Wage subsidy a half-hearted gesture

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, September 8th, 2010 - 60 comments
Categories: business, jobs, spin, wages - Tags: ,

The unions, business, and Phil Goff have all gritted their teeth and called the Nats’ $15 million wage subsidy scheme for small businesses affected by the Christchurch earthquake ‘a start’. The problem is, it’s likely to be the end. If the government had any intention of doing more, it would have done it. This scheme will leave workers and employers severely out of pocket, killing businesses and jobs.

There are about 77,000 workers (5% of our workforce) unable to work due to the quake. To ask their employers to continue paying their wages unaided would be a death sentence for many recession-weakened firms.

The Nats’ response is a $350 a week subsidy to firms employing 20 or fewer staff. It will only be for the staff who would work if the business was open, not workers who can’t get to work due to their personal circumstances. The bill is expected to be $15 million (how the Herald got $100 million is anyone’s guess, it can’t possibly be that much)

First off, the quantum of the payment is inadequate. $350 a week is less the minimum full-time wage. It’s less than half the median wage of $750 a week. Employers are ‘asked’ to cover the difference, which will be over $400 a week for half of workers. That will be enough to send firms to the wall. Or they’ll have to stop paying, leaving families to get by on a pittance while trying to rebuild after a major disaster (let’s hope they have home insurance, because the government’s not going to help if they don’t).

Second, most workers are excluded from the scheme. The bulk of worker are employed by larger firms with over 20 employers. Those firms, if shut by the quake, are suffering exactly the same problems as smaller ones and more families are dependent on the incomes.

Third, limiting the scheme only to workers who would be able to work if the business were open but not those who can’t get to work because of their personal circumstances is an unfair and illogical distinction. Expecting those who can’t get to work to rely on emergency WINZ grants when WINZ itself is severely affected is callous.

Fourth, no word on how the self-employed or contractors are affected. I’m especially worried about the workers who are employed as ‘contractors’, they are always the ones who get screwed.

When South Canterbury Finance collapsed not one of the mostly wealthy people, who had put money into a company knowing it was risky but greedy for the interest rates, lost a cent. The government could easily afford to extend the same generosity to those who have suffered in this earthquake through no fault of their own. To fund it, it could delay the tax cuts for the rich by as little as a year or even just six months.

I saw some video of what the RNZ reporter described as John Key’s ‘roadshow’. They went to one of the emergency centres where the number of homeless families is growing as aftershocks make more and more homes unstable.

As a photo-op, Key pretended to read a book to a little girl. He didn’t tell her parents ‘the government will stand behind your family and make sure you’re not out of pocket – we’ll cover your wages and your uninsured losses’. He didn’t say ‘we’re announcing a program to get you into a home as soon as possible and, until then, we’re calling on people with big houses and spare rooms to accommodate you’. No, he pretended to read a book.

The book was titled ‘The Suspicion of Innocence’. That seemed poignant.

60 comments on “Wage subsidy a half-hearted gesture ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Peter Martin 1
    8 September 2010 at 8:26 am

    To be fair, it may well be that an as yet unknown number of businesses have insurance that covers this.
    But I agree, $350 per week before tax, is very much a token.

  2. Tigger 2
    8 September 2010 at 8:45 am

    Who on earth decided Key should read a book in the midst of a disaster scenario? Bush and 9/11 killed that warm fuzzy forever. Plus did no one see the Scary Movie where Leslie Nielsen lampooned it perfectly?

  3. joe bloggs 3
    8 September 2010 at 9:21 am

    Phil who?

    No Christchurch photo ops for the Leader of the Opposition given Kohn Key’s all over this like a rash.

    No wonder Phil’s gritting his teeth.

    • Bright Red 3.1
      8 September 2010 at 10:02 am

      You’re a poor soul if you judge the performance of our government on who gets the photo ops.

  4. more_ben 4
    8 September 2010 at 10:40 am

    National is being more Labour than Labour on this and everything else. And still the Standard is unable to give any credit at all. What would Labour have done differently?

    • Bright Red 4.1
      8 September 2010 at 11:28 am

      Marty’s told you what he would have done differently, in this post and yesterday’s.

      He’s not responsible for Labour’s policy.

  5. Roflcopter 5
    8 September 2010 at 10:52 am

    This is a subsidy on top of the ability for workers, who would not normally be eligible, to go to WINZ for assistance.

    Jeez, solidarity across parties at the top levels of parliament to deal with all of this, and more whining out of you lot. Talk about out of touch.

    • Inventory2 5.1
      8 September 2010 at 12:35 pm

      Agree wholeheartedly; I’m waiting for someone from The Standard to suggest that the PM shuld pay this all out of his personal wealth …

    • Bright Red 5.2
      8 September 2010 at 12:53 pm

      do you think that it’s ok the SCF investors get 100% bailout and the workers and families of Chch don’t?

      captcha: losss

      • joe bloggs 5.2.1
        8 September 2010 at 2:12 pm

        that’s a question better directed at Michael Cullen who introduced the scheme in the first place. Perhaps you remember Helen Clark introducing it at Labour’s election campaign launch in ’08?

        John Armstrong comments on the scapegoating the Govt has received over the SCF bailout. Read and learn:

        http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/124473/govt-scapegoated-over-scf-payout

        • Loota 5.2.1.1
          8 September 2010 at 3:30 pm

          Nice try at misdirection Joe, Cullen introduced the scheme to protect ma and pa investors, Bill and John used it to signed SCF on and ran it in a way that big financial speculators got a $1700M dollar payout.

          Workers? Oh guess you can have the drippings off the manor table ($15M)

          • clandestino 5.2.1.1.1
            8 September 2010 at 8:50 pm

            That’s patent BS I have close family who invested in SCF along with 30,000 other people. The guarantee may upset people in hindsight given the state of the book keeping, but let’s not go all ‘9-11 Truther’ on this

      • Roflcopter 5.2.2
        8 September 2010 at 3:48 pm

        No I don’t, but tell me how your incessant whining here is in step with the thoughts and coordinated response by all the political parties in this time of crisis? You keep making shit up as you go along.

        captcha: inabilitys – to which you have plenty

  6. Bill 6
    8 September 2010 at 11:00 am

    What’s the story with accumulated stat days? It’s not a solution I particularly like, but my question isn’t to do with the taking of them, but the scenario if the employer is unable to pay them.

    And then there is the annual leave option….and awarding it in advance if need be. Again. Not a particularly desirable solution. And again, the question of whether small employers can pay it.

    Of course, employers could expand the criteria surrounding sick leave and that would at least allow for holidays to be preserved for genuine breaks.

    Or how about large solvent businesses follow the rhetoric of Johnny Boy on day one when he said he was there to express solidarity, and lend to the smaller businesses at zero % interest and on a repayment time scale determined by the seriousness of the impact suffered by the smaller more vulnerable businesses…or minimally, make sure they pay their bills in very timely fashion…or extend the time they will allow affected smaller businesses to pay their bills to them…or throw up their hands, claim they can do nothing and depend on the tax payer to bail out their whole sorry system of exploitation while rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of an increased market share coming off the back of other’s misfortune?

    The latter option.

  7. Kevyn 7
    8 September 2010 at 12:53 pm

    How does this government’s worker compensation plan compare with Labour’s response to the Manawatu floods?

    The only aspect of Labour’s reponse to the Manawatu flood that I have detailed knowledge of is that they promised that the government would fund the repairs to roads and bridges but that not one cent ever appeared in the government’s budgets for that purpose. Transfund/NZTA annual reports show that the funds for the flood repairs were simply deducted from the amount allocated to Manawatu for highway improvements in Transfunds 10-year State Highway forecast. That’s a total contrast to the old politically independent Main Highways Board’s decision to share the burden of repairing roads and bridges after the Murchison and Hawke’s Bay quakes equitably accross the whole country.

  8. randal 8
    8 September 2010 at 1:34 pm

    what about Joe Waitress.
    $600 a week.
    anybody know any waitresses who make 600 a weeK.

  9. tsmithfield 9
    8 September 2010 at 5:09 pm

    I suspect that whatever the government offered would be criticised as not being enough.

    Newsflash. The government can’t solve everything. The $350 contribution is available immediately and is a heck of a lot better than what many would get on the dole. I suspect that Winz will also be stepping in with assistance where necessary, and people may also find they qualify for more family support than what they did previously. Banks are also offering mortgage holidays for affected people.

    So it is likely that many will find the various initiatives enough for them to get through.

    Also, as the recovery kicks in there will be no excuse for anyone who has working arms and legs to be unemployed. So, I suspect those displaced from their current jobs will soon find other jobs helping with various aspects of the clean-up and rebuilding.

    • Vicky32 9.1
      8 September 2010 at 6:28 pm

      “Also, as the recovery kicks in there will be no excuse for anyone who has working arms and legs to be unemployed. So, I suspect those displaced from their current jobs will soon find other jobs helping with various aspects of the clean-up and rebuilding.”
      What recovery are you banging on about tsmithfield? If you’re right, I shall be turning cartwheels with joy, as I am fed up with being unemployed – and with waiting for this “recovery”!
      And how do you expect secretaries and receptionists to suddenly turn into builders and labourers?
      Deb

      • Lanthanide 9.1.1
        8 September 2010 at 6:36 pm

        “And how do you expect secretaries and receptionists to suddenly turn into builders and labourers?”
        Pick up a shovel or paintbrush, obviously. Everything is magically easy in tsmithfield’s world. A job is a job is a job is a job.

        • Loota 9.1.1.1
          8 September 2010 at 7:08 pm

          Look, during the Great Leap Forwards scientists and lecturers successfully became farmers. And given that the Right actually likes their peasantry, I’m sure this could be a model.

        • Vicky32 9.1.1.2
          8 September 2010 at 7:12 pm

          To quote Bugs Bunny, it is to laugh… In his world obviously, workers aren’t office workers with no building expertise, over 60, or under 155 cm…
          Deb

      • tsmithfield 9.1.2
        8 September 2010 at 8:09 pm

        Debbie: “What recovery are you banging on about tsmithfield?”

        What I mean is the recovery from the earthquake. There is a big mess to clean up in case you have just come from Mars.

        Vicky: “To quote Bugs Bunny, it is to laugh… In his world obviously, workers aren’t office workers with no building expertise, over 60, or under 155 cm…”

        What experience does it take to get on the end of a shovel?

        • Marty G 9.1.2.1
          8 September 2010 at 8:42 pm

          The demolition crews don’t want any casual people. You have to have site safe certification. there was a video on it on stuff on tuesday.

        • Puddleglum 9.1.2.2
          8 September 2010 at 10:22 pm

          I’ve worked in a few menial/labouring jobs and they all required a whole series of ‘knacks’ that you don’t master overnight.

          I remember once trying to shift a 44 gal drum full of cooking oil and couldn’t budge it. Spent about twenty minutes moving it a couple of yards. Some young, little guy (even smaller than me) who was an ‘old hand’ took a running jump at it, leapt on, grabbing it with his full body around the rim, started to tip it and then braced himself with his legs on the ground as it fell, (If I’d have tried it I would have become a well-oiled pancake.) He then rolled it to where it had to be, looked at me with the kind of look that only working men can give each other, spat on the ground and went back to his job.

          It’s the same on building sites – easy to mess up, whether you’re digging a ditch, stacking bricks, wheeling a wheelbarrow full of cement or whatever. There’s a way to dig, for example, that means you keep a good speed going but won’t end up with a crook back after an hour and have to be given some patsy work. And since my last experience I guess a lot more machinery gets used for the jobs I used to do.

          The jobs are called ‘unskilled’ but that’s only because nobody offers a course in them. I probably couldn’t count the number of times I’ve been embarrassed with my lack of skill at such work. What’s worse is that I’ve often felt I’ve been more hindrance than help as others have had to waste their time cleaning up after me.

  10. Graeme Edgeler 10
    8 September 2010 at 5:52 pm

    This scheme will leave workers and employers severely out of pocket, killing businesses and jobs.

    There are about 77,000 workers (5% of our workforce) unable to work due to the quake. To ask their employers to continue paying their wages unaided would be a death sentence for many recession-weakened firms.

    You appear to assume that employers have an option of not paying their employees. I’d be very interested to know the legal basis underpinning this implicit claim. They have employment contracts, they get paid. That’s pretty much the deal.

    captcha: staffs

    • Loota 10.1
      8 September 2010 at 6:59 pm

      I hear bankruptcy or receivership is pretty good at interfering with the paying of wages.

      • tsmithfield 10.1.1
        8 September 2010 at 8:15 pm

        In a bankruptcy/receivership situation, the employees would ordinarily have the prospect of the dole. The current package offered by the government is considerably better than the dole. For instance, it is available immediately (no stand down). And in the case of a family where both partners lose their jobs, then their would be two lots of $350 coming into the family.

        • Marty G 10.1.1.1
          8 September 2010 at 8:35 pm

          I’m sure that will be of great comfort, $700 a week before tax is below the poverty line for a family with kids. – take off tax and accommodation, and what’s left?

          meanwhile, people who gambled on SCF walk away with millions, including their interest.

          • Roflcopter 10.1.1.1.1
            8 September 2010 at 8:37 pm

            Go ask WINZ what you get on top of that… I dare you to. Then come back and say it is nothing so we can all laugh at you.

            • Marty G 10.1.1.1.1.1
              8 September 2010 at 8:40 pm

              no, you provide evidence that WINZ is providing top-ups to this grant, which is being paid through WINZ.

              my plan would leave no employer or employee out of pocket over wages for work that can’t be done because of the quake. Does the Nats’ plan match that?

              • Roflcopter …
                8 September 2010 at 8:48 pm

                It’s already been announced that WINZ will be coming to the party for those affected, ON TOP of the $350.

                I have friends down in ChCh, who were in fulltime work but are now going to be out for a long time because their place of work is shattered, who have already been in contact with WINZ.

                They get no standdown on entitlements, can get WFF where they couldn’t before, their bank has holidayed their mortgage with no penalty or catch-up required. He also can get an emergency dole-type payment, AND the $350 as well… he is so grateful for what has been put forward as a solution, where before he was already living in rather tight times… but I guess it’s ok for you to spout off from your pedestal.

              • smhead …
                8 September 2010 at 9:11 pm

                no marty your plan would see a big fat blank cheque being paid to everybody no matter what their need. nice use of taxpayers money there, so generous of you. the bill for the cleanup will be in the billions already, let’s spend it wisely. sorry marty after nine years of labour the government can’t afford to write blank cheques.

                • Loota …
                  8 September 2010 at 9:24 pm

                  no marty your plan would see a big fat blank cheque being paid to everybody no matter what their need

                  Fully consistent with Bill and John’s bail out of South Canterbury Finance.

                  What, you got a problem with that now?

                  sorry marty after nine years of labour the government can’t afford to write blank cheques.

                  Well didn’t Bill and John prove you oh-so-wrong.

                  OK it wasn’t a blank cheque exaclty but the one for SCF did have ten digits for the dollar value.

                  • Pascal's bookie …
                    8 September 2010 at 9:28 pm

                    Wasn’t it just the other day that those comm1e bastards at the IMF were saying that the NZ govt was in a good position to be able to write cheques? Bloody Michael Cullen!!

                • Pascal's bookie …
                  8 September 2010 at 9:25 pm

                  So I assume then that the government is in fact checking to see that the employers who are being subsidised under this scheme are not also insured?

                • Marty G …
                  8 September 2010 at 11:34 pm

                  my plan funds workers wages for quake closed businesses by canning the tax cuts for the richest kiwis for one year. with plenty left over.

                  • smhead …
                    9 September 2010 at 7:03 am

                    marty every one of your economic plans involves canning tax cuts. in fact it could be said that you only ever invent economic plans as an excuse to can tax cuts and sop the rich who already pay too much tax. eat the rich yes that’s a good plan. not.

                    • Pascal's bookie …
                      9 September 2010 at 7:40 am

                      …in fact it could be said that you only ever invent economic plans as an excuse to can tax cuts…

                      Anything can be said, some things are too stupid to be worth saying though.

                      Take a look at these graphs:

                      http://www.presimetrics.com/blog/?p=92

                      It is simply not the case that shrinking the state produces economic benefits. What counts is whether or not the state is doing the things that the state should be doing, and whether or not it is doing so efficiently. Part of this is whether or not it is collecting enough taxes.

                      The right have become singularly focussed on shrinking the size of the state over the last couple of decades. They can’t win support to actually cut back on the things the state does, so they focus on cutting taxes. This is simply unserious. You can’t cut taxes without cutting the spending, and the pitiful spending cuts they manage never pay for the tax cuts they want.

                      The argument they have, for what it is worth, is that ‘smaller govt is better’. This is axiomatic and just assumed to be true. It’s obvious question begging, and doesn’t seem to find much support when you look at what happens empirically.

                      So instead we hear tired rhetoric like eat the rich yes that’s a good plan. not. and moronic projection like you only ever invent economic plans as an excuse to can tax cuts, when it’s obvious to anyone who pays attention that it is the right that views the level of taxation and the size of the state as ideological targets.

        • Roflcopter 10.1.1.2
          8 September 2010 at 8:35 pm

          Dude, you’re killing Graeme’s whining with facts. Stick to making stuff up like he does.

          • Pascal's bookie 10.1.1.2.1
            8 September 2010 at 8:43 pm

            What ts is doing is painting this policy, which I agree is good, as some sort of payout to employees. It’s not. It’s a subsidy to relieve some pressure off small employers. The fact that those businesses are not being given the ‘moral hazard speech’ about their lack of insurance is an interesting political fact.

            And Graeme is usually right. That’s like pretty much an internet fact.

    • Marty G 10.2
      8 September 2010 at 8:38 pm

      It’s the govt who are ‘asking’ the employers to pay the difference between the $350 and ordinary wages… which means employers aren’t compelled to pay. I assume they know the law.
      Presumably, employers can argue force majeure.

      also, the argument is that’s not fair or possible for the employers to expect them to stump up with the cash when they have no cash flow.

  11. clandestino 11
    8 September 2010 at 9:03 pm

    I don’t quite understand what more the government can do in this situation. $350 a week does not seem like chips to me (if the reports I’ve heard here and on the radio about mortgage holidays are true). Does it occur to anyone that could be a disincentive to finding work quickly in coming days/weeks when it’s around?
    The biggest problem is going to be insurance. Possibly 10k homes uninsured, at say 300k, that’s a shiteload. Does the taxpayer pick up the tab? Remember, EQC contributions come out of the premiums paid by those who took out insurance, and needs to be rationed for future disasters too.

    Coupled with the issue of subsidising select businesses, moral hazard much?

    • Vicky32 11.1
      9 September 2010 at 4:03 pm

      “Does it occur to anyone that could be a disincentive to finding work quickly in coming days/weeks when it’s around?”
      I hear Bugs Bunny again… Would a temporary $350.00 a week be a disincentive to you? No of course not, so why assume that of other people? You’re being ridiculous.
      Deb

  12. infused 12
    8 September 2010 at 9:33 pm

    Income protection insurance… it’s actually not that expensive. For the people that don’t have house insurance…. that’s just fucking crazy. I’m sorry, but really. Why should the tax payer pick up the tab here?

    • clandestino 12.1
      8 September 2010 at 9:41 pm

      And what message does it send to those who have always played it safe and prepared for the worst, sensibly?
      If we all pick up the tab for the uninsured…what’s the point in having insurance, you’re getting shat on. I just can’t believe it’s not mandatory like bike helmets or seatbelts.

      • Loota 12.1.1
        8 September 2010 at 9:53 pm

        Yeah I agree, better to let those people and their families rot and to bring down the value of the neighbourhoods around their rubble.

        Why should the tax payer pick up the tab here?

        well the taxpayer happily picked up the tab for SCF speculators, I guess you are saying that those homeless families and their children are less deserving than those big shots.

      • Puddleglum 12.1.2
        8 September 2010 at 10:56 pm

        So many things for ‘sensible people’ to insure for, aren’t there. I won’t repeat myself here, but you’ve just proved my point that there’s no end to what ‘sensible people’ like yourself and infused believe those with little money should fork out for. Now it’s ‘income protection’ insurance!

        I pay the whole caboodle (health, life for me and my wife, car, contents, house, mortgage protection, income protection for me), i.e., the kind of cover you’d both be proud of me ‘self-providing’. Guess how much it costs me per fortnight? You want a cleaner or a labourer to fork out that lot from their wages just because people like you never understood the notion of ‘enlightened self-interest’?

  13. M 13
    8 September 2010 at 10:57 pm

    Maybe Johnny was at the wrong meeting and is taking direct action towards improving the literacy of young new Zealanders.

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    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    2 days ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • DAVID FARRAR: Hysterical bullshit
    Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #48 2023
    Open access notables From this week's government/NGO section, longitudinal data is gold and Leisorowitz, Maibachi et al. continue to mine ore from the US public with Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Fall 2023: Drawing on a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, the authors describe how registered ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • ELE LUDEMANN: It wasn’t just $55 million
    Ele Ludemann writes –  Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 1-December-2023
    Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago

  • Shane MacGowan Is Gone.
    Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 1
    Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • 2023 More Reading: November (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for November: A Modern Utopia, by H.G. Wells The Vampire (poem), by Heinrich August Ossenfelder The Corpus Hermeticum The Corpus Hermeticum is Mead’s translation. Now, this is indeed a very quiet month for reading. But there is a reason for that… You see, ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    4 days ago

  • Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    5 days ago

  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Finally
    Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • Government in a hurry – Luxon lists 49 priorities in 100-day plan while Peters pledges to strength...
    Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • DAVID FARRAR: Luxon is absolutely right
    David Farrar writes  –  1 News reports: Christopher Luxon says he was told by some Kiwis on the campaign trail they “didn’t know” the difference between Waka Kotahi, Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora. Speaking to Breakfast, the incoming prime minister said having English first on government agencies will “make sure” ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Top 10 at 10 am for Thursday, Nov 30
    There are fears that mooted changes to building consent liability could end up driving the building industry into an uninsured hole. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Thursday, November 30, including:The new Government’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on how climate change threatens cricket‘s future
    Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, M Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else, and complaining that he has inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” – which is how most of us are ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    5 days ago

  • We need to talk about Tory.
    The first I knew of the news about Tory Whanau was when a tweet came up in my feed.The sort of tweet that makes you question humanity, or at least why you bother with Twitter. Which is increasingly a cesspit of vile inhabitants who lurk spreading negativity, hate, and every ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Dangling Transport Solutions
    Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports: Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    5 days ago

  • November AMA
    Hi,It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Ask-Me-Anything on here, so today’s the day. Ask anything you like in the comments section, and I’ll be checking in today and tomorrow to answer.Leave a commentNext week I’ll be giving away a bunch of these Mister Organ blu-rays for readers in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago

  • National’s early moves adding to cost of living pressure
    The cost of living grind continues, and the economic and inflation honeymoon is over before it began. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: PM Christopher Luxon unveiled his 100 day plan yesterday with an avowed focus of reducing cost-of-living pressures, but his Government’s initial moves and promises are actually elevating ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Backwards to the future
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed that it will be back to the future on planning legislation. This will be just one of a number of moves which will see the new government go backwards as it repeals and cost-cuts its way into power. They will completely repeal one ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • New initiatives in science and technology could point the way ahead for Luxon government
    As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some  of  the  economic issues  confronting  New Zealand. It may take time for some new  ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the  changes that  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    6 days ago

  • Treaty pledge to secure funding is contentious – but is Peters being pursued by a lynch mob after ...
    TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • How long does this last?
    I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • National’s giveaway politics
    We already know that national plans to boost smoking rates to collect more tobacco tax so they can give huge tax-cuts to mega-landlords. But this morning that policy got even more obscene - because it turns out that the tax cut is retrospective: Residential landlords will be able to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER: Who’s driving the right-wing bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • GRAHAM ADAMS:  Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government
    The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishing Graham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    6 days ago

  • Top 10 news links for Wednesday, Nov 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Smokefree Fallout and a High Profile Resignation.
    The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • As Cabinet revs up, building plans go on hold
    Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • National takes over infrastructure
    Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them.  POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees  National MPs Chris ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • At a glance – Evidence for global warming
    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
    7 days ago

  • Who’s Driving The Right-Wing Bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
    Bowalley Road
    7 days ago

  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago

  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    7 days ago

  • National’s murderous smoking policy
    One of the big underlying problems in our political system is the prevalence of short-term thinking, most usually seen in the periodic massive infrastructure failures at a local government level caused by them skimping on maintenance to Keep Rates Low. But the new government has given us a new example, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    7 days ago

  • NZ has a chance to rise again as our new government gets spending under control
    New Zealand has  a chance  to  rise  again. Under the  previous  government, the  number of New Zealanders below the poverty line was increasing  year by year. The Luxon-led government  must reverse that trend – and set about stabilising  the  pillars  of the economy. After the  mismanagement  of the outgoing government created   huge ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    7 days ago

  • KARL DU FRESNE: Media and the new government
    Two articles by Karl du Fresne bring media coverage of the new government into considerations.  He writes –    Tuesday, November 28, 2023 The left-wing media needed a line of attack, and they found one The left-wing media pack wasted no time identifying the new government’s weakest point. Seething over ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • PHILIP CRUMP:  Team of rivals – a CEO approach to government leadership
    The work begins Philip Crump wrote this article ahead of the new government being sworn in yesterday – Later today the new National-led coalition government will be sworn in, and the hard work begins. At the core of government will be three men – each a leader ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • Black Friday
    As everyone who watches television or is on the mailing list for any of our major stores will confirm, “Black Friday” has become the longest running commercial extravaganza and celebration in our history. Although its origins are obscure (presumably dreamt up by American salesmen a few years ago), it has ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    7 days ago

  • In Defense of the Media.
    Yesterday the Ministers in the next government were sworn in by our Governor General. A day of tradition and ceremony, of decorum and respect. Usually.But yesterday Winston Peters, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, of our nation used it, as he did with the signing of the coalition ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago

  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Tuesday, Nov 28
    Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago

  • PT use up but fare increases coming
    Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    1 week ago

  • The very opposite of social investment
    Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Giving Tuesday
    For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical Science Skeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Let's open the books with Nicotine Willis
    Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • Climate Change: Stopping oil
    National is promising to bring back offshore oil and gas drilling. Naturally, the Greens have organised a petition campaign to try and stop them. You should sign it - every little bit helps, and as the struggle over mining conservation land showed, even National can be deterred if enough people ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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