell me which was better for him and the country. I know which I think was better.
I’ve always said a monkey could have made railways more efficient by simply laying all those people off – but efficiency was never the point nor the purpose. Government could have directly laid all those workers off without selling railways off. The point of the exercise was to asset strip.
Your denigration of public servants is unbecoming and without context.
What is evident however is that since the 90’s across both the public sector and the private there has been massive productivity gain but that workers in neither sector have particularly benefited from this.
Sure some areas of specialist skill have but the everyday, average workers has not.
Those who were in the public service worked for a fair days pay for a fair days work
Some did. Many didn’t. I “worked” as a technician trainee and there were far more of us than necessary. Much of the work we did (not a lot at times) was unnecessary and sometimes detrimental to performance of equipment.
Other parts of the public service were notoriously unproductive employment sops. The inspiration for Gliding On actually had some basis in real life.
Thanks for confirming you were an unproductive leach off the public tit. When can the Government expect a cheque refunding your wages Pete? Adjusted for inflation please.
When the new Railways Corporation was required to operate according to SOE rules in 1986, 17,800 employees fell to 5,000 before privatisation in July 1993. For the first time in its existence, governments had shrugged off the dead financial weight of Railways.
When recession struck more seriously after 1973 the Kirk-Rowling Labour Government acted like its predecessors. Ministers used government departments as employment agencies. Some parts of the public sector acted unilaterally.
Despite having been told by the Department of Health in August 1974 that no more staff could be employed, the Auckland Hospital Board blandly added 703 staff to its payroll in the months before 31 March 1975.
FFS lets keep celebrating putting people out of work shall we PG?
Few hundred defence staff here, few hundred DoC staff there, staffers from the Ministry of Research Science and Technology (no we didn’t need them for a high tech future, no sir-reee!)
And what shall we do with this loss ongoing of jobs and capabilities in NZ? Build brand new industries (i.e. McDonalds) that our future generations can work and train in?
Really, the biggest problem is that we still expect everyone to work 40 hour weeks when there just isn’t enough actual work available to support that.
You see, that bit’s been true since about the 1960s. Our productivity is so high that we produce* far more than we need and, due to the structure of capitalism, hand it over to the very rich for no benefit whatsoever.
* Take from the environment
PS, BTW, dropping from 17,800 employees to 5,000 doesn’t mean that it became more efficient. In fact, considering the state that rail was in when the government bought it back, it would seem that it became less efficient.
I left after a year because I preferred to actually work. I wasted a lot less time there than many.
I gave less than the required three months notice and that ruled out future public service employment. The Supervising Technician tried to talk me out of leaving and wanted me to talk to my parents about it (quaint) but I already had a far better job to go to.
I guess it’s an age thing – anyone that knows the era of the 60-80s knows how grossly over employed the public service was.
I’m surprised you either don’t know this history or are conveniently ignoring it.
This time Treasury sounded the warning. The incoming Muldoon Government was informed in March 1976 that while on average over the past decade more than 18% of New Zealand’s total workforce had been on the State’s payroll, the figure now topped 20%, and it was becoming unsustainable.
What can be described as a Public Serive culture ruled Wellington by this time. The journalist David McLoughlin captured some of the flavour:
“Anything approaching the definition of real work was regarded, particularly in government departments, as a form of perversion; turning up for an eight hour day… was all that was required; the Dominion crossword would see an army of grey-cardiganed clerks through nicely until morning tea…, and the first edition of the Evening Post, to help while away the afternoon, was on the streets at 1pm; the PSA ruled the city….”
You sort of miss the contextual point though although you also state it:
“Ministers used government departments as employment agencies.”
This was government policy to employ specifically young people and people with disabilities. That’s not being denied.
This involved a commitment to employing young people when the private sector couldn’t – not assigning them to the dole or the scrap heap.
That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a core of long term public servants who were committed and loyal.
The other context of course is that private enterprise was also grossly inefficient and had the same issues – hence the banking sector by way of comparison.
In general society saw employment and a decent wage as more important than return to shareholders and profit.
That is what has changed.
Sometime ago there was a graph published showing the change in GDP being paid out in wages vs profit.
Gone from 60:40 in favour of wages to the reverse. As a country we have not benefited from that change only those at the top have.
Even a return to 50:50 levels would be a vast improvement for the population as a whole.
Nice parting crack Pete at the mighty, fare, loyal, under payed, honest New Zealand public service and servants that kindly ran you out of the post office for us, at the first chance they got. now look at it Pete.
Actually it’s a good comparison because you are talking about two sets of organisations that had a large workforce, branches all over the country, mainly males in management positions, both a backroom and front of house service, had significant bureaucracy to deal with, etc.
Comparing the public sector to the local bookshop would be totally non-nonsensical.
If 100′s of thousands of dollars can be given to private providers to train people in crappy dive courses
Recent news about two people being killed on one of those dive courses, made me have an attack of deja vu…. Am I right, has the same thing happened before, people killed on one of these dive courses? If that’s so, how is it that they still continue – and also, what good are they? How much demand is there for trained divers, in job terms?
Government can generate 25,000 jobs in the next 6 months, easy. And 25,000 in the 6 months after that. We have a city to be rebuilt, land to be reclaimed, environmental areas to be upgraded. Schools and hospitals to be fixed up, emergency housing to be built. And that’s for a start.
Except we have a laissez faire hands off free market govt who are quite happy to concentrate wealth in the hands of a few and let everyone else struggle.
The money doesn’t just disappear into the ether. It gets recycled in exchange for goods, services and labour. Thats how the economy works. Whether the govt issues bonds, claims taxes or sells off assets, there still neds to be a basic level of structure for society to function (unless of course you want to live in Somalia).
That doesn’t mean it (or more importantly we) can afford it.
We can afford it. That’s not difficult. We do, after all, have all the resources necessary to ensure people have a good living standard.
Really, the biggest problem is that we still expect everyone to work 40 hour weeks when there just isn’t enough actual work available to support that.
How much more would you borrow ?
None. A government doesn’t need to borrow and should never do so because, as it’s the peoples administration, it can command the entire resources of the country.
Yes it is a tragedy. Perhaps you could ask Basher Bennett how her Green Paper which has been three years in the making will help. Then ask English how he feels about NZ having the third lowest per capita spending on early childhood education in th OECD.
If you want to be taken seriously you can’t just keep taking cheap shots based on past events.
Q+A dealt with the awful problems in New Zealand with children – and what is clear is that all our child abuse/poverty/welfare problems are far more important than being bogged down with political rhetoric.
Gluckman and the Green Paper and Annette King and many others keep saying this should be dealt with cross party. The best possible way this issue can be made clearly above politics is for pledges:
– National should pledge that if they win in November they will offer Annette King the Social Welfare Ministry
– Labour should pledge that if they win in November they will offer Paula Bennett the Social Welfare Ministry
Then we’d know they are serious about raising this to a whole of country problem that needs everyone’s support and efforts.
It’s pretty pointless to have a ministerial portfolio if you don’t have the budget that you require to run it. Since we know full well that National is hell bent on stripping funding from social welfare I don’t see how a Labour minister in a Nat govt could do anything except be the scapegoat – unless you are suggesting that ministers should be able to override the finance minister or the rest of the party when it comes to funding, which is clearly unworkable. As for Paula Bennett, I personally don’t think she should be allowed near a ministerial portfolio ever again.
‘Cross party’ is an inclusive sounding slogan but it overlooks the glaring fact that while different parties may agree on the existence of a particular problem, their solutions to the problem will undoubtably be different. This is especially true when the issue requires addressing poverty and inequality, as it does in this case.
‘Cross party’ is an inclusive sounding slogan but it overlooks the glaring fact that while different parties may agree on the existence of a particular problem, their solutions to the problem will undoubtably be different.
It seems glaringly obvious that there is little difference between the major parties on what the best approach to vulnerable children/parents should be, and there will be little difference on what sized budget is allocated.
The key thing is to use the available money as effectively as possible.
Just because a policy is deemed an efficient allocation, does not make it ‘effective’. You could argue that $2mill for a plastic waka is used efficiently but how effective is it likely to be?
It seems glaringly obvious that there is little difference between the major parties on what the best approach to vulnerable children/parents should be
You’ve picked out one very small initiative that seems to be of mixed value. I’m dubious about it. It’s possible it’s just an ineffective approach, but it can’t be easily determined in a short time frame.
Most things that will have long term benefits will take a long time to properly evaluate.
In the past National and Labour have continued similar policies with a few variations, I think it’s likely they would agree on most things once you strip away the political rhetoric.
Just trying to imagine the situation if Hana Harawira becomes leader of the Maori Womens Welfare League while Paula Bennett is Minister of DOSW Department of Social Woe.
Labour should pledge that if they win in November they will offer Paula Bennett the Social Welfare Ministry
Well apart from the fact she does not have a freakin idea about what is happening, that she is shallow and malicious, that her abilities are possibly up to her getting a job at McDonalds, that she has a track record of abusing beneficiaries for political gain and that she has been a total disaster in Government good idea Pete!
I note the Graphic of Parliament (polls) is still shown in the two party format, with a jumble of minor parties separating the major blocks.
Isn’t it about time that the colourings were arranged for the political spectrum, starting with the (depending which philosophy commands the treasury benches) most extreme parties being nearest the speaker and then spreading around to the opposition parties.
(The actual parliamentary seating does not appear to be arranged in order of list placing because the Prime Minister and Deputy appear to sit in front of the Speaker and not behind or beside that position.)
That way we could see the separation of the Greens and Act (seemingly at opposite ends of the political spectrum) into their rightful positions.
Mr I-will-go-with-whatever-party-Dunne could remain in his rightful position acting as the bridge (plank) for each to walk over.
In fact, is there any pre-ordained MMP parliamentiary seating arrangement?
Yep – The current parliament would have ACT occupying a few seats on the left hand side where Joyce usually sits. Then you would have the bulk of blue, then Dunne and the MP, then Labour and finally around by the speaker again, the Greens. But currently having the Greens next to ACT is laughable. As you say, having the likes of Douglas around by Lockwood would give a much stronger picture for JoBlo as to political leanings.
United Future and Peter Dunne-nothing do not belong in the centre – they belong in the past.
‘building a bridge’ using this outdated technology is doomed to fail.
vto made the following comment on The violent right thread
“Any similarities between the separatist politics of this madman Norwegian and the madman separatist politics of Hone Harawira you think?” and “The simiilarities are very real.”
This comment got some responses which were catagorised as
“all responses to the various points I have made here have been solely either attacks on me, or simple bare statements “you are wrong” in various forms. Not one person above has actually provided any facts or statements or evidence to refute. Not one.”
I dispute that because the thread has continued since then. Further, today on stuff they report
“Breivik also writes that white Europeans will flee to New Zealand in an apocalyptic war sparked by the “gradual Islamisation” of Europe.” and “He quotes German anti-Islamic columnist Henryk Broder urging young people get out and “move to Australia or New Zealand. That is the only option they have if they want to avoid the plagues that will turn the old continent uninhabitable”.
“Breivik says that after the civil war in Europe is won, and Islam expelled, a new “European Federation” would be created, which would include New Zealand.”
My question vto is how does this fit into your ‘similarity theory’. The evidence you presented was your list which included “heavy discourse” and “showing some hatred” – it was subjective and reflected your own bias – I’d like to see actual evidence for your slur – just like I’m giving you here. The statements made by the murderer are fact and if others of his ilk come here what do you think they will think of the Mana Party, or māori like you? As i have said before I don’t have a problem if you hate Mana and Hone and everything they stand for – good for you. But you disrespect many by trying to connect the murderer and māori – you disrespect yourself.
Mr Mars, I did actually provide some evidence, copied below. But a couple of points first;
Why would you think I hate Mana and Hone? I don’t and that was your assumption. I applaud them and their politics, except the separatism component. You see Marty, assumptions such as that were repeated thru that thread by all and sundry. With zero basis.
What do I think any such immigrants would think of Mana and Hone? I suspect they would get on very well when it comes to dealing with new immigrants. Why wouldn’t they? They both suffer under a wave of colonisation for one thing. That is why I suggested that the indigenous people of Norway consider entering into a treaty similar to ours to cater for their own immigration wave. People struggling with immigration and colonisation is nothing new and most every people on the planet have at some time suffered such.
Anyways to the point… Lets check for similarities between the two scenarios (copied);
“to repeat … lets check for characteristics of terrorism with regard to Hone and his politics and similar followers within NZ;
1. Politics at the extreme end of the spectrum. (it is accepted that Mana’s sovereignty and other politics are right at one end of the spectrum. No?)
2. Politics advocating a form of separatism. (this is what Mana want, a form of separatism. This was one of the characteristic of the Norway terror. No?)
3. A discourse that is heavy. (read what the Norwegian murderer wrote and it is heavy. Similarly, two examples, so is ‘white mofos’ from an elected representative. And you may recall the call to maori convicts some years ago to ‘kill a whitey’. Heavy. No?)
4. A past that involves use or threatened use of weapons. (Hone some years ago referred to them in the north having guns and being prepared to use them. Similarly, recall Tame Iti shooting up a NZ flag recently? And we still have the Urewera ‘terrorists’. Weapons. No?)
”
(And where do the threats ladelled out to Maori Party members at the hui with the Mana Party up at Taipa (?) a while ago sit? What does Sue Bradford think of that given her anti-smacking law?)
I was asking the question and looking forward to seeing some answers. I then pushed it a little to stir (as is an unfortunate trait at times) by suggesting that the similarities were obvious. But if you follow the earlier thread you will see that there was no answer to the question, only put-downs. Please show where a proper answer was put.
What other traits are signatures for terrorism threat? Perhaps lonerism (are there any loners out there listening to Hone?). Others certainly.
What it led me to was that the separatism aspect of Mana, having looked at some facts, is hardcore right wing politics, jammed right hard up against left wing policies. And the headline of the post “The Violent Right” all fell into place.
I say Go Hone (except for the separatism and the intimidation and aggression).
edit: you are highly selective in what you quote from my posts which of course removes the context.
I think you have an extreme view of this so called ‘separatism’. Do you really think that our society can be separated? Do you think Mana or Hone think this? Self determination is actually about inclusivness and equality not the fear mongering of ‘separatism’.
I apologise for making assumptions about your view.
Ahaa I see your reply now (Tho it was only left late last night).
I would have thought we have some form of duty to see where the terrorism risks lie in our land. It clearly lies in certain quarters but questioning all risk quarters should be attended to. Asking such questions of Maori separatist politics has gone down like a cup of cold sick. I guess there are certain things that are not allowed to be questioned…
As for “do I think Mana think this (separatism)?” that is not the issue. Just looking for the trigger / risk points and their self-determination / separatism is one of them. And is self-determination not a form of separatism?
Clearly those trigger /risk points are a matter of degree but remember that it is not the people in public or party positions who are the risk it is the loner listening in the backblocks.
edit: one final: it was not ‘a theory of mine’ it was a question which has led to an answer which may well lead to a full blown theory at some later point. Or not.
What do you mean by separatism vto? I’ve not been aware of Mana or Harawira talking about separatism in the way that you seem to mean. It would be good if you could clarify and maybe link to something Harawira has said as we can understand your points.
I think you are conflating a whole bunch of things to support your argument. AFAIK Hone Harawira didn’t tell Maori to kill a whitey. No terrorism charges have been brought against anyone arrested in the Tuhoe raids.
Been reading the sewers thread regarding the ‘pre-teens who want benefits’ and I’d like to know. who the fuck is Alison Sutherland . She says she works in Wairarapa schools with children who have behavioural problems but does’t tell us who she works for. Surely she would be receiving government funding and be subject to confidentiality clauses in her contract which would prevent her from disclosing anything about her clients.
Is Alison Sutherland a wannna be Linsay Mitchel?. Too posh to work with all the time in the world to gloat about the failings of others.
Forget about the top 10% (this is about the top 1%)
I’ve had this nagging doubt for a while as to why we’ve been focusing on the wealth, income and political views of the “top 10%”. I for one know a lot of people who are in this group, (earn >$75K pa, own their own house, maybe a rental or two) and in the main they are good smart people, better informed than most, with high levels of concern for their community, families and the direction of the country. (There are always unpleasant exceptions of course, and there is no denying that the top 10% is far better off than the bottom 50% in society).
So in my comments I started focusing on the top 5% of income earners. To enter this bracket you have to be on incomes of between $90K pa and $100K pa. And yet, once you remove roughly $24K in income tax, the remaining sum (although very generous relative to most NZers) gives a lifestyle while comfortable and free of daily money worries is by no means luxurious. If you are raising children and paying off a sizeable AKL mortgage in 20 years, each months income is basically gone by the end of the month.
The following article, although US in origin, explains a different world quite well: the world of the top half of the top 1%. Although we do not yet have the massive income/wealth inequity of the States, we still have to put a laserlight focus on the top 1% here in NZ (earning well over $150K pa and above) because it is they who truly influence opinion, media, the formation of laws and regulations. They have privileged access to decision makers, politicians and regulators. They have the most generous funds to contribute to political movements and lobbying.
Most of those in the bottom half of the top 1% lack power and global flexibility and are essentially well-compensated workhorses for the top 0.5%, just like the bottom 99%. In my view, the American dream of striking it rich is merely a well-marketed fantasy that keeps the bottom 99.5% hoping for better and prevents social and political instability. The odds of getting into that top 0.5% are very slim and the door is kept firmly shut by those within it.
To enter this bracket you have to be on incomes of between $90K pa and $100K pa. And yet, once you remove roughly $24K in income tax, the remaining sum (although very generous relative to most NZers) gives a lifestyle while comfortable and free of daily money worries is by no means luxurious. If you are raising children and paying off a sizeable AKL mortgage in 20 years, each months income is basically gone by the end of the month.
As my son would say “Lolwut?” $90 000 minus $24,000 = $66,000. I raised one and a half kids on circa $18,000 so you’ll pardon me if my heart is stony when it comes to people doing the same on nearly 4 times as much.
Just checking Colmar Brunton polls to see if they are indeed an australian owned company.
They are owned by Millward Brown who are a subsidary of Kantar. Kantar looks like a multnational research company or GROUP. I’m trying to load their website at Kantar.com which is taking forever. Not happening really. If someone with a better connection wants to give it a try please do.
So thats one of the polling companies looking a bit creepy to me at least. Time to check the rest I think.
Fast Facts
Founded 1973
77 offices in 51 countries
Millward Brown is part of Kantar, the information and consultancy division of WPP
Millward Brown Specialist Practices:
BPRI Group
Dynamic Logic
MaPS
Millward Brown Optimor
Firefly Millward Brown
1,800 Dynamic Tracking studies currently running
65,000 Link™ copytests conducted
More than 5,300 BrandDynamics™ projects covering over 45,000 brands
Over 1,000 brand sales modeled
Over 4,400 separate BrandZ™ studies completed
BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Brands ranking released annually in April
11 years of Digital experience
6,000 campaigns measured across 27 digital platforms
300 CrossMedia Research studies completed
400 online creative pretests conducted using LinkSelect for Digital
100 mobile research studies conducted
115 filters in MarketNorms, the world’s largest online normative attitudinal database
Specialist practices for mobile, gaming and social media
The board of KPP are a really well connected lot i.e.with connections to the US govt.
So Colmar Brunton a supposed Australian company is really a part of pretty multinational. Why does this surprise me.
Philip Lader
Non-Executive chairman | Letter of appointment – Philip Lader
Philip Lader was appointed chairman in 2001. The US Ambassador to the Court of St James’s from 1997 to 2001, he previously served in several senior executive roles in the US Government, including as a Member of the President’s Cabinet and as White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Before entering government service, he was executive vice president of the company managing the late Sir James Goldsmith’s US holdings and president of both a prominent American real estate company and universities in the US and Australia. A lawyer, he is also a Senior Advisor to Morgan Stanley, a director of Marathon Oil, AES and Rusal Corporations, a trustee of the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Atlantic Council and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Skills that are relevant are in short supply and employers consistently seek training relevant to their skill and productivity needs.”
Yeah note how private enterprise want the state to pay to train their staff – or worse the state to pay for private enterprise to train their staff.
Where’s Phil O’Reilly saying businesses should get their shit together and train people up. Oh that’s right training is a cost to business and therefore must be socialised.
One of these days I’m going to get tired of this scam.
Especially when the state pays to train up the young ‘uns, NZ businesses refuse to pay decent wages, so the young ‘uns all bugger off to work for Australia instead, giving Oz the benefit of our NZ tax payer funded training.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is promising to repeal the anti-smacking law, which he says attacks good parents. He says he will replace it with a law that attacks brutal parents.
Life must be so simple when you’re a populist politician. Just agree with whatever you think the majority of the population thinks they want.
He has set up a good idea though:
Winston Peters says the public would buy his message, if only the media told them. To that end, the party has set up its own Internet television station, New Zealand First-dot-TV, to be launched on the 18th of August.
Which is probably something the parties of the left could band together to set up something similar.
Smart media idea on his part. Still, its not going to attract viewership anything like the TV networks. But far better than being extincted by non-coverage.
Winston has got to get back on his forward looking nationalistic drum beat if he has any hope. Looking backwards is going to get him caned.
He says he will replace it with a law that attacks brutal parents.
That’s strange, does he think we don’t have sufficient law for that already? S59 was only intended for borderline cases. I wonder what he’s going to attack brutal parents with.
Jesus – S59 was a section of the Crimes Act that gave parents a legal defence of ‘discipline’ when assaulting a child; the removal of S59 gave children the same level of protection as adults, livestock and domestic pets – nothing more, nothing less.
It was NEVER an anti-smacking bill!
What is Section 59?
Section 59 is part of a law (Crimes Act 1961) in Aotearoa New Zealand that states “Every parent or person in place of a parent of a child is justified in using force by way of correction towards a child if that force is reasonable in the circumstances.”
This law was a remnant of the male right to punish servants, wives and children.
It, in essence, was a property right.
First servants were removed, then wives and finally children.
Ask anyone who worked on the public service before the nineties. Many either enjoyed the laziness or left for something challenging.
I did, and you couldn’t be more wrong! I chose the Public Service, because I have (wisely) never really trusted private enterprise. There was no laziness except in your mind PG, and there was plenty of challenge unless you purposely avoided it.
It may depend on what part of the Public Service Vicky. It’s widely accepted that many parts of it were grossly overstaffed. Did you read Bassett’s account?
Overstaffed? What does that even mean. If we still had thousands of people working in the Ministry of Works, the Christchurch rebuild would be in full swing by now!
Instead we have 160,000 sitting unemployed rotting away on the scrap heap.
But thats not a problem, right?
We have money, we have unemployed, we have plenty of work which needs to be done in this country, what is the frakin problem. (Our current political economic system may have something to do with it).
I do. I started my time with NZED in 1972 and when I left in 1976 I joined the other 100 or so qualified (advanced trade certificate in fitting, turning and machining) tradesmen that the NZED delivered to the private sector that year.
If you included the bonded tertiary students every year government departments and local bodies delivered thousands of trained staff, Electrical engineers through to paper hangers and decorators, to the private sector who at the time had no reason to train their own staff.
And the only reason that there’s a trades skills shortage in 2011 is that following the gutting of the public service and with a lead-in time of a decade or more the private sector has never shown any interest in investing in training.
You need to read the responses from DoS and others, Pete.
Actually read them.
Everyone knows the public service was used to ensure (near) full employment.
The only disagreement is whether you think this was a good idea, or whether you prefer high levels of unemployment and all the ills that brings.
Many people who have watched whole generations of working class kids dumped on the dole – untrained, with zero work experience, left to drift into crime, addiction and mental illness – now realise that it wasn’t such a bad idea to give them something to do to earn a living in those important formative years.
Of course ideological extremists like Bassett will never get it as his motivation is to profit the individual, not the society. Hard to address societal problems when you fundamentally don’t believe in society.
Look beyond the pointless and parasitic profit motive and you’ll see that we have plenty of work to be done and plenty of hands to do it.
Why would I need to? Unlike Bassett I lived it, and worked (unlike you) for several different parts of the Public service, and for more than one year!)
Been staying in a few hotels overseas question: why do we not follow overseas trends of applying a tax per adult/ night stay to contribute to local infrastructure ? We see the hospitality industry always on the want for more e.g. Auckland waterfront development and yet they contribute no additional contributions to pay for them
Because that would be simple, as simple as taxing McD’s to pay for obesity and the amount of litter that ends up on the streets.
Try living in Rotorua, we pay rates to subsidise half empty flights from Sydney, because the moteliers wanted them!
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Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
What is Kiwi culture? Often people pushing anti-immigration claim we need to maintain this mythical simplicity.
The Herald looks at this in Editorial: Laying down law to Muslims
“What is Kiwi culture?”
Some parts of Kiwi culture I’d rather see the end of – our culture of violence, our culture of getting too pissed, our culture of getting too fat, our culture of exaggerating differences, and more.
A Kiwi culture I’d like to see more of is being able to “do our own thing” alongside each other.
The Economist again, on RWNJ’s. http://Econ.st/p0CLNv (Kal Cartoon)
Very good cartoon.
Try http://www.economist.com/node/21524951?fsrc=scn/tw/te/ar/kalscartoonjune28th
Sums the situation up brilliantly!
The ever excellent Bill Maher asks “are Americans closet socialists?”, challenges the myth that the wealthy “create jobs” and asks if things are better now than 30 years ago. His guests from the right seem to be lost for words for once.
His editorial this “overtime” section is responding to is not up yet unfortunately
Looks like Labour have been doing an excellent job of selling their brand in the Wairarapa.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5365493/Pre-teens-dream-of-kids-and-dole
So Burt
Explain why the number of (your view) scum dole bludgers have doubled since Key came into power?
Have you forgotten it was rising sharply through 2008? Sort of well on it’s way to doubling before Key came to power ?
Have you forgotten that unemployment steadily decreased under Labour until 2008 when the effects of the drought and the world financial crisis, matters beyond Labour’s control, caused the economy to worsen?
Right, party talking points. The decrease heading toward 2008 was the result of Labour’s prudent management but the last year of Labour govt when it all started to crash in horrible ways wasn’t their fault. What a loser – you buy that crap. Next you will be telling us NZ works best when we are heavily unionised. Wake up – your eye patch is starting to cover both eyes and now you only listen to your party talking points without even looking at the real world.
Hey burt time to send those Wairarapa kids off to National’s ever successful boot camps eh? Won’t do anything helpful but NATs core constituency can take pleasure out of young poor kids getting the boot in camp eh?
Frankly mate I don’t see any plans from National to deal with the issue of inter-generational welfare dependency.
Young NZers know pretty clearly that society doesn’t give a shit about them. The options we are giving them are unemployment, crappy jobs (that National want to cut their pay further on), the exciting combo of unemployment or crappy job WITH a massive sudent loan, leaving NZ for Australia, moving on to the benefit system, etc.
This combined with the consumer culture of wanting everything now without having to earn it.
New Zealand does work best when heavily unionised. Just compare the relative pay of workers over the years. Pay rates have dropped as the level of union membership has dropped.
As climate change and peak oil start to destroy our economy we are going to rediscover that its not the size of the economy that matters, its how well we share what we have.
The old right wing bullshit about growing the cake rather than distributing it is being well and truly exposed and the people who pushed are starting to look as silly as flat earthers.
Burt, first up remember i support no particular party and i am a member of none.
Let’s say it’s not National’s fault, OK. Got that. They are in Power though, people are losing work, left, right and center. Companies are relocating off shore, industries are being bought up by Foreign Corporations all over the place pushing wages down and work hours up.
SO what do you do? Is this really the environment that you shift a huge Tax burden onto the shoulders of those lest able to afford it in order to build a few roads no-one really needs at this time? Is this the best time to hike GST? Why, when retraining is the buzz word around the world do you remove Adult Education Classes, raise the costs of Early Childhood Education, and gut University and other Tertiary development.
With a growing number of people on diminishing incomes is it really the time to rip the heart out of a savings scheme that was producing regular income for the country. Is it really the time to hand out Industry contracts to every man and his dog except the families that live in your own backyard. Why in all that is sane and sensible would you take the Billions of cash reserves that were stable and producing income, then give it as tax cuts to a privilidged few who are generally only in that position because of an inter-generational advantadge that highlights the depths hidden by the canyons of opportunity most are stuck in the bottom of.
Why Burt Why ?
NATs decided to dump hundreds more defence staff, DoC staff and others on to the unemployment scrap heap.
Also, just shrugging their shoulders at those made unemployed by Christchurch. A couple of months grace and out you go.
Oh, and it’s not my view – I didn’t write the article. It’s interesting though because the chickens of increasing welfare for the benefit of political popularity are coming home to roost.
Over the years a lot of different people from different stripes have debated the effects of multiple generations on benefits. This is a small window and it’s an ugly view.
People would prefer to work if they could. There are no jobs.
National is adding to unemployment lines even as they put more money into their own mates’ pockets.
In the 80’s there was some very good research done in the UK about what happened to young people when there were no jobs.
All young people need a transition to adulthood. In many respects that was why many cultures had some sort of rite of passage.
When you take the role of moving from training to employment away then you don’t leave a hell of a lot other than disaffection for the males and becoming parents for the females.
The curse of no jobs – which the free market cannot always provide – ultimately disadvantages women first and foremost because not only do they have the least work options but they also end up with the responsibility of raising the children.
The need to ensure young people have a meaningful role in communities and make that transition to adulthood has been known throughout many cultures for many many generations.
The policies of the past in this country to ensure young people had jobs, and often apprenticeships, through the public sector and who then often moved into the private sector when the job market improved held us in good stead in the past. It ensured they didn’t become disaffected.
Even if we disregard the fact that there are not enough jobs Burt tell me what should happen to those who can’t compete for work in the private sector – those with significant disabilities, or intellectual problems and psychiatric conditions, or facial disfigurements.
Where do you draw the line on who is deserving of help and who isn’t?
At want point are you making a moral judgement rather than for instance a medical one?
One of the things about our welfare system is that the people administering it don’t have to make moral judgements – and I’m not sure we as a society would want them to.
The curse of no jobs – which the free market cannot always provide
Insufficient jobs is a curse – but the government cannot always provide either.
No but they can provide.
In the past all government departments had to take on some school leavers at the end of each year.
It’s called a commitment to youth employment.
They also employed people with disabilities – something else the private sector isn’t great at.
It’s never the whole solution – but it should be part of the solution.
Shit if the government can provide subsidies to multi-million dollar profit making companies like McDonalds surely it can commit to employing some young people as well.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/2557666/Jobless-scheme-gives-subsidy-to-McDonalds
If 100’s of thousands of dollars can be given to private providers to train people in crappy dive courses then surely a few million can be spent giving some on the job training in the public service – at least clerical skills are needed.
If 100′s of thousands of dollars can be given to private providers to train people in crappy dive courses then surely a few million can be spent giving some on the job training in the public service – at least clerical skills are needed.
Clerical job applicants already far exceed available positions.
The on the job training provided by the government in the past was often the opposite of what is required. My first career job after I left school was with the Post Office, and I found it stiflingly boring and uninspiring – it often involved trying to avoid doing jobs that didn’t need doing, and trying to avoid supervisors that hardly supervised anyway.
Seriously who gives a shit how YOU found your career training decades ago, at least you had something to go to in YOUR youth and got PAID for it.
Opportunities we are now depriving the CURRENT generation of young people while you pontificate all knowingly.
“I found it stiflingly boring and uninspiring”
Must explain why you come across as stiflingly boring and uninspiring.
Ironic really.
Maybe it wasn’t the job. Maybe it was actually you. Something to ponder anyway.
Ask anyone who worked on the public service before the nineties. Many either enjoyed the laziness or left for something challenging.
“Many either enjoyed the laziness or left for something challenging.”
What a load of crap.
I had family in both the public service and in private enterprise and there was and often is little difference between good and bad managers / jobs in both sectors.
Those who were in the public service worked for a fair days pay for a fair days work, often did shift work at unsociable hours and contributed much to their communities and work places over and above the hours they were paid for. All in all they also had a sense of commitment to their communities and to New Zealand.
After leaving school I worked in the freezing works, in the bush with a chainsaw and for several years in the banking industry.
If you want a boring job – banking was a pretty good bet. I’m sure waitressing, working in a car factory and working for a take away joint are pretty exciting jobs as well.
When you left school it wasn’t hard to get a job in the private sector yet somehow you ended up in the post office. How did that come about if you were so shit-hot and skilled?
In a modern context you would say that they were often overstaffed but remember there was a social commitment to employ young people and people with disabilities and intellectual and psychiatric problems – you know like the man who used to sweep the railway platform and keep it clean and tidy, or the alcoholic who used to go out and keep the blackberry from growing over the tracks along with others who had difficulty getting work.
$14,000 per year to do that or $12,000 a year on Invalids Benefit doing nothing – tell me which was better for him and the country. I know which I think was better.
I’ve always said a monkey could have made railways more efficient by simply laying all those people off – but efficiency was never the point nor the purpose. Government could have directly laid all those workers off without selling railways off. The point of the exercise was to asset strip.
Your denigration of public servants is unbecoming and without context.
What is evident however is that since the 90’s across both the public sector and the private there has been massive productivity gain but that workers in neither sector have particularly benefited from this.
Sure some areas of specialist skill have but the everyday, average workers has not.
PG is simply trolling. NZ private sector is rife with reports of lousy management, waste and awful (destructive or cowardly) team leadership.
Those who were in the public service worked for a fair days pay for a fair days work
Some did. Many didn’t. I “worked” as a technician trainee and there were far more of us than necessary. Much of the work we did (not a lot at times) was unnecessary and sometimes detrimental to performance of equipment.
Other parts of the public service were notoriously unproductive employment sops. The inspiration for Gliding On actually had some basis in real life.
Thanks for confirming you were an unproductive leach off the public tit. When can the Government expect a cheque refunding your wages Pete? Adjusted for inflation please.
Overstaffing was well known to be rife.
FFS lets keep celebrating putting people out of work shall we PG?
Few hundred defence staff here, few hundred DoC staff there, staffers from the Ministry of Research Science and Technology (no we didn’t need them for a high tech future, no sir-reee!)
And what shall we do with this loss ongoing of jobs and capabilities in NZ? Build brand new industries (i.e. McDonalds) that our future generations can work and train in?
Did you see this bit?
You see, that bit’s been true since about the 1960s. Our productivity is so high that we produce* far more than we need and, due to the structure of capitalism, hand it over to the very rich for no benefit whatsoever.
* Take from the environment
PS, BTW, dropping from 17,800 employees to 5,000 doesn’t mean that it became more efficient. In fact, considering the state that rail was in when the government bought it back, it would seem that it became less efficient.
I apologize. I can’t help myself.
Pete: how did your Career at the post office go? I bet you where the stamp licker, probably the only way of keep you quiet.
and Pete, as someone once said “only boring people get bored”
I left after a year because I preferred to actually work. I wasted a lot less time there than many.
I gave less than the required three months notice and that ruled out future public service employment. The Supervising Technician tried to talk me out of leaving and wanted me to talk to my parents about it (quaint) but I already had a far better job to go to.
I guess it’s an age thing – anyone that knows the era of the 60-80s knows how grossly over employed the public service was.
I’m surprised you either don’t know this history or are conveniently ignoring it.
You sort of miss the contextual point though although you also state it:
“Ministers used government departments as employment agencies.”
This was government policy to employ specifically young people and people with disabilities. That’s not being denied.
This involved a commitment to employing young people when the private sector couldn’t – not assigning them to the dole or the scrap heap.
That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a core of long term public servants who were committed and loyal.
The other context of course is that private enterprise was also grossly inefficient and had the same issues – hence the banking sector by way of comparison.
In general society saw employment and a decent wage as more important than return to shareholders and profit.
That is what has changed.
Sometime ago there was a graph published showing the change in GDP being paid out in wages vs profit.
Gone from 60:40 in favour of wages to the reverse. As a country we have not benefited from that change only those at the top have.
Even a return to 50:50 levels would be a vast improvement for the population as a whole.
hence the banking sector by way of comparison.
Not a good comparison – the banks had to deal with huge changes in technology, and moves from public to private banking.
Coincidentally, the job I left NZPO for included installing the first computer terminals in National Bank branches around Auckland.
And so Pete are you still living at home?
Nice parting crack Pete at the mighty, fare, loyal, under payed, honest New Zealand public service and servants that kindly ran you out of the post office for us, at the first chance they got. now look at it Pete.
Actually it’s a good comparison because you are talking about two sets of organisations that had a large workforce, branches all over the country, mainly males in management positions, both a backroom and front of house service, had significant bureaucracy to deal with, etc.
Comparing the public sector to the local bookshop would be totally non-nonsensical.
Recent news about two people being killed on one of those dive courses, made me have an attack of deja vu…. Am I right, has the same thing happened before, people killed on one of these dive courses? If that’s so, how is it that they still continue – and also, what good are they? How much demand is there for trained divers, in job terms?
Government can generate 25,000 jobs in the next 6 months, easy. And 25,000 in the 6 months after that. We have a city to be rebuilt, land to be reclaimed, environmental areas to be upgraded. Schools and hospitals to be fixed up, emergency housing to be built. And that’s for a start.
Except we have a laissez faire hands off free market govt who are quite happy to concentrate wealth in the hands of a few and let everyone else struggle.
Yes, of course Government can create as many jobs as it wants to, That doesn’t mean it (or more importantly we) can afford it.
How much more would you borrow ?
You don’t borrow lol, you tax and you self monetize.
Didn’t you learn basic budgeting? Basic budgeting is about priorities.
SCF investor bailout of $1.2B? Easily enough money there to provide 40,000 jobs and livelihoods.
But one was a priority to National, the other was not.
The money doesn’t just disappear into the ether. It gets recycled in exchange for goods, services and labour. Thats how the economy works. Whether the govt issues bonds, claims taxes or sells off assets, there still neds to be a basic level of structure for society to function (unless of course you want to live in Somalia).
We can afford it. That’s not difficult. We do, after all, have all the resources necessary to ensure people have a good living standard.
Really, the biggest problem is that we still expect everyone to work 40 hour weeks when there just isn’t enough actual work available to support that.
None. A government doesn’t need to borrow and should never do so because, as it’s the peoples administration, it can command the entire resources of the country.
@DOS Good points. Essential to responsible societal planners.
Yes it is a tragedy. Perhaps you could ask Basher Bennett how her Green Paper which has been three years in the making will help. Then ask English how he feels about NZ having the third lowest per capita spending on early childhood education in th OECD.
If you want to be taken seriously you can’t just keep taking cheap shots based on past events.
Under which? party have we always had the greatest numbers out of work??
Sounds very like the outcome of extreme right policies – the effects of policies as far back as Ruth Richardsons ‘Mother of all budgets.’
Burt, you may have missed this one http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/polls/5357111/Brain-drain-continues-for-National – the kids your article describes are the ones who have suffered from being in small town NZ, with all the disadvantages that brings. Shame you will be left to ‘pay’ for those kids, as all the talented ones will be overseas!
Q+A dealt with the awful problems in New Zealand with children – and what is clear is that all our child abuse/poverty/welfare problems are far more important than being bogged down with political rhetoric.
Gluckman and the Green Paper and Annette King and many others keep saying this should be dealt with cross party. The best possible way this issue can be made clearly above politics is for pledges:
– National should pledge that if they win in November they will offer Annette King the Social Welfare Ministry
– Labour should pledge that if they win in November they will offer Paula Bennett the Social Welfare Ministry
Then we’d know they are serious about raising this to a whole of country problem that needs everyone’s support and efforts.
It’s pretty pointless to have a ministerial portfolio if you don’t have the budget that you require to run it. Since we know full well that National is hell bent on stripping funding from social welfare I don’t see how a Labour minister in a Nat govt could do anything except be the scapegoat – unless you are suggesting that ministers should be able to override the finance minister or the rest of the party when it comes to funding, which is clearly unworkable. As for Paula Bennett, I personally don’t think she should be allowed near a ministerial portfolio ever again.
‘Cross party’ is an inclusive sounding slogan but it overlooks the glaring fact that while different parties may agree on the existence of a particular problem, their solutions to the problem will undoubtably be different. This is especially true when the issue requires addressing poverty and inequality, as it does in this case.
It seems glaringly obvious that there is little difference between the major parties on what the best approach to vulnerable children/parents should be, and there will be little difference on what sized budget is allocated.
The key thing is to use the available money as effectively as possible.
Just because a policy is deemed an efficient allocation, does not make it ‘effective’. You could argue that $2mill for a plastic waka is used efficiently but how effective is it likely to be?
National Bootcamps for one!
You are an ass PG.
You’ve picked out one very small initiative that seems to be of mixed value. I’m dubious about it. It’s possible it’s just an ineffective approach, but it can’t be easily determined in a short time frame.
Most things that will have long term benefits will take a long time to properly evaluate.
In the past National and Labour have continued similar policies with a few variations, I think it’s likely they would agree on most things once you strip away the political rhetoric.
Cutting night classes and reducing access to student loans?
National standards for two, selling state assets would be three
ECE cuts another.
Although in general terms I have no problems with Labour having more clearly distinguished (and left wing) policies from National.
Just trying to imagine the situation if Hana Harawira becomes leader of the Maori Womens Welfare League while Paula Bennett is Minister of DOSW Department of Social Woe.
PG taking the high ground again. Please mate, no.
Oh ffs.
Labour should pledge that if they win in November they will offer Paula Bennett the Social Welfare Ministry
Well apart from the fact she does not have a freakin idea about what is happening, that she is shallow and malicious, that her abilities are possibly up to her getting a job at McDonalds, that she has a track record of abusing beneficiaries for political gain and that she has been a total disaster in Government good idea Pete!
Is it April 1?
Paula useless, bennie bashing, Bennet. You must be joking.
My beagle would do a better job than Bennett; in fact he’d do a better job than the lot of them!
I note the Graphic of Parliament (polls) is still shown in the two party format, with a jumble of minor parties separating the major blocks.
Isn’t it about time that the colourings were arranged for the political spectrum, starting with the (depending which philosophy commands the treasury benches) most extreme parties being nearest the speaker and then spreading around to the opposition parties.
(The actual parliamentary seating does not appear to be arranged in order of list placing because the Prime Minister and Deputy appear to sit in front of the Speaker and not behind or beside that position.)
That way we could see the separation of the Greens and Act (seemingly at opposite ends of the political spectrum) into their rightful positions.
Mr I-will-go-with-whatever-party-Dunne could remain in his rightful position acting as the bridge (plank) for each to walk over.
In fact, is there any pre-ordained MMP parliamentiary seating arrangement?
Do you mean most extreme. NACT spreading around to the sensible parties like the Greens.
Anyone who wants radical failed policies, like tax cuts for the rich and asset stealing, could then be shown in their true colours.
Yep – The current parliament would have ACT occupying a few seats on the left hand side where Joyce usually sits. Then you would have the bulk of blue, then Dunne and the MP, then Labour and finally around by the speaker again, the Greens. But currently having the Greens next to ACT is laughable. As you say, having the likes of Douglas around by Lockwood would give a much stronger picture for JoBlo as to political leanings.
United Future and Peter Dunne-nothing do not belong in the centre – they belong in the past.
‘building a bridge’ using this outdated technology is doomed to fail.
vto made the following comment on The violent right thread
“Any similarities between the separatist politics of this madman Norwegian and the madman separatist politics of Hone Harawira you think?” and “The simiilarities are very real.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/the-violent-right/#comment-356434
This comment got some responses which were catagorised as
“all responses to the various points I have made here have been solely either attacks on me, or simple bare statements “you are wrong” in various forms. Not one person above has actually provided any facts or statements or evidence to refute. Not one.”
I dispute that because the thread has continued since then. Further, today on stuff they report
“Breivik also writes that white Europeans will flee to New Zealand in an apocalyptic war sparked by the “gradual Islamisation” of Europe.” and “He quotes German anti-Islamic columnist Henryk Broder urging young people get out and “move to Australia or New Zealand. That is the only option they have if they want to avoid the plagues that will turn the old continent uninhabitable”.
“Breivik says that after the civil war in Europe is won, and Islam expelled, a new “European Federation” would be created, which would include New Zealand.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5365851/Mass-killer-sees-NZ-as-haven-in-Islam-conflict
My question vto is how does this fit into your ‘similarity theory’. The evidence you presented was your list which included “heavy discourse” and “showing some hatred” – it was subjective and reflected your own bias – I’d like to see actual evidence for your slur – just like I’m giving you here. The statements made by the murderer are fact and if others of his ilk come here what do you think they will think of the Mana Party, or māori like you? As i have said before I don’t have a problem if you hate Mana and Hone and everything they stand for – good for you. But you disrespect many by trying to connect the murderer and māori – you disrespect yourself.
Mr Mars, I did actually provide some evidence, copied below. But a couple of points first;
Why would you think I hate Mana and Hone? I don’t and that was your assumption. I applaud them and their politics, except the separatism component. You see Marty, assumptions such as that were repeated thru that thread by all and sundry. With zero basis.
What do I think any such immigrants would think of Mana and Hone? I suspect they would get on very well when it comes to dealing with new immigrants. Why wouldn’t they? They both suffer under a wave of colonisation for one thing. That is why I suggested that the indigenous people of Norway consider entering into a treaty similar to ours to cater for their own immigration wave. People struggling with immigration and colonisation is nothing new and most every people on the planet have at some time suffered such.
Anyways to the point… Lets check for similarities between the two scenarios (copied);
“to repeat … lets check for characteristics of terrorism with regard to Hone and his politics and similar followers within NZ;
1. Politics at the extreme end of the spectrum. (it is accepted that Mana’s sovereignty and other politics are right at one end of the spectrum. No?)
2. Politics advocating a form of separatism. (this is what Mana want, a form of separatism. This was one of the characteristic of the Norway terror. No?)
3. A discourse that is heavy. (read what the Norwegian murderer wrote and it is heavy. Similarly, two examples, so is ‘white mofos’ from an elected representative. And you may recall the call to maori convicts some years ago to ‘kill a whitey’. Heavy. No?)
4. A past that involves use or threatened use of weapons. (Hone some years ago referred to them in the north having guns and being prepared to use them. Similarly, recall Tame Iti shooting up a NZ flag recently? And we still have the Urewera ‘terrorists’. Weapons. No?)
”
(And where do the threats ladelled out to Maori Party members at the hui with the Mana Party up at Taipa (?) a while ago sit? What does Sue Bradford think of that given her anti-smacking law?)
I was asking the question and looking forward to seeing some answers. I then pushed it a little to stir (as is an unfortunate trait at times) by suggesting that the similarities were obvious. But if you follow the earlier thread you will see that there was no answer to the question, only put-downs. Please show where a proper answer was put.
What other traits are signatures for terrorism threat? Perhaps lonerism (are there any loners out there listening to Hone?). Others certainly.
What it led me to was that the separatism aspect of Mana, having looked at some facts, is hardcore right wing politics, jammed right hard up against left wing policies. And the headline of the post “The Violent Right” all fell into place.
I say Go Hone (except for the separatism and the intimidation and aggression).
edit: you are highly selective in what you quote from my posts which of course removes the context.
I think you have an extreme view of this so called ‘separatism’. Do you really think that our society can be separated? Do you think Mana or Hone think this? Self determination is actually about inclusivness and equality not the fear mongering of ‘separatism’.
I apologise for making assumptions about your view.
I replied to your points here
http://thestandard.org.nz/the-violent-right/#comment-358359
i still think your theory is in poor taste and completely wrong.
Ahaa I see your reply now (Tho it was only left late last night).
I would have thought we have some form of duty to see where the terrorism risks lie in our land. It clearly lies in certain quarters but questioning all risk quarters should be attended to. Asking such questions of Maori separatist politics has gone down like a cup of cold sick. I guess there are certain things that are not allowed to be questioned…
As for “do I think Mana think this (separatism)?” that is not the issue. Just looking for the trigger / risk points and their self-determination / separatism is one of them. And is self-determination not a form of separatism?
Clearly those trigger /risk points are a matter of degree but remember that it is not the people in public or party positions who are the risk it is the loner listening in the backblocks.
edit: one final: it was not ‘a theory of mine’ it was a question which has led to an answer which may well lead to a full blown theory at some later point. Or not.
I do not think Hone is into violence.
I do not think he wants to dispose of his Pakaha friends and family.
He is inclined to heated discussion about his beliefs.
As are many of us.
It does not make us terrorists.
At least in NZ (and Norway) we are, mostly, still talking to each other.
What do you mean by separatism vto? I’ve not been aware of Mana or Harawira talking about separatism in the way that you seem to mean. It would be good if you could clarify and maybe link to something Harawira has said as we can understand your points.
I think you are conflating a whole bunch of things to support your argument. AFAIK Hone Harawira didn’t tell Maori to kill a whitey. No terrorism charges have been brought against anyone arrested in the Tuhoe raids.
Been reading the sewers thread regarding the ‘pre-teens who want benefits’ and I’d like to know. who the fuck is Alison Sutherland . She says she works in Wairarapa schools with children who have behavioural problems but does’t tell us who she works for. Surely she would be receiving government funding and be subject to confidentiality clauses in her contract which would prevent her from disclosing anything about her clients.
Is Alison Sutherland a wannna be Linsay Mitchel?. Too posh to work with all the time in the world to gloat about the failings of others.
Assuming she is not the goat breeder that also pops up in google:
https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-policy-journal/spj37/37-the-relationship-between-school-and-youth-offending.html
http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?&id=33835
Thanks DoS.
Jon Stewart:In the Name of the Fodder.
Forget about the top 10% (this is about the top 1%)
I’ve had this nagging doubt for a while as to why we’ve been focusing on the wealth, income and political views of the “top 10%”. I for one know a lot of people who are in this group, (earn >$75K pa, own their own house, maybe a rental or two) and in the main they are good smart people, better informed than most, with high levels of concern for their community, families and the direction of the country. (There are always unpleasant exceptions of course, and there is no denying that the top 10% is far better off than the bottom 50% in society).
So in my comments I started focusing on the top 5% of income earners. To enter this bracket you have to be on incomes of between $90K pa and $100K pa. And yet, once you remove roughly $24K in income tax, the remaining sum (although very generous relative to most NZers) gives a lifestyle while comfortable and free of daily money worries is by no means luxurious. If you are raising children and paying off a sizeable AKL mortgage in 20 years, each months income is basically gone by the end of the month.
The following article, although US in origin, explains a different world quite well: the world of the top half of the top 1%. Although we do not yet have the massive income/wealth inequity of the States, we still have to put a laserlight focus on the top 1% here in NZ (earning well over $150K pa and above) because it is they who truly influence opinion, media, the formation of laws and regulations. They have privileged access to decision makers, politicians and regulators. They have the most generous funds to contribute to political movements and lobbying.
From the article (emphasis mine):
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/investment_manager.html
As my son would say “Lolwut?” $90 000 minus $24,000 = $66,000. I raised one and a half kids on circa $18,000 so you’ll pardon me if my heart is stony when it comes to people doing the same on nearly 4 times as much.
Just checking Colmar Brunton polls to see if they are indeed an australian owned company.
They are owned by Millward Brown who are a subsidary of Kantar. Kantar looks like a multnational research company or GROUP. I’m trying to load their website at Kantar.com which is taking forever. Not happening really. If someone with a better connection wants to give it a try please do.
So thats one of the polling companies looking a bit creepy to me at least. Time to check the rest I think.
http://millwardbrown.com/About/FastFacts.aspx
Fast Facts
Founded 1973
77 offices in 51 countries
Millward Brown is part of Kantar, the information and consultancy division of WPP
Millward Brown Specialist Practices:
BPRI Group
Dynamic Logic
MaPS
Millward Brown Optimor
Firefly Millward Brown
1,800 Dynamic Tracking studies currently running
65,000 Link™ copytests conducted
More than 5,300 BrandDynamics™ projects covering over 45,000 brands
Over 1,000 brand sales modeled
Over 4,400 separate BrandZ™ studies completed
BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Brands ranking released annually in April
11 years of Digital experience
6,000 campaigns measured across 27 digital platforms
300 CrossMedia Research studies completed
400 online creative pretests conducted using LinkSelect for Digital
100 mobile research studies conducted
115 filters in MarketNorms, the world’s largest online normative attitudinal database
Specialist practices for mobile, gaming and social media
OK WPP own Kantar and their web address is loading OK
http://www.wpp.com/wpp/companies/
KPP __ Kantar___Millward Brown___Colmar Brunton
The board of KPP are a really well connected lot i.e.with connections to the US govt.
So Colmar Brunton a supposed Australian company is really a part of pretty multinational. Why does this surprise me.
Philip Lader
Non-Executive chairman | Letter of appointment – Philip Lader
Philip Lader was appointed chairman in 2001. The US Ambassador to the Court of St James’s from 1997 to 2001, he previously served in several senior executive roles in the US Government, including as a Member of the President’s Cabinet and as White House Deputy Chief of Staff. Before entering government service, he was executive vice president of the company managing the late Sir James Goldsmith’s US holdings and president of both a prominent American real estate company and universities in the US and Australia. A lawyer, he is also a Senior Advisor to Morgan Stanley, a director of Marathon Oil, AES and Rusal Corporations, a trustee of the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Atlantic Council and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
A full list of WPP comapnies worldwide
http://www.wpp.com/wpp/companies/company-list.htm
Gina: Please some up.
Seriously, I am interested and would like to know what you think about Colmar Brunton in your own words?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1107/S00341/training-review-timely.htm
so much for the third leg of the balanced stool of society – employee, employer, government
“Skills that are relevant are in short supply and employers consistently seek training relevant to their skill and productivity needs.”
Yeah note how private enterprise want the state to pay to train their staff – or worse the state to pay for private enterprise to train their staff.
Where’s Phil O’Reilly saying businesses should get their shit together and train people up. Oh that’s right training is a cost to business and therefore must be socialised.
One of these days I’m going to get tired of this scam.
Especially when the state pays to train up the young ‘uns, NZ businesses refuse to pay decent wages, so the young ‘uns all bugger off to work for Australia instead, giving Oz the benefit of our NZ tax payer funded training.
It’s slowly descending into farce.
NZ First to dump anti-smacking
Life must be so simple when you’re a populist politician. Just agree with whatever you think the majority of the population thinks they want.
He has set up a good idea though:
Which is probably something the parties of the left could band together to set up something similar.
Smart media idea on his part. Still, its not going to attract viewership anything like the TV networks. But far better than being extincted by non-coverage.
Winston has got to get back on his forward looking nationalistic drum beat if he has any hope. Looking backwards is going to get him caned.
So appealing to the anti smacking crowd and getting tough on crime, when all the time dog whistling to the left he won’t change the law, very smart.
Whine could get a cabinet post yet, he obviously has a few heads with him.
He says he will replace it with a law that attacks brutal parents.
That’s strange, does he think we don’t have sufficient law for that already? S59 was only intended for borderline cases. I wonder what he’s going to attack brutal parents with.
Jesus – S59 was a section of the Crimes Act that gave parents a legal defence of ‘discipline’ when assaulting a child; the removal of S59 gave children the same level of protection as adults, livestock and domestic pets – nothing more, nothing less.
It was NEVER an anti-smacking bill!
What is Section 59?
Section 59 is part of a law (Crimes Act 1961) in Aotearoa New Zealand that states “Every parent or person in place of a parent of a child is justified in using force by way of correction towards a child if that force is reasonable in the circumstances.”
This law was a remnant of the male right to punish servants, wives and children.
It, in essence, was a property right.
First servants were removed, then wives and finally children.
Makes perfect sense to me.
+1 – shame Family First can’t get this!
IMO, Family First want wives and servants put back onto the punishable list.
I did, and you couldn’t be more wrong! I chose the Public Service, because I have (wisely) never really trusted private enterprise. There was no laziness except in your mind PG, and there was plenty of challenge unless you purposely avoided it.
It may depend on what part of the Public Service Vicky. It’s widely accepted that many parts of it were grossly overstaffed. Did you read Bassett’s account?
Overstaffed? What does that even mean. If we still had thousands of people working in the Ministry of Works, the Christchurch rebuild would be in full swing by now!
Instead we have 160,000 sitting unemployed rotting away on the scrap heap.
But thats not a problem, right?
We have money, we have unemployed, we have plenty of work which needs to be done in this country, what is the frakin problem. (Our current political economic system may have something to do with it).
You have no idea what it was like, do you.
You have no idea of what it IS like, do you? 30 years of neoliberalism gutting this country’s core and here you are with reminiscing platitudes.
I do. I started my time with NZED in 1972 and when I left in 1976 I joined the other 100 or so qualified (advanced trade certificate in fitting, turning and machining) tradesmen that the NZED delivered to the private sector that year.
If you included the bonded tertiary students every year government departments and local bodies delivered thousands of trained staff, Electrical engineers through to paper hangers and decorators, to the private sector who at the time had no reason to train their own staff.
And the only reason that there’s a trades skills shortage in 2011 is that following the gutting of the public service and with a lead-in time of a decade or more the private sector has never shown any interest in investing in training.
You need to read the responses from DoS and others, Pete.
Actually read them.
Everyone knows the public service was used to ensure (near) full employment.
The only disagreement is whether you think this was a good idea, or whether you prefer high levels of unemployment and all the ills that brings.
Many people who have watched whole generations of working class kids dumped on the dole – untrained, with zero work experience, left to drift into crime, addiction and mental illness – now realise that it wasn’t such a bad idea to give them something to do to earn a living in those important formative years.
Of course ideological extremists like Bassett will never get it as his motivation is to profit the individual, not the society. Hard to address societal problems when you fundamentally don’t believe in society.
Look beyond the pointless and parasitic profit motive and you’ll see that we have plenty of work to be done and plenty of hands to do it.
Why would I need to? Unlike Bassett I lived it, and worked (unlike you) for several different parts of the Public service, and for more than one year!)
Bassett. lol.
Been staying in a few hotels overseas question: why do we not follow overseas trends of applying a tax per adult/ night stay to contribute to local infrastructure ? We see the hospitality industry always on the want for more e.g. Auckland waterfront development and yet they contribute no additional contributions to pay for them
Because that would be simple, as simple as taxing McD’s to pay for obesity and the amount of litter that ends up on the streets.
Try living in Rotorua, we pay rates to subsidise half empty flights from Sydney, because the moteliers wanted them!