Except their fix won’t release more suitable land, it’ll release more unsuitable land. And we saw what that can look like in certain areas of Christchurch, so maybe we shouldn’t be so fast to talk about gutting the RMA as a “solution” just because we all acknowledge more land for housing is one step that will help.
The Greens and Labour still require more land to be released (or at least re-zoned for greater density). Where are these 100,000 additional houses going to be built? That will likely mean greater demand for land AND then even higher housing prices.
NZ people per hectare is low by World Standards for an urbanised society.
And that would be because we keep adding to the uneconomic sprawl of our cities rather than building up which, of course, increases the amount of land used per person thus decreasing the amount of land available faster.
So, yeah, under the delusional ideology of the right-wing we’d run out of land pretty quick.
The issue is an lack of central government vision on infrastructure (while importing huge numbers of people) which has led to the Auckland council not being able to release land for fear of making serious long term city design and transport mistakes.
It is politically expedient for greedy RWNJs to concentrate the blame for a lack of housing development at Auckland Council when the real problem is poor management by the National government in infrastructure modelling which has been compounded by poor immigration management over the last 9 years.
There definitely isn’t enough land for the 450 metre square ranch style dwelling with four car garage that the cabinets’ mates build. I mean you do need at least one hectare to put in a decent drive and a practice golf hole in the front yard.
Yes as well as the mythical ‘land crisis’ which does not exist (it’s a building crisis stupid, or more to the point the cost of producing a building in this country is well beyond the wages of most people to afford, so we have to import people in and create an economy based on a ponzi construction model)
– there is also the Natz and ACT idea that like pigs we fly around, because even if there were housing, then we can’t get around because some dimwits never put in public transport that people can afford that has links back to people’s houses so they can get home and works.
And to top it off, somehow every time it rains, sewerage goes into our beaches. This was supposed to be stopped years ago, but apparently in spite of all the extra water charges, extra compliance for everybody with septic tanks – this was never solved.
So for every person we now don’t have enough houses, they can’t get from A to B with absurd public transport and gridlocked roads and their shit goes into the harbour every time we have a huge down pour.
so the right wingers keep telling us….funny though even the off shore construction companies are complaining about the cost of building here…
And in Auckland for every house being demolished, another bigger one is coming up. (p.s. that’s not increasing housing, even though the figures record it as such).
The council love it and rubber stamp every consent – but again, it’s making housing less affordable and blocking out amenity – like sun – which in the age of solar and oil crisis is not going to end well as well as making future houses colder and damper and having to spend more on artificial heating options that increasingly people can’t afford. I guess that’s capitalism!
Apparently NZ has some of the biggest housing in the world. But even in Oz which has bigger houses, the cost of building is much less per square meter.
With the unaffordable unitary plan there was removing democracy, rubber stamping consents, losing greenfield spaces, removing character, but increasing density and sustainablility was missing.
In short there needs to be more homes that can be run cheaper allowed on the land not larger buildings.
And if anybody trys to put on a granny flat – no stone left unturned for the council to try and stop it.
Don’t even think about buying land and putting on a yurt to live in! You will be prosecuted even if it’s on a lifestyle block in the middle of nowhere.
Sadly in this country the government, local and central and more and more lobby groups are more interested in stopping many people being able to have housing and controlling it for profit and political reasons, while allowing richer people and businesses to do what ever they like with public resources.
The result. Auckland. Man made housing crisis and increasingly, less ways to solve it. We now have a pollution and transport crisis to go with the housing and job and wages crisis.
Oz govt desperate to shoreup is banking industries exposure to the Auckland housing market. First crims, now families foloowing their kids forced to goto uni in NZ. Both Nats and Liberals dont want a housing collapse on their watch. Though niether will anyone bother to build homes, less the class stratification of society turns round.
Martyn Bradbury has ruined the word “comrade” for me. He uses it so much, (often while attacking unions) that it has somehow devalued a term that I used to like.
This is the first I have heard of ‘keepcup’ as a reference to the Greens, and I follow quite a number of Green supporters. I rather liked the chart though.
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The mission of the New Zealand Police is to make this country the safest nation in the world. To achieve that aim, there is one important step the police need to take at the end of this month. When the evaluation of the Armed Response Teams’ trial is completed, the ...
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For a good part of my adult life I have studied civil-military relations. I have studied authoritarian and democratic variants, and I have studied them across countries and regions. I have also worked in and with several US security agencies and have lectured on the theme at a number of ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf we stopped oil, gas and coal extraction immediately – ...
by The Spark “The system is broken”—the words of a young black man in Minneapolis watching flames destroy a police precinct demonstrators had torched. Broken? Yes, it is! What else could you say about a system whose police for nine minutes casually knelt on a black man’s neck, watching until ...
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When miners pillage conservation land, they are typically required to "rehabilitate" it afterwards. Its not much compared to the damage they do, but its something. But apparently even that is now too much to expect. NZG Limited, a company owned by Oravida directors James Blackwell, Julia Jiyan Xu, Stone Shi, ...
Like everyone else, I've spent too much of the weekend watching the protests in America, and the increasingly brutal response to them. The overwhelming impression is of a nationwide police riot, as people speaking out against a murder and demanding change are beaten, gassed and shot by racist, militarised thugs ...
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Wales has lowered the voting age to 16: 16 and 17 year olds can now officially vote in Wales for Senedd elections. Votes at 16 & 17 come into force on Monday, as part of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020. Next year’s Senedd elections will ...
The government announced more changes to the ETS today, including to the emissions budget for 2021 - 2025. The overall budget for that period will stay at 354 million tons of CO2-equivalent. But the ETS component of that - stockpile reduction, free allocation, and credits to be auctioned - budget ...
The new National Party leader, Todd Muller, had been at pains to portray himself as a solid, serious, safe pair of hands, in contrast to the increasingly Trumpian leanings of Simon Bridges, who Muller deposed in a leadership coup last Friday. But after an uneventful, if uninspiring, first press conference, ...
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Becoming the leader of a political party is a bit like having a baby. Not so much the screaming and sleepless nights, as the fact that you’ve waited and hope and planned for something and it’s finally here. And when that wonderful gift finally arrives, you want to be ready, ...
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Australia's High Court has ruled that the "palace letters" between the queen and then-Governor-General John Kerr are public records rather than private papers: Historian Jenny Hocking has won her High Court bid to access the letters exchanged between then governor-general Sir John Kerr and the Queen around the time of ...
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Labour's talk of gutting the RMA to push through "shovel ready" projects to boost employment after the pandemic predictably has every half-arsed pipe-dream crawling out of the woodwork demanding special treatment. Today, it's the West Coast inbreds, who are demanding a host of laws be rescinded so they can dig ...
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Since the government announced its pandemic wage subsidy, there have been regular stories about companies taking it and then sacking or refusing to pay their workers - essentially committing fraud. But how often does this happen? The Minister just doesn't want to know: Government ministers are not receiving up to ...
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I’VE OFTEN WONDERED if South African immigrants passing through towns like Kerikeri and Kaikohe ever wonder how we do it. In their homeland, through the bitter years of Apartheid, keeping the races segregated required pass laws, Alsatian dogs, tear gas, rubber bullets and, all-too-often, live rounds. Not here. Not in ...
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Is Todd Muller the Ned Flanders of the National Party? This is how he’s been characterised by political commentator Gordon Campbell, who suggests the change in leadership is, in Simpsons terms, akin to swapping the scary and cruel Monty Burns for Homer Simpson’s compassionate but conservative neighbour. There’s almost a ...
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It was 75 years ago this month that Germany surrendered and the Allies celebrated VE (Victory in Europe) Day. Millions of people around the world had been killed and many more injured or captured. It was an end to war not just for Europeans, but their allies too, in countries across Africa. But its impact is ...
Well, we are out of lockdown, essentially. I did end up getting the wage subsidy while we were on levels 3 and 4 but I would have been fine if we didn’t. The first day of level 2, the Thursday, the office opened again for the people who weren’t able ...
Watching Todd Muller make his first speech as the newly minted Leader of the Opposition after Simon Bridges’ defenestration on Friday brought to mind a headmaster addressing a school assembly. He showed no particular desire to ingratiate himself with his audience although the occasional flash of self-deprecating humour indicated a ...
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age credit:Science and Politics – Skeptically.org It seems impossible to keep politics out of science. It’s a pity because politics can end up forcing science to produce the results desired by ...
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A guest post by Hamish Price.“A leader is a dealer in hope.”— Napoléon BonaparteCatholics have a name for potential successors to a dead pope. Papabile. The small coterie of distinguished cardinals who have what it takes to step up. Todd Muller has always been one.I first met Muller at a National ...
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Two poor political polls within the same week had seen National for the first time in over a decade dropping major support in the face of a competent and assured COVID-19 health response from the Coalition government. Step forward the relatively unknown Todd Muller, who by Friday afternoon had secured ...
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Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First is disappointed that the removal of the spousal deductions has had to be delayed by the Ministry fo Social Development, due to COVID19 workload pressures. “New Zealand First has always stood for fairness when it comes to superannuation ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First On the steps of Parliament today the Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters received a petition from registered nurse Anna Maria Coervers, requesting an amendment to the Protection for First Responders Bill which will ensure the legislation also include registered ...
It's been a busy seven days as we start to rebuild New Zealand together. From delivering extra support for small businesses, to investing in our artists and arts organisations, to cutting red tape on home DIY projects, we're rolling out our plan to get the economy and New Zealand moving ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says alert level 2 restrictions have to be discussed during today's Cabinet meeting. Thousands gathered across the country, including at Parliament, yesterday forBlack Lives Matter marcheswhere social distancing and mass gathering rules were flouted. Mr Peters said the breaching of Alert Level 2 rules at ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State Owned Enterprises KiwiRail’s Northland rail upgrade steps up another gear today and will help Northland recover from the impacts of COVID-19, State Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters says. The Government is investing $204.5 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to ...
“Today and every day we stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family, friends and community who feel pain and fear about his untimely death at the hands of Minneapolis police”, said Green Party Co-leader and Māori Development spokesperson Marama Davidson. ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation The West Coast forests of Mount Te Kinga at Kotuku Whakaoho/Lake Brunner are the latest predator free project to receive Government funding, announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
The Green Party says major freshwater reforms announced today provide the strongest ever protections of our waterways, to help ensure the next generation can swim in the rivers of Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party has begun the process for a Select Committee inquiry into student accommodation, which has been exposed during COVID-19 as an under-regulated sector that straddles students with unfair debt. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Hon Dr David Clark, Minister of Health Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods, and Health Minister David Clark today announced a COVID-19 vaccine strategy, ...
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Green MP Golriz Ghahraman is joining over 300 lawmakers from around the world in calling on the big banks and the IMF to forgive the debt of developing countries, in the wake of the COVID crisis. ...
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Minister for Racing Winston Peters today announced that the terms for the directors of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) have been extended to 30 June 2021. Due to the COVID-19 crisis the transition period has been extended to ensure that the Racing Industry Bill can complete its progress through ...
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Justice Minister Andrew Little today announced details of further appointments to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. “I am pleased to announce Paula Rose QSO OStJ as Deputy Chief Commissioner for a term of five years commencing on 15 June 2020,” said Andrew Little. “I am also pleased to announce the ...
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The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will finally start to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas pollution as it was originally intended to, because of changes announced today by the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw. The changes include a limit on the total emissions allowed within the ETS, rules to ensure ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List provides an abundance of examples that Pacific people’s leadership capability is unquestionable in Aotearoa. “The work and the individuals we acknowledge this year highlights the kind of visionary examples and dedicated community leadership that we need ...
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Applications have opened for 2021 Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships, which will support more Māori and women to pursue careers in forestry science, says Forestry Minister Shane Jones. “I’m delighted Te Uru Rākau is offering Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships for the third year running. These ...
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The Government will invest $10 million from the One Billion Trees Fund for large-scale planting to provide jobs in communities and improve the environment, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and Forestry Minister Shane Jones have announced. New, more flexible funding criteria for applications will help up to 10 catchment groups plant ...
Organisations that support women are invited to apply to a new $1,000,000 fund as part of the Government’s COVID-19 response. “We know women, and organisations that support women, have been affected by COVID-19. This new money will ensure funding for groups that support women and women’s rights,” said Minister for ...
Healthier waterways are front and centre in a new project involving more than 300 King Country sheep, beef and dairy farmers. The Government is investing $844,000 in King Country River Care, a group that helps farmers to lift freshwater quality and farming practice, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “Yesterday ...
A major funding package for libraries will allow them to play a far greater role in supporting their communities and people seeking jobs as part of the economic recovery from COVID-19. “Budget 2020 contains over $60 million of funding to protect library services and to protect jobs,” says Internal Affairs ...
A jobseekers programme for the creative sector and four new funds have been set up by the Government to help our arts and music industry recover from the blow of COVID-19. Thousands of jobs will be supported through today’s $175 million package in a crucial economic boost to support the ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has welcomed the First Reading of a Bill that will make legislative changes to further improve the veterans’ support system. The Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill No 2, which will amend the Veterans’ Support Act 2014, passed First Reading today. The bill addresses a number of ...
Views sought on Order in Council to help fast track the reinstatement of the Christ Church Cathedral The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Hon Poto Williams, will be seeking public written comment, following Cabinet approving the drafting of an Order in Council aimed at fast-tracking the reinstatement of the ...
The law setting out New Zealanders’ basic civil and human rights is today one step towards being strengthened following the first reading of a Bill that requires Parliament to take action if a court says a statute undermines those rights. At present, a senior court can issue a ‘declaration of ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today reiterated the deep concern of the New Zealand Government following confirmation by China’s National People’s Congress of national security legislation relating to Hong Kong. “New Zealand shares the international community’s significant and long-standing stake in Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand ...
Thousands of artists and creatives at hundreds of cultural and heritage organisations have been given much-needed support to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern announced today. “The cultural sector was amongst the worst hit by the global pandemic,” Jacinda ...
Key New Zealand assets will be better protected from being sold to overseas owners in a way contrary to the national interest, with the passage of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Bill. The Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament today, also cuts unnecessary red tape to help attract ...
Setting higher health standards at swimming spots Requiring urban waterways to be cleaned up and new protections for urban streams Putting controls on higher-risk farm practices such as winter grazing and feed lots Setting stricter controls on nitrogen pollution and new bottom lines on other measures of waterway health Ensuring ...
The Government is on the verge of reaching its target of state sector boards and committees made up of at least 50 percent women, says Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter and Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa. For the first time, the Government stocktake measures the number of Māori, ...
The Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister and Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, has today announced the appointment of Tristan Gilbertson as the new Telecommunications Commissioner and member of the Commerce Commission. “Mr Gilbertson has considerable experience in the telecommunications industry and a strong reputation amongst his peers,” ...
The Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa have agreed to settle the pay equity claim for teacher aides, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This will see more than 22,000 teacher aides, mostly women, being valued and paid fairly for the work they do. “Teacher aides are frontline ...
Subcontractors will have greater certainty, more cashflow support and job security with new changes to retention payments under the Construction Contracts Act says Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa. A recent review of the retentions money regime showed that most of the building and construction sector is complying with ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have marked the first anniversary of the New Zealand-Singapore Enhanced Partnership with a virtual Leaders’ Meeting today. The Enhanced Partnership, signed on 17 May 2019, provides the framework for cooperation across the four main areas of trade, defence and ...
On 17 May 2019, New Zealand and Singapore established an Enhanced Partnership to elevate our relations. The Enhanced Partnership – based on the four pillars of trade and economics, security and defence, science, technology and innovation, and people-to-people links – has seen the long-standing relationship between our countries strengthen over the ...
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters has welcomed KiwiRail’s announcement that it is seeking a preferred shipyard to build two new rail-enabled ferries for the Cook Strait crossing. “This Government is committed to restoring rail to its rightful place in New Zealand. Bigger, better ships, with new technology are yet another ...
Better protection for seabirds is being put in place with a new National Plan of Action to reduce fishing-related captures, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. The National Plan of Action for Seabirds 2020 outlines our commitment to reduce fishing-related captures and associated seabird ...
Almost $1 billion in interest-free loans for small businesses More than 55,000 businesses have applied; 95% approved Average loan approx. $17,300 90% of applications from firms with ten or fewer staff A wide cross-section of businesses have applied, the most common are the construction industry, accommodation providers, professional firms, and ...
Thousands of children will have healthier lungs after the Government’s ban on smoking in cars with kids becomes law, says Associate Minister of Health Jenny Salesa. This comes after the third reading of Smoke-free Environments (Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carrying Children) Amendment Bill earlier today. “This law makes it ...
The special Epidemic Response Committee (ERC) has successfully concluded its role, Leader of the House Chris Hipkins said today. The committee was set up on 25 March by the agreement of Parliament to scrutinise the Government and its actions while keeping people safe during levels 4 and 3 of lockdown. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced four diplomatic appointments: New Zealand’s Ambassador to Belgium, High Commissioners to Nauru and Niue, and Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism. “As the world seeks to manage and then recover from COVID-19, our diplomatic and trade networks are more important than ever,” Mr Peters said. “The ...
New Zealanders will be better protected from online harm through a Bill introduced to Parliament today, says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “The internet brings many benefits to society but can also be used as a weapon to spread harmful and illegal content and that is what this legislation targets,” ...
New Zealand’s world-first plan to eradicate the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis is on track the latest technical data shows, says Agriculture and Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two years ago the Government, DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand and industry partners made a bold decision to go hard and commit ...
Further support for New Zealanders affected by 1-in-100 year global economic shock 12-week payment will support people searching for new work or retraining Work programme on employment insurance to support workers and businesses The Government today announced a new temporary payment to support New Zealanders who lose their jobs due ...
The Provincial Growth Fund will play a vital role in New Zealand’s post-COVID-19 recovery by creating jobs in shorter timeframes through at least $600 million being refocused on projects with more immediate economic benefits, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The funding is comprised of repurposed Provincial Growth ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Decision coming soon on move to level one, housing market in a weird place, and manslaughter charges laid against officers after custody death. As has been the way with these moves, we got an announcement of what the new alert level ...
The embargo on this year’s list has just been lifted. Here are all the books in the running for a gong. Huge caveat: we are yet to read them all. We’re working on that, snarled-up postal system permitting. So please consider these initial thoughts.We’re very chuffed to see Our Toby ...
A tiny, tourism-focused village asks for help from its local authority which, unusually, is a government department. David Williams reports Queen’s Birthday weekend was bustling at Aoraki/Mt Cook Village as Kiwis swarmed in to support the struggling tourist hotspot, nestled in a national park straddling the South Island’s mountainous spine. ...
Tenants unable to pay rent on commercial leases have been given a lifeline after almost two months of negotiations between Labour and New Zealand First. ...
Susie Simcock, the former head of World Squash and a tireless advocate for women's sport, passed away last week. Suzanne McFadden talks to Kiwi sports stars and leaders about a pioneer, mentor, baker and friend. There was the time when Susie Simcock, the first woman to preside at the apex of World Squash, dressed ...
NZ is not beyond the issues of racial discrimination being protested in the US, but we should be mindful of the way we show our solidarity Over the long weekend, approximately 4000 protestors gathered in major centres around Aotearoa to protest against the killing of George Floyd in the US ...
Auckland writer Amy McDaid directs and stars in a film backgrounding her debut novel Fake Baby.Steve Braunias writes: Amy McDaid slaved away at writing her very inventive, very lively debut novel Fake Baby for three, nearly four years, and things were looking good, Penguin Random House had accepted it ...
Victoria University of Wellington's Richard Logan asks how we deal with the problem of being surprised by black swan events Is Covid-19 a ‘black swan’ event? Such an event being one that lies outside the realm of regular expectations, is rare, has extreme impact and is retrospectively predictable. In a complex ...
A maar at the centre of a controversy sits idle in the hands of receivers while Dunedin City Council seeks a valuation and works on purchase funding options While cogs slowly turn in the process for a public purchase of Foulden Maar, scientists are waiting to regain access to the site. ...
Employee-owned businesses tend to perform better than traditionally-owned ones. With Stuff and Countdown recently saying they'll embrace the model, Alex Sims looks at what share schemes look like for employees. Covid-19 has seen the rapid adoption of new ways of working, such as working from home and Zoom meetings. However, these ...
Anna Rawhiti-Connell tells herself to stop being a dick about domestic tourism and visits the Waitomo Caves I have never been a great one at heeding calls. Group participation is what my nightmares are made of. It’s not my own awkward response I worry about, it’s a specific anxiety that ...
As protests sparked by the death of George Floyd unfold across the US, David Mayeda has a message for NZ: 'For those of you who don’t experience racism, be publicly anti-racist - support those of us who do'. Monday evening in Washington D.C. shortly before a 7pm curfew and just before ...
With half a million members, the New Zealand Made Products Facebook group has become a national phenomenon, thrusting small-time businesses into the national gaze. But what makes a post stand out among thousands of others? When scrolling through the seemingly endless visual extravaganza that is the New Zealand Made Products Facebook ...
Intensive care specialist David Galler remembers the time he tried and failed to save a New Zealander restrained in the same way that caused the death of American man George Floyd. Content warning: This article contains distressing descriptions of police violence and death. Thirty years ago, soon after I started my ...
Transmission Gully has been in the planning stages for over a century. It's been plagued with problems and the pandemic has dealt it another blow. The first shovels broke dirt on the planned Transmission Gully Motorway in 2014. But nearly six years later, the project creating an inland route connecting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government will provide eligible owner-occupiers with a grant of $25,000 to build a new home or extensively renovate an existing one. The scheme – estimated to cost up to $688 million – will not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Purnendra Jain, Adjunct Professor, Asian Studies, University of Adelaide Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will finally hold a virtual summit this week after efforts to meet in person were scuttled by the bushfires and coronavirus. The meeting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna-Sophie Jürgens, Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Popular Entertainment Studies and Science in Fiction Studies, Australian National University Bloodsucker, leech, tick – few things have a reputation worse than parasites. But these biological hangers-on also have a comic cultural history. In biology, a ...
By RNZ News The organisers of Black Lives Matter protests in several main centres will not be prosecuted. On Monday, thousands gathered at several events around the country for Black Lives Matter marches in solidarity with protesters in the United States after the police killing of George Floyd. The protests ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Fletcher, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington One of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s favourite exhortations is that we all “be kind” to one another. It’s part of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University A go-slow on spending sent the economy backwards 0.3% in the first three months of this year, only the fourth such decline since Australia was last in recession in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heidi Zimmer, Research associate, Southern Cross University As bushfires blackened forests last summer, one tree species was protected by a specialist team of firefighters: the Wollemi pine. These trees have a deeply ancient lineage dating back to when dinosaurs walked Gondwana 100 ...
Children's Minister Tracey Martin says she was never officially asked to do anything about the Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki commissioned by Whanau Ora. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Whittaker, Research Fellow, University of Technology Sydney You probably know the details of the death of George Floyd. He was a doting father and musician. He was killed when a police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for nearly nine ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Greste, Professor of Journalism and Communications, The University of Queensland Here is a line from the latest safety advisory for reporters issued by the US-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ): Taking into account the increased levels of violence ...
Aaron Ironside is the new spokesperson for the Say Nope To Dope campaign. Aaron Ironside rose to prominence in the 1990’s as the anchor of Radio Hauraki’s popular Morning Pirates breakfast show. The young rock DJ fully embraced the Sex, Drugs and ...
AgResearch chairman Dr Paul Reynolds said the Government’s capital contribution of $45 million towards a new education, science and innovation precinct in Lincoln is a huge boost for New Zealand’s COVID 19 recovery plan and the contribution to ...
Dunedin writer Victor Billot on America's "President Cheezel". Go Big or Go Home Prezident Cheezel deletes lockdown, deletes the World Health Organization, deletes the memory of George Floyd, then hunkers in his hunker bunker, hunkers with freedom fries at midnight, a lights out party at the House of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Locke, Research Associate, LCT Centre for Knowledge-Building, Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney Prime Scott Morrison last week outlined a plan to create jobs and revitalise the economy post COVID-19. Part of this so-called Jobmaker plan includes an ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Willand, Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Stay-at-home orders and the economic crisis have increased the burden of energy costs on lower-income Australians. Poor housing quality and unequal access to home energy efficiency are hurting our most ...
Jacinda Ardern has unveiled details of the changes New Zealanders can expect when we move from level two to level one. What will it mean for businesses, hospitality and day-to-day life? Level one! At last, life is finally back to normal.Not so fast. We’re still in level two, and will be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kantha Dayaram, Associate Professor, Curtin University The number of Australians working from home has soared during the COVID-19 crisis. Latest data from the Australian Bureau of Stastistics shows 46% of the workforce worked from home in late April and early May. By ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Economic Life, Economics and EconomismKeith Rankin. When things go wrong with economic life, it’s easy to blame economics; that is, the academic discipline called ‘economics’. We all live economic lives, and use metaphors to give meaning to that amorphous thing we call ‘the economy’ ...
National survey asks New Zealanders If They Support Recognition For the Contribution of Our Service Personnel and their Families The Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association (RSA) said today that it supports the proposal for a Kawenata which is ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there will still be strict controls on the border, but all current rules and restrictions on businesses and services will be "essentially lifted" under alert level 1. ...
ANALYSIS:By Philip Russo of Monash University The death of African-American man George Floyd at the hands of police has sparked protests across the United States and inspired many people to reflect on our own history of police violence against Indigenous people in Australia and New Zealand. After thousands marched ...
The New Zealand Police Association is supporting the three officers who are now facing manslaughter charges in relation to the death of a man in the Hawera Police Station cells in June last year. Association President Chris Cahill says the officers ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Associate Professor, Criminology and Justice Studies, RMIT University As we have been cooped up at home during coronavirus lockdown, reports of image-based abuse have skyrocketed. According to Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, it received more than 1,000 reports of image-based abuse between ...
In the third part of our series with Kiwibank answering your questions about Covid-19’s impact on New Zealanders’ finances, two readers at different ends of their saving journeys ask what to do with their KiwiSaver account. Melissa Vasta, Kiwi Wealth GM retail and product, responds.Hi Melissa, My KiwiSaver ‘growth’ fund has ...
Landlords have been given a break – well, a bit of a break – according to the latest bunch of Beehive pronouncements. Other announcements by the Beehive Bugle Brigade tell us: People wanting to train for employment– or retrain – will be given a helping hand. But funding “will ...
“The Government’s bill to regulate vaping won’t bring New Zealand any closer to its smokefree ambition, unless MPs now get in behind the many submitters and intervene to drive down the country’s smoking rates,” says Jonathan Devery, spokesperson ...
Covid-19 has not stopped a North Island Iwi from continuing to ready itself for a vote this year, that if ratified will be one of the largest Treaty settlement to date. Whakatōhea is located in the eastern Bay of Plenty region centred around ...
New Zealand ranks first in a new global food security index produced by multinational real estate company Savills. The company has compiled its Food Security Index as part of its latest global Impacts research, which looks at the factors shaping the ...
“A huge opportunity has been missed to make risk-reduced vaping products more accessible to smokers in order to reach the SmokeFree 2025 goal set by government,” says Nancy Loucas, Director of the Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA). Her ...
Noel Edmonds is a British TV legend with a 50 year career in broadcasting. So why did he move to Matakana and launch a radio station? Like an over-excited Mr Blobby, Tara Ward gave him a call to find out. When Noel Edmonds answers the phone from his home north ...
New statistics released by the New Zealand Police show Māori were disproportionately subject to police proceedings - including court proceedings and receiving warnings - during March and April, Marc Daalder reports As a debate heats up over racial bias in New Zealand policing, new statistics show that Māori were more ...
The Matariki and Puanga stars are due to rise this month, signalling the Māori New Year. Rehua will set in the west at the exact time Puanga rises. So how do we see them and what are the best dates? With thanks to Matua Rereata Mākiha for We often hear about Matariki ...
Here’s The Spinoff’s weekly round-up of data tracking the effects and response of Covid-19 around the world – and how New Zealand stacks up.Our weekly summaries of data and visualisations use Our World in Data’s work on the Covid-19 pandemic, which is freely available for re-use. Not all data is ...
Pacific Media Centre The Vanuatu Council of Ministers has agreed at its meeting held in Luganville, Santo, to postpone the hosting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting due in August 2020, reports the Vanuatu Daily Post. The decision followed the recommendations of the National Task Force based on ...
The National Party leader says the Black Lives Matter protests were a mockery of Covid-19 alert levels, but thinks the country should move to alert level 1 now. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wayne Hope, Professor of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology How many media analysts predicted it? In 2018 Australia’s Nine Entertainment absorbed Fairfax Media and its New Zealand subsidiary Stuff. Just under two years later chief executive Sinead Boucher bought Stuff from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Abby Mellick Lopes, Associate Professor, Design Studies, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney Home cooks have been trying out their skills during isolation. But the way food tastes depends on more than your ability to follow a recipe. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeremy Moss, Professor of Political Philosophy, UNSW Queensland Nationals Senator Matt Canavan on Monday night denied suggestions the government subsidises Australia’s fossil fuel industry. The comments prompted a swift response from some social media users, who cited evidence to the contrary. Canavan ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ralph Sims, Professor, School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Marshman, Honorary Principal Fellow, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne Most of Australia’s universities have adequate cash and investment reserves to deal with the immediate impact of a downturn in international student revenue in 2020. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sameer Hasija, Associate Professor of Technology and Operations Management, INSEAD “This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away.”– WHO executive director Mike Ryan, May 13 Vaccine or not, we have to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Assistant Professor, School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra Later today we’ll know what the bushfires and the coronavirus did to the economy in the three months to March: whether gross domestic product grew (as is usual) or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dawson, Professor and Chair of Anthropology, University of Melbourne June, 1980, Laibach was formed. Soon, they became the musical wing of the Slovenian arts collective Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK), or New Slovenian Art. Comprising visual artists, theatre companies and a unit ...
"George Floyd was not the first, nor will he be the last, to have been denied his human rights as the police officers murdered him. Their names, overseas and in New Zealand are so many, over so many years, and their stories are all so different ...
The National Party is surprised New Zealand immigration officials didn't consult their Australian counterparts before granting a visa to refugee author Behrouz Boochani. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Strotz, Professor, Northwest University, Xi’an The COVID-19 outbreak has put into stark relief the disruption parasites can cause, both in human society and ecosystems. Researchers have long sought to better understand the evolutionary importance of parasites, to help lessen their impact. ...
More than half of a $30 million emergency welfare fund has been spent in just over a month, and many of those in need are foreigners and migrant workers who can't get a home. ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. ...
The definitive voting guide for 2017 
74 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Surface-Energy-Balance Closure over Land: A Review (open access) Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Human influence has intensified extreme precipitation in North America (open access) Observation-derived ice growth curves show patterns and trends in maximum ice thickness and ...5 hours ago
Last month I noted that the public policy debate was all about how we deal with covid-19. That’s changing now, and will change more over the next couple of months as the buffering impact of the wage subsidy disappears and we see starkly the economic hole out of which we ...9 hours ago
The mission of the New Zealand Police is to make this country the safest nation in the world. To achieve that aim, there is one important step the police need to take at the end of this month. When the evaluation of the Armed Response Teams’ trial is completed, the ...10 hours ago
Bernard Hickey is one of New Zealand’s leading financial journalists. His latest article, published by Newsroom, lays bare the cruel treatment of hundreds of thousands of workers stranded since the lockdown. Our Prime Minister is lauded overseas for her compassion, but her Cabinet is refusing to properly support tens of ...15 hours ago
For a good part of my adult life I have studied civil-military relations. I have studied authoritarian and democratic variants, and I have studied them across countries and regions. I have also worked in and with several US security agencies and have lectured on the theme at a number of ...17 hours ago
The CTU is planning to mount a campaign to double sick leave, from 5 to 10 days a year. Good. We've all just had an extremely strong reminder of the need to stay at home when sick, and of the effectiveness of doing so (the lockdown, social distancing, and responsible ...19 hours ago
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz If we stopped oil, gas and coal extraction immediately – ...22 hours ago
by The Spark “The system is broken”—the words of a young black man in Minneapolis watching flames destroy a police precinct demonstrators had torched. Broken? Yes, it is! What else could you say about a system whose police for nine minutes casually knelt on a black man’s neck, watching until ...1 day ago
Minneapolis Police StationIf you’ve been keeping an eye on recent events in the United States, you’ll likely understand why there’s so much anger on the streets at the moment. Not only did police officers murder another black man; it is patently obvious that authorities initially attempted to cover up George ...2 days ago
Like the rest of the world, I have been aghast at what I have seen of, and read and heard about, what is happening currently in the United States. It seems incredible that a once great country should be suffering the worst effects and the highest number of deaths worldwide ...3 days ago
Image credit: Writing an Article vs. Writing a Blog Post: What’s the Difference? I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is ... 3 days ago
It’s almost painful to watch. Let’s be honest, maybe a pleasure too, in some quarters, but painful nonetheless. Because the fact is, for a democracy to function properly, any sitting Government does need honest and proper Opposition so that it doesn’t get ahead of itself. That’s what we should ...5 days ago
SATURDAY MAY 30Six60: Live at Western Springs 2020 (TVNZ 1, 8.45pm). Remember live concerts? The day will come again, friends, when we will be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in an uncomfortable sweaty venue with people we don’t know. It will happen. Sometimes the sound of concerts drifts over to the ...6 days ago
6 days ago
Well, we are out of lockdown, essentially. I did end up getting the wage subsidy while we were on levels 3 and 4 but I would have been fine if we didn’t. The first day of level 2, the Thursday, the office opened again for the people who weren’t able ...1 week ago
age credit: Science and Politics – Skeptically.org It seems impossible to keep politics out of science. It’s a pity because politics can end up forcing science to produce the results desired by ... 1 week ago
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First is disappointed that the removal of the spousal deductions has had to be delayed by the Ministry fo Social Development, due to COVID19 workload pressures. “New Zealand First has always stood for fairness when it comes to superannuation ...2 days ago
It's been a busy seven days as we start to rebuild New Zealand together. From delivering extra support for small businesses, to investing in our artists and arts organisations, to cutting red tape on home DIY projects, we're rolling out our plan to get the economy and New Zealand moving ...2 days ago
“Today and every day we stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family, friends and community who feel pain and fear about his untimely death at the hands of Minneapolis police”, said Green Party Co-leader and Māori Development spokesperson Marama Davidson. ...3 days ago
Young people in Waikato will be the first to have free access to period products in schools in another step to support children and young people in poverty,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. During term 3, the Ministry of Education will begin providing free period products to schools following the ...16 hours ago
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Decision coming soon on move to level one, housing market in a weird place, and manslaughter charges laid against officers after custody death. As has been the way with these moves, we got an announcement of what the new alert level ...37 mins ago
Backed by Suncor, Mitsui and ANA, LanzaTech launches new jet fuel plant in Georgia to produce 10m gallons of bio-jet fuel and diesel a year ...44 mins ago
A tiny, tourism-focused village asks for help from its local authority which, unusually, is a government department. David Williams reports Queen’s Birthday weekend was bustling at Aoraki/Mt Cook Village as Kiwis swarmed in to support the struggling tourist hotspot, nestled in a national park straddling the South Island’s mountainous spine. ...2 hours ago
Tenants unable to pay rent on commercial leases have been given a lifeline after almost two months of negotiations between Labour and New Zealand First. ...2 hours ago
Susie Simcock, the former head of World Squash and a tireless advocate for women's sport, passed away last week. Suzanne McFadden talks to Kiwi sports stars and leaders about a pioneer, mentor, baker and friend. There was the time when Susie Simcock, the first woman to preside at the apex of World Squash, dressed ...2 hours ago
NZ is not beyond the issues of racial discrimination being protested in the US, but we should be mindful of the way we show our solidarity Over the long weekend, approximately 4000 protestors gathered in major centres around Aotearoa to protest against the killing of George Floyd in the US ...2 hours ago
Auckland writer Amy McDaid directs and stars in a film backgrounding her debut novel Fake Baby. Steve Braunias writes: Amy McDaid slaved away at writing her very inventive, very lively debut novel Fake Baby for three, nearly four years, and things were looking good, Penguin Random House had accepted it ...2 hours ago
Victoria University of Wellington's Richard Logan asks how we deal with the problem of being surprised by black swan events Is Covid-19 a ‘black swan’ event? Such an event being one that lies outside the realm of regular expectations, is rare, has extreme impact and is retrospectively predictable. In a complex ...2 hours ago
A maar at the centre of a controversy sits idle in the hands of receivers while Dunedin City Council seeks a valuation and works on purchase funding options While cogs slowly turn in the process for a public purchase of Foulden Maar, scientists are waiting to regain access to the site. ...2 hours ago
Employee-owned businesses tend to perform better than traditionally-owned ones. With Stuff and Countdown recently saying they'll embrace the model, Alex Sims looks at what share schemes look like for employees. Covid-19 has seen the rapid adoption of new ways of working, such as working from home and Zoom meetings. However, these ...2 hours ago
Anna Rawhiti-Connell tells herself to stop being a dick about domestic tourism and visits the Waitomo Caves I have never been a great one at heeding calls. Group participation is what my nightmares are made of. It’s not my own awkward response I worry about, it’s a specific anxiety that ...2 hours ago
As protests sparked by the death of George Floyd unfold across the US, David Mayeda has a message for NZ: 'For those of you who don’t experience racism, be publicly anti-racist - support those of us who do'. Monday evening in Washington D.C. shortly before a 7pm curfew and just before ...2 hours ago
Transmission Gully has been in the planning stages for over a century. It's been plagued with problems and the pandemic has dealt it another blow. The first shovels broke dirt on the planned Transmission Gully Motorway in 2014. But nearly six years later, the project creating an inland route connecting ...3 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government will provide eligible owner-occupiers with a grant of $25,000 to build a new home or extensively renovate an existing one. The scheme – estimated to cost up to $688 million – will not ...7 hours ago
A new bill has forest owners fuming, but it could be the tip of the iceberg for them if NZ First are re-elected to Government ...11 hours ago
...15 hours ago
The mantra for economic and social change in the wake of Covid-19 is strong, but it is not yet clear whether it will amount to much ...16 hours ago
Dunedin writer Victor Billot on America's "President Cheezel". Go Big or Go Home Prezident Cheezel deletes lockdown, deletes the World Health Organization, deletes the memory of George Floyd, then hunkers in his hunker bunker, hunkers with freedom fries at midnight, a lights out party at the House of ...16 hours ago
Landlords have been given a break – well, a bit of a break – according to the latest bunch of Beehive pronouncements. Other announcements by the Beehive Bugle Brigade tell us: People wanting to train for employment– or retrain – will be given a helping hand. But funding “will ...19 hours ago
New statistics released by the New Zealand Police show Māori were disproportionately subject to police proceedings - including court proceedings and receiving warnings - during March and April, Marc Daalder reports As a debate heats up over racial bias in New Zealand policing, new statistics show that Māori were more ...21 hours ago
ACT has publically announced there is a housing crisis
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1703/S00293/fix-the-rma-fix-the-housing-crisis.htm
The crisis they are talking about was apparently created by the RMA. Still lala land stuff.
Not really. The issue is there is not enough land being released for houses. Even Labour acknowledges that.
Except their fix won’t release more suitable land, it’ll release more unsuitable land. And we saw what that can look like in certain areas of Christchurch, so maybe we shouldn’t be so fast to talk about gutting the RMA as a “solution” just because we all acknowledge more land for housing is one step that will help.
The Greens and Labour still require more land to be released (or at least re-zoned for greater density). Where are these 100,000 additional houses going to be built? That will likely mean greater demand for land AND then even higher housing prices.
No matter how much land is released there will still be a crisis – especially once we run out of land.
And that’s not even taking into account the economics of sprawl.
It’s not the lack of land that’s the problem but the fact that we’re not building up and going for higher density but more liveable cities.
We are unlikely to run out of land. NZ people per hectare is low by World Standards for an urbanised society.
And that would be because we keep adding to the uneconomic sprawl of our cities rather than building up which, of course, increases the amount of land used per person thus decreasing the amount of land available faster.
So, yeah, under the delusional ideology of the right-wing we’d run out of land pretty quick.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too
No.
The issue is an lack of central government vision on infrastructure (while importing huge numbers of people) which has led to the Auckland council not being able to release land for fear of making serious long term city design and transport mistakes.
It is politically expedient for greedy RWNJs to concentrate the blame for a lack of housing development at Auckland Council when the real problem is poor management by the National government in infrastructure modelling which has been compounded by poor immigration management over the last 9 years.
There definitely isn’t enough land for the 450 metre square ranch style dwelling with four car garage that the cabinets’ mates build. I mean you do need at least one hectare to put in a decent drive and a practice golf hole in the front yard.
Yes as well as the mythical ‘land crisis’ which does not exist (it’s a building crisis stupid, or more to the point the cost of producing a building in this country is well beyond the wages of most people to afford, so we have to import people in and create an economy based on a ponzi construction model)
– there is also the Natz and ACT idea that like pigs we fly around, because even if there were housing, then we can’t get around because some dimwits never put in public transport that people can afford that has links back to people’s houses so they can get home and works.
And to top it off, somehow every time it rains, sewerage goes into our beaches. This was supposed to be stopped years ago, but apparently in spite of all the extra water charges, extra compliance for everybody with septic tanks – this was never solved.
So for every person we now don’t have enough houses, they can’t get from A to B with absurd public transport and gridlocked roads and their shit goes into the harbour every time we have a huge down pour.
Ummm… no it isn’t a building crisis. Land by far makes up the majority of the rise in the cost of housing over the past few years
so the right wingers keep telling us….funny though even the off shore construction companies are complaining about the cost of building here…
And in Auckland for every house being demolished, another bigger one is coming up. (p.s. that’s not increasing housing, even though the figures record it as such).
The council love it and rubber stamp every consent – but again, it’s making housing less affordable and blocking out amenity – like sun – which in the age of solar and oil crisis is not going to end well as well as making future houses colder and damper and having to spend more on artificial heating options that increasingly people can’t afford. I guess that’s capitalism!
Apparently NZ has some of the biggest housing in the world. But even in Oz which has bigger houses, the cost of building is much less per square meter.
With the unaffordable unitary plan there was removing democracy, rubber stamping consents, losing greenfield spaces, removing character, but increasing density and sustainablility was missing.
In short there needs to be more homes that can be run cheaper allowed on the land not larger buildings.
And if anybody trys to put on a granny flat – no stone left unturned for the council to try and stop it.
Don’t even think about buying land and putting on a yurt to live in! You will be prosecuted even if it’s on a lifestyle block in the middle of nowhere.
Sadly in this country the government, local and central and more and more lobby groups are more interested in stopping many people being able to have housing and controlling it for profit and political reasons, while allowing richer people and businesses to do what ever they like with public resources.
The result. Auckland. Man made housing crisis and increasingly, less ways to solve it. We now have a pollution and transport crisis to go with the housing and job and wages crisis.
Oz govt desperate to shoreup is banking industries exposure to the Auckland housing market. First crims, now families foloowing their kids forced to goto uni in NZ. Both Nats and Liberals dont want a housing collapse on their watch. Though niether will anyone bother to build homes, less the class stratification of society turns round.
What’s the Greens favourite phrase? keep cup? eh?
Must be a Wellington thing?
Apparently a green alternative to disposable coffee cups
https://nz.keepcup.com/about-us/
They’re certainly a thing, but this Wellingtonian Green had never heard that name before, lol.
Also, I’m rather fond of the term “Comrade,” but don’t think Labour’s socialist enough to vote for. 😉
A few of us still use the phrase. Some others would die if they were described in this way …
Martyn Bradbury has ruined the word “comrade” for me. He uses it so much, (often while attacking unions) that it has somehow devalued a term that I used to like.
This is the first I have heard of ‘keepcup’ as a reference to the Greens, and I follow quite a number of Green supporters. I rather liked the chart though.
Thanks – that was lost on me as well. Never heard of them.
Ah. Thanks.
Probably a plastic one too.
The advertising claims the materials used make the cups are recyclable and sustainable.
I’d be interested in Marty Mars’ view on this. According to the chart he has a soul but is happy with the current government.
The two are mutually exclusive, I would have thought.
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Or just vote Internet Party
The Maori Party *had* a soul. They sold it in exchange for ministerial limos.