River of Kiwis now flood to Oz

Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, June 22nd, 2011 - 56 comments
Categories: election 2008, im/migration, national - Tags:

Well, the Government’s managed to set another record: 3300 Kiwis have managed to ‘catch up’ with Australia in a month.

That’s the new record for number of Kiwis leaving for Australia, set in May.  The previous record of 2900 was set in 1979.

And it’s not mainly Christchurch.  Christchurch contributed an extra 300 people over last May’s figures, but the rest of the country contributed another 1400.

Why are people leaving?  In despair at the lack of vision and economic plan of John Key’s government.  Because they see a better life in Australia, with higher wages and more opportunities.

I was fortunate enough to hear Rod Oram speak earlier this week.  He described the last budget as the worst of the 15 he has scrutinised closely since arriving in the country.

Why? Many reasons (over-promise & under-deliver, over-stating public debt problem, over-reliance on over-optimistic Treasury forecasts etc), but the biggy was the lack of forward-thinking.  There was no investment or plan for the future.  We need R&D and tertiary investment to grow the skills and ideas to increase our country’s wealth and generate the higher income, better jobs Kiwis want: both were cut in real terms.  There was no way out of the mire.

And that’s what the flood of Kiwis jumping the ditch see: no hope here.

We deserve better – a government with a plan at the very least.

56 comments on “River of Kiwis now flood to Oz ”

  1. Craig Glen Eden 1

    Posted this just last night:

    My best friend told me tonight he is off to Australia better paid job plus 9% employer contribution from employer, leaves in September family to follow in December. He does not want to leave but the opportunity is just to good to pass up given he cant get ahead in NZ.

    This guy is a CEO here but like he says National have no plan and Key is a total clown, its all turning to shit real fast in NZ so he feels he has to go, cant say I blame him.
    Reply

    • Colonial Viper 1.1

      It’s a real problem. Warmer, wealthier, more upbeat, and only 3 1/2 hours away.

      Why not, when you see how the Government is abandoning its own people to the vagaries of income inequality, free market forces and private sector profiteering.

    • Lanthanide 1.2

      Hopefully he’ll remember to vote in the election!

      • rosy 1.2.1

        Yes, I really hope Mana, the Greens and Labour are gearing-up to convince their overseas supporters to vote.

        • Colonial Viper 1.2.1.1

          A million NZ’ers living overseas, over half will be of voting age.

          That’s massive.

          • Hanswurst 1.2.1.1.1

            Well, this NZer living overseas will definitely be voting for the left – I’m even visiting again beforehand to renew my eligibility. I’m not going to be overseas forever, and I don’t want to come back to a country that’s been driven into the mud by the current stupid clowns year upon year.

            • Colonial Viper 1.2.1.1.1.1

              Exactly. The fear is that they will run down our health and education systems so much that its hard for any one to choose to live here even if they love the country.

            • HC 1.2.1.1.1.2

              Hanswurst – bring in skilled labour from Europe and certain Asian countries, let them make the products they make back there, with natural ingredients grown and produced here, let them create a trade where they train apprentices, where we learn how to make sausages like in Europe (Wurst part of your name well addressed, I hope), let them make excellent cheeses, wine, herbal products, honey, hams, sausages, pates, fish products and whatever else may come to mind, and we will have a fertile value added economy.

              But no, we must export more logs, milk powder, butter, wool, and whatever is produced in bulk and without refinement.

              That is the shit the wrong advisors told us in the early 1990’s . I remember well that American “expert” selling his book here talking about “cometitive advantages” and Shipley, Richardson and Bolger lapping it all up as the finest recipe for NZs future.

              Look at the world! Countries that serve tourists, that hold language courses for foreign students, that produce primary agricultural and similar products are amongst the poorer, less paid and disadvantaged societies.

              Those that invest in knowledge, skills and attract value added manufacturing are leading. We have been hoodwinked and betrayed into total ignorance and dumbness. That is why this country is losing its citizens and used by migrants as a revolving back door to better territories.

              NZ is screwed by repeated idiots running the show. Throw them out and bloody well revolt!

  2. freedom 2

    It would be interesting to see some accurate figures that show how many of the ‘from the rest of NZ’ were actually recently relocated residents of CHCH.  I suspect it is a lot higher than the 800 reported earlier today.
     

    • Craig Glen Eden 2.1

      Really freedom proud Cantabs calling them selfs Aucks?What a desperate attempt to try and blame the CHCH earth quakes for this Governments appalling performance.National totally bereft of any plan.

      • freedom 2.1.1

        i doubt it was the people’s decision as to how they were counted. I can picture the data collector ” most recent address only please, we don’t need to know your life history.”
        Actually a liitle amazed that the figure isn’t higher.  I am also considering relocating out of NZ if National get back in.  Not to OZ, there are other places in the world that are not little America yet. i cannot afford to right now but there are prospects being investigated.
         
        I was imagining what staying in NZ under another National Government would be like and i settled on looking into the barrels of a loaded shotgun and paying someone else to pull the trigger

  3. millsy 3

    To me that is jumping from the frying pan into the fire. After all, there are:

    1) Cumplosory super – meaning that you get 9% of your wages taken from you and given to a Gordon Gekko type who will lose it on the stock market

    2) No ACC – you have to fork out expensively for accident and health insurance etc with no assurance of payout – and their health system is pretty dodgy – you have ladies giving birth in toilets, and you still gotta get health insurance, or else you die.

    3) Everything is expensive, rent, houses, petrol, etc and so on.

    4) Toll roads galore

    5) The Labour party there is more right than our Labour party (and from my understanding, has been for the past 30 to 40 years)

    6) You cannot walk through Sydney without stumbling into the middle of a mob war (I dont mean pissy BP’s and Mongerel mob with baseball bats, I mean Italian and Lebanese Mafia with sub-machine guns).

    7) very corrupt cops – the cops own half the brothels in kings cross

    8) You lose your job, there is no safety net

    • millsy 3.1

      Oh yeah, and more Australians send their kids to private schools, so you have a country full of elite snobs, and its packed with rednecks.

    • Colonial Viper 3.2

      I can tell you that petrol in Australia is cheaper (at least in metropolitan areas) than in NZ. And that’s *including* our soft exchange rate.

      From memory it was ~A$1.60/L or thereabouts.

      Yeah there are a few issues though, no place is perfect. But you can overlook a few little things when you are being paid 40% more 😎

    • ghostwhowalksnz 3.3

      No the 9% is not taken from you- thats the employers contrib. Employees can volunteer another 9% or lessor amount.

      While there is no ACC for 24 hr coverage, employers pay ACC type premiums ( and employees can sue) and there is the vehicle ACC system like we have for motor cars

    • Deadly_NZ 3.4

      And what do you get if you are unfortunatly stuck in NZ?
      Kiwi saver Just made it more expensive to get the same money. May not be gambled by a Gordon Gecko type, But is robbed by a Blinglish type of incompetant.

      Sky Rocketing costs and huge waiting lists to get anything done in a govt dept, as all have been gutted.

      Acc??? A company who will wriggle and bluster and bullshit about the services they offer you, but don’t give them to you.

      Petrol at 2.07 and climbing???? food prices thru the roof, doctors with too big a list so that the poor and sick get poorer and sicker.

      Multi milllion dollar holiday highways that go nowhere.

      Gotta be better than the fuckwits in charge now.

      Napier and other places used to be the same Black power and mongrel mob wallys fighting and scaring little old ladies.

      And the cops here?? May not be corrupt, but they could not catch a burglar unless they pulled him over on a bullshit traffic charge.

      There are NO JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      So Millsy your beloved NACTS are just as bad.

      • millsy 3.4.1

        Whoa there Deadly.

        I think you need to up/down your medication, because last time I looked, I didnt ‘love’ NACT.

        I am just pointing out a lot of the downsides about heading to OZ, and the grass isnt always greener.

        Anyway, by the looks of things, the Liberal-National coalition looks like it could get back into power, and Abbot really makes Brash look like a Marxist.

  4. ChrisH 4

    I reckon the only reason people aren’t bailing en masse is because of the risk of ending up unemployed in Oz with no dole. That’s the trans-Tasman equivalent of the Berlin Wall, if it were not for that fact, New Zealand would collapse in the next three months.

  5. Peter 5

    The sad thing is most probably don’t want to leave but feel they have little choice.

    • Shona 5.1

      So right Peter. Those of us who worked in Oz in the 70’s and early 80’s then returned to NZ to invest and raise our families are now watching our offspring reluctantly repeat their parents experience. Because they simply can’t earn a living wage in NZ. They don’t want to live there but the advantages and opportunities are too great, We have failed the younger generations. I don’t want my grandchildren to be Aussies but it just keeps on happening . Any body with any get up and go has got up and gone!
      Key continues to successfully emulate his role model and hero, Piggy Muldoon.

      • Deadly_NZ 5.1.1

        But the worst of it is that unlike those of us who did the big OE, and came back to NZ to raise families and work, Our Kids are just looking at what the so called government is doing and saying “fuck this i’m out of here” And they DON’T come back. And if I could afford it I would be Gone long ago.

        • SBS 5.1.1.1

          This is probably one of the most stupid comments I’ve seen here. No one bases their decision to move on the government of the day but rather on their own personal circumstances. NZ is a small village and given that Kiwis have easy access to the UK and Australia to work then it shouldn’t be any surprise that we wish to live and experience a more cosmopolitan society and gain valuable work experience.

          In particular Australia is a global aberration where a unskilled worker can potentially, especially in Western Australia, much more than they could ever earn anywhere else so its more of a tragedy to lose hardworking members of our working class while being left with the dregs who can’t even be bothered to ante up the $150 required for a one way flight to Oz but continue, like parasites, to suck up the welfare. Unless the labour party is prepared to move the minimum wage to something like $30 an hour we’d lose then anyway.

          Disclosure: currently living and working in Sydney but planning to return so I know about the motivations about why kiwis move there than most of the posters here who quite frankly are just a waste of air.

          • Reality Bytes 5.1.1.1.1

            @SBS “No one bases their decision to move on the government of the day but rather on their own personal circumstances. ”

            Ever hear of political refugees. Oh I bet you many many people reluctantly choose to leave their homeland every minute solely due to their government, and not due to personal circumstances. Infact the people that have the ability to move probably have better resources(personal circumstances) than most of their peers!

          • Colonial Viper 5.1.1.1.2

            Disclosure: currently living and working in Sydney but planning to return so I know about the motivations about why kiwis move there than most of the posters here who quite frankly are just a waste of air.

            There are 700,000 NZ’ers living in Australia. How many of them have you met?

            “Planning to return” What exactly does that mean? Planning to come back if Key and English get back in eh?

            Unless the labour party is prepared to move the minimum wage to something like $30 an hour we’d lose then anyway.

            We’ll start by giving people a fair days pay for a fair days work. NZ workers should be able to afford NZ milk, NZ beef and NZ lamb every day.

            • SBS 5.1.1.1.2.1

              Quite a few actually since it’s easier to pick out the accent so why don’t you STFU about shit you don’t know since you’re not here but in some kind of lowly public service role praying your pointless paper shuffling job is safe from the next round budget cutbacks.

              We expats are always talking about why we left NZ and the reasons are varied. I’ve never come across any who claims that they left because of the depredations of the national administration. To be honest it seems indicative of some kind of mental illness but after reading some of the posts on this site I am not surprised.

              @Reality Bytes: I wasn’t talking about political refugees but Kiwis living in Australia so your ‘insight’ is actually irrelevant. However there are enough leftard wingnuts on this site who actually think NZ is actually some kind of fascistic state.

              • Colonial Viper

                SBS you’re a lowly scavenger looking to pick over the bones of the NZ economy for your National mates right?

                you don’t know since you’re not here but in some kind of lowly public service role praying your pointless paper shuffling job is safe from the next round budget cutbacks.

                😀 So I guess if National get back in this year you are coming back to your home country as a hatchet man for them then?

                We expats are always talking about why we left NZ and the reasons are varied. I’ve never come across any who claims that they left because of the depredations of the national administration.

                “We expats” all 700,000 of you lol so did they mention anything about NZ’s low wages, poor working conditions, minimal and narrow industries, lack of career advancement opportunities, not valuing the training of trades and graduates, endless budget and capability cuts, shit management culture and general lack of science, technology and management innovation?

              • rosy

                No one bases their decision to move on the government of the day but rather on their own personal circumstances.

                Twice now we’ve taken opportunities to leave NZ – the first was when Shipley was in power and we were happy to be out of hearing range. We made a real celebration of casting our votes in London for Labour in the 1999 election and came home 18 months later. This time, after a year away, it’ll be the same. The political situation did influence our decision to take up an overseas contract, and if NACT get back in we’ll be looking to extend it.

                edit – CV you missed the reduction in real political discourse in the MSM and shrinking democratic processes.

                • Colonial Viper

                  Chur. Some of us will always stay behind and fight fight fight these traitors and sell outs in the trenches and in the hills, every inch of the way.

                  So we’ll look forwards to you being back in NZ before too long 🙂

                  • rosy

                    Don’t mistake leaving for giving up the fight – still working for NZ, have our home there and are learning, learning learning. Nice though that I don’t have to see the NAct mob on the TV everyday – saying nothing meaningful and selling us out in secret. I’d love to be home soon 😉

              • Reality Bytes

                @SBS

                Fair enough, I just thought that sounded like quite a sweeping generalization. I was meaning globally. But hey even you backtracked and acknowledged that some people with certain political views may consider themselves repressed and think NZ is actually some kind of fascistic state, I personally don’t, but hey if those people chose to leave because of their government, then you have acknowledged and illustrated how my original point is in fact relevant to NZ after all.

            • jagilby 5.1.1.1.2.2

              “We’ll start by giving people a fair days pay for a fair days work. NZ workers should be able to afford NZ milk, NZ beef and NZ lamb every day.”

              So moving the minimum wage up to $15/hour is going to do that?

              Sure for the people who manage to keep their jobs at minimum wage. What about that next marginal employee who an employer judges too expensive to take on??? What about the 16 year old who leaves college with no qualifications and is priced out of the labour market?

              Oh yeah, the tax payer will pick up the increasing bill for their NZ milk, beef, lamb and cookies. Such a sustainable idea… why has no one thought of that???

              • Colonial Viper

                Oh brilliance jagilby!

                Here’s a simple answer – employers who cannot afford to pay a fairs day wages for a fair days work should close down and make way in the market place for someone who has a better business model and can afford to.

                What about the 16 year old who leaves college with no qualifications and is priced out of the labour market?

                Yeah thank goodness then the National Government is on the ball with apprenticeships, tertiary training programmes and public employment schemes to make sure this doesn’t happen – not!

                Because if the private sector can’t handle the challenge, the public sector will!

                Oh yeah, the tax payer will pick up the increasing bill for their NZ milk, beef, lamb and cookies. Such a sustainable idea… why has no one thought of that???

                Yep. The top 1000 richest New Zealanders control roughly $100B worth of wealth. So if we wanted to make sure that our youth is educated properly and prepared to become productive contributors to the economy, we can tap into that little fund.

                And trust me, none of them will have to give up their vintage champagne, their BMW 7 series with heated leather seats or their first class travel. They’ll be fine.

        • jagilby 5.1.1.2

          Actually – I probably am the age of “your kids” and it isn’t this Government, far from it – it was the previous one that saw a History teacher as finance minister (who crowed about leaving the cupboards bare and demonises “rich pricks” – along with you lot) and the thought of the next labour govt burying the final nails in the coffin that scares the living daylights out of me when I think about returning to NZ.

          You have your collective heads so far up your arse that you fail to realise that you lot are not the solution but rather encompass everything that holds NZ back.

          • Jim Nald 5.1.1.2.1

            Well, so National is so ineffectual that it can’t turn things around? National did campaign to close the gap with Oz. That billboard was the first one they launched on 1 Sep 2008. And I voted for them.

            Labour: if National blames you for it, then make the case that when you’re next in Government, you will review and reverse the policies of the past.

            Phil Goff: you can have our mandate to reverse all the shortcomings of Cullen’s Labour Government of the 2000s, Richardson’s Government of the 1990s, and the Douglas’ ACT-in-Labour-drag Government of 1980s.

          • Colonial Viper 5.1.1.2.2

            You have your collective heads so far up your arse that you fail to realise that you lot are not the solution but rather encompass everything that holds NZ back.

            Yeah because lower wages for all of us would really move NZ forward.

            Or more precisely, would move the asset wealthy capitalist employer class forward.

            Small but important difference there eh? 🙂

          • rosy 5.1.1.2.3

            a History teacher as finance minister

            A Doctor of Social and Economic History and lecturer (Otago University,and Australian National University) as finance minister. There, FIFY.

            • Jim Nald 5.1.1.2.3.1

              And what about the current Finance Minister, Simon William English?

              English (not a pun) literature and Commerce degrees?

              Unlike a PhD, is that like just a simple simon’s bachelors?

              • Colonial Viper

                And I guess Jerry Brownlee might be able to make a door or two for busted Christchurch houses. Using the local school’s woodwork shop you know.

  6. tc 6

    Hilarious millsy ever thought of standup. Oh the sarcasm.

  7. ianupnorth 7

    I was recently on the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast – a few reflections
     
    1) The kids working the rides at Dreamworld and Whitewater World were mainly 20 something Maori kids; they were doing a pretty mundane job, but they were happy, were earning a good wage and had a good quality of life; when I chatted to them they were from all over NZ; they had left whanau behind, who they missed, but they had no regrets.
     
    2) The cars on the road were mainly pretty new, e.g. under 5 years old; people dressed well, people looked happy. Conversely, we have three cars the newest is over 5 years old, and despite earning way above the median salary, I wouldn’t say we were as well off.
     
    3) Property prices were on a par with here; oh, and you get a $5K first time buyers grant and interest free for solar electricity and solar hot water.
     
    4) Petrol was cheaper (read way cheaper) – and they had this strange thing called public transport!
     
    5) The only things that were more expensive were bananas (thanks to their cyclones) and beer.

    6) And contrary to common beliefs (and I so want this not to be the case) – the locals were very, very friendly!
     
    It really made me think what the hell am I doing in NZ? I could earn 75% more, plus get employer paid superannuation and be far better off.

    • Reality Bytes 7.1

      Man it’s posts/opinions like this that make me consider moving there. Or at the very least taking a long working holiday there sometime 🙂

      You do paint the picture well, it’s not all Big city snobbyness there like some people make it out to be. Aussies and aussie residents really are (for the most part) very genuinely friendly easy going people, I really notice that every time I’ve visited the place, and I’ve always enjoyed that aspect.

      • fabregas4 7.1.1

        I was brought up in the days of not liking Aussie – all due to sports. Finally went for a trip there and couldn’t believe how:
        clean and tidy it was
        how nice everyone was
        how they liked Kiwis
        how shopkeepers and shop assistants were actually helpful
        how people went the extra mile.

        I love NZ but it is getting harder and harder to stay here. Sad very sad.

    • wil 7.2

      I too was surprised by the helpfullness of the locals.Even the attractive women don’t think you’re trying to chat them up when asking for help unlike in NZ.

  8. HC 8

    Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, yeah I’ll come waltzing with you, dear Matilda, I’ll come!

    Well, I wish I could, but I am stuck here in this place and am totally determined to shake the f-ing shit out of governments, the dull, dumbed down, and indifferent or resignating people we have left. I am all for a good round of smashing revolt like it was a Queen St riot some many years ago. That is how I feel. I do not say that I would do it though. The boys in blue may wish to talk to me if I would. So I am a very sensible and reasonable chap. But if this government and others to follow will push it just a bit further, I would not be surprised if we will not soon have riots in Otara, Mangere, Manukau, Avondale, Glenfield or whereever in Greater Auckland. You may of course add the same kinds of suburbs of Porirua, Lower Hutt and so forth in Wellington, certain ones in over stressed CH CH, Dunedin, or in certain regions.

    People are on edge now. I see and hear it every day. It has never been so tense, edgy, hostile and hopeless in Aotearoa NZ since I came here about 30 years ago. I have never known it to be this bad. We are indeed in a climate of envy, hatred, racism, rich and poor divide, total disrespect for any government departments and the government itself telling us all is getting better. Nobody really believes this, except the ones in the elitarian areas. So John Key, the traitor of most, the glossy mag face, the ever smiling assassin, the hollow man of false demeanour, the face lifted too many times, the schemer and easy maneuverist in the rich and powerful territory of this God forsaken land, he is now starting to yearn, yes yearn for his sunny retirement home on Hawaii.

    He has to announce tomorrow the most difficult and hated realities to many in the second largest city of the country. That many will have to give up their homes. That though will only address parts of the large city down south. It will by no means give answers to most. So the loyal Cantabrians will in their majority continue to be tested for years to come. What temptation there may be over the other side of the Tasman. It is dry (mostly), at times too wet (in Q-land), yet it is so much better equipped with resources the world need, with riches, opportunities, and better living standards. So this so well blessed country full of fertility of water on this side is unable to compete with that dry territory over there, where Taipan snake and poisonous spiders say good night to each other. What the hell has gone wrong with NZ? It is greed, wrong policies, excessive capitalism, envy, division, political experiments, and above all the high treason of the elite that own most of it – and US!

  9. HC 9

    There are too many idiots in this country, that is why it is given up so easily. If you had brains and guts you would overthrow idiot governments and bring in something constructive and better. But because most Kiwis are so gutless, nobody does. They tend to put the houses and flats up for sale, cash in and get the next plae out. That is NOT patriotism, that is cowardice, no matter how much I try to understand peoples needs. Go to other places on the planet and wars would be fought over this land. But the frustrated Kiwi sells and runs as a coward! Leave it to the wrong government and new migrants then, who is to blame???

    • ianupnorth 9.1

      Spot on HC; been here for 10 years; under the Clark administration I felt, safe, secure and that I was living in a compassionate country that genuinely cared for its own, for it’s back yard (the pacific islands) and the global environment.
       
      The past two and a bit years have been awful. I have been restructured at work twice, we have lost 25% of our staff but are expected to produce the same outcomes. Financially my family are worse off, we spend a fair bit of time looking through the ‘reduced’ section of the supermarket, buy only what is on special, and going out – well that’s a thing of the past. Bear in mind my wife and I both work and have a relatively low mortgage! (and we are not living a very ‘rich’ life).
       
      If it was not for the age of my kids (years 11 and 13 at high school) we would have left a year or so ago.
       
      But HC is so correct – it is the idiots who cannot or choose not to actually see what is going on; I have never lived in a country where people are taken in so much by the rich; they seem to hold them in high esteem whilst, say a union leader, is seen as a pariah.

  10. come get some 10

    and i’m one of them, yay for being on $10 more NZ an hour here (first year into my industry)

    • Colonial Viper 10.1

      Yeah I know a store manager from Christchurch who was on less than NZ$20/hr over here, she is on roughly A$27/hr now doing basically the same job, but in Australia.

  11. Alun 11

    We have just lost our business in NZ and so we’ve essentially lost everything. Thankfully my family are lending me the money to get to Australia and get settled as I can’t find any work here in Northland that will sustain my partner and I and give us any semblance of quality of life. I hope that National don’t get back in after the next election as I would like to come back to a country that isn’t completely f**ked in a few years, but I suspect I might have to stay in Australia for a decade or two unfortunately as the bulk of the voting public seem to be mentally retarded at the moment – it’s like they’re under some trance.. it’s wierd and I want to get out before I succumb to it too.

  12. fabregas4 12

    I’ve always believed that our compaines have had a competitive advantage because of the type of country NZ is (was). A great place to bring up kids, safe, clean, happy. People wanted to come here and most of us knew we were lucky and so if pay was slightly higer elsewhere it was ok.

    Most of that has changed though. That advantage is gone. Broken by successive governments and greedy employers and far right policy. This ironically has been coupled with CEO’s from overseas taking all the best jobs and demanding overseas rates of pay and conditions because that is the global market and driving the average guys wage down because that is the global market!

    Oz looks good to me too just because they are not so dumb as to let all this happen to them.

  13. leftiewestie 13

    Let them go to OZ and be treated like second class citizens. If the opinion that Aussies have of NZers living in their country is anything to go by then the best ones stay here anyway!!

    However, I would like to see the stats broken down to know the number of new NZers who make the trans Tasman move. By this I mean people who come to NZ to get a passport then use their NZ passport to get into OZ which is their ultimate aim in the first place.

  14. mik e 14

    yeah that phd in the history of economics teacher got the economy to grow by 28% by volume over 9 years while the double dipper has only managed less than 1% by volume in 5 years but trickle up many tax cuts for those on over 120,000 pa

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    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    18 hours ago
  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    21 hours ago
  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    21 hours ago
  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    22 hours ago
  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    23 hours ago
  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    1 day ago
  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    2 days ago
  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    2 days ago
  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    2 days ago
  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago
  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    2 days ago
  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    2 days ago
  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    3 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    3 days ago
  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    5 days ago
  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • DAVID FARRAR: Hysterical bullshit
    Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #48 2023
    Open access notables From this week's government/NGO section, longitudinal data is gold and Leisorowitz, Maibachi et al. continue to mine ore from the US public with Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Fall 2023: Drawing on a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, the authors describe how registered ...
    5 days ago
  • ELE LUDEMANN: It wasn’t just $55 million
    Ele Ludemann writes –  Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 1-December-2023
    Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • Shane MacGowan Is Gone.
    Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 1
    Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2023 More Reading: November (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for November: A Modern Utopia, by H.G. Wells The Vampire (poem), by Heinrich August Ossenfelder The Corpus Hermeticum The Corpus Hermeticum is Mead’s translation. Now, this is indeed a very quiet month for reading. But there is a reason for that… You see, ...
    6 days ago
  • Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    6 days ago
  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Finally
    Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Government in a hurry – Luxon lists 49 priorities in 100-day plan while Peters pledges to strength...
    Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • DAVID FARRAR: Luxon is absolutely right
    David Farrar writes  –  1 News reports: Christopher Luxon says he was told by some Kiwis on the campaign trail they “didn’t know” the difference between Waka Kotahi, Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora. Speaking to Breakfast, the incoming prime minister said having English first on government agencies will “make sure” ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Top 10 at 10 am for Thursday, Nov 30
    There are fears that mooted changes to building consent liability could end up driving the building industry into an uninsured hole. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Thursday, November 30, including:The new Government’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on how climate change threatens cricket‘s future
    Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, M Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else, and complaining that he has inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” – which is how most of us are ...
    6 days ago
  • We need to talk about Tory.
    The first I knew of the news about Tory Whanau was when a tweet came up in my feed.The sort of tweet that makes you question humanity, or at least why you bother with Twitter. Which is increasingly a cesspit of vile inhabitants who lurk spreading negativity, hate, and every ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Dangling Transport Solutions
    Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports: Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New ...
    6 days ago
  • November AMA
    Hi,It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Ask-Me-Anything on here, so today’s the day. Ask anything you like in the comments section, and I’ll be checking in today and tomorrow to answer.Leave a commentNext week I’ll be giving away a bunch of these Mister Organ blu-rays for readers in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • National’s early moves adding to cost of living pressure
    The cost of living grind continues, and the economic and inflation honeymoon is over before it began. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: PM Christopher Luxon unveiled his 100 day plan yesterday with an avowed focus of reducing cost-of-living pressures, but his Government’s initial moves and promises are actually elevating ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Backwards to the future
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed that it will be back to the future on planning legislation. This will be just one of a number of moves which will see the new government go backwards as it repeals and cost-cuts its way into power. They will completely repeal one ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago
  • New initiatives in science and technology could point the way ahead for Luxon government
    As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some  of  the  economic issues  confronting  New Zealand. It may take time for some new  ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the  changes that  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    7 days ago
  • Treaty pledge to secure funding is contentious – but is Peters being pursued by a lynch mob after ...
    TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago
  • How long does this last?
    I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago
  • National’s giveaway politics
    We already know that national plans to boost smoking rates to collect more tobacco tax so they can give huge tax-cuts to mega-landlords. But this morning that policy got even more obscene - because it turns out that the tax cut is retrospective: Residential landlords will be able to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    7 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: Who’s driving the right-wing bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 week ago
  • GRAHAM ADAMS:  Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government
    The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishing Graham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    1 week ago
  • Top 10 news links for Wednesday, Nov 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Smokefree Fallout and a High Profile Resignation.
    The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • As Cabinet revs up, building plans go on hold
    Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • National takes over infrastructure
    Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them.  POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees  National MPs Chris ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 week ago
  • At a glance – Evidence for global warming
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    1 week ago
  • Who’s Driving The Right-Wing Bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
    1 week ago

  • PISA results show urgent need to teach the basics
    With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids.  The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    16 hours ago
  • Collins leaves for Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Working for Families gets cost of living boost
    Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrapped
    The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in Gaza
    New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Condolences on passing of Henry Kissinger
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Backing our kids to learn the basics
    Every child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • US Business Summit Speech – Regional stability through trade
    I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber.  I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Keynote Address to the United States Business Summit, Auckland
    Good morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States.  This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • India New Zealand Business Council Speech, India as a Strategic Priority
    Good morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Coalition Government unveils 100-day plan
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago
  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

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