Posts Tagged ‘no right turn’
NRT: The Greens’ “internet bill of rights”
Written By: - Date published: 10:55 pm, April 23rd, 2014 - 2 comments
No Right Turn is critical of the implementation aspects of the Greens’ internet bill of rights. Looking at his points about its flaws, it does appear that it has few real teeth. “…if you want to outlaw ISPS shaping customer traffic for anti-competitive reasons” … “then amend the Telecommunications Act to outlaw it. It wouldn’t sound as great as an “internet bill of rights”, but it would do the job better, and with more certainty of the outcome. Trying to use a general law to do it, without checking the underlying policy details, doesn’t just risk failure – it also comes across as lazy.”
NRT: “Shoulder-tapping” vs public service values
Written By: - Date published: 11:39 am, April 23rd, 2014 - 59 comments
Another angle to the Shane Jones resignation: “Mr Jones said he would leave Parliament next month after he was shoulder tapped by Foreign Minister Murray McCully for a new role as a roving economic ambassador across the Pacific.”
This is of course a total violation of public service values, and an unlawful exercise of Ministerial power.
NRT: Needlessly shitty
Written By: - Date published: 1:18 pm, April 17th, 2014 - 12 comments
No Right Turn points out here about a select committee filtering out submissions because they were not in an official NZ language. This seems needlessly shitty – not to mention undemocratic. Parliament is supposed to represent all New Zealanders, not just those who write their submissions in one of our official languages.
NRT: The PCE on the Environmental Reporting Bill
Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, April 16th, 2014 - 2 comments
No Right Turn on the Environmental Reporting Bill that has the watchdogs up in arms. Listening to Amy Adams last night going on about how transparent and open to public scrutiny regulations are made me wonder what bloody universe she lived in – bizarro world perhaps?. Submissions on the Environmental Reporting Bill are due on Thursday.
NRT: Climate change: Action is affordable
Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, April 15th, 2014 - 34 comments
Catastrophic climate change can be averted without sacrificing living standards according to a UN report, which concludes that the transformation required to a world of clean energy is eminently affordable. “It doesn’t cost the world to save the planet,”. The average cost of adapting to climate change next year is less than $30. Remember that next time Bill English stands up in Parliament threatening economic Armageddon if we try and do anything about it.
NRT: Unsurprising
Written By: - Date published: 2:52 pm, April 10th, 2014 - 17 comments
But on any realistic numbers, its unthinkable for a future Labour government not to include the Greens, and as Gordon Campbell points out, by refusing to define their relationship themselves, Labour has given National a free hand to do it for them – and in undoubtedly negative terms. That won’t do the Greens any harm. But its unlikely to be good for Labour.
NRT: Time to see if the Ombudsman will keep their word
Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, April 3rd, 2014 - 3 comments
Last month, we learned that Judith Collins had taken time off a taxpayer-funded trip to China to endorse her husband’s company – a company which had also donated significant sums of money to the National Party. The endorsement appeared to violate the Cabinet Manual, but John Key stepped up and claimed that the Cabinet Office said it was all OK. Then, just a few days later, he admitted that he’d lied about that. In the process, he implicitly raised serious questions about the quality of the Cabinet Office’s advice.
NRT: Blowback
Written By: - Date published: 6:56 pm, March 31st, 2014 - 6 comments
“The vast scale of online surveillance revealed by Edward Snowden is changing how businesses store commercially sensitive data…” “A survey of 1,000 business leaders from around the world has found that many are questioning their reliance on “cloud computing” in favour of more secure forms of data storage as the whistleblower’s revelations continue to reverberate.”
NRT: That was quick
Written By: - Date published: 4:16 pm, March 28th, 2014 - 5 comments
No Right Turn nails the political value of the Internet Party in this post. In itself it probably isn’t that politically useful. However it’s mere existence means that the net becomes a political issue. It forces the typically technophobic and illiterate pack of antiques called Members of Parliament to start dealing with issues arising from it. It moves them outside their comfort zone
NRT: Gagging Kim Dotcom
Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, March 27th, 2014 - 18 comments
No Right Turn put this up on tuesday. It is worth re-running it to note how a smear campaign operates at multiple layers.
“Since their botched raid on Kim Dotcom’s mansion last year, the New Zealand government has faced a PR problem over their handling of the case. And that has been hammered home at every opportunity by Dotcom himself, who turns out to be quite good at winning the hearts of ordinary kiwis. But now the government has a solution: gag him”
NRT: I don’t see it either
Written By: - Date published: 2:49 pm, March 25th, 2014 - 49 comments
The “big” political news today (this being a non-sitting week when the politicians are on holiday, some of them literally) is that the Internet Party is in talks with Mana to form an electoral alliance (which presumably means a joint party list). Like pretty much everyone else, I’m boggled by this.
NRT: Stinkier and stinkier
Written By: - Date published: 5:29 pm, March 24th, 2014 - 37 comments
In the ongoing saga about the Problem Gambling Foundation, The Salvation Army were unaware that the Ministry of Health had decided that they would take over as the national provider. They hadn’t even applied for it. It appears that only thing driving the ministry’s decision was the complaints from the gambling industry about the PGF trying to reduce problem gambling…. Is the gambling industry is thoroughly corrupting National’s ministers?
NRT: A good idea from NZFirst
Written By: - Date published: 7:06 pm, March 20th, 2014 - 4 comments
From an environmental economics perspective, mining is a wealth transfer, shifting public wealth (minerals) into private profits of mining companies. Along the way, it creates jobs, but it is basically spending capital. When the resources run out or become unprofitable to extract the jobs disappear and a regional economy geared solely to resource extraction withers and dies. NZ First wants to change that.
NRT: Climate change: War, disease, and famine
Written By: - Date published: 6:01 pm, March 18th, 2014 - 38 comments
The biggest single threat to civilisation from human initiated CO2 forced climate change is going to be in food production and distribution. In a leaked version of the IPCC’s AR5 second volume ” the report predicts that climate change will reduce median crop yields by 2 per cent per decade for the rest of the century – at a time of rapidly growing demand for food.”
NRT: An economic upgrade?
Written By: - Date published: 2:24 pm, March 17th, 2014 - 60 comments
No Right Turn reacts to David Cunliffe’s speech on Friday. “…one thing is clear: we need to move our economy away from a focus on milk. Our environment can’t sustain it, and its not delivering for anyone other than a narrow class of wealthy farmers.” “… rich economies have multiple sources of income. And they consciously develop them through industrial policy.”
NRT: A global cyberwar against everyone
Written By: - Date published: 11:31 am, March 14th, 2014 - 14 comments
The latest NSALeak: the NSA is deliberately spreading malware on a massive scale to spy on everyone. This isn’t the sort of targeted operation they aimed at Belgacom – its effectively a global cyberwar against everyone. They infected 100,000 computers already, and they plan to infect millions – well beyond any possible number needed strictly for “national security”. Why? So they can pwn you
NRT: Proving my point
Written By: - Date published: 10:52 am, March 12th, 2014 - 46 comments
Last week No Right Turn argued strongly that we needed full transparency over Cabinet Office advice on ministers’ conflicts of interest, because we couldn’t trust the Prime Minister to represent that advice accurately, and we couldn’t trust secret advice to be accurate. And John Key has just proven his point: “Prime Minister John Key has admitted he misled reporters over Cabinet Office advice…”
NRT: Did the NSA write John Key’s spy bill?
Written By: - Date published: 1:20 pm, March 11th, 2014 - 16 comments
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden gave evidence to the European Parliament last week about the NSA and mass-surveillance. The most interesting revelation? The NSA’s use of lawyers to subvert other countries limits on surveillance – including our own. So what did GCSB receive “legal guidance” on? What about the careful loopholes in the new Act
NRT: Inequality is bad for growth
Written By: - Date published: 2:44 pm, March 4th, 2014 - 7 comments
No Right Turn succinctly points out the impact of the International Monetary Fund changing its mind on the adverse effects of inequality in the economic sphere. A case of an accumulation of facts overriding dumb ideology.
NRT: A dirty deal
Written By: - Date published: 6:33 pm, February 27th, 2014 - 46 comments
When the government dropped charges against former Pike River boss Peter Whittall over the Pike River mine explosion, they claimed that the simultaneous announcement that he would pay compensation to the families of the 29 men he was accused of killing was just a coincidence, and that there was no deal. As usual, they lied.
NRT: National hates transparency
Written By: - Date published: 7:54 am, February 12th, 2014 - 56 comments
Yesterday Labour tried to put forward a Parliamentary motion calling on the government to release the draft text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement before signing it, on the simple democratic grounds that the public deserved to know what agreements were being made in our name. National refused to. The upshot: National hates transparency. It also hates democracy.
NRT: Dirty dairying and moral culpability
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, January 16th, 2014 - 30 comments
There seems to be a divide in kiwi farming at present. On one side those just after a quick buck based on dirtying the cheap resource of water held in common. On the other generational family farmers. The result is a classic tragedy of the commons problem that we will be paying to clean up for many generations.
NRT: The NSA spies on its own government
Written By: - Date published: 11:11 am, January 8th, 2014 - 51 comments
Since Edward Snowden leaked proof of widespread NSA spying on US citizens, people have been wondering who exactly they’re spying on. Are they spying on their own government? Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wanted to know, so he asked them directly. The response was not reassuring.
Perhaps the same question should be put to the GCSB? After all its oversight seems even more incompetent and incestuous than that of the NSA.
NRT: National’s New Zealand
Written By: - Date published: 12:05 am, December 25th, 2013 - 16 comments
National’s New Zealand: wage-suppression through one-sided employment law. A jobless “recovery”. Cuts to state housing and to welfare. 265,000 kids in poverty. An indecent society of haves and have-nots. A government chooses, through welfare, health, education and child-support policies, whether all kids will get a good start in life, or whether their prospects will be blighted by their parents. The present government, a government of, by and for the rich, has chosen to tolerate, even exacerbate poverty, rather than impose on their wealthy supporters.
NRT: Unacceptable
Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, December 14th, 2013 - 187 comments
No Right Turn has a view on Len Brown accepting nearly $40,000 in undeclared complementarities from the hotel industry. How many of these were from SkyCity? And who else has been getting them?
Prosecuting Cunliffe
Written By: - Date published: 3:06 pm, December 5th, 2013 - 56 comments
No Right Turn writes on what should happen with David Cunliffe screwing up on election day. Sensible advice and commentary on what looks like a typical example of some of the innumerable silly mistakes and accidents that happen during election campaigns. The reaction of some on the right has been pretty damn hilarious when they compare what looks like deliberate concealment of electoral finance with a silly tweeting mistake
NRT: Climate change: The enemy
Written By: - Date published: 2:12 pm, November 21st, 2013 - 31 comments
The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.
NRT: More police crime
Written By: - Date published: 2:57 pm, October 17th, 2013 - 26 comments
No Right Turn reports on a case that is symptomatic of just how out of control the police in NZ are getting. The response of Wellington’s Tactical Policing Unit was both completely disturbing in its use of violence to try to create the type of incident that they were expecting. The police lying, not only to the public, but also to themselves about the actions is even worse. If there are no prosecutions and stiff sentences for the officers involved, then it is time to start actively initiate a program of private prosecutions of individual police.
NRT: The biggest failed state on the planet
Written By: - Date published: 12:40 pm, October 2nd, 2013 - 22 comments
As I write this, the US Congress is in the final minutes of running out the clock before shutting down the federal government. From midnight, budgetary authority will expire, and the government will not be able to spend any money. Except, of course, on waging war – no matter what happens, the US War On Us will continue regardless.
NRT: More lies from Smith
Written By: - Date published: 1:19 pm, September 20th, 2013 - 11 comments
Yesterday in Question Time Nick Smith continued to pretend that he had not forced DoC to shitcan its submission on the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme. He even went so far as to claim that he had no idea that the submission even existed until this week. But it was just more lies
NRT: Laws are for little people – again
Written By: - Date published: 4:53 pm, August 29th, 2013 - 22 comments
No Right Turn looks at the police decision on the unlawful GCSB interceptions of DotCom’s communications. Of course getting the police to investigate their own requests for the GCSB to perform an unlawful activity is like putting a stoat in charge of kiwi chicks. Perhaps a private prosecution of the GCSB and the police would be a more productive.
- Alan Jones once seemed unassailable. What ended it was a peculiarly Sydney story of media, politics ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne For decades it seemed Alan Jones was unassailable. A finding against him of professional misconduct by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (2000); a finding that he incited hatred, serious contempt ...4 days ago - Daily smoking rates flat-line, youth vaping keeps rising – NZ Health Survey
Daily smoking rates have flat-lined after dramatic falls in previous years, while vaping among younger people continues to rise. ...4 days ago - Watch: Traffic-stopping haka breaks out during hīkoi to Parliament
Vehicles were barred from entering the intersection as a group of men performed the haka to a crowd of hundreds of onlookers. ...4 days ago
- Hīkoi to Parliament: The families taking part and why
The hīkoi is a family affair, with tamariki everywhere; pepe sleeping in carts and buggies or tugging their cousins' hair. ...4 days ago
- The best signs from the final day of the Toitū Te Tiriti hīkoi
How many ways can you say you’re pissed off? A good protest sign signifies all the things you want to say at a demonstration: I’m here, I care and I’ve found the most fed up/witty/creative way to express this. And after a week of nationwide protests for the Toitū Te ...4 days ago - Pike River: 14 Years On And Far Too Many Of Us Are Being Injured At Work
"The Minister’s actions on health and safety show the Minister has failed to understand the lessons of Pike River. Instead of boosting health and safety at work, her party and her Government are looking for ways to water down the protections it has delivered." ...4 days ago - Live: 35,000 join as Treaty Principles Bill hīkoi reaches Parliament
Hīkoi mō te Tiriti is heading for Waitangi Park and heavy traffic through the CBD is expected ahead of the evening commute. ...4 days ago
- Dunedin Hospital protesters rally to support campaign
About 1000 people turned up to hear why building the hospital as planned, was important. ...4 days ago
- Watch: ‘Kill the bill, kill the bill’ – David Seymour walks out, waves to proteste...
The ACT leader was met with chants of "Kill the bill, kill the bill" when he walked out of the Beehive, before waving to the crowd and returning inside. ...4 days ago
- Livestream: 35,000 join as Treaty Principles Bill hīkoi reaches Parliament
The Treaty Principles Bill's architect made a brief appearance, and was met with chanting, as 35,000 people protesting overflowed from Parliament's lawn. ...4 days ago
- Public humiliation is still a common teaching tool in medical education. Here’s how it leaves pati...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carolyn Heward, Lecturer, Clinical Psychology, James Cook University Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock Imagine being questioned about complex technical knowledge in front of your peers, supervisors, and members of the public – knowing that a wrong answer could lead to public ridicule. ...4 days ago
- Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti: The final day march to Parliament in photos
It was an early start for thousands as the hīkoi sets off for its final destination - the grounds of Parliament. ...4 days ago
- It’s clear footy has an Indigenous participation problem, and the AFL draft is only part of the so...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chelsey Taylor, PhD Candidate, Swinburne University of Technology From revolutionary Geelong ruckman Graham “Polly” Farmer, to the electrifying Krakouer brothers (Phil and Jim) at North Melbourne, through to modern stars such as Charlie Cameron, Adam Goodes, Lance Franklin and Eddie Betts, Indigenous ...4 days ago
- What our politicians’ signatures tell us about their personalities
We asked a handwriting expert to analyse the scrawls of our elected officials. Here’s what they said. Recently I received a press release from the trio of ministers – Simeon Brown, Shane Jones and Chris Bishop – tasked with overseeing the government’s controversial fast-track consenting bill. The press release itself ...4 days ago
- Livestream: 19,000 join as Treaty Principles Bill hīkoi reaches Parliament
'The energy, the power-it's palpable here on the ground,' an MP says as a sea of red, black and white flags sorrounds the Beehive. ...4 days ago
- Education minister says kids should be in school instead of at hīkoi
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- Basic rules for screen time at a young age can help reduce childhood obesity – new research
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ladan Hashemi, Senior Research Fellow in Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Childhood obesity is a growing concern worldwide. But in New Zealand it’s a particularly pressing issue. With one of the highest rates in the OECD, about one ...4 days ago
- Livestream: Treaty Principles Bill hīkoi mō te Tiriti at Parliament
Thousands have marched through the streets of a capital and to the Beehive. ...4 days ago
- Kanaky Aotearoa Solidarity Says “Toitū Te Tiriti!”
Kanaky Aotearoa Solidarity supports te hikoi and says Toitū te Tiriti! Māori never ceded sovereignty! ...4 days ago
- Video: Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke reacts to haka heard around the world
In the face of criticism, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke says there was definitely a moment of 'what just happened?', after the House was suspended during voting. ...4 days ago
- Livestream: Treaty Principles Bill hīkoi at Parliament
'The energy, the power-it's palpable here on the ground,' an MP says as a sea of red, black and white flags makes its way to the Beehive and crowds line the streets. ...4 days ago
- Review: Camping is the hyper horny, extremely silly play we need right now
Almost a decade ago, Camping dazzled with four relative unknowns in a tiny venue. Now it returns, with an all-star cast on a bigger stage. Does it still deliver? The original run of Camping, on stage at The Basement, is the funniest and most kinetically bizarre show I’ve seen in ...4 days ago
- ‘We don’t even have a CT scan here’: Dunedin Hospital protesters rally
About 1000 people turned up to hear why building the hospital as planned, was important. ...4 days ago
- Biggest Ever Community Petition, With Over 200,000 Signatures, Opposes Treaty Principles Bill
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- Justice Committee Calls For Submissions On The Principles Of The Treaty Of Waitangi Bill
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- To build support, it might be time for the Greens to hang up their movement-style approach to politi...
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- Australia’s new anti-vaping program in schools is a good step – but education is only part of th...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Song Shi, Associate Professor, Property Economics, University of Technology Sydney If you’re buying a house near a river or on a floodplain, you will likely come up against the question of flood risk. We usually talk about this in terms of chance. ...4 days ago
- What was the deal with Julius Caesar and Cleopatra’s ‘situationship’?
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As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a 23-year-old explains why she’s been working since she was 11. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here. Gender: Female. Age: 23. Ethnicity: Cambodian Chinese. Role: Barista, tutor, campaigner, ...4 days ago
- Regulations Ministry: Online tool can be used to share ‘red tape horror stories’
The Regulations minister wants to hear "from tradies, farmers, teachers, chefs, engineers - every person doing productive work". ...4 days ago
- Elon Musk’s new job will bring tech ‘disruption’ to the US government – and history says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hallam Stevens, Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, James Cook University On November 12, United States president-elect Donald Trump announced he would appoint Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, to lead a newly constituted Department of Government Efficiency alongside fellow tech billionaire and former ...4 days ago
- AI for life: how sovereign Wiradyuri ways of knowing can transform technology for good
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- Live updates: Toitū Te Tiriti hīkoi marches to parliament
Tens of thousands are expected to gather in Te Upoko-o-te-ika-a-Māui today, as the nationwide Toitū Te Tiriti hīkoi prepares to arrive at parliament. Follow this blog for up-to-date coverage and reaction. ...4 days ago
- NZ media’s second wave of doom
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- With 14 community newspapers due to close, too many parts of NZ are becoming ‘news deserts’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Greg Treadwell, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images When media company NZME proposed the closure of 14 community newspapers last week, the so-called “news desert” encroached a little further into the local information landscape. The term refers ...4 days ago
- New Zealand’s new ‘anti-scam czar’ gets to work
Millions of dollars are lost to scams each year. Should more attention be on the social media giants that platform them? Stewart Sowman-Lund writes in today’s edition of The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...4 days ago
- Dunedin Hospital rebuild: Rally stirs more opposition to cutbacks
A sea of Southerners filled Dunedin's Town Hall last night in support of the Save Our Southern Hospital campaign. ...4 days ago
- Thousands expected at Parliament as hīkoi moves towards the capital
This article first appeared at rnz.co.nz and is republished with permission.Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather at Parliament today as the final leg of the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti reaches its last destination – but organisers and participants are saying it will not end there.At Takupūwāhia Marae ...4 days ago
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