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This gives me heart

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, July 30th, 2013 - 61 comments
Categories: welfare - Tags:

The Herald is reporting that more that 51% of Kiwis are in favour of giving beneficiaries with kid the Working for Families tax credit.

That’s right, just over half of New Zealanders polled wanted to give beneficiaries more money despite twenty years of active demonisation of beneficiaries by the right.

There’s a lesson for Labour here – “middle New Zealand” isn’t a synonym for bigot (despite the best endeavors of the right to make it so). If you want to win them over be strong and progressive. It’s the right thing to do.

61 comments on “This gives me heart ”

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  1. infused 1
    30 July 2013 at 8:15 am

    Why work at all.

    • RedLogix 1.1
      30 July 2013 at 8:27 am

      Simple … because I enjoy it for the most part. It’s the same for most people, although I’m struck at how it is that it’s usually the RWNJ’s who hate their jobs and imagine that everyone else feels the same.

    • IrishBill 1.2
      30 July 2013 at 8:28 am

      Do you mean why work at all when you can troll the Standard all day? I see you’re living the dream.

    • Colonial Viper 1.3
      30 July 2013 at 8:43 am

      Why work at all.

      Because you can earn more than twice as much working on the median wage.

      For your dim witted brain: that’s a 100% pay increase compared to the benefit.

    • lprent 1.4
      30 July 2013 at 9:31 am

      I like working. Speaking of which, time to decamp there.

      I like going after the kids stop trying to commit suicide on the roads and the traffic dies down a bit. Usually head to work to arrive by 10, and leave between 18 and 20.

      Ummm binned a comment by “Patrick Gower’s penis”. Funny. Off topic in the post and it doesn’t pass my idiot test.

    • AsleepWhileWalking 1.5
      30 July 2013 at 9:36 am

      @infused – That’s really insulting to all the MEDICALLY CERTIFIED disabled persons who cannot work the 20 hours a week because of their disability or perhaps at all (ie anyone on Supported Living/IB), but happen to have children who are effectively penalised financially because they are in the care of a severely disabled parent.

      Working is fun most of the time and it provides self worth, a sense of accomplishment and valuable social interaction + routine, and is shown to prevent long term illness such as depression and heart disease.

      Work and Income’s reputation proceeds them.

      Why the hell would ANYONE not work if they could rather than be stuck dealing with those guys?

    • red rattler 1.6
      30 July 2013 at 12:23 pm

      NACTs mates have taken this option. Parasites.

  2. King Kong 2
    30 July 2013 at 8:27 am

    Yet the party that is strongest in pushing the rights of beneficiaries rarely polls over 1%. Go figure.

    • IrishBill 2.1
      30 July 2013 at 8:30 am

      And yet the party that is strongest in pushing the kind of neo-liberal politics you subscribe to also rarely polls over one percent and has its only MP in court.

      • King Kong 2.1.1
        30 July 2013 at 9:09 am

        Well if we are going tit for tat, your MP ended up in court and was also convicted.

        Was this the same kind of poll that told us 85% of people surveyed wanted to retain the right to beat their children?

        What kind of lesson should political parties take from that?

        • Sable 2.1.1.1
          30 July 2013 at 9:18 am

          I think there is a difference between the occasional smack and beating up your children as you put it. The old law needed amending but for most parents its gone too far. And that of course is the problem with NZ politics, it oscillates between extremes rather than seeking to find a reasonable and fair middle ground. The current mistreatment of the unemployed and poor is yet another obvious example.

        • Colonial Viper 2.1.1.2
          30 July 2013 at 10:37 am

          Well if we are going tit for tat, your MP ended up in court and was also convicted.

          ACT MPs have no problem landing in court, and usually through performing self service, not a public service 😉

        • RedBaronCV 2.1.1.3
          30 July 2013 at 7:41 pm

          Here we go again. It was 85% of the bugger all who voted which still equals bugger all, over half of whom were confused by the question and possibly didn’t vote on the right side.
          and then there was Colin Craig’s march on Queen street that attracted more take off artists than the genuinely committed.

      • Sable 2.1.2
        30 July 2013 at 9:14 am

        Keys and co are blatantly neo-liberal, not just ACT. National has paid more than once to have Richard Epstein from the Chicago school come over and share his economic “wisdom”.

  3. vto 3
    30 July 2013 at 8:37 am

    Irishbill “There’s a lesson for Labour here – “middle New Zealand” isn’t a synonym for bigot (despite the best endeavors of the right to make it so). If you want to win them over be strong and progressive.”

    That is something that I rail against constantly – the idea that “middle” and especially “white” New Zealand is somehow inherently bigoted in all sorts of spheres and incapable of understanding other realms.

    It amazes me how often on here this stereotype is dropped into conversation and accepted as if it is some kind of reality. It indicates a blindness that is common to both the far right and the far left.

    And yes the lesson for Labour is to stand up, say what you believe in in a forthright manner, and don’t back down.

    • felix 3.1
      30 July 2013 at 9:01 am

      “And yes the lesson for Labour is to stand up, say what you believe in in a forthright manner, and don’t back down.”

      I’m sure they will, just as soon as the focus groups tell them what it is they believe in.

  4. Sable 4
    30 July 2013 at 9:10 am

    Its nice to see people care about the poor, I was one of them as a small child so I know how hard it is. The cold hard fact remains however, that until Keys is ousted its no more than statistics.

  5. fambo 5
    30 July 2013 at 10:32 am

    My heart feels a bit happier upon hearing this, as if warmed by a glimmer of hope

  6. Tamati 6
    30 July 2013 at 11:26 am

    I don’t believe it for a second. There is nothing Kiwis love more than bashing benificiaries.

  7. Psycho Milt 7
    30 July 2013 at 11:54 am

    So, if I’ve got this straight:

    In the 80s and 90s, Labour and National govts wrecked the national awards and arbitration systems and did their best to limit union membership.

    Pay and conditions suffered accordingly. Labour’s response in the 2000s was not to actually do anything about this, but instead to introduce a ridiculous system of taxing people and then giving some of the tax back again as tax credits.

    It then had to introduce a further “In-Work” tax credit in an attempt to make working for poor wages and conditions look preferable to drawing a benefit and not answering to a boss.

    Now, fully half the population apparently thinks a suitable further measure would be to make the “In-Work” tax credit a “Nah, Fuck It, We Don’t Care Whether You’re Working Or Not” tax credit, on the basis that… er, what? That nobody can figure out what the real problem is here? That they’re not too thick to see what the actual problem is but don’t see any chance of doing anything about it? That they’ve just given up and say yes to whatever a survey company asks them? Who can say?

    • BM 7.1
      30 July 2013 at 12:08 pm

      Agree, no one in there right mind would think giving a beneficiary a WORKING for families tax credit would be a good idea.

      As it is, I despise WFF with a passion and probably one of the main reasons I’d never vote Labour again.

      • Sable 7.1.1
        30 July 2013 at 12:53 pm

        I see you still haven’t had your rabies shot.

      • Te Reo Putake 7.1.2
        30 July 2013 at 12:55 pm

        Presumably you won’t be voting National, ACT or the Maori Party either, as they all support WFF as part of this dismal Government. The Greens and NZF are also out for you, as well. Not sure about the Conservatives. Hmmm, not many options left for you, BM.

        • BM 7.1.2.1
          30 July 2013 at 1:09 pm

          National can’t can it even if they wanted to, it would be electoral suicide.

          Far too many people are now reliant on WFF and without it couldn’t pay their bills.
          Which was why Clark introduced it, get as many people sucking on the public tit as possible, PM for life was her aim.
          How could any sane person vote for a party that would do that.

          Looking back 2008 was such an important election another term of Clark and the country would’ve been completely boned.

          • vto 7.1.2.1.1
            30 July 2013 at 1:22 pm

            WFF is a subsidy to business actually BM. It is a subsidy to business in that the taxpayer, instead of the business, pays the workers enough to actually live on.

            Do you see that?

            Business bludges off the taxpayer and the worker. It is about time they paid their way. So if you are sick and tired of bludgers, as I am, then aim your venom at the right target.

            • srylands 7.1.2.1.1.1
              30 July 2013 at 4:08 pm

              “WFF is a subsidy to business”

              Isn’t it a transfer payment to low income families with children? I think it was one of Labour’s best policies.

              The alternatave problem – dialling up wages through regulaion will reduce employment. It is not a subsidy to business unless you consider that low skilled workers are producing a higher output than they are being paid for. Not sure you can back that up. In competitive labour and product markets you woudl expect to see wages being bid up if that were the case.

              The reason NZ workers get paid less than Australian workers is because on average thet are about 30% less productive.

              http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/tprp/08-03

              So until we can solbve the productivity problem WFF plays an important role in making society more equitable. (Yes I know you want more, so don’t shout at me to tell me.)

              • vto …
                30 July 2013 at 4:24 pm

                srylands, your view is stemming from an inherent philosophical position, namely the free market right wing neoliberal privatsisation etc position. You seem to regard labour as a commodity like undies and paint. It is not. Until this point is passed the conversation is mute.

                • srylands …
                  30 July 2013 at 4:32 pm

                  No I am simply saying that if wages were regulated upwards to exceed the marginal output of labour in a given business, that business goes bust.

                  • vto …
                    30 July 2013 at 4:52 pm

                    Yes I understand how that premise works, being completely and utterly reliant on doing business myself to survive and thrive (the fertiliser kind). Unfortunately, that premise on which everything you have said in your above two posts is based is similarly based entirely on the type of regulation you imply is anathema.

                    The regulation and other structure around business and employment in NZ requires amendment on a very hefty scale to ensure that businesses can afford to pay workers a wage that can be decently lived on. Otherwise we become animals and beasts tearing at each other in our rush to be individually best and competitive…and it is society itself that decays…. as it is……

                    Such adjustments to current regulations and structure include income tax, GST, other forms of money-making currently exempt from tax (capital gain for example), it includes minimum wage, living wage, a maximum wage?, it includes operational regulatory requirements around various sectors, it includes free trade arrangement which are anything but free, it includes business subsidies and write-offs, it includes personal subsidies like WFF, it includes all sorts of things that make up the regulatory balance which currently allows business to pay minimum wage and make a profit today.

                    This will involve some adjustment in society, sort of like rogernomics did only in reverse. It will involve such adjustments as perhaps the cost of goods and services rising to accommodate increased wages, the cost of directors and managers reducing, the profit to owners reducing, the tax burden being borne by people other than wage and salary earners, you know like farmers who shove all their money-making into tax-free capital and don’t pay their share.

                    I’m sure you get the picture…. Society is crippled at the moment. It is weak and inefficient. It pushes people out to the very edge with its inability to pay liveable wages.

                    It is imbued with some major and fundamental flaws and the fact that business cannot afford to pay people a wage they can live on highlights this. IN GREAT BIG SHINY LIGHTS

                    • vto …
                      30 July 2013 at 5:10 pm

                      srylands, forgot to add one other major element to that equation just posted….

                      New Zealand is a rich country. We are well rich enough to provide every single person in our islands with a decent home and provision. We are rich man, rich. Surely you can see that reality.

                      Which leads to … the problem around some sectors in society missing out is due entirely to the current regulatory, structural, operational system we have in place. That is all that needs changing.

                      Imagine the place if everyone had such decent housing and provision……..

                      It is just the structure of distribution we exist in that is causing the current problem, that is all mate, that is all.

                      end

                    • Arfamo …
                      30 July 2013 at 5:23 pm

                      +1

                      “Since 1980, average labor productivity in the US has increased 2% per year yet average worker pay has remained stagnant and the average number of hours worked has not decreased. The great promise that increased productivity would lead to increased wealth and leisure time seems to not have come true for the majority of workers. Increased productivity has led to increased profits instead of higher wages. Increased labor productivity has also led to increased levels of unemployment. Fewer workers are needed to produce the same amount of goods and services.”

                      http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/01/increasing-labor-productivity-mixed-blessing/

                      Productivity arguments are based on increasing profits for businesses, owners and shareholders. Governments are not businesses. Governments have responsibilities to provide for the welfare and reasonable prosperity of all their citizens and residents. If that means regulating businesses, and businesses reducing their expectations of excessive profits, executive salaries, & excessive returns to shareholders, hey I say do it.

                  • KJT …
                    30 July 2013 at 5:19 pm

                    So Srylands. What you are saying is that the rest of us should subsidise your business if it doesn’t make enough to cover the true costs of the resources, including labour, it uses. Why should we?

                    What happened to inefficient businesses being allowed to fail to make room for better users of those resources.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      30 July 2013 at 5:24 pm

                      That was the idea behind true capitalism (“creative destruction”). These days the crony capitalists just want tax payer handouts and subsidies.

                    • srylands …
                      30 July 2013 at 6:22 pm

                      Thanks for your replies. I appreciate the time you have taken to set out your views. However I can’t understand what system and operational changes will lift wages significantly.

                      You can’t excape the starting point that NZ’s GDP per capita is $US 29,730. That is the number you have to play with. You can dial up all the regulatory chnages you want, but unless you increase that number you are very limied in what you can achieve. If you regulate to lift wages and reduce returns on capital, at teh margin capital will leave NZ. If you keep going deeper, so will the capital flight accelerate. The NZD will crash. People may have higher nominal wages but they will find that their “living wage” buys less than ever before.

                      I was in Argentina last year and you see the effect of these policies there. The Government is very committed to maintaining employment and wages through heavy handed regulation of just about everything. It looks exactly like what vto is arguing for in his post. I have studies Argentina’s economy for the last 10 years, and the Government just chases its tail. The workers get hugher and higher wages. Capital drifts out of the country. The Peso devalues. The higher wages buy less. Workers demand higher wages. Rinse and repeat.

                      So I would like to know how you would make teh redistributional ans structural changes you are advocating while avoiding the problems that have been experienced by every government that has tried this policy presctiption. Or point me to one example of a country that has made it work.

                      I think your views of the world are totally loopy, but I appreciate you hold them sincerely.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      30 July 2013 at 7:09 pm

                      You can’t excape the starting point that NZ’s GDP per capita is $US 29,730. That is the number you have to play with. You can dial up all the regulatory chnages you want, but unless you increase that number you are very limied in what you can achieve.

                      You can’t keep pushing the paradigm of growth in a world which is patently unable to keep growing.

                      By the way, we can start by sorting out the $1B of tax evasion going on annually, as well as the $2B to $3B in excess corporate profits being taken out of communities annually.

                    • srylands …
                      30 July 2013 at 7:15 pm

                      “By the way, we can start by sorting out the $1B of tax evasion going on annually, as well as the $2B to $3B in excess corporate profits being taken out of communities annually.

                      That won’t increase GDP.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      30 July 2013 at 7:20 pm

                      So? GDP is an unimportant and misleading measure.

                    • srylands …
                      30 July 2013 at 7:27 pm

                      “So? GDP is an unimportant and misleading measure.”

                      I agree GDP is an insufficient measure of well being.

                      But… take a look at this league table of GDP per capita.

                      Generally… I would suggest that the contries in the top half of the table – and this is a gneralisation – are better places to live than the countries towards the bottom half of the table

                      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

                    • vto …
                      30 July 2013 at 7:36 pm

                      So you don’t think USD29,370 per each and every person is enough to provide for a house and provisions? Rubbishy.

                      Anyway, my main point is that your main point here highlights the folly of your overall point. You say capital will move away and that is correct. Where will it move to, all else being equal? It will move to where the labour is cheaper won’t it…

                      … such a system will therefore constantly drive every component of the process down in this manner. This system treats labour as a commodity input and hence it drives down down down to the lowest possible. Way down below where it is a liveable wage. In fact, that doesn’t even come into it. Does it. You have said so yourself.

                      This is its flaw. It treats people as a tradeable commodity. This is wrong. Completely and utterly.

                      This is why I said at the start just up there that your philosophical outlook is backsidedown and this conversation is mute. This point needs to be passed before any further discussion can be had.

                    • Arfamo …
                      30 July 2013 at 7:45 pm

                      +1 vto. That’s the thing that bugs me. Big Capital movements just exploit economies to the point where the owners just drive labour costs down, then leave the mess behind and move to the next exploitable country. Governments and newly impoverished sectors of their societies are then left to try and rebuild from the detritus. International Capital doesn’t care. The neo-liberal economic paradigms are just bad. Basically they’re avaricious and destructive of societies once they’ve become all that governments follow.

                    • srylands …
                      30 July 2013 at 7:50 pm

                      “You say capital will move away and that is correct. Where will it move to, all else being equal? It will move to where the labour is cheaper won’t it…”

                      Stop right there.

                      Capital will mobve to where it will make a return. Switzeerland has a capital account surplus of 13% of GDP. You think it has cheap labour?

                    • Arfamo …
                      30 July 2013 at 7:54 pm

                      Switzeerland has a capital account surplus of 13% of GDP.

                      It’s probably somehow due to their prohibition on foreign ownership of housing :).

                    • vto …
                      30 July 2013 at 7:56 pm

                      That is why I said “all else being equal” i.e. the only variable remaining or applicable is the labour cost. The swiss example involves all sorts of other factors and this distorts this most basic and important of debates – labour and capital. This is the crux.

                      It must be thought about in this manner and once the big picture established then other factors, less important than people, can be brought in, such as the availability of watch winders and yodel oil.

                    • vto …
                      30 July 2013 at 8:00 pm

                      oh, and the mountain vault storage of most of europes africas asias and Americas gold

                    • vto …
                      30 July 2013 at 8:36 pm

                      Oh no don’t leave now srylands. We are just getting to the very heart of the entire capital-labour split. There used to be another chap here gosman would do this same thing – walk away. I will check back later.

              • Murray Olsen …
                30 July 2013 at 7:02 pm

                Funny that many employers in Australia don’t share your contempt of Kiwi workers. They seem to find them very productive. Could it possibly be that Kiwi bosses just don’t know how to get the best out of their work set ups and depend on largesse from government?

          • Psycho Milt 7.1.2.1.2
            30 July 2013 at 2:09 pm

            Far too many people are now reliant on WFF and without it couldn’t pay their bills.

            Well, yes. As vto points out, it’s a subsidy to employers to cover the fact that unskilled/semi-skilled work doesn’t pay enough to live on any more. Thrusting these people into penury would indeed be electoral suicide for National – I note they’ve no better solution to offer, though.

            Which was why Clark introduced it, get as many people sucking on the public tit as possible…

            People who aren’t nutbar conspiracy theorists favour a rather less dramatic explanation – that Labour felt this was a way of dealing with the problem of wages not being enough to live on, without having to fight a war with business and see National roll back the gains as soon as they were back in govt.

            • lprent 7.1.2.1.2.1
              30 July 2013 at 3:55 pm

              …that Labour felt this was a way of dealing with the problem of wages not being enough to live on..

              Not quite correct. Should read “…wages not being enough to raise a family on…”. This was showing up rather strongly in a rapidly reducing birthrate heading towards collapse as potential parents looked at making choices between owning a house, training or retraining, and raising a family. The families were losing..

              Which were in turn making the forward projections about things like superannuation, healthcare for the aged, and the need for immigration with the extra costs involved look bleak.

              The birthrate recovered and stabilised.

              Of course the rapidly rising cost of housing was one of the major drivers. Unfortunately it is starting to drive this again now.. I’d expect to see birthrate reductions again over the next decade if it isn’t dealt with.

              • Draco T Bastard …
                31 July 2013 at 12:28 am

                Not quite correct. Should read “…wages not being enough to raise a family on…”. This was showing up rather strongly in a rapidly reducing birthrate heading towards collapse as potential parents looked at making choices between owning a house, training or retraining, and raising a family. The families were losing..

                Ah, yes, the need for an ever increasing population to use up more and more of the limited resources that we have so that the government and business idiots people could point to an increasing GDP.

                • lprent …
                  31 July 2013 at 11:04 am

                  Yes that is also correct.

                  However abrupt crashes in population demographics are likely to be as damaging as abrupt rises if we look at the odd times in human history that they have happened. Apart from the usual debris that humans leave around, there is also that nasty consideration that humans tend to go apeshit in the breeding front as competition reduces, opportunity grows, and the whole population starts to get child goo obsessions.

                  Gradual increase and reductions are a whole lot safer.

                  Besides much of the resource problem is with *how* the resources are being used as much as the quantity extracted. Look at the per capita resource usage in the US compared to somewhere like samoa.

            • Rosetinted 7.1.2.1.2.2
              30 July 2013 at 4:29 pm

              Psycho Milt
              When I was a young parent, employers worked from tax tables with special tax concessions for families. You had a tax code of say F for family and for one child tax would be reduced at the F1 rate, the next child would put you on the F2 rate. These reductions continued I think to four.

              There was also a small payment per week per child which one could spend or save and when new shoes or school books were required the family allowance amount was there to draw on. Also if one was buying a house, the allowance could be drawn as an advance payment and put in as a bulk amount towards the deposit on the house.

              There was no talk about whether employers were getting paying inadequate wages, they remained the same for all. and there was no return of tax to the parent because the tax was reduced at source as the employer made up the wages.

    • Colonial Viper 7.2
      30 July 2013 at 1:06 pm

      In the 80s and 90s, Labour and National govts wrecked the national awards and arbitration systems and did their best to limit union membership.

      Pay and conditions suffered accordingly. Labour’s response in the 2000s was not to actually do anything about this, but instead to introduce a ridiculous system of taxing people and then giving some of the tax back again as tax credits.

      It then had to introduce a further “In-Work” tax credit in an attempt to make working for poor wages and conditions look preferable to drawing a benefit and not answering to a boss.

      Good summary, PMilt.

  8. Winston Smith 8
    30 July 2013 at 3:17 pm

    “In a Herald-DigiPoll survey of 750 voters taken last month, 51 per cent said they agreed with the Child Poverty Action Group’s wish for the tax credits for parents to be extended to parents on welfare. Forty-one per cent disagreed with it.”

    A survey of 750 people? Nope but sorry people want National.

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    Buzz from the Beehive Stuart Nash, speaking as Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, one of his remaining portfolios after he was dropped down the Hipkins Government batting order, has drawn attention to the blue economy and its potential. Nash says the government is investing in the blue economy, or – ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Ask Me Anything about the week to March 24
    Photo by Josh Mills 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:The runs on Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank on the west coast of the United States that forced the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 24-March-2023
    Roundup is back! We skipped last week’s Friday post due to a shortage of person-power – did you notice? Lots going on out there… Our header image this week shows a green street that just happens to be Queen St, by @chamfy from Twitter. This week (and last) in ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the Keen-Minshull visit
    After threatening Prime Minister Chris Hipkins of consequences if he dared to bar her entry, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull has been given her visa, regardless. This will enable her to hold rallies in Auckland and Wellington this weekend, and spread her messages of hostility against an already marginalised trans community. Neo-Nazis may, ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    2 days ago

  • BRYCE EDWARDS’ Political Roundup:  NZ needs to distance itself from Australia’s anti-China nucl...
    * Bryce Edwards writes – The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Wayne Brown's #Auxit moment
    Boomers voted him in, but Brown’s Trumpish moments might spook Aucklanders worried about what a change to National nationally might mean. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has become our version of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, except without any of the insatiable appetite for media appearances. He ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: NZ needs to distance itself from Australia’s anti-China nuclear submarines
    The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as part of its Aukus pact with the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    2 days ago

  • Posie Parker vs Transgender Rights.
    Recently you might have heard of a person called Posie Parker and her visit to Aotearoa. Perhaps you’re not quite sure what it’s all about. So let’s start with who this person is, why their visit is controversial, and what on earth a TERF is.Posie Parker is the super villain ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Select Committee told slow down; you’re moving too fast
    The chair of Parliament’s Select Committee looking at the Government’s resource management legislation wants the bills sent back for more public consultation. The proposal would effectively kill any chance of the bills making it into law before the election. Green MP, Eugenie Sage, stressing that she was speaking as ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #12 2023
    Open access notables  The United States experienced some historical low temperature records during the just-concluded winter. It's a reminder that climate and weather are quite noisy; with regard to our warming climate,, as with a road ascending a mountain range we may steadily change our conditions but with lots of ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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

  • Crown apology to Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua
    Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little has delivered the Crown apology to Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua for its historic breaches of Te Tiriti of Waitangi today. The ceremony was held at Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton, hosted by Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua, with several hundred ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Minister of Foreign Affairs meets with Chinese counterpart
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta has concluded her visit to China, the first by a New Zealand Foreign Minister since 2018. The Minister met her counterpart, newly appointed State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, who also hosted a working dinner. This was the first engagement between the two ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government delivering world-class satellite positioning services
    World-class satellite positioning services that will support much safer search and rescue, boost precision farming, and help safety on construction sites through greater accuracy are a significant step closer today, says Land Information Minister Damien O’Connor. Damien O’Connor marked the start of construction on New Zealand’s first uplink centre for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 days ago

  • Vertical farming partnership has upward momentum
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