Another mass leak of a law firm’s private information has occurred. And just like the Panama Papers the details are eye watering and show there are two classes of people on this planet, the uber rich and the rest of us.
The world’s biggest businesses, heads of state and global figures in politics, entertainment and sport who have sheltered their wealth in secretive tax havens are being revealed this week in a major new investigation into Britain’s offshore empires.
The details come from a leak of 13.4m files that expose the global environments in which tax abuses can thrive – and the complex and seemingly artificial ways the wealthiest corporations can legally protect their wealth.
The video of Panorama trying to interview Lord Ashcroft would be very funny if the whole situation was not so sad. Why do the really wealthy refuse to contribute to the collective good? After all they have more than enough to spare.
Lord Ashcroft will be well known to Standard readers. He seemed to have a rather cosy relationship with John Key. In this most networked of worlds it is not surprising that people who want to trash the state in the United Kingdom so they and their friends can have even more wealth are friendly with and supportive of people who want to trash the state in New Zealand so they and their friends can have even more wealth.
He was a peer of the House of Lords but was a foreigner in terms of his tax status. This meant that he only paid tax on UK earnings. How patriotic.
Another controversial entity mentioned in the Papers is Serco. But it appears that even law firms setting up structures to rob Sovereign Nations of tax have standards. Again from the Guardian:
Serco first approached Appleby through a London law firm on 1 September 2015, asking for help to “establish a subsidiary in Mauritius to acquire 49% of a company in Abu Dhabi”.
It would later use the Mauritius company solely to facilitate part of a major sale of its business interests in the Middle East and India.
Serco has flatly denied that the structure was used to help it avoid tax, and the Guardian is not suggesting the company acted unlawfully in any way.
The request prompted a flurry of activity within the Appleby compliance arm. The team began running its standard checks on the risks Serco could pose as a client.
The results were less than convincing. Appleby’s compliance team found what they described as a “history of blunders and controversies surrounding many of its contracts”, including through its involvement in Obamacare and the running of prisons in Australia and New Zealand.
“It has a history of problems, failures, fatal errors and overcharging,” a senior Appleby compliance officer wrote.
And Bernie Sanders has warned that the world is rapidly becoming an international oligarchy which is controlled by a tiny number of billionaires.
I suspect that the shock and horror from this release will be more subdued from that caused by the Panama Papers. Not because the sense of disgust was overplayed last time, but because this is become an increasingly apparent reality.
So what should progressives do? We are up against some of the cleverest and most well resourced people on the planet. But if we want sovereign nations to have a future then we have to sort this out.
And what is important? Brave policies enacted by a progressive Government.
Tax reform is complex and the wealthy will throw everything they have at it in the hope of stopping or watering it down. But the proposed tax review this Government will be setting up has just become even more important.
PS: I have seen a screenshot on twitter of a document claiming Malcolm Turnbull (Oz PM) gets a mention in the Paradise Papers, but I can’t find a link to any article on it.
Imagine NZ had no nation scale government. Just the local councils we’re familiar with. On a day to day basis local govt provides the vast majority of ordinary services that make life civilised, rubbish, roads, water, libraries, parks, building regulations, parking, animal and pest control … on and on. For ordinary people, whose lives are located in one place at a time, this scale of governance suffices for most of our needs.
But now, absent any governance on a national scale, how would all these small councils handle entities on a scale beyond their jurisdiction? Leaving aside obvious technical problems like providing national highways and transport, communications and the like … consider the problem of handling large companies that operate across multiple council districts. Consider individuals who make themselves resident in one town for tax purposes, but locate their assets in another which imposes little or no tax. Consider a company that rips off a client in Auckland, but is immune to redress because their offices are in Hamilton. Imagine how to deal with one town that pollutes for profit, and it’s neighbours who absorb the costs. And so on.
Such a scenario strikes us as absurd; dealing with these issues is exactly why we have a nation state.
But wait. If the entire human population of NZ was indeed just say, two small towns, imagine maybe Kaikohe and Gore. They were separated by days of travel, barely communicated and the few traders who operated between then did so on a basis of personal trust alone. Would we then need all the apparatus of a nation state? Well no, we would think it an absurd imposition, all of the citizens of Gore and Kaikohe would resist such a notion as a dangerous imposition on their identity and autonomy.
But in the past 180 years or so the nation states of the planet have moved from comparative isolation and autonomy, to complete connectivity and dependence on each other. And when you look at the enormous progress in building the technical, commercial and legal infrastructures that support this massive global connectivity, an astounding amount of progress has been made. Especially since the end of WW2.
But politically we remain stuck in nation state thinking; for the most part we regard the idea of global governance with the same suspicion as might the people of Gore and Kaikohe in the example above. In reality we are a now a single global society, but politically we cannot let go the delusions the nation state is the highest form and end point of our social evolution.
And because we baulk at this last hurdle, the establishment of effective, democratically accountable global governance, we struggle to address virtually all the big problems we face.
Somewhere I read a while back that just the cash hoarded in Caribbean tax havens alone, not including other assets, was enough to pay the debts of all the nation states on earth. Legal only because they lie beyond the reach of the nations, but are of course pure parasitical piracy on the high seas of global finance.
The forces of globalism have leapt at the chance to dominate the new world order. And they are busy trying to prevent sovereign nations from uniting and exerting power. Think Brexit and the scorn thrown by the right at the United Nations.
Consider a company that rips off a client in Auckland, but is immune to redress because their offices are in Hamilton. Imagine how to deal with one town that pollutes for profit, and it’s neighbours who absorb the costs. And so on.
And we’re still having serious problems with that type of shit.
And because we baulk at this last hurdle, the establishment of effective, democratically accountable global governance, we struggle to address virtually all the big problems we face.
Take China’s territorial grab in the South China Sea for example. International law, that they’ve agreed to by belonging to the UN, makes such actions illegal. It was recognised that if anyone could go off and make an artificial island and claim it as territory it was going to have major impacts politically.
When China’s actions was found illegal by the appropriate court China simply ignored it and the only way to stop them would be an all out war.
This is where global governance will always have a problem. Stopping individuals committing crime is fairly easy for a community. It’s pretty much impossible for a group of nations to stop even a small one from doing what it likes because the only option available is war. Consider what would be needed to stop the US from doing whatever it likes.
Perhaps a global government will arise but I don’t see it happening for a thousand years or more and after capitalism has finally been removed. Until then we’re going to act as nation states that encourage better global behaviour from all countries. Unfortunately, the way many of the global institutions are set up (the IMF, World Bank, WTO, etcetera) actually does the exact opposite to what’s needed as they encourage capitalism and competition.
but I don’t see it happening for a thousand years or more and after capitalism has finally been removed.
Perhaps the other way around. I see it happening within my lifetime. Already most of the pre-conditions and building blocks are in place. Once established it would quickly suppress the robber-baron form of capitalist piracy that you so rightly object to.
In the end I believe it will happen, not so much because people of goodwill thought it a good idea … but from fear of the consequences of NOT doing so.
DtB and I have had many conversations about this one way or another. It’s my sense that markets will remain an enduring aspect of human life. But how those markets are organised, and what purposes they serve very much depends on the values and intentions of those of participate.
I don’t have a neat, encapsulated answer for your question; but we know that the motives of greed, social status, and overt power are not the universal human experience. If you look there are many examples of people whose life has bent to other gentler, loftier goals … so we know people are capable of this.
The trick is not so much the ‘good individual’, but the ‘good society’.
Why was there no MSM coverage of the FACT that on 1 August 2017, at Rutherford House Victoria University, the (then) Chair of Transparency International, Jose Ugaz, stated that John Key should be investigated over the Panama Papers?
I was present at that meeting, as were about 200 others.
Why the silence, here in New Zealand, ‘perceived’ to be ‘the least corrupt country in the world’?
Because investigating John Key over the Panama Papers would rip the scab off a 44 gallon drum of political ‘pus’, and help expose the NZ corruption REALITY?
Why do the really wealthy refuse to contribute to the collective good?
They got all that wealth by stealing. Sure, it was legal but it was still theft. You don’t think that they’re going to start paying their fair share now do you?
The rich never pay for anything whereas the poor pay for everything including for the rich to be rich.
Apple said the new structure had not lowered its taxes.
It said it remained the world’s largest taxpayer, paying about $35bn (£26bn) in corporation tax over the past three years, that it had followed the law and its changes “did not reduce our tax payments in any country”.
The point that Apple seems to be missing is that they didn’t increase the way that they should have.
There you go John Keys only goal in OUR political system is to line his and his m8 pockets and this is the mentality of the national party . He still has the power in OUR country to manipulate thing so he can carry on lining his pockets.
He is directly responsible for my situation giving the power to the authority’s to do what they want with no checks and balance’s so he could control everything. I felt a chill down my spine when I first seen him on TV. But I was to busy working my ass off thinking everyone would reward me for my hard work{ yea right} you are just a Maori is what my reward was 2 of the 3 company’s that shafted my whano and I come from bullshit land . Winston I’M next 1 he started mass migration 2 he attacked Maori mana by keeping our leaders out of the media 3 his 90 day employment clause there is much more for one to win in his system someone else has to lose .This does not have to be the way OUR Society works Kia kaha .
Don’t talk about it in soft terms like, why won’t they contribute to the common good,
speak of it as a fee that one must pay in order to live in respective nation.
And really that’s what it is.
It’s absurd to think that you get to live in a country for free.
Also put pressure on consumers.
Consumers aren’t helpless little children, they should have the integrity
to punish companies like Apple by boycotting their products, until
they remedy their fraudulent behaviour.
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
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I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
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AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
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The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker.Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...
The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...
A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...
If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...
Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...
The government has confirmed its plan to break up Te Pūkenga / New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology and re-establish independent polytechnics. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Whittle, Director, Data61 Ganjalex / Shutterstock I’m a computer scientist and a bad Christmas shopper. Over the weekend, I wondered whether AI systems might be able to help me out. Could I just prompt ChatGPT to pick a personalised ...
Paradise lost 
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...3 hours ago
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...4 hours ago
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...16 hours ago
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...21 hours ago
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...1 day ago
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...1 day ago
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...1 day ago
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...2 days ago
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...2 days ago
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...2 days ago
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...2 days ago
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...2 days ago
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...3 days ago
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...3 days ago
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...3 days ago
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...3 days ago
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...4 days ago
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...4 days ago
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...4 days ago
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...4 days ago
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...4 days ago
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...4 days ago
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...4 days ago
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...4 days ago
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...4 days ago
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Some years ago, I found myself pondering the power of literature to endure. Or at least the power of some of it to endure, while the rest vanishes in mere decades: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/look-on-my-works-ye-mighty-and-despair-the-literary-future/. I have similarly had fun with the subject in some of my short stories, such as Another Alexandria ...5 days ago
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...5 days ago
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...5 days ago
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...5 days ago
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...6 days ago
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...6 days ago
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...7 days ago
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...1 week ago
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...1 week ago
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...1 week ago
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...1 week ago
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...1 week ago
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...2 days ago
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...3 days ago
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...2 weeks ago
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...4 hours ago
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...7 hours ago
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...9 hours ago
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I think the NZ connections haven’t yet been discovered, and I believe some NZ journos are working on it – according to a Stuff editorial.
Many of the documents are from the Asiaciti Trust Group, based in Samoa, but which has an office in Auckland.
Asiaciti also made submissions to the government in 2014, to not tighten NZ regulations on overseas trusts, as some of us discussed yesterday on Open Mike
PS: I have seen a screenshot on twitter of a document claiming Malcolm Turnbull (Oz PM) gets a mention in the Paradise Papers, but I can’t find a link to any article on it.
Imagine NZ had no nation scale government. Just the local councils we’re familiar with. On a day to day basis local govt provides the vast majority of ordinary services that make life civilised, rubbish, roads, water, libraries, parks, building regulations, parking, animal and pest control … on and on. For ordinary people, whose lives are located in one place at a time, this scale of governance suffices for most of our needs.
But now, absent any governance on a national scale, how would all these small councils handle entities on a scale beyond their jurisdiction? Leaving aside obvious technical problems like providing national highways and transport, communications and the like … consider the problem of handling large companies that operate across multiple council districts. Consider individuals who make themselves resident in one town for tax purposes, but locate their assets in another which imposes little or no tax. Consider a company that rips off a client in Auckland, but is immune to redress because their offices are in Hamilton. Imagine how to deal with one town that pollutes for profit, and it’s neighbours who absorb the costs. And so on.
Such a scenario strikes us as absurd; dealing with these issues is exactly why we have a nation state.
But wait. If the entire human population of NZ was indeed just say, two small towns, imagine maybe Kaikohe and Gore. They were separated by days of travel, barely communicated and the few traders who operated between then did so on a basis of personal trust alone. Would we then need all the apparatus of a nation state? Well no, we would think it an absurd imposition, all of the citizens of Gore and Kaikohe would resist such a notion as a dangerous imposition on their identity and autonomy.
But in the past 180 years or so the nation states of the planet have moved from comparative isolation and autonomy, to complete connectivity and dependence on each other. And when you look at the enormous progress in building the technical, commercial and legal infrastructures that support this massive global connectivity, an astounding amount of progress has been made. Especially since the end of WW2.
But politically we remain stuck in nation state thinking; for the most part we regard the idea of global governance with the same suspicion as might the people of Gore and Kaikohe in the example above. In reality we are a now a single global society, but politically we cannot let go the delusions the nation state is the highest form and end point of our social evolution.
And because we baulk at this last hurdle, the establishment of effective, democratically accountable global governance, we struggle to address virtually all the big problems we face.
Somewhere I read a while back that just the cash hoarded in Caribbean tax havens alone, not including other assets, was enough to pay the debts of all the nation states on earth. Legal only because they lie beyond the reach of the nations, but are of course pure parasitical piracy on the high seas of global finance.
Good comment.
Sums it up well.
The forces of globalism have leapt at the chance to dominate the new world order. And they are busy trying to prevent sovereign nations from uniting and exerting power. Think Brexit and the scorn thrown by the right at the United Nations.
Exactly mickey. Just the confusion heaped on the word ‘globalist’ is enough to make me despair.
but at least these guys won’t need campaign contributions from big business and are thus not ‘owned and beholden’ to anyone. Right? right?
Consider a company that rips off a client in Auckland, but is immune to redress because their offices are in Hamilton. Imagine how to deal with one town that pollutes for profit, and it’s neighbours who absorb the costs. And so on.
And we’re still having serious problems with that type of shit.
Take China’s territorial grab in the South China Sea for example. International law, that they’ve agreed to by belonging to the UN, makes such actions illegal. It was recognised that if anyone could go off and make an artificial island and claim it as territory it was going to have major impacts politically.
When China’s actions was found illegal by the appropriate court China simply ignored it and the only way to stop them would be an all out war.
This is where global governance will always have a problem. Stopping individuals committing crime is fairly easy for a community. It’s pretty much impossible for a group of nations to stop even a small one from doing what it likes because the only option available is war. Consider what would be needed to stop the US from doing whatever it likes.
Perhaps a global government will arise but I don’t see it happening for a thousand years or more and after capitalism has finally been removed. Until then we’re going to act as nation states that encourage better global behaviour from all countries. Unfortunately, the way many of the global institutions are set up (the IMF, World Bank, WTO, etcetera) actually does the exact opposite to what’s needed as they encourage capitalism and competition.
but I don’t see it happening for a thousand years or more and after capitalism has finally been removed.
Perhaps the other way around. I see it happening within my lifetime. Already most of the pre-conditions and building blocks are in place. Once established it would quickly suppress the robber-baron form of capitalist piracy that you so rightly object to.
In the end I believe it will happen, not so much because people of goodwill thought it a good idea … but from fear of the consequences of NOT doing so.
Once established it would quickly suppress the robber-baron form of capitalist piracy that you so rightly object to
Hello RL..
What might replace the ‘robbery’?
Those building blocks you refer to, look to be larger scale ‘robbery’ foundations…
DtB and I have had many conversations about this one way or another. It’s my sense that markets will remain an enduring aspect of human life. But how those markets are organised, and what purposes they serve very much depends on the values and intentions of those of participate.
I don’t have a neat, encapsulated answer for your question; but we know that the motives of greed, social status, and overt power are not the universal human experience. If you look there are many examples of people whose life has bent to other gentler, loftier goals … so we know people are capable of this.
The trick is not so much the ‘good individual’, but the ‘good society’.
Thank You, RL.
Essentially a case of ‘good versus evil’…
Hope must always be retained in the heart, IMO
Sincere and genuine, hope
John Key’s lawyer definitely got a mention.
Why was there no MSM coverage of the FACT that on 1 August 2017, at Rutherford House Victoria University, the (then) Chair of Transparency International, Jose Ugaz, stated that John Key should be investigated over the Panama Papers?
I was present at that meeting, as were about 200 others.
Why the silence, here in New Zealand, ‘perceived’ to be ‘the least corrupt country in the world’?
Because investigating John Key over the Panama Papers would rip the scab off a 44 gallon drum of political ‘pus’, and help expose the NZ corruption REALITY?
I think so.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption whistle-blower’.
They got all that wealth by stealing. Sure, it was legal but it was still theft. You don’t think that they’re going to start paying their fair share now do you?
The rich never pay for anything whereas the poor pay for everything including for the rich to be rich.
Paradise Papers: Apple’s secret tax bolthole revealed
The point that Apple seems to be missing is that they didn’t increase the way that they should have.
FYI
I have a two commentaries on the unfolding scandal of the Paradise Papers. They are available here
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/06/britain-tackle-tax-avoidance-repeatedly-failed-paradise-papers
https://leftfootforward.org/2017/11/the-tax-avoidance-of-the-paradise-papers-is-the-direct-result-of-tory-inaction/
Regards
Prem Sikka
At least there is no nact to act as a road block this time
It’s scandalous I will interesting to read the nz connection
First Dog goes moo!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/06/greedy-swine-are-using-tax-loopholes-to-offshore-billions-also-cows-go-moo
There you go John Keys only goal in OUR political system is to line his and his m8 pockets and this is the mentality of the national party . He still has the power in OUR country to manipulate thing so he can carry on lining his pockets.
He is directly responsible for my situation giving the power to the authority’s to do what they want with no checks and balance’s so he could control everything. I felt a chill down my spine when I first seen him on TV. But I was to busy working my ass off thinking everyone would reward me for my hard work{ yea right} you are just a Maori is what my reward was 2 of the 3 company’s that shafted my whano and I come from bullshit land . Winston I’M next 1 he started mass migration 2 he attacked Maori mana by keeping our leaders out of the media 3 his 90 day employment clause there is much more for one to win in his system someone else has to lose .This does not have to be the way OUR Society works Kia kaha .
Don’t talk about it in soft terms like, why won’t they contribute to the common good,
speak of it as a fee that one must pay in order to live in respective nation.
And really that’s what it is.
It’s absurd to think that you get to live in a country for free.
Also put pressure on consumers.
Consumers aren’t helpless little children, they should have the integrity
to punish companies like Apple by boycotting their products, until
they remedy their fraudulent behaviour.
Blame is to be shared in this case.