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The class politics of the Covid-19 pandemic response

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, April 28th, 2020 - 59 comments
Categories: class, class war, Economy, economy, national, same old national, uncategorized - Tags: ,

So the country has reached lockdown stage 3 and a cautious loosening of the country’s restrictions has occurred. Hopefully the trend of reduced occurrence of new infections will occur. I for one will celebrate if and when we reach zero new daily infections.

It has been interesting to see the right’s response to the Government’s handling of Covid-19.

The right wants to present the Government’s response to the virus as a failure.

The angles of attack have essentially been that the Government has been too aggressive and at the same time not aggressive enough. If only they had closed the border quicker but they need to ease off quicker as well so that businesses can get going again. After all it does not matter if we have a new surge of infections, the temporary improvement of business conditions is much more important.

As proof they have offered up Australia. If only we had followed the right wing rule book and emulated what the right wing blokes were doing we could have been in such a better position.

And correlation is clearly causation.

Is Australia doing well?

It appears so. It might be because it is a warm country and flu like infections find it harder to gain a foot hold. Although Singapore’s experience suggests this may not be so helpful but is that dry heat or humidity that is the problem? Or maybe its health system has a really good tracking system and this has allowed its authorities to get on top of outbreaks.

How is New Zealand doing by way of comparison? Far better in terms of numbers. Similar in terms of per head of population figures and in terms of deaths and infection rates. But New Zealand is colder and more urbanised. So the comparison may not necessarily be so accurate.

How is New Zealand doing in comparison to other western nations run by conservate white male leaders?

America is a basket case. Check out this recent graphic I grabbed from the Johns Hopkins Covid website showing daily infection rates for the US.

Here is the UK equivalent.

Slightly more reassuring but not by much.

Here is Australia’s:

Not too bad for a country run by a stale pale male. But let’s look for other examples. How about Social Democrat stalwart Sweeden?

Or Singapore where they thought earlier on they had the infection under control?

For comparison here is Aotearoa New Zealand’s graph from a couple of days ago. We are not there yet. We are tantalisingly close to eradication but there are still new cases appearing each day.

The right is cherrypicking its data. It is claiming that one right wing led country is doing similar so this left wing country has been too nanny state and maybe we should have been allowed to get our haircut and our take out coffee.

And here is the thing. Eradication is really difficult. It is performing whack a mole when you get down to single digit daily infection rates and hoping you captured all of them. Missing two infections will mean there is another one out there. Singular instances of failure are a massive bugger.

Things are getting really ridiculous when right wing politicians claim that the solution to our problem is, wait for this, you will never guess this, I can tell you will be really surprised but here it is, we need labour market reform and more market forces to get us out of this.

I swear that if we were ever invaded by aliens there would be a cluster of right wing politicians claiming that we just need to weaken legal protection for workers and allow rich people to make the decisions for us.

But this is what Paul Goldsmith has suggested in this Stuff article, obviously in the interests of balance between of course we have to do this and you have to be freaking kidding.

Goldsmith has a three point plan.

The first point is that we should end the lockdown as soon as we safely can. Who could disagree with this? Should we end the lockdown before it is safe to do so or should we keep the lockdown in place even though it is safe to end it?

Then he comes out with the Right Wing recipe for pretty well everything with some stylised union bashing.

[W]orkplace rules will be a drag on our productivity for the rest of year; handled well, with clear and pragmatic rules, access to swift testing and PPE, we can regain momentum.”

So much to unpick, workers rights I gather are a drag on our productivity and health and safety concerns can be ignored as long as there is sufficient access to swift Covid-19 testing and enough PPE, which right wing governments have shown is a nice to have.

And there is this pearler.

[T]he core engine of growth will always be private sector investment – men, women and their businesses taking on new ventures, rebuilding their businesses, expanding, hiring people – taking mad risks … Successful economies make it easy for the investment to flow to more productive activities – they welcome investment, they don’t over regulate or over tax, they provide clear and consistent rules, properly enforced, and don’t go changing them all the time.”

We are witnessing the failure of the capitalist system and Paul’s solution is more unbridled capitalism.

So far the country is doing exceptionally well. And the pandemic has exposed the deep flaws in neoliberal capitalism.

I am pleased that the Government clearly has a progressive interventionist approach to what is needed to keep the country going. National’s approach, which is being used in the United States, would wreck the place.

59 comments on “The class politics of the Covid-19 pandemic response ”

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  1. pam henson 1
    28 April 2020 at 7:52 am

    Market forces have failed us in so many ways. They promote useless unnecessary products, built in obsolescence, and they glorify profits over people's well-being. Some sound, long-term infrastructure projects are needed to reverse these trends as we begin to tackle climate change. Private money doesn't care about that. We must not go back to "normal."

  2. Psycho Milt 2
    28 April 2020 at 7:57 am

    [W]orkplace rules will be a drag on our productivity…

    It's their big lie and a really obnoxious one. They pretend that driving down workers' pay and conditions improves productivity, when in reality the reverse is true.

    When workers are expensive and hard to obtain, businesses invest in equipment, process improvement, research and development etc to enable them to produce more without needing more workers. When workers are cheap and expendable, any problem just gets more labour thrown at it. National supports low productivity for this country and always has done.

    • You_Fool 2.1
      28 April 2020 at 11:13 am

      Not to mention, low wages is equated to low worth placed on that labour, which responds to low loyalty felt by the worker to the company. Thus any investment in the worker in terms of training, safety or process improvements will be wasted when the worker finds a better deal, which leads to lesser desire to invest in those things, which restricts any possibility for productivity improvements. This leads to companies stuck in the way they have already done things, which means they will always get the same results they have always got.

      Not a forward,innovative view-point at all…. but stale and backwards, pining over the "good old days" that were not.

    • georgecom 2.2
      29 April 2020 at 8:35 pm

      what a great idea, scrap all workplace rules. health and safety, legal rights, good safety, consumer rights laws etc. That will really encourage productivity, business can act like it wants.Imagine, for example, none of those BS food safety laws. Business will flourish.

      What might be useful are 'rules' which link pay increases to productivity, where the one increases inline with the other. would be the first time in 30 years that occurred. any productivity increases are spread throughout the economy, money in more pockets to spend and kick start aggregate demand within the economy. Wonder if Goldsmith will ever advocate for that – sharing equitably the dividends of productivity

  3. Andre 3
    28 April 2020 at 8:01 am

    Anyone want to refresh my memory with actual links as to what our local right wingnuts were advocating before the lockdown? All I remember was tax cuts.

  4. Ad 4
    28 April 2020 at 8:03 am

    Seems a good ploy to front Goldsmith and Woodhouse for the remainder of at least Level 3.

    Goldsmith is going to get traction with our capitalist community unless Minister Robertson starts showing he can lead the business community prior to Budget on May 8th: just over a week's time Can Robertson do it? I'm not convinced.

    The business community by and large are pitiless and will vote with their commercial interests, no matter how much subsidy they've hoovered up. They are National's.

    So there's still plenty of scope and time left for Labour to lose this election.

  5. Scumbag Andy 5
    28 April 2020 at 8:14 am

    And here is the thing. Eradication is really difficult. It is performing whack a mole when you get down to single digit daily infection rates and hoping you captured all of them. Missing two infections will mean there is another one out there. Singular instances of failure are a massive bugger.

    Here's the thing about anything though: you have to actually do something to have a result. "We" didn't get down to zero new cases before going to level 3. If "we" didn't do that, then we might as well have not begun lockdown. Because the problem is, and I'm sure everyone's noticed, if you frustrate The Greed, it comes back ten times harder. There is no compromise. Lockdown frustrated The Greed.

    Now the government is asking "us" to shoulder their responsibility by voluntarily telling them where we are at all times with tracking devices, so when "we" get a case "we" are isolated and discarded in the otherwise accelerated New Greed Environment that "they" created.

    Two options: either the government are utterly clueless about human nature, and are unable to implement even a flawed plan with determination, or they are deliberately fucking us over, again.

  6. Tricledrown 6
    28 April 2020 at 8:56 am

    Other than stating the obvious Goldsmith said nothing.Platitudes and pontifications.

    Cutting Health funding for 9 years running has left us with one of the lowest per capita health funding in the developed world.We have the lowest number of ICU's on par with the US.This is Nationals deliberate run down of the public health sector to force people into private for profit healthcare how is that going in the US.

    • Carolyn_Nth 6.1
      28 April 2020 at 9:30 am

      Yep. And probably accounts for Aussie's different response: probably hadn't dun down their public health service as much as NZ. Aussie had testing and contact tracing up and running, and with more tests early than did NZ.

    • dv 6.2
      28 April 2020 at 9:37 am

      Yes and the USA has over 1million cases and 56000
      And increasing by abt 30 k per day and 2k deaths.
      deaths.

    • Sacha 6.3
      28 April 2020 at 9:50 am

      It would be good for some attention to rest on Tony Ryall and Jonathan Coleman and their cabinets who deliberately gutted public health then walked away without consequence.

      • Gabby 6.3.1
        28 April 2020 at 11:01 am

        Be fair, Croaker Coleman walked off into a private sector job to devour the flesh he'd carved off the public health system didn't he.

        • Sacha 6.3.1.1
          28 April 2020 at 4:29 pm

          And recall that Ryall scurried off suspiciously fast to pastures lush and private after having already been re-selected by his electorate..

      • KJT 6.3.2
        28 April 2020 at 11:19 am

        Lucrative directorships in the private health sector, was a consequence, I suppose?

    • thebiggestfish 6.4
      28 April 2020 at 11:10 am

      Yes our healthcare funding has fallen on a per capita basis since 2014 per the World Health Organisations (WHO) website. Which is a shame.

      However to state we have one of the lowest per capita health spend in the developed world is just total fabrication. According to the WHO, NZ has currently the 20th highest healthcare funding per capita out of 188 countries.

      Additionally per the WHO and UN there are 60-63 depending on the source developed countries in the world. Therefore we are in the top third for developed countries .

      Ideally we should be striving to have a healthcare system that is second to none. But we are not as you say one of the lowest per capita health funders in the developed world.

  7. ianmac 7
    28 April 2020 at 9:22 am

    Yes Tricledrown.

  8. Enough is Enough 8
    28 April 2020 at 9:37 am

    To be fair I think people are cherry picking Australia because they are having similar results to ours. It is therefore not very surprising that people will look at how they have achieved it. It hasn't really got much to do with an artificial and meaningless right v left debate.

    Looking at where other countries have failed and succeeded is something that should be encouraged, without worrying who their Prime Minister is or what colour flag he flies..

    • Sacha 8.1
      28 April 2020 at 9:46 am

      The experts are looking at every other nation for ideas, yes.

      • Enough is Enough 8.1.1
        28 April 2020 at 11:12 am

        So the opposition (and anyone else with a voice) should not ask questions and just leave it the experts?

        • KJT 8.1.1.1
          28 April 2020 at 11:29 am

          Constructive criticism is one thing. National could actually have been helpful with things that could of helped businesses in reality. Such as rent and mortgage freezes while they couldn't go to work.

          But, their funders would never have allowed, it.

          Barking, and throwing shit randomly at the Government, in the hope that some will stick, is another.

          • Enough is Enough 8.1.1.1.1
            28 April 2020 at 12:24 pm

            I agree with you on all that. My point was about the claim that they were only cherry picking Australia because Scomo is on their side, which I think is silly.

            • KJT 8.1.1.1.1.1
              28 April 2020 at 12:35 pm

              Yes. The political orientation of the State Governments, who are responsible for the States individual actions, vary considerably.

    • Gabby 8.2
      28 April 2020 at 11:02 am

      Are the ockies counting out of hospital fatalities?

    • Stunned Mullet 8.3
      28 April 2020 at 11:02 am

      Good grief someone talking sense…..

  9. AB 9
    28 April 2020 at 9:45 am

    Crisis capitalism is as natural to them as breathing – of course they'll use C-19 as an opportunity to push ideas they had in their heads long before C-19 appeared. Meanwhile they'll hypocritically bloviate about how outrageous it is for the left to even talk about using a public health crisis as an opportunity to make permanent changes to the economy. We've got a way to go in learning to be as ruthless as them.

  11. Sanctuary 11
    28 April 2020 at 10:25 am

    "…We are witnessing the failure of the capitalist system and Paul’s solution is more unbridled capitalism…"

    Actually Paul's problem is National's wider problem – they've simply not updated their policy prescription (or even been open to new ideas) for thirty years. Goldsmith himself is an anodyne retread of the colourless pinstripe suit money man so popular circa 2000 as the last word in modern common sense.

    Jacinda and Grant Robertson seem to me to be powder pink "lefties" but they also seem to be (or perhaps have been forced to be) post-neoliberal pragmatists.

    Effectively, National and ACT have become the last defenders on an exhausted dogma and it shows when they talk about policy. Their response will probably be seek ever more extreme measures to preserve the neoliberal crony capitalism they now regard as business as usual by adopting culture war diversions, seeking voter suppression measures and creating an atmosphere of distrust and fake news.

  12. Andre 12
    28 April 2020 at 10:36 am

    Anyone seen a good point-by-point comparison of our lockdown compared to various states in Oz? As far as I can tell the differences really are quite minor.

    • RedLogix 12.1
      28 April 2020 at 10:47 am

      Here in QLD I'd describe the rules as equivalent to NZ's Level 3+.

      The range of 'essential services' has been wider and in general trade businesses that can operate with social distancing and precautions have been allowed to operate almost normally.

      Traffic volumes are lighter, but definitely not the deserted pictures I've seen from NZ. Quite a few people are still out and about, but social distancing is being observed quite well. Social gatherings are definitely off.

      I'd say Australia was always in a more flexible position, it had more medical resources to throw at this crisis, and could take a slightly less draconian position. By contrast NZ's leaner medical system was more vulnerable to a breakdown like Italy and it was probably the right thing to 'go hard, go early'.

      But from an epidemiological perspective, I think the difference between the two countries is minimal; and certainly not grounds for scoring political points.

      The common factor with all nations who have done well is strong governance at the national level, particularly if they implement early aggressive testing.

      • observer 12.1.1
        28 April 2020 at 11:00 am

        I wonder what the reaction (from the Hosking mob) would be if the NZ gov't had announced the police would be enforcing level 4 by handing out on-the-spot fines.

        "No problem with that, it's what they do in Australia". I doubt it. There would be Outrage at the Commie Dictator Ardern.

        Those cherries must be picked, only if convenient.

      • KJT 12.1.2
        28 April 2020 at 11:23 am

        And. Don't forget, spot fines for not following the rules. From a police force that likes to beat people up in cells, to reinforce the message.

        I wonder what our pet righties would say about that, if we had done it in New Zealand?

      • KJT 12.1.3
        28 April 2020 at 6:13 pm

        We started worse than Oz, after the last few weeks, better

      • KJT 12.1.4
        28 April 2020 at 6:23 pm

        We started worse than Oz, after the last few weeks, better.

        According to this, anyway.

        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/author/derek-cheng/

  13. Bearded Git 13
    28 April 2020 at 10:54 am

    The Covid 19 press conference a couple of days ago said that in order to compare NZ to OZ Covid 19 cases on the same basis NZ's figure had to be reduced from approx. 1450 to 1100, meaning the per capita cases in NZ are less than those in Oz.

    • Tricledrown 13.1
      28 April 2020 at 11:31 am

      EiE leadership vacuum you can raise issues without being a hypocritical or a Dick

      • Bearded Git 13.1.1
        28 April 2020 at 5:45 pm

        Not sure if I can make any sense of this response. I was just pointing out a statistical error in the relative published Covid19 figures between the 2 nations.

    • Shanreagh 13.2
      28 April 2020 at 9:17 pm

      Yes to Bearded Git that is correct. Dr Bloomfield restated this today at the presser. NZ counts probables in with its totals (probables are clinician diagnosed on symptoms and location). The figures that NZ submits to WHO are the lower figures 1100 odd.

      UK counts only those who have died in hospital, not at home or in care/rest homes. NZ counts as Covid-19 deaths no matter where they occur. I am not sure if Australia counts all deaths no matter where they occur.

      I have great deal of scepticism about the what I call the 'myth making' around the Australian response & figures to Covid-19. It first started to be used by RW pundits to beat the NZ Govt over the head about being Australia being able to have it both ways with milder lockdowns, ongoing economic activity.

      I have a feeling that the spread of Covid-19 by community transmission is/will continue to be higher in Australia and I am not sure that they are on top of it. I did find a comment in Guardian Australia of 28/4/20 that others are sceptical as well.

      Mon 27 Apr 2020 01.22 BST

      'According to experts, the growth in new coronavirus cases in Australia is slowing, likely due to the decrease in travel-related cases. However there is still a long way to go in controlling the spread of Covid-19, and particular attention needs to be paid to the rate of community transmission.'

      https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/ng-interactive/2020/apr/27/coronavirus-australia-numbers-how-many-new-cases-today-maps-deaths-death-toll-covid-19-stats-statistics-graph-map-by-postcode

      Hence even by the end of the year I would not welcome air travel services to/from Australia.

      We talked a week or so ago about our possible trading partners/bloc being those who have achieved good results and at the time that was Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore. Singapore has since had a bounceback with cases involving its migrant workers but my inclination would be to build up trust/travel/trade with those countries as well as Australia.

      Over the last few years Australia has been a fair weather friend only to NZ and its citizens while aligning itself strongly with the US.

      So let us not be beguiled by Australia and its Covid-19 response being any better than ours.

  14. Nic the NZer 14
    28 April 2020 at 12:44 pm

    I recently developed a particularly good analogy for the economic theory which drives people towards this kind of thinking,

    Imagine the economy is a motor vehicle and that the economic theory is a plan for the engine design. Now unfortunately we decide that to justify investment in the vehicle we will have to assume that the engine efficiency will be increased by design improvements over time. Clearly the efficiency of this engine will eventually grow towards 100%. So rather than trying to anticipate the un-for-see-able specifics of how the engine will eventually work with specific efficiency we put those aside and assume that the design includes the upgrades and that eventually our engine will be working at 100% efficiency, which is similar to assuming the economy automatically gravitates to an equilibrium state. At this stage the answer has been clarified and becomes obvious, we will not be needing that engine cooling system and its just hurting our design because 100% efficient engines don't produce excess heat. Eventually the vehicle is manufactured, in practice it overheats every few KM and needs hours of cooling off, but that's just due to a few negligible real world engineering limitations. The vehicle designers are well rewarded for their innovative and efficient specifications.

    And so you have serious political figures suggesting that the economy will recover most efficiently when the work force is petrified of contracting illness from their employment.

    • Nic the NZer 14.1
      28 April 2020 at 1:07 pm

      But surely it could not be so ridiculous?

      Well here is a critique of the mainstream modeling assumptions of models which the NZ treasury uses in its capacity,

      https://larspsyll.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/the-bad-luck-theory-of-unemployment-3/

      "In this model world, unemployment is always an optimal choice to changes in the labour market conditions. Hence, unemployment is totally voluntary. To be unemployed is something one optimally chooses to be."

    • Ad 14.2
      28 April 2020 at 1:35 pm

      Do you think Grant Robertson has an economy theory that guides him, or even an operating framework that he is working to?

      • Nic the NZer 14.2.1
        28 April 2020 at 1:54 pm

        As the finance minister Grant Robertson bloody well better have a model (a concept) of how the economy works. We should hope that what ever is the basis for that he is not too attached to it.

        I am pretty sure that Grant Robertson sticks very closely to the mainstream of economic theory in his thinking (as did Dr Cullen, more so). This means for example that the government had until Covid-19 made no change to the hegemony of monetary policy over fiscal policy as a way for the government to act. The intellectual roots of that policy choice are exactly in the the ideas that Lars P Syll is criticizing in my link (if there is no such thing as involuntary unemployment then use of monetary policy over fiscal policy could be justified, probably the regressive ongoing WINZ policies of 2 decades can be too). He may not understand strongly on which basis a treasury projection of the situation in 2-5 years is constructed, but he is still responsible for how the government acts on that basis.

        • pat 14.2.1.1
          28 April 2020 at 6:27 pm

          I would have agreed about Robertson a year ago but now Im not so sure….I live in hope he may have had an epiphany…his recent statements indicate so, lets hope the budget confirms that.

  15. bill 15
    28 April 2020 at 6:58 pm

    I believe it's generally the case that viruses persist longer in colder climatic conditions and that's why they tend to thrive better in winter months.

    So maybe it is the case that NZ could have got away with a more lax Covid response insofar and if summer has played a role in Australia's infection and death rates.

    But that's a few fairly major "ifs" and "maybes". And here's a couple more…

    If Covid fits within the general case for viruses, then with winter coming, there's a risk that a fairly major second wave hits countries like NZ and Australia that appear to have done much better than countries in the Northern Hemisphere.

    • Carolyn_Nth 15.1
      28 April 2020 at 7:13 pm

      Brazil is a southern hemisphere country, and pretty warm, isn't it?

      It has been tipped as the next C-19 hot spot with the hospital system on the verge of collapse.

      • bill 15.1.1
        28 April 2020 at 8:16 pm

        And Argentina and Chile and plenty of countries around the equator and across the tropics…

        But the general take on cooler temps and viruses in general apparently stands scrutiny. I didn't say they couldn't survive warmer conditions – just that they don't tend to thrive to the same extent.

        MERS (another Covid virus) hangs around the Middle East, but since camels are the main host species and it’s got a high kill rate…

        Spanish Flu apparently peaked in the summer…

        And I think there are many reasons why Brazil might tank, not the least being their idiot President. (Are there any measures in place there?)

    • Andre 15.2
      28 April 2020 at 7:30 pm

      It may be that coronaviruses in general do better in cooler conditions, but it's yet to be shown that SARS-CoV-2 is any more or less dangerous at warmer or cooler temps. It just hasn't been around long enough to develop that information. Plenty of warmer places have been hit hard, Carolyn has noted Brazil, Ecuador has also been hit hard, Singapore …

      But it's a long stretch to say viruses in general do better in cooler temps. Ebola, dengue, yellow fever, HIV, rotavirus, Lassa fever are just some of the viruses that appear to be a lot more dangerous in warmer conditions.

      • bill 15.2.1
        28 April 2020 at 8:19 pm

        I don't know jack-shit about the transmission vectors for most of those Andre, and I'm not about to look them all up.

        How many kill their host too fast to spread? How many originate (like MERS) in animals living in warmer climates? And HIV? Why is that even on your list?

        And what would happen if an infectious virus from a warm climate somehow got a toe-hold in a cooler one? Would it, all else being equal, potentially be more virulent? (If “virulent” is the right word to use for persistence in the environment and subsequent rate of infection)

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    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • What becomes of the broken hearted? Nanny State will step in to comfort them
    Buzz from the Beehive The Nanny State has scored some wins (or claimed them) in the past day or two but it faltered when it came to protecting Kiwi citizens from being savaged by one woman armed with a sharp tongue. The wins are recorded by triumphant ministers on the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Acceptance, decency, road food.
    Sometimes you see your friends making the case so well on social media you think: just copy and share.On acceptance and decency, from Michèle A’CourtA notable thing about anti-trans people is they way they talk about transgender women and men as though they are strangers “over there” when in fact ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Climate Change: More Labour sabotage
    Not that long ago, things were looking pretty good for climate change policy in Aotearoa. We finally had an ETS, and while it was full of pork and subsidies, it was delivering high and ever-rising carbon prices, sending a clear message to polluters to clean up or shut down. And ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • Is bundling restricting electricity competition?
    Comparing (and switching) electricity providers has become easier, but bundling power up with broadband and/or gas makes it more challenging. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā TL;DR: The new Consumer Advocacy Council set up as a result of the Labour Government’s Electricity Price Review in 2019 has called on either ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Westland Milk puts heat on competitors as global dairy demand  remains softer for longer
    Hokitika-based Westland Milk Products  has  put the heat on dairy giant Fonterra with  a $120m profit turnaround in 2022, driven by record sales. Westland paid its suppliers a 10c premium above the forecast Fonterra price per kilo, contributing $535m to the West Coast and Canterbury economies. The dairy ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    2 days ago

  • BRYCE EDWARDS’ Political Roundup:  The Beehive’s revolving door and corporate mateship
    * Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: The Beehive’s revolving door and corporate mateship
    New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public office and becoming lobbyists and ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    2 days ago

  • A miracle pill for our transport ills
    This is a guest post by accessibility and sustainable transport advocate Tim Adriaansen It originally appeared here.   A friend calls you and asks for your help. They tell you that while out and about nearby, they slipped over and landed arms-first. Now their wrist is swollen, hurting like ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    2 days ago

  • The Surprising Power of Floating Wind Turbines
    Floating offshore wind turbines offer incredible opportunities to capture powerful winds far out at sea. By unlocking this wind energy potential, they could be a key weapon in our arsenal in the fight against climate change. But how developed are these climate fighting clean energy giants? And why do I ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • The next Maori challenge
    Over the past two or three weeks, a procession of Maori iwi and hapu in a series of little-noticed appearances before two Select Committees have been asking for more say for Maori over resource management decisions along the co-governance lines of Three Waters. Their submissions and appearances run counter ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • Secret “war-crime” warrants by International Criminal Court is mischief-making
    The decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue war crimes arrest warrants for the Russian President and the Russia Children Ombudsman may have been welcomed by the ideologically committed but otherwise seems to have been greeted with widespread cynicism (see Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants ...
    Open ParachuteBy Ken
    3 days ago

  • How to answer Drunk Uncle Kevin's Climate Crisis reckons
    Let’s say you’re clasping your drink at a wedding, or a 40th, or a King’s Birthday Weekend family reunion and Drunk Uncle Kevin has just got going.He’s in an expansive frame of mind because we’re finally rid of that silly girl. But he wants to ask an honest question about ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • National’s Luxon may be glum about his poll ratings but has he found a winner in promising to rai...
    National Party leader Christopher Luxon may  be feeling glum about his poll ratings, but  he could be tapping  into  a rich political vein in  describing the current state of education as “alarming”. Luxon said educational achievement has been declining,  with a recent NCEA pilot exposing just how far it has ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: More Labour foot-dragging
    Yesterday the IPCC released the final part of its Sixth Assessment Report, warning us that we have very little time left in which to act to prevent catastrophic climate change, but pointing out that it is a problem that we can solve, with existing technology, and that anything we do ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Te Pāti Māori Are Revolutionaries – Not Reformists.
    Way Beyond Reform: Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have no more interest in remaining permanent members of “New Zealand’s” House of Representatives than did Lenin and Trotsky in remaining permanent members of Tsar Nicolas II’s “democratically-elected” Duma. Like the Bolsheviks, Te Pāti Māori is a party of revolutionaries – not reformists.THE CROWN ...
    Bowalley Road
    3 days ago

  • When does history become “ancient”, on Tinetti’s watch as Minister of Education – and what o...
    Buzz from the Beehive Auckland was wiped off the map, when Education Minister Jan Tinetti delivered her speech of welcome as host of the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers “here in Tāmaki Makaurau”. But – fair to say – a reference was made later in the speech to a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Climate Catastrophe, but first rugby.
    Morning mate, how you going?Well, I was watching the news last night and they announced this scientific report on Climate Change. But before they got to it they had a story about the new All Blacks coach.Sounds like important news. It’s a bit of a worry really.Yeah, they were talking ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • What the US and European bank rescues mean for us
    Always a bailout: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Government would fully guarantee all savers in all smaller US banks if needed. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: No wonder an entire generation of investors are used to ‘buying the dip’ and ‘holding on for dear life’. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Who will drain Wellington’s lobbying swamp?
    Wealthy vested interests have an oversized influence on political decisions in New Zealand. Partly that’s due to their use of corporate lobbyists. Fortunately, the influence lobbyists can have on decisions made by politicians is currently under scrutiny in Guyon Espiner’s in-depth series published by RNZ. Two of Espiner’s research exposés ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • It’s Raining Congestion
    Yesterday afternoon it rained and traffic around the region ground to a halt, once again highlighting why it is so important that our city gets on with improving the alternatives to driving. For additional irony, this happened on the same day the IPCC synthesis report landed, putting the focus on ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    3 days ago

  • Checking The Left: The Dreadful Logic Of Fascism.
    The Beginning: Anti-Co-Governance agitator, Julian Batchelor, addresses the Dargaville stop of his travelling roadshow across New Zealand . Fascism almost always starts small. Sadly, it doesn’t always stay that way. Especially when the Left helps it to grow.THERE IS A DREADFUL LOGIC to the growth of fascism. To begin with, it ...
    Bowalley Road
    3 days ago

  • Good Friends and Terrible Food
    Hi,From an incredibly rainy day in Los Angeles, I just wanted to check in. I guess this is the day Trump may or may not end up in cuffs? I’m attempting a somewhat slower, less frenzied week. I’ve had Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record on non-stop, and it’s been a ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago

  • At a glance – What evidence is there for the hockey stick?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Carry right on up there, Corporal Espiner
    RNZ has been shining their torch into corners where lobbyists lurk and asking such questions as: Do we like the look of this?and Is this as democratic as it could be?These are most certainly questions worth asking, and every bit as valid as, say:Are we shortchanged democratically by the way ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • This smells
    RNZ has continued its look at the role of lobbyists by taking a closer look at the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Andrew Kirton. He used to work for liquor companies, opposing (among other things) a container refund scheme which would have required them to take responsibility for their own ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago

  • Major issues on the table in Mahuta’s  talks in Beijing with China’s new Foreign Minister
    Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has left for Beijing for the first ministerial visit to China since 2019. Mahuta is  to  meet China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang  where she  might have to call on all the  diplomatic skills  at  her  command. Almost certainly she  will  face  questions  on what  role ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago

  • Inside TOP's Teal Card and political strategy
    TL;DR: The Opportunities Party’s Leader Raf Manji is hopeful the party’s new Teal Card, a type of Gold card for under 30s, will be popular with students, and not just in his Ilam electorate where students make up more than a quarter of the voters and where Manji is confident ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Make Your Empties Go Another Round.
    When I was a kid New Zealand was actually pretty green. We didn’t really have plastic. The fruit and veges came in a cardboard box, the meat was wrapped in paper, milk came in a glass bottle, and even rubbish sacks were made of paper. Today if you sit down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on how similar Vladimir Putin is to George W. Bush
    Looking back through the names of our Police Ministers down the years, the job has either been done by once or future party Bigfoots – Syd Holland, Richard Prebble, Juduth Collins, Chris Hipkins – or by far lesser lights like Keith Allen, Frank Gill, Ben Couch, Allen McCready, Clem Simich, ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    4 days ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER:  Te Pāti Māori’s uncompromising threat to the status quo
    Chris Trotter writes – The Crown is a fickle friend. Any political movement deemed to be colourful but inconsequential is generally permitted to go about its business unmolested. The Crown’s media, RNZ and TVNZ, may even “celebrate” its existence (presumably as proof of Democracy’s broad-minded acceptance of diversity). ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Shining a bright light on lobbyists in politics
    Four out of the five people who have held the top role of Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff since 2017 have been lobbyists. That’s a fact that should worry anyone who believes vested interests shouldn’t have a place at the centre of decision making. Chris Hipkins’ newly appointed Chief of ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago

  • Auckland Council Draft Budget – an unnecessary backwards step
    Feedback on Auckland Council’s draft 2023/24 budget closes on March 28th. You can read the consultation document here, and provide feedback here. Auckland Council is currently consulting on what is one of its most important ever Annual Plans – the ‘budget’ of what it will spend money on between July ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    4 days ago

  • Talking’ Posey Parker Blues
    by Molten Moira from Motueka If you want to be a woman let me tell you what to do Get a piece of paper and a biro tooWrite down your new identification And boom! You’re now a woman of this nationSpelled W O M A Na real trans woman that isAs opposed ...
    RedlineBy Admin
    5 days ago

  • More Māori words make it into the OED, and polytech boss (with rules on words like “students”) ...
    Buzz from the Beehive   New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti is hosting the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers for three days from today, welcoming Education Ministers and senior officials from 18 Pacific Island countries and territories, and from Australia. Here’s hoping they have brought translators with them – or ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • Social intercourse with haters and Nazis: an etiquette guide
    Let’s say you’ve come all the way from His Majesty’s United Kingdom to share with the folk of Australia and New Zealand your antipathy towards certain other human beings. And let’s say you call yourself a women’s rights activist.And let’s say 99 out of 100 people who listen to you ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • The Greens, Labour, and coalition enforcement
    James Shaw gave the Green party's annual "state of the planet" address over the weekend, in which he expressed frustration with Labour for not doing enough on climate change. His solution is to elect more Green MPs, so they have more power within any government arrangement, and can hold Labour ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • This sounds familiar…
    RNZ this morning has the first story another investigative series by Guyon Espiner, this time into political lobbying. The first story focuses on lobbying by government agencies, specifically transpower, Pharmac, and assorted universities, and how they use lobbyists to manipulate public opinion and gather intelligence on the Ministers who oversee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • Letter to the NZ Herald: NCEA pseudoscience – “Mauri is present in all matter”
    Nick Matzke writes –   Dear NZ Herald, I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. I teach evolutionary biology, but I also have long experience in science education and (especially) political attempts to insert pseudoscience into science curricula in ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • So what would be the point of a Green vote again?
    James Shaw has again said the Greens would be better ‘in the tent’ with Labour than out, despite Labour’s policy bonfire last week torching much of what the Government was doing to reduce emissions. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Green Party has never been more popular than in some ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Gas stoves pose health risks. Are gas furnaces and other appliances safe to use?
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler Poor air quality is a long-standing problem in Los Angeles, where the first major outbreak of smog during World War II was so intense that some residents thought the city had been attacked by chemical weapons. Cars were eventually discovered ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Genetic Heritage and Co Governance
    Yesterday I was reading an excellent newsletter from David Slack, and I started writing a comment “Sounds like some excellent genetic heritage…” and then I stopped.There was something about the phrase genetic heritage that stopped me in tracks. Is that a phrase I want to be saying? It’s kind of ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • BRIAN EASTON: Radical Uncertainty
    Brian Easton writes – Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s Middle East strategy, 20 years after the Iraq War
    This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War. While it strongly opposed the US-led invasion, New Zealand’s then Labour-led government led by Prime Minister Helen Clark did deploy military engineers to try to help rebuild Iraq in mid-2003. With violence soaring, their 12-month deployment ended without being renewed ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago

  • The motorways are finished
    After seventy years, Auckland’s motorway network is finally finished. In July 1953 the first section of motorway in Auckland was opened between Ellerslie-Panmure Highway and Mt Wellington Highway. The final stage opens to traffic this week with the completion of the motorway part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project. Aucklanders ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    5 days ago

  • Kicking National’s tyres
    National’s appointment of Todd McClay as Agriculture spokesperson clearly signals that the party is in trouble with the farming vote. McClay was not an obvious choice, but he does have a record as a political scrapper. The party needs that because sources say it has been shedding farming votes ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • As long as there is cricket, the world is somehow okay.
    Rays of white light come flooding into my lounge, into my face from over the top of my neighbour’s hedge. I have to look away as the window of the conservatory is awash in light, as if you were driving towards the sun after a rain shower and suddenly blinded. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • So much of what was there remains
    The columnists in Private Eye take pen names, so I have not the least idea who any of them are. But I greatly appreciate their expert insight, especially MD, who writes the medical column, offering informed and often damning critique of the UK health system and the politicians who keep ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 12, 2023 thru Sat, Mar 18, 2023. Story of the Week Guest post: What 13,500 citations reveal about the IPCC’s climate science report   IPCC WG1 AR6 SPM Report Cover - Changing ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • Financial capability services are being bucked up, but Stuart Nash shouldn’t have to see if they c...
    Buzz from the Beehive  The building of financial capability was brought into our considerations when Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced she had dipped into the government’s coffers for $3 million for “providers” to help people and families access community-based Building Financial Capability services. That wording suggests some ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago

  • Things that make you go Hmmmm.
    Do you ever come across something that makes you go Hmmmm?You mean like the song?No, I wasn’t thinking of the song, but I am now - thanks for that. I was thinking of things you read or hear that make you stop and go Hmmmm.Yeah, I know what you mean, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago

  • The hoon for the week that was to March 19
    By the end of the week, the dramas over Stuart Nash overshadowed Hipkins’ policy bonfire. File photo: Lynn GrieveasonTLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and the political economy covered on The Kākā included:PM Chris Hipkins’ announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but ...
    The KakaBy Peter Bale
    1 week ago

  • Saving Stuart Nash: Explaining Chris Hipkins' unexpected political calculation
    When word went out that Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would be making an announcement about Stuart Nash on the tiles at parliament at 2:45pm yesterday, the assumption was that it was over. That we had reached tipping point for Nash’s time as minister. But by 3pm - when, coincidentally, the ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    1 week ago

  • Radical Uncertainty
    Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go on to attack physics by citing Newton.So ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago

  • Jump onto the weekly hoon on Riverside at 5pm
    Photo by Walker Fenton on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on Riverside (we’ve moved from Zoom) for our chat about the week’s news with ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • The Dream of Florian Neame: Accepted
    In a nice bit of news, my 2550-word deindustrial science-fiction piece, The Dream of Florian Neame, has been accepted for publication at New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). I have published there before, of course, with Of Tin and Tintagel coming out last year. While I still await the ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago

  • Snakes and leaders
    And so this is Friday, and what have we learned?It was a week with all the usual luggage: minister brags and then he quits, Hollywood red carpet is full of twits. And all the while, hanging over the trivial stuff: existential dread, and portents of doom.Depending on who you read ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • This station is Karanga-a-Hape, Chur!
    When I changed the name of this newsletter from The Daily Read to Nick’s Kōrero I was a bit worried whether people would know what Kōrero meant or not. I added a definition when I announced the change and kind of assumed people who weren’t familiar with it would get ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • Greens don’t shy from promoting a candidate’s queerness but are quiet about govt announcement on...
    There was a time when a political party’s publicity people would counsel against promoting a candidate as queer. No matter which of two dictionary meanings the voting public might choose to apply – the old meaning of odd, strange, weird, or aberrant, or the more recent meaning of gay, homosexual ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • Ask Me Anything about the week to March 17
    Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for the next hour, including:PM Chris Hipkins announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but which blew up ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Slow consenting could create $16b climate liability by 2050
    Even though concern over the climate change threat is becoming more mainstream, our governments continue to opt out of the difficult decisions at the expense of time, and cost for future generations. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Now we have a climate liability number to measure the potential failure of the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • District Court Judges appointed
    Attorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Christopher John Dellabarca of Wellington, Dr Katie Jane Elkin of Wellington, Caroline Mary Hickman of Napier, Ngaroma Tahana of Rotorua, Tania Rose Williams Blyth of Hamilton and Nicola Jan Wills of Wellington as District Court Judges.  Chris Dellabarca Mr Dellabarca commenced his ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    19 hours ago

  • New project set to supercharge ocean economy in Nelson Tasman
    A new Government-backed project will help ocean-related businesses in the Nelson Tasman region to accelerate their growth and boost jobs. “The Nelson Tasman region is home to more than 400 blue economy businesses, accounting for more than 30 percent of New Zealand’s economic activity in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • National’s education policy: where’s the funding?
    After three years of COVID-19 disruptions schools are finally settling down and National want to throw that all in the air with major disruption to learning and underinvestment.  “National’s education policy lacks the very thing teachers, parents and students need after a tough couple of years, certainty and stability,” Education ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Free programme to help older entrepreneurs and inventors
    People aged over 50 with innovative business ideas will now be able to receive support to advance their ideas to the next stage of development, Minister for Seniors Ginny Andersen said today. “Seniors have some great entrepreneurial ideas, and this programme will give them the support to take that next ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government target increased to keep powering up the Māori economy
    A cross government target for relevant government procurement contracts for goods and services to be awarded to Māori businesses annually will increase to 8%, after the initial 5% target was exceeded. The progressive procurement policy was introduced in 2020 to increase supplier diversity, starting with Māori businesses, for the estimated ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Continued progress on reducing poverty in challenging times
    77,000 fewer children living in low income households on the after-housing-costs primary measure since Labour took office Eight of the nine child poverty measures have seen a statistically significant reduction since 2018. All nine have reduced 28,700 fewer children experiencing material hardship since 2018 Measures taken by the Government during ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Speech at Fiji Investment and Trade Business Forum
    Deputy Prime Minister Kamikamica; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Tēnā koutou katoa, ni sa bula vinaka saka, namaste. Deputy Prime Minister, a very warm welcome to Aotearoa. I trust you have been enjoying your time here and thank you for joining us here today. To all delegates who have travelled to be ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government investments boost and diversify local economies in lower South Island
    $2.9 million convertible loan for Scapegrace Distillery to meet growing national and international demand $4.5m underwrite to support Silverlight Studios’ project to establish a film studio in Wanaka Gore’s James Cumming Community Centre and Library to be official opened tomorrow with support of $3m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government future-proofs EV charging
    Transport Minister Michael Wood has today launched the first national EV (electric vehicle) charging strategy, Charging Our Future, which includes plans to provide EV charging stations in almost every town in New Zealand. “Our vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have world-class EV charging infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • World-leading family harm prevention campaign supports young NZers
    Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan has today launched the Love Better campaign in a world-leading approach to family harm prevention. Love Better will initially support young people through their experience of break-ups, developing positive and life-long attitudes to dealing with hurt. “Over 1,200 young kiwis told ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • First Chief Clinical Advisor welcomed into Coroners Court
    Hon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealand’s first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. “This appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealand’s wider coronial system.” Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Next steps for affected properties post Cyclone and floods
    The Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. “The Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • New appointment to Māori Land Court bench
    E te huia kaimanawa, ko Ngāpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao Māori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo Māori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is Ngāpuhi who ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Government focus on jobs sees record number of New Zealanders move from Benefits into work
    113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Government’s investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Vertical farming partnership has upward momentum
    The Government’s priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Conference of Pacific Education Ministers – Keynote Address
    E nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kātoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • New $13m renal unit supports Taranaki patients
    The new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi Raupō received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. “It’s an honour ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Second Poseidon aircraft on home soil
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