I don’t honestly know why Gillard hung on this long. She should have stepped aside at the start of last week. Clearly her position was untenable and I don’t know why anyone would want to be leader of such a riven party – easier just to stand back and let the other guy take the fall.
Ultimately Gillard’s failure was due to Rudd. Gillard only took the job because it looked like Rudd was going to lose, and they just barely scraped over the line, and had to swallow political rats left and right to stay in power.
This is an example of why Labour + Greens want to come out of this upcoming election with 65+ seats, a bare majority like National currently have just won’t cut it.
That is never going to happen whilst Shearer is leader. About time the Shearer camp swallowed their pride and moved on. Shearer = Rowling lovely blokes lousy leaders
Agree with what you say about Rowling, he was a good man but in ineffectual leader.
Shearer is a sad case but then look at the abomination we have as an alternative, Keys? A petty dictator and dishonest leader.
I have to say the Australians are lucky to have Kevin Rudd, we have no politician of his calibre in this country and as such we are lost.
Methinks Rudd is indeed leader of the Labour Party but not yet PM .. there are formalities to go through with assumptions but no built-in guarantee … Abbott’s shadow looms large.
And come in David Cunliffe, your time is up, please.
A leadership spill is of no point until Labour remembers who it is representing. Clue: not people earning $75K pa complaining about Auckland first home prices.
Do not accuse me of sexism, please, but Gillard was just not able to deliver the leadership in difficult times for Australian Labour.
I am not enthusiastic about Rudd, but facing an election in a few months, or even weeks, with Gillard trying stunts like holding a knitting session in front of cameras, open to ridicule, having been too defensive too often, doing too many u-turns, and about to lead Aus Labour to their worst defeat in at least recent history, there is now only Rudd who can turn the ship around.
Surely, with the Nats running this country down further, we do not want a large, powerful neighbour and ally across the Tasman being taken over by a similar kind of government.
As for Shearer, I hope that the vote in the by-election this weekend will send a final message to the Labour caucus, that it is time to get rid of him. Please, avoid a scenario like Aus Labour faced until yesterday, and another embarrassing defeat: Roll the hopeless man!
Rudd is a self-serving, dishonest megalomaniac whose ego has allowed him to be used by Murdoch and the miners to get rid of Gillard. Gillard was a socially conservative and determined atheist who managed to hold a minority government together against an hourly litany of orchestrated character assassination and lies, and had been used by the miners to get rid of Rudd. Rudd would never have been able to become PM given the numbers after the last election. Gillard not only did that, but she kept the government together for a full term.
Her politics disgusted me. Her refusal to treat refugees as human beings, her denial of marriage equality, and her continuation of the racist intervention in the Northern Territory would inspire John Banks. As a political animal, you knew what she would do and could trust her to try to do it.
I don’t know what Rudd’s politics are, because apparently they’ve changed significantly since he was PM the first time, especially on refugees and global warming. As a political animal, I have no idea what he will do except to lose an election. He will then blame Gillard.
Many of the same Queenslanders who voted Bjelke-Newman in and are now complaining are exactly the same ones who are rejoicing that Gillard has gone. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the previous state premier was also a woman. Soon enough, they’ll be crying about Abbott.
Seems like Labor has its share of big leadership problems. Remembering that only half the problem are the leaders themselves. The other half are their powerful backroom and factional supporters.
I include Kiwis in Aussie in the economic refugee category. You’re right though – she just continued Howard’s policies. Key went over to sort it out and gave them access to New Zealand government information, with nothing in return.
I don’t know that at all, burt. I do know that a disproportionate number of self-serving, narcissistic, dishonest megalomaniacs are found in all sorts of political parties. Nact doesn’t seem to have much else, in fact, whereas Labour Parties tend to have a few decent human beings who follow what I consider an invalid political and economic model.
Thanks Murray, been waiting for somebody to enlighten me on what Gillard stands for, what Rudd stands for. I dont give a flying f**k about their genders. Anybody else who can state what their politics are?
Thanks Karol, I was wondering if she was to the left or right….I knew she was pretty good at standing up to the male chauvinists, but so was Maggie. Does anybody know where Rudd stands? Is he another new right apologist?
I get the impression Gillard started her work and political careers being solidly Labour and fairly left wing. However, having strong Labour Party roots, she tended to move with the neoliberal times.
Rudd strikes me as a bit of a slippery operator. I seem to recall that he was never strongly “tribal” Labour, unlike Gillard. He supported Kim Beazley, who was leftish.
In his first speech to parliament, Rudd affirmed his general belief in competitive markets, while repudiating Thatcherism and supporting the Third Way.[78] Rudd is critical of free market economists such as Friedrich Hayek,[79] although Rudd describes himself as “basically a conservative when it comes to questions of public financial management”, pointing to his slashing of public service jobs as a Queensland governmental advisor.[80]
Murray – with all that, as you comment, why do so many Kiwis go to Australia?
Maybe then, it is doing us a favour, they must all be selfish and fall for the system that they have over there?
I am no fan of the Australian system, and I am horrified generally, how things move globally, but we live in horrific times, really, we have only choices between cholera and the plague, that is politically, socially and economically.
But it is all neatly packaged, in hygienic, plastic wrapping these days, go to the supermarket and get a thrill, all so clean, neat, nice, fake smiling and bullshit, love it, really!?
Got your message on Rudd by the way! Cholera or plague, I say or ask?
I can answer for myself, xtasy. In Australia I get paid for doing what I spent years learning to do, and in some small areas am an international authority. That option isn’t available to me in Aotearoa.
I think others go for economic reasons. There are jobs here. In the past many went to get away from Mowrees and Eyelanders, and built lovely little racist colonies in places like the Gold Coast. That’s changed, as many Maori and Pasifika are here to work. I’m not going to call them selfish for that.
Rudd – probably bubonic plague. Smelly and unpleasant to be around when it happens. I’m not sure he stands for much at all except himself – sort of like Winston without the charm or the economic nationalism, in my view.
On Kim Beazley, Karol – I remember seeing him on a tv debate in about 2000 when I was over here for a conference. I remember wondering who the Labor candidate was, because he would have slotted straight into National at home. I was appalled when I found out it was him.
You are of course, 100% correct that most of the attacks Gillard faced was because she is a woman. We can’t ignore gender.
My impression has been that Aus Labour is pretty much there, where Shearer or even more right wing Labourites want to take us. It dismays me, and it leaves open the question, what can be done to deal with the wider “middle class” actually voting for this. That is the issue, really, and we get it here too, en force, the middle class do NOT want to be seen next to the poor and underclass, the beneficiaries, and that is what got Key voted in, really, to be honest.
It is the result of decades of division, to make the ones a bit better off, a bit better skilled, a bit better “inherited” and otherwise privileged, even moderately, to frown on some “low life”, so they can think, we really “work hard’, we “deserve” what we get, others do not, and they better “shape up”.
I see this as the major issue in societies, from the North American scene, to increasingly also Europe, and certainly well engrained in Latin America. Asia is a bit different, but we see, apart from some Yankee entrepreneur being locked up in his factory, for considering shifting to India, and lower paid work, there is even in China increased division and a new bourgeoisie.
This cannot be fought and stopped by force or violence, it cannot be stopped by competing with them for work or privileges, what do you suggest?
Mass protests need masses, we will never get this with the entitlement thinking middle and upper classes, shitting on us, the rest, and I am a hated beneficiary, by the way, facing day in and out how neighbours and others frown on me for that!
Thing is, I think that Australian attitudes are going to harden considerably as the fall out from thousands of people being made redundant (or not having contracts renewed) in the mining/resources sector, takes hold.
You are of course, 100% correct that most of the attacks Gillard faced was because she is a woman. We canât ignore gender.
How do you explain Gillard’s position that gender explained only part of the rough journey she had experienced?
And you cannot say that her gender was the primary factor in her bad political judgement, self inflicted wounds and hypocrisy around multiple issues – including the fact that she originally crucified Rudd on his bad poll numbers and low popularity, replaced him as PM, and then went on to hang on even longer when her numbers were worse.
We can’t ignore gender, but we can’t make the world orbit around it either.
Ditch the witch? Bob Brown’s bitch? Barren harpy? Childless lesbian? Fat thighs and a big red box? The attacks were made in a way that wouldn’t make sense at all if directed at a male. Directed at a female, they showed that Whalespew and his rabid army would be true gentlemen among the Australian Liberals.
I think that’s basically what Karol said, and what I agreed with. Otherwise, thank you for correcting the position I didn’t take.
Ah. I must have mis-remembered Beazley’s position. I saw him speak in Sydney in the mid-late 90s, in Howard’s time. Beazley seemed a breath of fresh air at the time.
The Aussie Labor party died with Whitlam’s demise.
there has always been a quite strong labour movement and socialist & communist groups. One of my bosses in Sydney had been a communist party member in her youth and still was strongly left as well as being well respected by more MOR people at work.
Well I guess that’s what I was trying to say – that the public has come to accept that politicians cannot be trusted, or that they have any honour, or that what they say has any truth to it. They are today known liars and deceptors extraordinaire. How else does Winston Peters continue……
It seems a genuine shame as this is either indicative of wider society or it leads wider society down the same path.
it has probably always been so……
(might try it myself today on a similar scale. wonder how far I’ll get)
To me, Rudd is a gutless man without honour. Sitting there white-anting his own party for years because of a bruised ego, refusing to step up and prolonging the agony, lying about challenging for the leadership and now being a total hypocrite by doing to Gillard what he complained loudly about when it was done to him.
How Labor will endure this asshat again I don’t know. Personally I think they would have been better off holding the line under Gillard and losing.
I have to apologise to the Italians, but the guy is an unreconstructed conservative.
One upside from this side of the Tasman is that he married a NZer after striking up an acquaintance in a Sydney pub, but I don’t know how much weight that would carry in Canberra. Given recent events, probably not much.
Meanwhile in New Zealand, I predict the charismatic, eloquent and well-spoken David Shearer will lead Labour to a crushing victory defeat in the next election.
I suppose you watched TV3 News tonight, revealing that Shearer does (according to internal caucus source/s) only have 2 months to improve, or they will ditch him!
Finally, I say, finally, get rid of him, he is a liability to NZ Labour. Gillard may have stuffed up somehow, but she at least could talk, face interviews and to a moderate degree “lead” a party and government, although she did not convince the wider electorate.
So imagine a f***head with stumbles, no words and worse, trying to convince the electorate in NZ. If Gillard has to move, Shearer should have been made to be removed months ago!
It is a very “humane” caucus, I think, unless they are mostly clingers on, all desperate, as they put their bets on Shearer. What a bloody mess, really!
It could call a membership ballot on the Leadership but I think it would be essentially pointless. A new head on a struggling directionless ideologically conflicted body.
For true renewal, half a dozen of the current worst oxygen thieving MPs need to be gone. And some real socialists including people who have a solid grasp of heterodox economic principles need to be put in. Preferably MPs who want to gut the BS medical/work capacity assessment hoops done by WINZ, and also return the super age to a more sensible 60.
Shruggedy, shruggedy, that is the problem, lower ranks, members, old members, new members (them less so), the lemmings heading desperately for joy at the cliff, the brainwashing by mass media, commercial madness, indifference and also cowardice, distraction into little consumerist escapism, and not wanting to be seen with the wrong crowd, that is exactly the main issue.
Who dares to protest these days, oh, it endangers my “career prospects’, ‘oh, I would not want to be seen with those radicals and no-hopers” and “oh, no, I may ge some dirty stains on my shirt, if I do that”, sadly thought messages I have detected.
One Che Guevara must have been “mad” to do what he did, no “sensible” person would bother risking their life and health for silly ideals now. There is plenty of ice cream in the fridge, lots of treats at the supermarket, and if I am nice to Mr Nice Guy, or Ms Nice Guyess, I may turn out to be famous, famously wealthy and have a great life. Fuck the rest, solidarity is not what I want, that is what I get every day, in little messages, and that is where we are at, sadly.
So a total global collapse of economic and social systems may turn out to be a game changer. But the snake oil salesmen like Key keep up the hopes and fals e promises. Brighter future and light at the end of the tunnel, yeah right, Tui board out again.
Very good commentary by Kerri-Anne Walsh (Canberra journalist) re- the Gillard/ Rudd stoush on The Panel (yep Morrissey for once it was worth listening to) – just after the 4pm news. Her sympathies clearly lay with Julia Gillard, and it seems Rudd and his supporters have waged an intensive destabilising campaign against her for the past three years.
I can’t figure out how to link since RNZ changed their format. Could someone do it? It’s well worth a listen.
You think our MSM political journalists are appalling? Wait til you hear what Kerri-Anne has to say about the Aussie equivalents…
Yes I heard that, Anne. Kerri-Anne Walsh is an Australian journalist that I rate highly. In her humanity and decency, and also her erudition, she provided a stark contrast to the poisonous and shallow commentary by another Australian pundit this morning on Kathryn Ryan’s show.
Find the link. Right click it to get the context menu. Select the menu item like “Copy URL” (different in different browsers). Go t OK editing a comment at TS. Right click to get context menu. Select “Paste”
On a tablet, you can’t right click. Usually you get a similar effect by holding down your finger and watching for a menu popping up somewhere….
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Mutual Support: Democracy in New Zealand will not be saved by pitting Pakeha against MÄori, but by joining together with every other citizen who still understands the meaning of working together to build something good that will last. Call that co-governance if you like, or call it something else â ...
Imagine being a great big business success enjoying your lavish Waiheke island property with infinity pool and ballroom and riparian rights and heli-pad. Sweeeet. But imagine, also, having to take orders from some little bureaucratic oik about how often you can land a chopper on it.I can’t, really, but it ...
Hi,New Zealand’s Life megachurch has confirmed to Webworm it was paid $10,000 by Hillsong for investigating Brian Houston’s sexual misconduct allegations.Following Webworm publishing this piece about the $10,000 payment, Life’s Corporate Communications Manager Phil Irons has confirmed what it was for:Paul [de Jong] was engaged by Hillsong to assist in ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 19, 2023 thru Sat, Mar 25, 2023. Story of the Week Q&A: IPCC wraps up its most in-depth assessment of climate change The final part of the world’s most comprehensive assessment of ...
by Daphna Whitmore I thought the #LetWomenSpeak meeting would be a good time to talk about free speech and why it is important for the left. Then the mob stampeded the open-air gathering and no one got to speak. Here’s what I was had prepared. Today I want to talk ...
Following decades of work by the Green Party alongside the organics sector, people will finally be able to be confident that products labelled organic have met standards. ...
The Green Party supports immediate Government action to close the pay gap as called for in an open letter released today by the Human Rights Commission and 50 other organisations. ...
The Green Party is today welcoming the release of the Governmentâs waste strategy, but says it has a big gap without action on the container return scheme for beverage containers. ...
The Governmentâs decision to introduce âmass arrivalsâ legislation goes against the values we all share of Aotearoa as a place where all people are treated fairly, the Green Party says. ...
MINISTER DAVIDSON MUST RESIGN AFTER 'VIOLENCE' COMMENTS Marama Davidson should stand down as âMinister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violenceâ for the clear and outrageous statement she made at the Posie Parker protest that âwhite straight menâ are the cause of violence. Her offensive, racist, and sexist remarks ...
In response to Newshub and Amelia Wadeâs obvious and ham-fisted attempt at a typical and predicted political hit job.  As any politically aware reporter would know, any Cabinet subcommittee has a duty and obligation as a part of any government to respond to any UN declaration, in this case ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today and in your busy lives turning up to this meeting. Forty five years ago, in Howick, often described as racist, and where few Maori lived because it had been a âFencibleâ settlement at the time of the Anglo-Maori ...
The Green Party has marked the National Partyâs new education policy and given it a fail, especially for its failure to address the underlying drivers of school performance. ...
âThis is it; 2023 will be the last opportunity New Zealand has to get a government that will confront the climate emergency with the urgency it demands,â says the Green Partyâs co-leader and climate change spokesperson, James Shaw. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
You will never truly understand, from the pictures youâve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
Weâre boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
âCabinet needs to do better - and today has shown exactly why we need Green Ministers in cabinet, so we can prioritise action to cut climate pollution and support people to make ends meet,â says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. ...
Biggest increase in food prices for over three decades shows the need for an excess profit tax on corporations to help people put food on the table. ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Barbara Edmonds has announced the 2023 Pacific Language week series, highlighting the need to revitalise and sustain languages for future generations. âPacific languages are a cornerstone of our health, wellbeing and identity as Pacific peoples. When our languages are spoken, heard and celebrated, our communities thrive,â ...
880,000 pensioners to get a boost to Super, including 5000 veterans 52,000 students to see a bump in allowance or loan living costs Approximately 223,000 workers to receive a wage rise as a result of the minimum wage increasing to $22.70 8,000 community nurses to receive pay increase of up ...
Over 8000 community nurses will start receiving well-deserved pay rises of up to 15 percent over the next month as a Government initiative worth $200 million a year kicks in, says Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall. âThe Government is committed to ensuring nurses are paid fairly and will receive ...
TÄkiri mai ana te ata Ki runga o ngÄkau mÄrohirohi KĹrihi ana te manu kaupapa Ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea Tihei mauri ora Let the dawn break On the hearts and minds of those who stand resolute As the bird of action sings, it welcomes the dawn of a ...
The Government is introducing a scheme which will lift incomes for artists, support them beyond the current spike in cost of living and ensure they are properly recognised for their contribution to New Zealandâs economy and culture. Â Â âIn line with New Zealandâs Free Trade Agreement with the UK, last ...
New Zealand is welcoming a decision by the United Nations General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice to consider countriesâ international legal obligations on climate change. The United Nations has voted unanimously to adopt a resolution led by Vanuatu to ask the ICJ for an advisory opinion on ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 59 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. âThe graduation for recruit wing 364 was my first since becoming Police Minister last week,â Ginny Andersen said. âIt was a real honour. I want to ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta met with Vanuatu Foreign Minister Jotham Napat in Port Vila, today, signing a new Statement of Partnership â Aotearoa New Zealandâs first with Vanuatu. âThe Mauri Statement of Partnership is a joint expression of the values, priorities and principles that will guide the Aotearoa New ZealandâVanuatu relationship into ...
The Government has passed new legislation amending the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) levy regime, ensuring the best balance between a fair and cost effective funding model. The Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Levy) Amendment Bill makes changes to the existing law to: charge the levy on contracts of ...
The Government has passed the Organic Products and Production Bill through its third reading today in Parliament helping New Zealandâs organic sector to grow and lift export revenue. âThe Organic Products and Production Bill will introduce robust and practical regulation to give businesses the certainty they need to continue to ...
The Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill, which will make it easier for New Zealanders to safely prove who they are digitally has passed its third and final reading today. âWe know New Zealanders want control over their identity information and how itâs used by the companies and services they ...
The full Cyclone Gabrielle Recovery Taskforce has met formally for the first time as work continues to help the regions recover and rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle. The Taskforce, which includes representatives from business, local government, iwi and unions, covers all regions affected by the January and February floods and cyclone. ...
Changes have been made to legislation to give subcontractors the confidence they will be paid the retention money they are owed should the head contractorâs business fail, Minister for Building and Construction Megan Woods announced today. âThese changes passed in the Construction Contracts (Retention Money) Amendment Act safeguard subcontractors who ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has unveiled five scenarios for one of the most significant city-shaping projects for TÄmaki Makaurau in coming decades, the additional WaitematÄ Harbour crossing. âAucklanders and businesses have made it clear that the biggest barriers to the success of Auckland is persistent congestion and after years of ...
The Government has passed new legislation that ensures New Zealandâs civil aviation rules are fit for purpose in the 21st century, Associate Transport Minister Kiri Allan says. The Civil Aviation Bill repeals and replaces the Civil Aviation Act 1990 and the Airport Authorities Act 1966 with a single modern law ...
A Bill aimed at helping to reduce delays in the coronial jurisdiction passed its third reading today. The Coroners Amendment Bill, amongst other things, will establish new coronial positions, known as Associate Coroners, who will be able to perform most of the functions, powers, and duties of Coroners. The new ...
The Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Secretary to conduct a review into communications between Stuart Nash and his donors. The review will take place over the next two months. The review will look at whether there have been any other breaches of cabinet collective responsibility or confidentiality, or whether ...
The new Recovery Visa to help bring in additional migrant workers to support cyclone and flooding recovery has attracted over 600 successful applicants within its first month. âThe Government is moving quickly to support businesses bring in the workers needed to recover from Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods,â Michael ...
Bills to ensure non-teaching employees and contractors at schools, and unlicensed childcare services like mall crèches are vetted by police, and provide safeguards for school board appointments have passed their first reading today. The Education and Training Amendment Bill (No. 3) and the Regulatory Systems (Education) Amendment Bill have now ...
WÄnanga will gain increased flexibility and autonomy that recognises the unique role they fill in the tertiary education sector, Associate Minister of Education Kelvin Davis has announced. The Education and Training Amendment Bill (No.3), that had its first reading today, proposes a new WÄnanga enabling framework for the three current ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will travel to Vanuatu today, announcing that Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further relief and recovery assistance there, following the recent destruction caused by Cyclones Judy and Kevin. While in Vanuatu, Minister Mahuta will meet with Vanuatu Acting Prime Minister Sato Kilman, Foreign Minister Jotham ...
The Government is backing Police and making communities safer with the roll-out of state-of-the-art tools and training to frontline staff, Police Minister Ginny Andersen said today. âFrontline staff face high-risk situations daily as they increasingly respond to sophisticated organised crime, gang-violence and the availability of illegal firearms,â Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government has provided Police with more tools to crack down on gang offending with the passing of new legislation today which will further improve public safety, Justice Minister Kiri Allan says. The Criminal Activity Intervention Legislation Bill amends existing law to: create new targeted warrant and additional search powers ...
The Government today announced far-reaching changes to the way we make, use, recycle and dispose of waste, ushering in a new era for New Zealandâs waste system. The changes will ensure that where waste is recycled, for instance by households at the kerbside, it is less likely to be contaminated ...
New legislation passed by the Government today will make it harder for gangs and their leaders to benefit financially from crime that causes considerable harm in our communities, Minister of Justice Kiri Allan says. Since the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 came into effect police have been highly successful in ...
This evening I have advised the Governor-General to dismiss Stuart Nash from all his ministerial portfolios. Late this afternoon I was made aware by a news outlet of an email Stuart Nash sent in March 2020 to two contacts regarding a commercial rent relief package that Cabinet had considered. In ...
Legislation to enable more build-to-rent developments has passed its third reading in Parliament, so this type of rental will be able to claim interest deductibility in perpetuity where it meets the requirements. Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods, says the changes will help unlock the potential of the build-to-rent sector and ...
A law passed by Parliament today exempts employers from paying fringe benefit tax on certain low emission commuting options they provide or subsidise for their staff. Â âMany employers already subsidise the commuting costs of their staff, for instance by providing car parks,â Environment Minister David Parker said. Â âThis move supports ...
Today marks the 40th anniversary of Closer Economic Relations (CER), our gold standard free trade agreement between New Zealand and Australia. âCER was a world-leading agreement in 1983, is still world-renowned today and is emblematic of both our countriesâ commitment to free trade. The WTO has called it the worldâs ...
The Government is making procedural changes to the Immigration Act to ensure that 2013 amendments operate as Parliament intended.  The Government is also introducing a new community management approach for asylum seekers. âWhile itâs unlikely weâll experience a mass arrival due to our remote positioning, there is no doubt New ...
The Government welcomes progress on public sector pay adjustment (PSPA) agreements, and the release of the updated public service pay guidance by the Public Service Commission today, Minister for the Public Service Andrew Little says. âMore than a dozen collective agreements are now settled in the public service, Crown Agents, ...
The Government has introduced the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill to further support the recovery and rebuild from the recent severe weather events in the North Island. âWe know from our experiences following the Canterbury and KaikĹura earthquakes that it will take some time before we completely understand the ...
Further assistance is now available to businesses impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle, with Customs able to offer payment plans and to remit late-payments, Customs Minister Meka Whaitiri has announced. âThis is part of the Governmentâs ongoing commitment to assist economic recovery in the regions,â Meka Whaitiri said. âCabinet has approved the ...
More than 41,000 sole parent families will be better off with a median gain of $20 a week Law change estimated to help lift up to 14,000 children out of poverty Child support payments will be passed on directly to people receiving a sole parent rate of main benefit, making ...
A major investment by Government-owned New Zealand Green Investment Finance towards electrifying the public bus fleet is being welcomed by Climate Change Minister James Shaw. âTodayâs announcement that NZGIF has signed a $50 million financing deal with Kinetic, the biggest bus operator in Australasia, to further decarbonise public transport is ...
A world-leading payments system is expected to provide a significant cash flow boost for Kiwi innovators, Minister of Research, Science, and Innovation Ayesha Verrall says. Announcing that applications for âin-yearâ payments of the Research and Development Tax Incentive (RDTI) were open, Ayesha Verrall said it represented a win for businesses ...
Minister of Transport Michael Wood joined crowds of keen cyclists and walkers this morning to celebrate the completion of the Te Awa shared path in Hamilton. âThe Government is upgrading New Zealandâs transport system to make it safer, greener, and more efficient for now and future generations to come,â Michael ...
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little has delivered the Crown apology to NgÄti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa TÄmaki nui-a-Rua for its historic breaches of Te Tiriti of Waitangi today. The ceremony was held at Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton, hosted by NgÄti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa TÄmaki nui-a-Rua, with several hundred ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta has concluded her visit to China, the first by a New Zealand Foreign Minister since 2018. The Minister met her counterpart, newly appointed State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, who also hosted a working dinner. This was the first engagement between the two ...
World-class satellite positioning services that will support much safer search and rescue, boost precision farming, and help safety on construction sites through greater accuracy are a significant step closer today, says Land Information Minister Damien OâConnor. Damien OâConnor marked the start of construction on New Zealandâs first uplink centre for ...
By Barbara Dreaver in Port Vila Vanuatu is in celebration mode after winning a significant battle on the world stage over climate change. In a United Nations resolution spearheaded by Vanuatu, the worldâs top court will now advise on countriesâ legal obligations to fight climate change. It also means the ...
By Jan Kohout, RNZ Pacific journalist New Caledoniaâs Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) say they will tell the French Prime Minister of the Kanak peopleâs âsense of humiliationâ over the last independence referendum. The pro-independence alliance is set to talk to the French state from April 7-15. The ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is visiting the Manurewa RSA meeting veterans who are among hundreds of thousands to receive higher payments from tomorrow. ...
Over four million people have returned their Individual Forms for the 2023 Census, Stats NZ said today. âThis is a great milestone. We didnât hit this milestone until 30 April in the 2018 Census. I would like to thank everybody who has been counted ...
The government's recent announcement of five high carbon options for the next harbour crossing has disappointed those concerned about climate change. TRAC, a rail advocacy collective, opposes the short-sighted decision, citing the urgent need to reduce ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Guzyal Hill, Senior Lecturer, Charles Darwin University Shutterstock Sunday will mark the end of the Daylight Saving Time (DST) in eastern Australia, but there are many who would like to see it last longer or permanently. Twice a year, New ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has launched a call for evidence to support its work on Aotearoa New Zealandâs emissions reduction targets and emissions budgets. This call for evidence is an opportunity for anyone to share information, data and ...
As the move to digital commerce continues, fraudsters are counting on consumers to let their guard down and to supply personal information. And according to new research released today by global payments technology company Visa (NYSE: V), which ...
The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is asking for views on which overseas regulators it will draw on for some hazardous substance assessments and reassessments. The recognised international regulators must regulate hazardous substances in a similar ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Shortis, Lecturer, RMIT University Alex Brandon/AP Events often seem inevitable in hindsight. The indictment of former US President Donald Trump on criminal charges has been a possibility since the start of his presidency â arguably, since close to the ...
Te HautĹŤ Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union is ready to fight for every job at Te PĹŤkenga, as members digest a series of shocking statements from their Chief Executive on RNZâs Nine To Noon programme today. Peter Winder stated, amongst other things, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Mortimer, Professor of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Queensland University of Technology Media Whale Stock/Shutterstock What would you do to get more likes or shares on your favourite social media platform this April Foolâs Day? Would you blast an airhorn ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Today’s contentSTUART NASH, OIA Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Stuart Nash scandal boils down to cock-up vs ‘conspiracy’ (paywalled) Marc Daalder (Newsroom): The opaque transparency of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tara McAllister, Research Fellow, Te Herenga Waka â Victoria University of Wellington Shutterstock/Guy Hasler As global environmental challenges grow, people and societies are increasingly looking to Indigenous knowledge for solutions. Indigenous knowledge is particularly appealing for addressing climate change because ...
Tommy de Silva explains an interesting new legal shift:MÄori can now switch between the MÄori and general electoral rolls more easily thanks to a law change. These new rules allow anyone of MÄori descent to switch between the rolls whenever they please until three months before an election. That ...
The rules for overseas voting are changing from today for this yearâs General Election to recognise the effect the pandemic has had on international travel. âThis is a temporary change made by Parliament for New Zealanders living overseas who have ...
Itâs a headline I never quite expected to write but in recent days have been wondering if I would have to. Former US president Donald Trump will be arrested after a New York grand jury voted to indict him over alleged hush money paid to former adult film star Stormy ...
Everything you need to know about the ticketing agencyâs ongoing debacles.So Ticketmasterâs back in the news. Why is the company that should be spitting out concert tickets calmly and quietly sparking so many headlines? Where do you want to start? The lawsuits, the NFTs or the super-mad Swifties? Itâs ...
Auckland Council has proposed significant budget cuts without assessing the potential impacts on the regionâs environment and climate change efforts, an official response reveals. No assessment was made as Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown never asked for one, ...
Greenpeace is welcoming the National Partyâs new renewable energy policy - âElectrify NZâ - with its focus on increasing renewable electricity generation to replace coal, gas and petrol-fuelled transport. But the organisation is calling on National ...
The National Party has pledged to âcut red tapeâ in the electricity sector through a new policy that it claims will double New Zealandâs supply of renewable energy. Dubbed âElectrify NZâ, the policy was unveiled this morning by party leader Christopher Luxon. âNational wants a future where buses and trains ...
By Tom Peters, Socialist Equality Group 30 March 2023 Original url: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/03/30/jspf-m30.html About 20,000 secondary teachers at public schools in New Zealand held a nationwide strike on March 29. It followed a much larger one-day strike on March 16 involving ...
In his first two months as Prime Minister Chris Hipkins impressed for his directness, clarity and determination, and the assured way in which he transitioned into his new role. His everyman style, from the hoodie to the more than occasional meat pie, ...
Recreational craft users are being reminded of their skipper responsibilities following the sentencing of a boatie in Invercargill this week. A skipper was this week sentenced in the Invercargill District Court in relation to a grounding of their vessel on ...
Morning Report - RNZ and the NZ Herald's political editors discuss potential law-breaking by a now-sacked minister, and Marama Davidson's comments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alice Hayward, Molecular Biologist, The University of Queensland Shutterstock If youâre like me, youâve managed to kill even the hardiest of indoor plants (yes, despite a doctorate in plant biology). But imagine a world where your plants actually told you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Centaine Snoswell, Senior Research Fellow Health Economics, The University of Queensland Di Vincenzo/Shutterstock Telehealth has been a game changer for many First Nations people globally, including in Australia. It has allowed First Nations people to access health care close to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin Davis, Emeritus Professor of Finance, The University of Melbourne Allen & UnwinThe Millionairesâ Factory, subtitled âthe inside story of how Macquarie Bank became a global giantâ by financial journalists Joyce Moullakis and Chris Wright is an impressive, informative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sierra Keung, Lecturer in Sport and Recreation, Auckland University of Technology With this yearâs National Rugby League (NRL) season now up and running, the prevalence of Pacific players in the tournament is again obvious to see. All NRL teams now feature stars ...
Since the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle, insurers have begun rapidly repricing the land beneath homes for flood risk, creating a Wild West for home owners impatient to find out if their land is going to continue to be insurable. In the new episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks ...
Dr Rangi MÄtÄmua has been announced as the 2023 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year for his work in communicating the importance of mÄtauranga MÄori.Aotearoa boasts an exceptionally rich cultural heritage, with our indigenous MÄori population contributing significantly to our unique identity. It hasnât always been a celebrated part ...
The 2020 email to donors that prompted Nashâs firing had not been turned over following an OIA request for correspondence between Nash and his donors, Newsroom reports. The email had been deemed âout of scopeâ by the prime ministerâs office (PMO) because it was not written in Nashâs ministerial responsibility. Writes Toby Manhire ...
Today FM isnât on air today after itâs sudden closure at about 9.30am yesterday morning. A document leaked to media has confirmed Mediaworksâ plans to shut the station down, leaving key on-air staff like Tova OâBrien without a job. Interestingly, the document also confirmed the swift timeframe put in place ...
A pinch and a punch for the first of the month â and for higher minimum wages, increased benefits, new Covid boosters and more, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoffâs morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
As of tomorrow, everyone in Aotearoa aged in their 30s or 40s is eligible for a second booster shot â and itâs a new variety. A good deal of the population will struggle to remember when they had their first Covid-19 booster (hint: if you were quick off the mark, ...
Aucklanders, would you like a tunnel, two tunnels or a tunnel and a bridge?My nana was one of the first people ever to cross Te WaitematÄ on foot. In 1959, as a schoolgirl, she walked across the newly constructed Auckland Harbour Bridge before it opened to traffic. Back ...
The latest Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list, described by Steve Braunias (plus giveaway of a $75 masterpiece)FICTION 1 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) Number one for the seventh consecutive week; but, I think, maybe for the last time, or at least ...
The Posie Parker campaign, and a surprise bill this week dramatically extending possible asylum seeker detentions, show it's critical to keep fighting for human rights ...
New Zealanders, especially NZ businesses, should temper their expectations of a strong relationship with ChinaOpinion: Last week, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta made the first ministerial visit since 2019 to the Peopleâs Republic of China for high-level meetings. With few concrete deliverables announced, the key achievement was stabilising bilateral relations ...
The latest revelations in the Stuart Nash saga extend Chris Hipkins' political headache but also spotlight the lack of transparency on freedom of information decisions, Marc Daalder writesAnalysis: For Chris Hipkins, Stuart Nash's many and varied indiscretions are the headache that just won't stop. We're now more than two weeks ...
A conference on MÄori housing held in Rotorua was attended by over 900 people who are on the front line of dealing with homelessness and providing solutions. By Aaron Smale. Speakers at a conference on MÄori housing highlighted how major events like Covid-19 and Cyclone Gabrielle have exposed serious housing ...
The sudden closure of Today FM is recognition by MediaWorks that it doesnât have the resources to stay in the fight with Newstalk ZB. The on-air disaster that saw an emotional Tova OâBrien lower the curtain on Today FM can be traced back to its owners â fund managers and ...
Because many of us find it hard to adjust, the idea of abandoning daylight saving gets attention every year, but it's shift workers and teenagers we should be concerned about, who live with this type of jet lag all the timeOpinion: Much of the population is likely to feel a ...
Evidence is piling up that the prevalence of our packaged food offerings is not just damaging our health, but shortening our lives. Almost 70 percent of the packaged foods in our supermarkets are classed as ultra-processed - and in some food categories, nearly all products are. They're high in ...
After injury put her on the back foot last year, Olympic triathlete Nicole van der Kaay is on a stirring winning streak to start her journey to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Suzanne McFadden writes. In the days since Nicole van der Kaay won the first World Cup gold medal of her ...
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In addition to 30 roles being disestablished, another 20 Today FM staff are under review following the abrupt closure of the Mediaworks talk station. A confidential internal Mediaworks document leaked to media has confirmed that Today FMâs production and leadership host teams, which includes high-profile broadcasters such as Tova OâBrien ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Teal candidates again fell short in the NSW election. Only one who was so labelled was successful, and she rejects the terminology. This followed the Victorian state election in which no teal won. Inevitably, ...
Asia Pacific Report Twenty West Papuans who were fundraising for the victims of tropical cyclones in Vanuatu were today arrested by Indonesian police in Jayapura, the Papuan provincial capital, reports a West Papuan advocacy group. âThis was a peaceful, compassionate action, with Papuans taking to the streets to raise money ...
RNZ News The Mediaworksâ radio station Today FM abandoned scheduling today when presenters broke from programming to question the future of their employer. Broadcasters told their audience they were going off air and had been instructed to play music. Today FM hosts Duncan Garner and Tova OâBrien told listeners before ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Gibney, Senior research fellow, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity Shutterstock New South Wales health authorities have issued a measles alert after a baby who recently returned from overseas, and subsequently visited several sites in Western Sydney, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Glenn C. Savage, Associate Professor of Education Policy and the Future of Schooling, The University of Melbourne This week, Federal Education Minister Jason Clare announced an expert panel to advise on âkey targets and specific reformsâ that should be tied to funding ...
Self-employed lawyer and Filipino community advocate Paulo Garcia has been selected as Nationalâs candidate in New Lynn for the 2023 General Election. âIâm excited to get to work campaigning in New Lynn for a National Government that will strengthen ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron Eger, Postdoctoral research fellow, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock What if we told you the world has forests harbouring creatures with three hearts and where the canopy can grow by a foot a day? What if we told you it was ...
A candid â but now-deleted â statement on Today FMâs Facebook page appeared to confirm the end of the Mediaworks talk station. A message from the head of the digital team blamed the âharsh reality of cold corporate decisionsâ for the sudden closure of the radio station. âAs I type ...
The fate of Mediaworksâ talk station Today FM is due in under 10 minutes time. A banner on the stationâs website states that a full update will be revealed at 5pm. What that update is, or whether it will be delivered by the radio, is still unclear â though itâs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda Hassall, Senior Lecturer Humanities, Griffith University At the launch of the new national cultural policy earlier this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said we must lift the arts beyond the economic debate, and see it as a vital part of Australiaâs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominique Moritz, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of the Sunshine Coast Shutterstock Australians have been shocked by an incident on the Sunshine Coast this month in which a 13-year-old girl was imprisoned, assaulted and tortured over many hours, allegedly by ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. SexKeith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. Whoever would have predicted that the definition of ‘male’ and ‘female’ could ever become a matter of contention? My professional life has been in ...
Just how often are official information requests to ministers unscrupulously denied, ruled out of scope, for sheer, naked, political expediency? Few words have haunted the sixth Labour government quite like those uttered by Clare Curran, then minister for open government, in November 2017, when she pledged âthe most open, most ...
Forest & Bird says environmental indicator reporting today by Stats NZ is sobering, and shows how a whole-of-Government approach is needed to prevent New Zealand from remaining the extinction capital of the world. âThis is a damning report and, ...
The departure of key station management in recent weeks was an ominous sign â but staff were still blindsided by the way Today FMâs fate was delivered, reports Stewart Sowman-Lund.If you tune into Today FM right now, the only voice youâll hear, spliced between classic hits from the likes ...
An overseas traveller to New Zealand died from rabies last week â but the public is being told thereâs no risk of further spread. Itâs New Zealandâs first confirmed case of the disease, contracted overseas and then diagnosed on our shores. Director of public health Dr Nick Jones said person ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Jotzo, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy and Head of Energy, Institute for Climate Energy and Disaster Solutions, Australian National University Australia is about to take a big, constructive step on climate change policy: we will have a carbon price for ...
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Me me – I wanna be captn of the Titanic. Wah wah wah
Shearer Cunniliffe Roberston three way vote in nz
Yes
Why you righties so keen for another Labour leadership fight? I thought you all voted for Shearer?
Because it’s better than watching the crap on tv.
That is a rationale I can fully understand.
I seriously like Shearer – wish there was great policies he could campaign on and not tagging onto NZ First and Green policies.
For a government to be strong you need a good opposition – the public are split between labour Greens and NZF.
I have said and I will say it again – really looking forward to labour dropping those two parties and standing on its own two feet.
You know guys – that is all I have ever really said on here – I want labour to be strong. It will give all NZ a lift with two very strong operators.
Ignore the hard left and hard right calls – centre NZ is where it is at
I don’t honestly know why Gillard hung on this long. She should have stepped aside at the start of last week. Clearly her position was untenable and I don’t know why anyone would want to be leader of such a riven party – easier just to stand back and let the other guy take the fall.
I’m sure when Labor under Rudd does implode they’ll still find a way to make it the woman’s fault.
I like how you put that.
Likely will be, don’t you think đ
Yes, probably.
Ultimately Gillard’s failure was due to Rudd. Gillard only took the job because it looked like Rudd was going to lose, and they just barely scraped over the line, and had to swallow political rats left and right to stay in power.
This is an example of why Labour + Greens want to come out of this upcoming election with 65+ seats, a bare majority like National currently have just won’t cut it.
That is never going to happen whilst Shearer is leader. About time the Shearer camp swallowed their pride and moved on. Shearer = Rowling lovely blokes lousy leaders
Rowling=A good PM and decent fellow.
Shearer=shallow dick – never a leader.
Goff, King, Mallard etc= Brides of Our Blessed Lord Roger – boils that need to be lanced.
Just look at the bullshit: “Bare majority” “scraping through”. Oh FFS. Are the Shearer bearers so desperate?
“Shearer bearers” has a ring of pallbearers.
Just an observation.
Or crucifix bearers. I do believe that was the literary idea of it đ
Agree with what you say about Rowling, he was a good man but in ineffectual leader.
Shearer is a sad case but then look at the abomination we have as an alternative, Keys? A petty dictator and dishonest leader.
I have to say the Australians are lucky to have Kevin Rudd, we have no politician of his calibre in this country and as such we are lost.
Yawn.
I see Rudd has been wearing his lucky blue tie for days. Thank goodness that dreadful woman has gone.
Methinks Rudd is indeed leader of the Labour Party but not yet PM .. there are formalities to go through with assumptions but no built-in guarantee … Abbott’s shadow looms large.
And come in David Cunliffe, your time is up, please.
Grant would want a go at the leadership himself first.
You’ll have to pry Grant away from his mirror. He is soooooooo beautiful.
A leadership spill is of no point until Labour remembers who it is representing. Clue: not people earning $75K pa complaining about Auckland first home prices.
Well, until Labour starts representing people earning $75k pa, they will never get back in.
Do we have to explain MMP to you again?
’tis the average, not the median or mode, lest we forget.
And come in David Cunliffe, your time is up, please.
Following the
Gillard-Rudd model, shouldn’t it be, “Come in Goff, your time is up, please”?Do not accuse me of sexism, please, but Gillard was just not able to deliver the leadership in difficult times for Australian Labour.
I am not enthusiastic about Rudd, but facing an election in a few months, or even weeks, with Gillard trying stunts like holding a knitting session in front of cameras, open to ridicule, having been too defensive too often, doing too many u-turns, and about to lead Aus Labour to their worst defeat in at least recent history, there is now only Rudd who can turn the ship around.
Surely, with the Nats running this country down further, we do not want a large, powerful neighbour and ally across the Tasman being taken over by a similar kind of government.
As for Shearer, I hope that the vote in the by-election this weekend will send a final message to the Labour caucus, that it is time to get rid of him. Please, avoid a scenario like Aus Labour faced until yesterday, and another embarrassing defeat: Roll the hopeless man!
ironic much? They are rejecting labour over there, which is having a pretty similar time here. Have you ever thought people are just sick of labour?
“we do not want a large, powerful neighbour and ally across the Tasman being taken over by a similar kind of government.”
Who is we? It’s certainly not the majority of NZ.
45 or so percent does not make a majority, or even a passing grade.
I would have thought that was rather up to the Australian voters, n’est pas?
Rudd is a self-serving, dishonest megalomaniac whose ego has allowed him to be used by Murdoch and the miners to get rid of Gillard. Gillard was a socially conservative and determined atheist who managed to hold a minority government together against an hourly litany of orchestrated character assassination and lies, and had been used by the miners to get rid of Rudd. Rudd would never have been able to become PM given the numbers after the last election. Gillard not only did that, but she kept the government together for a full term.
Her politics disgusted me. Her refusal to treat refugees as human beings, her denial of marriage equality, and her continuation of the racist intervention in the Northern Territory would inspire John Banks. As a political animal, you knew what she would do and could trust her to try to do it.
I don’t know what Rudd’s politics are, because apparently they’ve changed significantly since he was PM the first time, especially on refugees and global warming. As a political animal, I have no idea what he will do except to lose an election. He will then blame Gillard.
Many of the same Queenslanders who voted Bjelke-Newman in and are now complaining are exactly the same ones who are rejoicing that Gillard has gone. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the previous state premier was also a woman. Soon enough, they’ll be crying about Abbott.
Seems like Labor has its share of big leadership problems. Remembering that only half the problem are the leaders themselves. The other half are their powerful backroom and factional supporters.
“Her politics disgusted me. Her refusal to treat refugees as human beings,”
They disgusted me. Her refusal to treat TAX PAYING New Zealanders
as human beings. Lets hope Rudd addresses that issue like right now.
I include Kiwis in Aussie in the economic refugee category. You’re right though – she just continued Howard’s policies. Key went over to sort it out and gave them access to New Zealand government information, with nothing in return.
Just say he’s a senior Labor/Labour party member – we all know that equates to your description.
I don’t know that at all, burt. I do know that a disproportionate number of self-serving, narcissistic, dishonest megalomaniacs are found in all sorts of political parties. Nact doesn’t seem to have much else, in fact, whereas Labour Parties tend to have a few decent human beings who follow what I consider an invalid political and economic model.
Thanks Murray, been waiting for somebody to enlighten me on what Gillard stands for, what Rudd stands for. I dont give a flying f**k about their genders. Anybody else who can state what their politics are?
Gillard’s gender is relevant in that it was part of the way her opponents tried to undermine her.
It’s not relevant to the deeper problems with the ALP. Her politics are pretty far to the right as far as Labour Parties go.
She did introduce a carbon tax, and,/a> the National Disability Insurance Scheme; the economy appeared to be doing OK under her watch; an impressive amount of Bills were passed into law.
And what Murray said about Rudd above.
Ach! Need edit function.
Thanks Karol, I was wondering if she was to the left or right….I knew she was pretty good at standing up to the male chauvinists, but so was Maggie. Does anybody know where Rudd stands? Is he another new right apologist?
I get the impression Gillard started her work and political careers being solidly Labour and fairly left wing. However, having strong Labour Party roots, she tended to move with the neoliberal times.
Rudd strikes me as a bit of a slippery operator. I seem to recall that he was never strongly “tribal” Labour, unlike Gillard. He supported Kim Beazley, who was leftish.
He was moderate Labour on industrial policy, but also a Third Wayer.
Murray – with all that, as you comment, why do so many Kiwis go to Australia?
Maybe then, it is doing us a favour, they must all be selfish and fall for the system that they have over there?
I am no fan of the Australian system, and I am horrified generally, how things move globally, but we live in horrific times, really, we have only choices between cholera and the plague, that is politically, socially and economically.
But it is all neatly packaged, in hygienic, plastic wrapping these days, go to the supermarket and get a thrill, all so clean, neat, nice, fake smiling and bullshit, love it, really!?
Got your message on Rudd by the way! Cholera or plague, I say or ask?
I can answer for myself, xtasy. In Australia I get paid for doing what I spent years learning to do, and in some small areas am an international authority. That option isn’t available to me in Aotearoa.
I think others go for economic reasons. There are jobs here. In the past many went to get away from Mowrees and Eyelanders, and built lovely little racist colonies in places like the Gold Coast. That’s changed, as many Maori and Pasifika are here to work. I’m not going to call them selfish for that.
Rudd – probably bubonic plague. Smelly and unpleasant to be around when it happens. I’m not sure he stands for much at all except himself – sort of like Winston without the charm or the economic nationalism, in my view.
On Kim Beazley, Karol – I remember seeing him on a tv debate in about 2000 when I was over here for a conference. I remember wondering who the Labor candidate was, because he would have slotted straight into National at home. I was appalled when I found out it was him.
You are of course, 100% correct that most of the attacks Gillard faced was because she is a woman. We can’t ignore gender.
My impression has been that Aus Labour is pretty much there, where Shearer or even more right wing Labourites want to take us. It dismays me, and it leaves open the question, what can be done to deal with the wider “middle class” actually voting for this. That is the issue, really, and we get it here too, en force, the middle class do NOT want to be seen next to the poor and underclass, the beneficiaries, and that is what got Key voted in, really, to be honest.
It is the result of decades of division, to make the ones a bit better off, a bit better skilled, a bit better “inherited” and otherwise privileged, even moderately, to frown on some “low life”, so they can think, we really “work hard’, we “deserve” what we get, others do not, and they better “shape up”.
I see this as the major issue in societies, from the North American scene, to increasingly also Europe, and certainly well engrained in Latin America. Asia is a bit different, but we see, apart from some Yankee entrepreneur being locked up in his factory, for considering shifting to India, and lower paid work, there is even in China increased division and a new bourgeoisie.
This cannot be fought and stopped by force or violence, it cannot be stopped by competing with them for work or privileges, what do you suggest?
Mass protests need masses, we will never get this with the entitlement thinking middle and upper classes, shitting on us, the rest, and I am a hated beneficiary, by the way, facing day in and out how neighbours and others frown on me for that!
I sometimes feel like doing a 9/11, really!
Thing is, I think that Australian attitudes are going to harden considerably as the fall out from thousands of people being made redundant (or not having contracts renewed) in the mining/resources sector, takes hold.
How do you explain Gillard’s position that gender explained only part of the rough journey she had experienced?
And you cannot say that her gender was the primary factor in her bad political judgement, self inflicted wounds and hypocrisy around multiple issues – including the fact that she originally crucified Rudd on his bad poll numbers and low popularity, replaced him as PM, and then went on to hang on even longer when her numbers were worse.
We can’t ignore gender, but we can’t make the world orbit around it either.
Ditch the witch? Bob Brown’s bitch? Barren harpy? Childless lesbian? Fat thighs and a big red box? The attacks were made in a way that wouldn’t make sense at all if directed at a male. Directed at a female, they showed that Whalespew and his rabid army would be true gentlemen among the Australian Liberals.
I think that’s basically what Karol said, and what I agreed with. Otherwise, thank you for correcting the position I didn’t take.
Ah. I must have mis-remembered Beazley’s position. I saw him speak in Sydney in the mid-late 90s, in Howard’s time. Beazley seemed a breath of fresh air at the time.
The Aussie Labor party died with Whitlam’s demise.
there has always been a quite strong labour movement and socialist & communist groups. One of my bosses in Sydney had been a communist party member in her youth and still was strongly left as well as being well respected by more MOR people at work.
.
Rudd said twice that he would not challenge for leader again.
Bare-faced lying seems to have now become completely acceptable for politicians on both sides of the ditch.
liars
liars
liars
I bet you’ve said things you’d never do and done them as well. Get over it.
Not in that manner or scale, no.
It just goes to show that you cannot trust that a politician will honour what they say. They cannot be believed.
Don’t like how politicians are seen by joe public? Get over it.
I think it’s accepted actually. People knew this was coming for along time.
Well I guess that’s what I was trying to say – that the public has come to accept that politicians cannot be trusted, or that they have any honour, or that what they say has any truth to it. They are today known liars and deceptors extraordinaire. How else does Winston Peters continue……
It seems a genuine shame as this is either indicative of wider society or it leads wider society down the same path.
it has probably always been so……
(might try it myself today on a similar scale. wonder how far I’ll get)
A lot of Australians want Rudd as PM. He was never going to ignore that, especially as Gillard’s numbers collapsed.
Cholera or plague, what do you prefer, CV?
Good point.
To me, Rudd is a gutless man without honour. Sitting there white-anting his own party for years because of a bruised ego, refusing to step up and prolonging the agony, lying about challenging for the leadership and now being a total hypocrite by doing to Gillard what he complained loudly about when it was done to him.
How Labor will endure this asshat again I don’t know. Personally I think they would have been better off holding the line under Gillard and losing.
To Abbott ? Do you really want Australia to be ruled from Rome ?
I have to apologise to the Italians, but the guy is an unreconstructed conservative.
One upside from this side of the Tasman is that he married a NZer after striking up an acquaintance in a Sydney pub, but I don’t know how much weight that would carry in Canberra. Given recent events, probably not much.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/abbott-prepares-for-a-tougher-battle-20130626-2oxsy.html
@ Blue. Couldn’t agree more. I heard an Australian commentator say the same thing a day or two ago.
Meanwhile in New Zealand, I predict the charismatic, eloquent and well-spoken David Shearer will lead Labour to a crushing
victorydefeat in the next election.David for PM in 2017, but which one?
QED.
I suppose you watched TV3 News tonight, revealing that Shearer does (according to internal caucus source/s) only have 2 months to improve, or they will ditch him!
Finally, I say, finally, get rid of him, he is a liability to NZ Labour. Gillard may have stuffed up somehow, but she at least could talk, face interviews and to a moderate degree “lead” a party and government, although she did not convince the wider electorate.
So imagine a f***head with stumbles, no words and worse, trying to convince the electorate in NZ. If Gillard has to move, Shearer should have been made to be removed months ago!
It is a very “humane” caucus, I think, unless they are mostly clingers on, all desperate, as they put their bets on Shearer. What a bloody mess, really!
NZLP could call a ballot on the Leadership…
NZLP SHOULD call a ballot on the leadership – a.s.a.p.!
It could call a membership ballot on the Leadership but I think it would be essentially pointless. A new head on a struggling directionless ideologically conflicted body.
For true renewal, half a dozen of the current worst oxygen thieving MPs need to be gone. And some real socialists including people who have a solid grasp of heterodox economic principles need to be put in. Preferably MPs who want to gut the BS medical/work capacity assessment hoops done by WINZ, and also return the super age to a more sensible 60.
Shruggedy, shruggedy, that is the problem, lower ranks, members, old members, new members (them less so), the lemmings heading desperately for joy at the cliff, the brainwashing by mass media, commercial madness, indifference and also cowardice, distraction into little consumerist escapism, and not wanting to be seen with the wrong crowd, that is exactly the main issue.
Who dares to protest these days, oh, it endangers my “career prospects’, ‘oh, I would not want to be seen with those radicals and no-hopers” and “oh, no, I may ge some dirty stains on my shirt, if I do that”, sadly thought messages I have detected.
One Che Guevara must have been “mad” to do what he did, no “sensible” person would bother risking their life and health for silly ideals now. There is plenty of ice cream in the fridge, lots of treats at the supermarket, and if I am nice to Mr Nice Guy, or Ms Nice Guyess, I may turn out to be famous, famously wealthy and have a great life. Fuck the rest, solidarity is not what I want, that is what I get every day, in little messages, and that is where we are at, sadly.
So a total global collapse of economic and social systems may turn out to be a game changer. But the snake oil salesmen like Key keep up the hopes and fals e promises. Brighter future and light at the end of the tunnel, yeah right, Tui board out again.
Very good commentary by Kerri-Anne Walsh (Canberra journalist) re- the Gillard/ Rudd stoush on The Panel (yep Morrissey for once it was worth listening to) – just after the 4pm news. Her sympathies clearly lay with Julia Gillard, and it seems Rudd and his supporters have waged an intensive destabilising campaign against her for the past three years.
I can’t figure out how to link since RNZ changed their format. Could someone do it? It’s well worth a listen.
You think our MSM political journalists are appalling? Wait til you hear what Kerri-Anne has to say about the Aussie equivalents…
Thanks, Anne.
The Panel audio is not up yet.
The audio is up now: all I can do is link to programme page and then just click on to The Panel discussion. Kerri Anne Walsh starts at 07:35
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/20130627
Yes I heard that, Anne. Kerri-Anne Walsh is an Australian journalist that I rate highly. In her humanity and decency, and also her erudition, she provided a stark contrast to the poisonous and shallow commentary by another Australian pundit this morning on Kathryn Ryan’s show.
I think you just need to copy and paste the url for the MP3 version of the audio.
[audio src="http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/aft/aft-20130627-1308-best_song_ever_written_-_anthem-048.mp3" /]
copy and paste the url for the MP3 version of the audio.
Yeah karol it looks simple but I’m an ignoramus when it comes to computer speak.
Once I know what steps… and the order I take them I’m ok. đ
Find the link. Right click it to get the context menu. Select the menu item like “Copy URL” (different in different browsers). Go t OK editing a comment at TS. Right click to get context menu. Select “Paste”
On a tablet, you can’t right click. Usually you get a similar effect by holding down your finger and watching for a menu popping up somewhere….
I just left clocked on the MP3 option, then copied and pasted the url from the top of the browser.
Thanks Iprent and karol.
Not doing something right but no matter. Linking direct to programme sched. is almost as good.