The news fom the UK is not encouraging.Camerion is about to” Deal o the Workers ” It the same policy as the Nats have here.There is no doubt that all over the OECD countries the Right is organizing. Unions and workers are going to suffer .
“The great socialist dream has repeatedly failed but we can keep our jobs in parliament if enough people are stupid enough to believe it will work this time”
The great socialist dream has always been sabotaged by capitalists and then, when capitalism fails yet again, the capitalists go to the people to be bailed out.
It’s not socialism that’s the failure but capitalism.
Yes it gets sabotaged by capitalists… the bloody capitalists always rescue the economy from decades of deficit and perpetual debt…. Yes yes… we know – you socialists like it when the people are poor and the govt is rich but for some weird reason the voters turf the socialists out of office sabotaging the great dream of mediocrity.
Did you miss all the bailouts of the capitalists by the people over the last few years? Did you miss all the depressions and recessions that have occurred under capitalism? Or perhaps the increasing poverty that capitalism created and that socialism had started to correct – until the re-introduction of laissez faire capitalism in the 1980s?
History repeats because we keep failing to learn the lessons that it teaches.
1990 was a fuckup because the 4th Labour Government, aka, the first Act Government, followed the same policies that National and Act are now following. Of course, this was on the heels of the fuckup of Rob’s Mob in power.
But the bit you don’t want to admit is that the previous centuries of failure (recessions, depressions, increasing poverty and Climate Change) are down entirely to capitalism.
Michael savage rescued NZ from oblivion in the 30s
Muldoom stuffed the country
Now borrowing Bills English is stuffing it again 0.1% Growth per annum is bill Englishs record Over 5 years.
Michael Cullen got the economy growing 30 times more at3%+ per annum by spreading a bit of money around not just a few like the dipstick from dipton!
Burt stick with Ernie on sesame st kiddie stories are more believable than your lies
BBC world economics reporter research in the US shows high taxed socialist states are growing low taxed laissez fair states in recession or depression. Not one laissez fair state growing fact.
Have you forgotten Micheal Cullen’s miracle formula had us in recession at the start of 2008, having generally under performed our trading partners leading up to that point. Unemployment was rising and so was borrowing right through 2008. Are you incapable of understanding that National were handed a pup in 2008.
The dream is over, that’s all it was – a dream. Cullen buggered it up, that’s all there is too it. In hindsight wasn’t it a really stupid thing to fix thresholds for so long that 75% of high school teachers ended up classified as rich in the tax system? Simply plucking the goose with the least amount of hissing is convenient tax policy, but that doesn’t make it good tax policy. Your mans a muppet mik e.
1990? The BNZ was bankrupt, but the country wasn’t.
OK, we just had the mother of all budgets for fun then… Kiwi’s must have been nuts to vote in a National govt if the country was doing so well under Labour.
2008? Labour leaves National with a booming economy.
A booming economy…. Keep taking the pills… Let me guess the voters grew weary of the boom times under Labour and voted for some self flagellation as punishment for having a booming economy, just like the silly buggers did in 1990 when the silly old BNZ was having it’s meltdown in times of plenty.
It’s clear you can be convinced of anything said by a red flag waver, hows that working for you?
Key and English selling our country out. If we’d kept key assets like Telecom and Contact energy, we would be many billions of dollars richer, as a country.
NZ Post pre the sale of Telecom… you think that was working? Let me guess Railways was a model of efficiency and late model rolling stock when we sold it… As for power company profits – the state generators reported obscene profits while pensioners froze under Labour. Have you lost your mind! What possible good can using these examples do for the credibility of your argument.
Meh, any publicly owned operation can run just as fast and as sharp as a private one. And its good to have some fat in every business operation.
BTW the foreign owners ran down Telecom and Tranzrail. The money from cutting re-investment and general capital run down should not be considered real profits.
NZ Post pre the sale of Telecom… you think that was working?
What’s NZ Post got to do with the sale of Telecom?
BTW, NZ Post, C&M Branch (Telecom) was making multi-million dollar profits (even though it was NZ Post its books were separate) throughout the 1980s while upgrading most of the exchanges to digital, increasing bandwidth throughout the country and generally doing the best that could be done for NZ. Over $300m/year by the end of the decade and the sale of Telecom. Telecom was close to debt free.
7 years later, billions had been pulled out in “profits”, Telecom was in hock up to it’s neck (the profits were pretty much borrowing that we get to pay for) and work on the network had dropped down to maintenance level instead of continuous upgrading resulting in the government having to spend billions to get the network back up to standard.
The history of Telecom after the sale is a perfect proof that profit is a dead weight loss and privatisation is a failure.
Let me guess Railways was a model of efficiency and late model rolling stock when we sold it…
Rail could have been improved, and probably was being improved, without selling it. If we hadn’t sold it then we would have had to buy it back and start spending billions on fixing it up.
s for power company profits – the state generators reported obscene profits while pensioners froze under Labour.
Turning state infrastructure over to faux competition and a profiteering motive was a really bad move. Costs huge amounts and fails to achieve its purpose – supplying it’s service at cost.
What possible good can using these examples do for the credibility of your argument.
Well, it’s better than your total lack of argument.
jeez you talk a load of crap burt! you couldn’t have got your history more wrong if you tried…. “capitalists” , or more accurately termed “national party fascists” have consistently undermined the progress made by the only truly democratic governments new zealand has had… the lie that they had anything to do with new zealands emergence as a “wealthy” country in the second half of the twentieth century is no more than tory propaganda spread through the newspapers and radio on the orders of the owners of these organisations…..
the “truth” is actually the opposite of your fantasizing….. without the labour party, new zealand would be regarded as tasmania’s poor relation, and the aussies would be breathing a huge sigh of relief that we turned down the opportunity to amalgamate with them…
normally your posts provide me with at least a small amount of amusement, being as facile and obvious as they are, but this idiocy shows a streak of stupidity that has surprised me….. i really did think you were just being an arsehole just for your own amusement…maybe we are looking at another chauncey gardener……
8 weeks is all it took to divide the moment…. I think everyone should have an iPad2 – but this is my private property…. ha ha ha. Look how your glorious flat society divided and failed in just 8 weeks and you think that socialism is a valid long term option for government… Have you seen father xmas or the tooth fairly recently – you must believe in them as well….
THE right will have to stuff the economy more, so more people will feel the pain of a stagnant or recessionary downturn with policies like the right have it won’t take long!
Dunno what owning an ipad2 has to do with Socialism. Are you confusing the concepts behind the contradictory quote that “all property is theft” with buying a consumer good and Socialism on the whole? The quote doesn’t refer to the idea you can’t buy goods and say they are yours, it refers to the idea that capital resources cannot be used against the people of a nation. It doesn’t mean someone can come and drive your car, as of right, when you aren’t using it. There is Socialism, as in how the State allocates and manages resources and there is socialism as in the attitude and interactions of the people at a domestic level.
bort…. as a political analyst i think you would make an excellent grave digger….. as soon as you realise that they have to have “depth” you will be fine….. no more smelly workplace….
Viper said “Socialism (for the rich) works well for Fonterra and ….”
Well old bean, you are perfectly at liberty to find a product, refine the systems surrounding it’s production, suffer through bad times , surround yourself with like-minded producers and from a co-operative, invest millions in product research and development, marketing and factories, lose more than a few members through suicide when the market or the weather turn against you, and then when you manage to string three or four good years together have a bunch of envious weasels whinging loudly that they deserve for you to subsidise their consumption and take a piece of the success.
Never has the growing knowledge gap between town and country been more evident than that statement. Phew!
And guess what. A co-operative approach prevailed through all those hurdles (without even mentioning that the founding roots of Fonterra is as a government regulated board), so don’t talk down to socialism, co-operative enterprise and mutual institutions. They work.
“Okay, the evidence is in. Should have listened to those ‘pesky’ anti-parliamentarians. Seems this route wasn’t the way to usher in a new world after-all. We got co-opted goddammit!”
Micky (the real one!) would be shaking his head at the attack on the social weflare system, the bashing of beneficiaries for political gain when the fault lies with the system, not the individuals.
He would be appalled at the state of our streams and waterways and astounded that the biggest polluters are selling a basic food for hundreds of times it used to cost yet they pay little if any tax.
He would be dismayed at the way the trade union movement has been undermined and incredulous that people do not understand the correlative link between weak unions and low wages.
He would look at National wonder at the properties of modern spin. Whereas back in the 30s and 40s they used to say what they thought now their speech is so sampled and spun and polished and refined that the visciousness and beligerence is hidden. He would also look at a party that used to be made up of white men and see a party with some diversity but diversity only for PR purposes.
He would look at Key and see him as just the latest snake oil salesman that conservative politics throws up. All spin and no substance.
And he would look at New Zealand and despair that something so wonderful could have become debased so badly.
Probably wouldn’t have liked seeing this kind of converstation
“You had Bernie Monk representing the families the other day, saying, ‘It is shocking that one year on from Pike River, you still have only one underground mine inspector in New Zealand’.”
Key reponse: “….all I can say is there’s a Royal Commission of Inquiry. When that Royal Commission reports back, if we are the government, I’d give those miners and New Zealanders my word I’ll take that Royal Commission very seriously.”
I heard on RNZ today that Bernie Monk now only purports to speak for “some” of the miner’s families.
Whereas we have been led to believe that he speaks for all the families – no longer.
Pete,
I look at the policies that Labour has brought forward for this election, forward looking policies that focus on the economy in the future, that focus on children, that focus on Jo Average, and more, and think that Michael Joseph would be very happy with the gutsy performance by Phil, and would not be surprised at the swing in store for the 26th.
Grandmother, with a Gisborne/West Auckland background, had a photo of Michael Joseph on the wall. Grandfather, as a foreman in the MOW, always told the story of lawyers and doctors who were forced to work in employment camps until Michael Joseph’s Keynesian politics came to the fore.
I look at the fellow you follow, and wonder if Michael Joseph would congratulate him on the simularity of hairstyle but little else.
New Zealanders need someone to constantly remind them that people living in poverty or dying on the streets is actually bad thing. Otherwise they revert to the lizard brain that wants to see poor people sent to labour camps to ‘learn the value of hard work’.
In 1984, the Labour government abdicated their traditional role in this narrative. They regained it to a point in the 90s but then while in government, decided that it should all be about policy and that they didn’t really need to engage in the growing social narrative that the poor are just the result of their own bad choices and they should be made to suffer the consequences of that. Rather than publicly nipping this in the bud and publicly saying “what the fuck is wrong with you barbarians?” they let it fester and now we have people like Burt and Big Bruv and their compatriots on Stuff and talkback radio, who are currently one step off demanding that the poor should wind up in the colisium.
MJS would struggle to believe just how nasty our once egalitarian society has become.
He probably wouldn’t have struggled to realise the nastiness though. NZ has been screwing the poor since the English turned up here. In fact not just the poor, but anyone they could. If you think Key sells pipe dreams, you should read about the lies early developers sold. Fraud, greed, racism, and misogyny are old tricks
The basic rights and needs of people have been denigrated by successive national style of politics,
their core values dont change.
During the late clark years she deviated away from core values and supporters and that was the reason for the labours demise.
Key and his government are tearing away at the very fabric of society with a couldn’t care
less attitude,it’s my way or the highway with the door to openess firmly closed.
Capitalism is failing world -wide and people are waking up to wide spread greed and fraud and
signaling enough is enough,the younger generation are making the stand more so than the older
generation who have largely accepted their fate.
Many would not ‘be unhappy’ if this country turned back to a decent,inclusive society,instead
of the ‘dog eat dog’ society that eminates from the ‘capitalist’ shackles.
‘Mickey’ would be ‘unsettled’ and ‘concerned’ at the long and winding path that nz politics
has taken,when it draws a clear line in the sand between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’
“NZ has been screwing the poor since the English turned up here.”
Agreed that the whole claim to be an egalitarian society was always pretty dubious. I think what would surprise MJS would be the extent to which kiwis have now stopped bothering to even pretend.
When it comes to the economic reality that this current travesty of a government inherited from the last Labour Government in 2008, the Tories who write in this column are any one of the following:
– completely ignorant, and/or
– deceived by their own propaganda,and/or
– deliberately spreading lies and misinformation
Careful economic management by Michael Cullen meant this country had a healthy surplus but he was constantly criticised by the Tories that he wasn’t spending enough! The Tories take power, break numerous promises, give their rich mates undeserved and unaffordable tax cuts and ensure we’re in the economic doggie doos. Bereft of ideas Bill English reverts to the tried and true Tory formula – attack the public service and beneficiaries.
Unless we can reduce the right’s majority next Saturday, let’s wait for groundhog day and a reun of the morally bankrupt, vicious and ultimately useless policies of the 90’s and even more Kiwis deserting this country for Oz.
I think he would be surprised that the Reserve Bank, which he took the trouble to nationalize, had now been made independent. He would also be surprised to find that the BNZ, which he also nationalized, was now owned overseas.
MJS believed in hard work and the power of Christian living. Welfare in his frame was an ultimate backstop so yes, he would be gobsmacked at the extent that the population has been convinced that goodness comes from the state and you don’t really need to look after yourself for the bottomless purse of Government will provide.
These are aspects of the original MJS that the contributor who has adopted his name seems to have forgotten.
by Don Franks While on holiday,I stayed a few days in Scotland with a friend who showed me one of the country’s great working-class achievements. It was a few miles out of central Edinburgh, a huge cantilever bridge across the river Forth. The Forth Bridge was the first major structure ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic and ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 29, 2023 thru Sat, Feb 4, 2023. Story of the Week Social change more important than physical tipping points1.5-degree Goal not plausible Photo: CLICCS / Universität Hamburg Limiting global ...
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Look at us here on our beautiful islands in the South Pacific at the start of 2023, we have come so far.Ten days ago we saw a Māori Governor General swearing in our new PM and our first Pasifika Deputy PM, ahead of this year’s parliament where they will be ...
The Herald’s headline writers are at it again! A sensible and balanced piece by Liam Dann on the battle against inflation carries a headline that suggests that NZ is doing worse than the rest of the world. Check it out and see for yourself if I am right. Is this ...
Photo by Anna Demianenko on UnsplashTLDR: Here’s my longer reads and listens for the weekend for sharing with The Kaka’s paying subscribers. I’ve opened this one up for all to give everyone a taste of the sorts of extras you get as a full paying subscriber.Subscribe nowDeeper reads and listens ...
Hello from the middle of a long weekend where I’m letting the last few days unspool, not ready, not yet, to give words to the hardest of what we heard.Instead, today, here are some good words from other people.Mother CourageWhen I wrote last year about Mum and Dad’s move to ...
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Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
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Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
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Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
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In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
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Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
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Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
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Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins has changed everything, and Labour is back ...
Over the last few years, it’s seemed like city after city around the world has become subject to extreme flooding events that have been made worse by impacts from climate change. We’ve highlighted many of them in our Weekly Roundup series. Sadly, over the last few days it’s been Auckland’s ...
And so the first month of the year draws to a close. It rained in Auckland on 21 out of the 31 days in January. Feels like summer never really happened this year. It’s actually hard to believe there were 10 days that it didn’t rain. Was it any better where ...
A ‘small target’ strategy is not going to cut it anymore if National want to win the upcoming election. The game has changed and the game plan needs to change as well. Jacinda Ardern’s abrupt departure from the 9th floor has the potential to derail what looked to be an ...
When Grant Robertson talks about how the economy might change post-covid, one of the things he talks about is what he calls an unsung but interesting white paper on science. “It’s really important,” he says. The Minister in charge of the White Paper — Te Ara Paerangi, Future Pathways ...
The clean up has begun but more rain is on the way. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Auckland’s floods over the last three days are turning into a macroeconomic event, with losses from Aotearoa’s biggest-ever climate event estimated at around $500 million and Auckland’s schools all closed for a week until ...
The clean up has begun but more rain is on the way. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Auckland’s floods over the last three days are turning into a macroeconomic event, with losses from Aotearoa’s biggest-ever climate event estimated at around $500 million and Auckland’s schools all closed for a week until ...
The news media were at one ceremony by the looks of things. The Governor-General, the Prime Minister and his deputy were at another. The news media were at a swearing-in ceremony. The country’s leaders were at an appointment ceremony. The New Zealand Gazette record of what transpired says: Appointment of ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND Australia’s Reserve Bank is set to push up rates once again at its first meeting for the year on Tuesday, according to all but ...
By David Robie When Papuan journalist Victor Mambor visited New Zealand almost nine years ago, he impressed student journalists from the Pacific Media Centre and community activists with his refreshing candour and courage. As the founder of the Jubi news media group, he remained defiant that he would tell the ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori officially announced Mariameno Kapa-Kingi as their candidate for the Te Tai Tokerau electorate in this year’s General Election. The announcement was part of the pōwhiri for MPs at Te Whare Rūnanga o Waitangi. “Making the announcement ...
Paul Diamond’s book about the 1920s scandal that shocked Whanganui is on the longlist for the Ockhams (in the hotly contested General Non-Fiction category). Victor Rodger reviews. A closeted mayor with huge ambitions. A handsome, young, returned soldier with ambiguous motivations.A scandalous shooting that leads to a spectacular ...
An easy, low sugar jam that tastes even better than the sickly-sweet stuff. Often jam recipes call for much more sugar that I think is necessary, resulting in a cloyingly sweet jam whose flavour sadly becomes lost. Where some recipes will call for equal measures of fruit and sugar, this ...
Professor John Morgan offers a 'lesson plan' for Auckland children returning to school to help them understand what's going on in their city after the floods When Auckland schools go back, there’s a case to be made that geography teachers take over lessons for a day or two. Auckland’s ‘state of emergency’ ...
An acoustic 'harassment' device won’t be used to keep dolphins from high-speed boats, reports David Williams. Organisers of a super-fast boat race have scrapped plans to use an underwater noise device to scare dolphins in a marine mammal sanctuary. SailGP’s consultants, Enviser, lodged an application with the Department of Conservation (DoC) ...
Two reports on racism in New Zealand released by the Human Rights Commission land at a time when political rhetoric around racism is escalating again. Aaron Smale reports. The Human Rights Commission has released two reports that make a number of significant recommendations for confronting white supremacy and institutional racism. But ...
Flooding and land slides at her home in Titirangi have Zoe Hawkins sleeping in her running gear in case she has to flee. She shares her concern for others even more affected - and questions what the future brings. A week ago we lived on the edge of paradise. Our forever home ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Enshrining a constitutional Voice to parliament will bring better practical outcomes and give the best chance for Closing the Gap, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will say in a major address on the referendum on Sunday. ...
By Jamie Tahana, RNZ News Te Ao Māori journalist at Waitangi, and Russell Palmer, digital political journalist Iwi leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand have accused opposition parties National and ACT of “fanning the flames of racism”, urging the prime minister to be brave and not walk away from partnership on Three ...
By Phoebe Gwangilo in Port Moresby Higher Education Minister Don Polye has condemned a decision by the administration of the University of Papua New Guinea to treat a PNG-born and bred grade 12 school leaver as an “international” student. Roselyn Alog, 19, whose parents are Filipinos, was born and raised ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s former Elections Supervisor Mohammed Saneem is under investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency for alleged abuse of office and has been stopped from fleeing the country. The Fijian Elections Office (FEO) said Saneem was alleged to have “on numerous occasions . . . unlawfully authorised payments of ...
Labour's position has alternated over the past few days: first Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would speak, then he wouldn't, and then he would again. ...
Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer are announcing a transformative defence and foreign affairs policy which asserts the Mana Māori Motuhake and Tino Rangatiratanga of tangata whenua in Aotearoa at their Party’s ...
The Prime Minister will no longer speak at Waitangi commemorations after the organising trust moved the political leaders to a panel away from the main event The Waitangi National Trust wrote to political parties last month saying they didn’t want political leaders to speak at the pōwhiri held on the eve ...
The Prime Minister once again has a speaking slot at the pōwhiri in Waitangi after earlier on Saturday saying he would respect the wishes of the trust organisers by not doing so The Waitangi National Trust has given the green light for Chris Hipkins and other political leaders to speak ...
It’s been exactly a decade since Seven Sharp first appeared on our screens. Remember the first episode? We’ve unearthed the tapes. On this day in 2013, a bombshell was thrown into the New Zealand television landscape. “Time for us to make way, because you’re here to see what everyone’s talking ...
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris has fronted endless media requests and live crosses this week. Is he getting it right? Lewis Ferris is trying to find his weather map. “This week’s been so insane” he mutters as he closes multiple tabs on the three screens across his Wellington desk. He’s ...
After four years, executive director Max Tweedie has stepped down from Auckland Pride. He tells Sam Brooks about shepherding the festival through a tumultuous few years, and where he’s going from here.This year’s Auckland Pride Festival is set to be the biggest one yet. Over the course of more ...
A flailing mayor was only the public face of a multifaceted flooding communications failure. Duncan Greive examines the mess, and asks what can be done to improve it.It’s a chilling timeline. Stuff’s Kelly Dennett catalogued, beat-by-beat, the 12 hours in which Auckland was pummelled by a catastrophic deluge, interspersing ...
The Dunedin branch of the Green Party has selected Francisco Hernandez as its candidate for the Dunedin electorate in this year’s general election. Francisco Hernandez was the Otago University Students Association President in 2013. He has held a number ...
Waitangi organisers are trying to push political leaders to the side at Sunday's pōwhiri, but Labour's deputy leader says it's not for them to decide who speaks. Te Tai Tokerau MP and Labour’s deputy leader, Kelvin Davis, says the Prime Minister will speak at Sunday’s pōwhiri at Waitangi, in defiance of local ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we spoke to an aid worker who had made the trip to the war zone in Ukraine, looked at why Carmel Sepuloni was picked to be the new deputy prime minister, visited the flood-torn streets of Titirangi in West ...
Schools play an integral but often unrecognised and unacknowledged role in helping communities respond to and recover from disastersOpinion: Schools in Auckland and other flood-affected areas are about to re-open after a delayed start to the new school year. Students will return to school having experienced wide-ranging impacts. While some ...
A very short story for Waitangi weekend The pā is a lonely place nowadays. Gorse has marched on it like the British troops of old, consuming the hills and leaving the marae looking a bald patch on the head of the earth mother herself. Even the roads have worn thin, ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend. This week, it's The School Away From School written by Bill Morris and published in NZ Geographic's January/February 2023 issue. You can find the entire article, with photos from Lottie Hedley, on the NZ Geographic website. One hundred years since its ...
COMMENTARY:By Kayt Davies in Perth I wasn’t good at French in my final year of high school. My classmates had five years of language studies behind them. I had three. As a result of my woeful grip on the language, I wrote a terribly bad essay in my final ...
RNZ Pacific Journalist Victor Mambor, who is the chief editor of the West Papuan newspaper and websiteJubi, has received the Oktovianus Pogau Award from the Indonesian-based Pantau Foundation for courage in journalism. The foundation’s Andreas Harsono said Mambor’s decision to return to his father’s homeland and defend the rights ...
RNZ News Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick is brushing off concerns a temporary rent freeze in flood-hit Auckland would just see landlords hike rents even more when the controls were lifted — arguing they should stay permanently. More than 20 organisations have signed a letter urging Minister for Auckland Michael ...
Iwi leaders have accused National and ACT of "fanning the flames of racism", urging the prime minister to be brave and not walk away from partnership on three waters. ...
About this time last week it had become apparent that Auckland was in for a bit more than just a wet Friday. While the state of emergency remains in place for another seven days, it appears the worst should now be behind us. Last night, Niwa shared a fascinating thread ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra ShutterstockIndigenous Australians are respectfully advised that the following includes the names and images of some people who are now deceased. The Reserve Bank of Australia ...
The government has confirmed the money will be spent in Northland, including unlocking greenfields land and transport upgrades like a new bridge in Kamo. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW Sydney Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that sometime between August and November this year, the Australian people will go to a referendum for the first time since 1999. We’ll be asked whether we support ...
Viewers across the United States were today shown a slice of New Zealand, with a reporter for Good Morning America broadcasting live from Rotorua. Robin Roberts, a co-anchor for the popular morning TV show, has been touring the country this week. During her visit to Rotorua’s Te Puia centre, she ...
They can be environmentally unsound and are a symbol used to shame millennials, but everyone still loves an avo. I love avocados, always have, always will. The buttery golden-green flesh from a perfectly ripe avocado is a culinary blessing. Today I’d love to simply wax poetic about twisting open a ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (Penguin Press, $50) The beautiful ...
A new poem by Robin Peace. To the kahikatea I see from my bed Thinking inside the square, the ellipse, the round of what life is, I only see the trees. Not only as if that were the only thing I see, but only as if the tree matters more. ...
A week ago, Elton John’s first Auckland show was called off at the last minute. What was it like getting there, being there, and trying to return home afterwards?Elton John has long been a blessing for our ears, but in recent years his Auckland shows have been cursed. His ...
For Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, sorry seems to be the hardest word to say The mayoral chains must have been heavy this week for Auckland’s Wayne Brown, as his response to last week’s flood garnered its own veritable torrent of scandals and media scrutiny. Almost exactly one week on from ...
For Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, sorry seems to be the hardest word to say The mayoral chains must have been heavy this week for Auckland’s Wayne Brown, as his response to last week’s flood garnered its own veritable torrent of scandals and media scrutiny. Almost exactly one week on from ...
Ours Not Mines is cautiously excited about reporting that the Government is drafting legislation to ban new mines on conservation land. The anti-mining group's spokesperson, Morgan Donoghue says: "The Government has been promising us some action for ...
People who enjoy the outdoors for recreation, fishing and hunting will lose rights under the Natural and Built Environments Bill. Fish & Game New Zealand chief executive Corina Jordan says the proposed replacement for the Resource Management ...
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has conceded he “dropped the ball” during last Friday’s major flooding event. The state of emergency in the super city has today been extended for a further seven days, though Brown said he expects it will be lifted early. After a week of defensiveness over his ...
As the reality TV juggernaut returns for a new season, Tara Ward steps into the minds of the show’s relationship experts to assess the compatibility of this year’s brides and grooms. Married at First Sight: Australia returns on Monday night, and by season ten, you’d think the show’s relationship experts ...
Auckland’s state of emergency is expected to be extended for another seven days, according to the Herald. It was due to expire overnight after being declared a week ago, the day of the worst flooding in the super city. While weather conditions have improved, the city is continuing to experience ...
Proposed pay equity claim settlements for school librarians and science technicians have been reached between the Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa, Secretary for Education, Iona Holsted and NZEI Te Riu Roa president, Mark Potter, announced ...
Members of NZEI Te Riu Roa negotiating on behalf of school librarians, library assistants and science technicians are excited to announce that proposed pay equity settlements are ready to be voted on by their colleagues. They include pay increases of up to ...
The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) is calling for Michael Wood, the Minister of Transport, and now Auckland, to cancel the light rail project immediately. Auckland Light Rail was never going to happen, as our group has repeatedly said dozens of ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has been asked to intervene following confirmation today that the Government plans to implement a ban on all extractive sector activities on the conservation estate. Wayne Scott, CEO of the Aggregate and Quarry Association, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Getty Images The heated (and often confused) debate about “co-governance” in Aotearoa New Zealand inevitably leads back to its source, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. But, as its long-contested meanings demonstrate, very little ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Hunter, Lecturer in Art and Performance, Deakin University Jodie Hutchinson/Red StitchReview: Wittenoom, directed by Susie Dee, Red Stitch Deep in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia, the town of Wittenoom lies empty, desolate … and contaminated. Wittenoom ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Oliver Bown, Postdoctoral fellow, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock The past few years have seen an explosion in applications of artificial intelligence to creative fields. A new generation of image and text generators is delivering impressiveresults. Now AI has also found ...
New Zealand’s egg shortage is hitting cruise ships too – forcing the crew of one vessel to hatch a poaching plan. This story was first published on Stuff. On the hunt for eggs, a crew from a luxury cruise ship got cracking and hatched a cunning plan. Earlier this week, Stuff ...
Now demolished, the First Church of Christ Scientist was a masterclass of architectural imagination. Kate Linzey visits the site on which it once stood, to learn more. The object is delicate and small. Small enough to sit in the palm of my hand and weighing less than 300 grams. It ...
When your food parcel arrives before the emergency alert, you know something’s not working properly.This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. I’ve spent the last week desperately and at times fruitlessly attempting to drain and then sweep my whānau home of knee-deep water, pull up ...
Drongo-gate continues for another day with the Herald reporting that Auckland’s mayor has been caught out using the slang term for a second time. It comes this time from a former minor mayoral candidate, Mike Kampkes, who said he received a message from Brown in response to a media release ...
How does Aotearoa stop relying so heavily on agriculture to prop up our economy? Online tax and accounting service Hnry just raised $35m to grow its software on-demand service across the globe. Bernard Hickey talks with AirTree partner Jackie Vullinghs about how venture capitalists are funding Aotearoa’s fastest growing, least-polluting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Guastella, Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Michael Crouch Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health, University of Sydney Shutterstock With childcare and schools starting the new year, parents might be anxiously wondering how their child will adapt in a new ...
I am delighted to announce the appointment of John Price ONZM as the new Director Civil Defence Emergency Management and Deputy Chief Executive Emergency Management for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). John has been a member of the ...
Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki are calling on the new Prime Minister and new Minister of Conservation Willow Jean Prime to immediately implement the 2017 promise to ban new mining activity on conservation lands. “ The mining industry group Straterra ...
How does Aotearoa stop relying so heavily on agriculture to prop up our economy? Online tax and accounting service Hnry just raised $35m to grow its software on-demand service across the globe. In the latest episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks with AirTree partner Jackie Vullinghs about how ...
There’s a fear that highlighting menopause will undermine women, especially at work. But what have centuries of secrecy achieved for us? Are you sick of hearing about menopause? Kim Hill is. The living legend of Aotearoa broadcasting told actor Robyn Malcolm (also a legend) on her Saturday Morning show on RNZ ...
Dunedin city council has reached an agreement to save Foulden Maar from commercial mining. The maar is the site of a crater lake from 23 million years ago with the diatomite of the lake preserving fossils and a climate record covering 100,000 years from that period. It is fantastic news for Otago University ...
Some are speculating whether the Auckland Mayor's leadership is circling the drain. James Elliott hopes they're right. There’s never been a week quite like it. It was the week when the rains came. All of them. Even the rain from Spain that was supposed to fall mainly on the plain, came. ...
The Bus and Coach Association supports the Government’s decision to continue half-price fares on public transport services. The fare reduction was set to expire on 31 March 2023, but will now continue to 30 June 2023. “Half-price fares have cost ten-times ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Hipkins’ bread and butter reshufflePolitical scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Chris Hipkins hires a lobbyist to run the BeehiveNew Zealand Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, speaking when Minister of Education, at NZEI Te Riu Roa strike rally on the steps of the New Zealand Parliament, 15th August 2018. Image; Wiki Commons. New Zealand is ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance todayCO-GOVERNANCE, WAITANGI, THREE WATERS Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Blowing Off The Froth: Why Chris Hipkins Must Ditch ...
“Time to put an end to neo-liberalism in NZ, forward with democratic socialism!”
The news fom the UK is not encouraging.Camerion is about to” Deal o the Workers ” It the same policy as the Nats have here.There is no doubt that all over the OECD countries the Right is organizing. Unions and workers are going to suffer .
“The great socialist dream has repeatedly failed but we can keep our jobs in parliament if enough people are stupid enough to believe it will work this time”
So this is capitalism at its best? shiiiiit.
The great socialist dream has always been sabotaged by capitalists and then, when capitalism fails yet again, the capitalists go to the people to be bailed out.
It’s not socialism that’s the failure but capitalism.
Yes it gets sabotaged by capitalists… the bloody capitalists always rescue the economy from decades of deficit and perpetual debt…. Yes yes… we know – you socialists like it when the people are poor and the govt is rich but for some weird reason the voters turf the socialists out of office sabotaging the great dream of mediocrity.
Did you miss all the bailouts of the capitalists by the people over the last few years? Did you miss all the depressions and recessions that have occurred under capitalism? Or perhaps the increasing poverty that capitalism created and that socialism had started to correct – until the re-introduction of laissez faire capitalism in the 1980s?
History repeats because we keep failing to learn the lessons that it teaches.
Indeed, we repeated 1990 again in 2008 by letting a Labour govt deliver a failed economy in recession to National…. Did you notice the similarities ?
1990 was a fuckup because the 4th Labour Government, aka, the first Act Government, followed the same policies that National and Act are now following. Of course, this was on the heels of the fuckup of Rob’s Mob in power.
But the bit you don’t want to admit is that the previous centuries of failure (recessions, depressions, increasing poverty and Climate Change) are down entirely to capitalism.
Michael savage rescued NZ from oblivion in the 30s
Muldoom stuffed the country
Now borrowing Bills English is stuffing it again 0.1% Growth per annum is bill Englishs record Over 5 years.
Michael Cullen got the economy growing 30 times more at3%+ per annum by spreading a bit of money around not just a few like the dipstick from dipton!
Burt stick with Ernie on sesame st kiddie stories are more believable than your lies
BBC world economics reporter research in the US shows high taxed socialist states are growing low taxed laissez fair states in recession or depression. Not one laissez fair state growing fact.
Have you forgotten Micheal Cullen’s miracle formula had us in recession at the start of 2008, having generally under performed our trading partners leading up to that point. Unemployment was rising and so was borrowing right through 2008. Are you incapable of understanding that National were handed a pup in 2008.
The dream is over, that’s all it was – a dream. Cullen buggered it up, that’s all there is too it. In hindsight wasn’t it a really stupid thing to fix thresholds for so long that 75% of high school teachers ended up classified as rich in the tax system? Simply plucking the goose with the least amount of hissing is convenient tax policy, but that doesn’t make it good tax policy. Your mans a muppet mik e.
1949? Labour leaves National with a booming economy.
1960? Labour, having corrected National’s Balance of Payment’s Crisis, leaves National with a booming economy.
1975? Labour gets overwhelmed by the international crisis, which National proceeds to make worse.
1990? The BNZ was bankrupt, but the country wasn’t.
2008? Labour leaves National with a booming economy.
Compare that with the messes Labour inherited whenever it gets its turn.
OK, we just had the mother of all budgets for fun then… Kiwi’s must have been nuts to vote in a National govt if the country was doing so well under Labour.
A booming economy…. Keep taking the pills… Let me guess the voters grew weary of the boom times under Labour and voted for some self flagellation as punishment for having a booming economy, just like the silly buggers did in 1990 when the silly old BNZ was having it’s meltdown in times of plenty.
It’s clear you can be convinced of anything said by a red flag waver, hows that working for you?
Key and English selling our country out. If we’d kept key assets like Telecom and Contact energy, we would be many billions of dollars richer, as a country.
NZ Post pre the sale of Telecom… you think that was working? Let me guess Railways was a model of efficiency and late model rolling stock when we sold it… As for power company profits – the state generators reported obscene profits while pensioners froze under Labour. Have you lost your mind! What possible good can using these examples do for the credibility of your argument.
Meh, any publicly owned operation can run just as fast and as sharp as a private one. And its good to have some fat in every business operation.
BTW the foreign owners ran down Telecom and Tranzrail. The money from cutting re-investment and general capital run down should not be considered real profits.
What’s NZ Post got to do with the sale of Telecom?
BTW, NZ Post, C&M Branch (Telecom) was making multi-million dollar profits (even though it was NZ Post its books were separate) throughout the 1980s while upgrading most of the exchanges to digital, increasing bandwidth throughout the country and generally doing the best that could be done for NZ. Over $300m/year by the end of the decade and the sale of Telecom. Telecom was close to debt free.
7 years later, billions had been pulled out in “profits”, Telecom was in hock up to it’s neck (the profits were pretty much borrowing that we get to pay for) and work on the network had dropped down to maintenance level instead of continuous upgrading resulting in the government having to spend billions to get the network back up to standard.
The history of Telecom after the sale is a perfect proof that profit is a dead weight loss and privatisation is a failure.
Rail could have been improved, and probably was being improved, without selling it. If we hadn’t sold it then we would have had to buy it back and start spending billions on fixing it up.
Turning state infrastructure over to faux competition and a profiteering motive was a really bad move. Costs huge amounts and fails to achieve its purpose – supplying it’s service at cost.
Well, it’s better than your total lack of argument.
Socialism (for the rich) works well for Fonterra and for the Business Roundtable.
This might help you understand socialism…
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-november-16-2011/occupy-wall-street-divided
jeez you talk a load of crap burt! you couldn’t have got your history more wrong if you tried…. “capitalists” , or more accurately termed “national party fascists” have consistently undermined the progress made by the only truly democratic governments new zealand has had… the lie that they had anything to do with new zealands emergence as a “wealthy” country in the second half of the twentieth century is no more than tory propaganda spread through the newspapers and radio on the orders of the owners of these organisations…..
the “truth” is actually the opposite of your fantasizing….. without the labour party, new zealand would be regarded as tasmania’s poor relation, and the aussies would be breathing a huge sigh of relief that we turned down the opportunity to amalgamate with them…
normally your posts provide me with at least a small amount of amusement, being as facile and obvious as they are, but this idiocy shows a streak of stupidity that has surprised me….. i really did think you were just being an arsehole just for your own amusement…maybe we are looking at another chauncey gardener……
8 weeks is all it took to divide the moment…. I think everyone should have an iPad2 – but this is my private property…. ha ha ha. Look how your glorious flat society divided and failed in just 8 weeks and you think that socialism is a valid long term option for government… Have you seen father xmas or the tooth fairly recently – you must believe in them as well….
Whatever it is that you think has failed has been trying to exist within a capitalist system.
THE right will have to stuff the economy more, so more people will feel the pain of a stagnant or recessionary downturn with policies like the right have it won’t take long!
Dunno what owning an ipad2 has to do with Socialism. Are you confusing the concepts behind the contradictory quote that “all property is theft” with buying a consumer good and Socialism on the whole? The quote doesn’t refer to the idea you can’t buy goods and say they are yours, it refers to the idea that capital resources cannot be used against the people of a nation. It doesn’t mean someone can come and drive your car, as of right, when you aren’t using it. There is Socialism, as in how the State allocates and manages resources and there is socialism as in the attitude and interactions of the people at a domestic level.
Aren’t iPad 2’s made in heavy handed state intervention Red China? Oh burt, how could you support such a thing!
bort…. as a political analyst i think you would make an excellent grave digger….. as soon as you realise that they have to have “depth” you will be fine….. no more smelly workplace….
Viper said “Socialism (for the rich) works well for Fonterra and ….”
Well old bean, you are perfectly at liberty to find a product, refine the systems surrounding it’s production, suffer through bad times , surround yourself with like-minded producers and from a co-operative, invest millions in product research and development, marketing and factories, lose more than a few members through suicide when the market or the weather turn against you, and then when you manage to string three or four good years together have a bunch of envious weasels whinging loudly that they deserve for you to subsidise their consumption and take a piece of the success.
Never has the growing knowledge gap between town and country been more evident than that statement. Phew!
And guess what. A co-operative approach prevailed through all those hurdles (without even mentioning that the founding roots of Fonterra is as a government regulated board), so don’t talk down to socialism, co-operative enterprise and mutual institutions. They work.
“Okay, the evidence is in. Should have listened to those ‘pesky’ anti-parliamentarians. Seems this route wasn’t the way to usher in a new world after-all. We got co-opted goddammit!”
Micky (the real one!) would be shaking his head at the attack on the social weflare system, the bashing of beneficiaries for political gain when the fault lies with the system, not the individuals.
He would be appalled at the state of our streams and waterways and astounded that the biggest polluters are selling a basic food for hundreds of times it used to cost yet they pay little if any tax.
He would be dismayed at the way the trade union movement has been undermined and incredulous that people do not understand the correlative link between weak unions and low wages.
He would look at National wonder at the properties of modern spin. Whereas back in the 30s and 40s they used to say what they thought now their speech is so sampled and spun and polished and refined that the visciousness and beligerence is hidden. He would also look at a party that used to be made up of white men and see a party with some diversity but diversity only for PR purposes.
He would look at Key and see him as just the latest snake oil salesman that conservative politics throws up. All spin and no substance.
And he would look at New Zealand and despair that something so wonderful could have become debased so badly.
Well put!
well said, as it would be from the horse’s mouth 😆
Gee’s man !
So glad the climate has warmed up some, it was so bloody cold back then !
hehehe . . . .
Probably wouldn’t have liked seeing this kind of converstation
“You had Bernie Monk representing the families the other day, saying, ‘It is shocking that one year on from Pike River, you still have only one underground mine inspector in New Zealand’.”
Key reponse: “….all I can say is there’s a Royal Commission of Inquiry. When that Royal Commission reports back, if we are the government, I’d give those miners and New Zealanders my word I’ll take that Royal Commission very seriously.”
I heard on RNZ today that Bernie Monk now only purports to speak for “some” of the miner’s families.
Whereas we have been led to believe that he speaks for all the families – no longer.
Reason because he was mine safety officer
Whereas John Key speaks for NONE of the miner’s families.
He’d be shaking his head thinking how did the welfare state end up the way it is (shaking his head at both parties)
He’d be aghast at his Labour party’s disarray, and how poorly it has modernised.
whereas the imminent demise of UF would niether surprise nor bother him
He would be spewing on how its been betrayed by the follicely challenged with out labour the hairpiece would’nt exist
Pete,
I look at the policies that Labour has brought forward for this election, forward looking policies that focus on the economy in the future, that focus on children, that focus on Jo Average, and more, and think that Michael Joseph would be very happy with the gutsy performance by Phil, and would not be surprised at the swing in store for the 26th.
Grandmother, with a Gisborne/West Auckland background, had a photo of Michael Joseph on the wall. Grandfather, as a foreman in the MOW, always told the story of lawyers and doctors who were forced to work in employment camps until Michael Joseph’s Keynesian politics came to the fore.
I look at the fellow you follow, and wonder if Michael Joseph would congratulate him on the simularity of hairstyle but little else.
+1.
New Zealanders need someone to constantly remind them that people living in poverty or dying on the streets is actually bad thing. Otherwise they revert to the lizard brain that wants to see poor people sent to labour camps to ‘learn the value of hard work’.
In 1984, the Labour government abdicated their traditional role in this narrative. They regained it to a point in the 90s but then while in government, decided that it should all be about policy and that they didn’t really need to engage in the growing social narrative that the poor are just the result of their own bad choices and they should be made to suffer the consequences of that. Rather than publicly nipping this in the bud and publicly saying “what the fuck is wrong with you barbarians?” they let it fester and now we have people like Burt and Big Bruv and their compatriots on Stuff and talkback radio, who are currently one step off demanding that the poor should wind up in the colisium.
MJS would struggle to believe just how nasty our once egalitarian society has become.
+1
He probably wouldn’t have struggled to realise the nastiness though. NZ has been screwing the poor since the English turned up here. In fact not just the poor, but anyone they could. If you think Key sells pipe dreams, you should read about the lies early developers sold. Fraud, greed, racism, and misogyny are old tricks
Point of order, it’s the Scottish who are to blame, not the English! 🙁
+1
+1
The basic rights and needs of people have been denigrated by successive national style of politics,
their core values dont change.
During the late clark years she deviated away from core values and supporters and that was the reason for the labours demise.
Key and his government are tearing away at the very fabric of society with a couldn’t care
less attitude,it’s my way or the highway with the door to openess firmly closed.
Capitalism is failing world -wide and people are waking up to wide spread greed and fraud and
signaling enough is enough,the younger generation are making the stand more so than the older
generation who have largely accepted their fate.
Many would not ‘be unhappy’ if this country turned back to a decent,inclusive society,instead
of the ‘dog eat dog’ society that eminates from the ‘capitalist’ shackles.
‘Mickey’ would be ‘unsettled’ and ‘concerned’ at the long and winding path that nz politics
has taken,when it draws a clear line in the sand between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’
“NZ has been screwing the poor since the English turned up here.”
Agreed that the whole claim to be an egalitarian society was always pretty dubious. I think what would surprise MJS would be the extent to which kiwis have now stopped bothering to even pretend.
I think he would be saying
“I’m going to vote for United Future. Their leader has a haircut just like mine.”
When it comes to the economic reality that this current travesty of a government inherited from the last Labour Government in 2008, the Tories who write in this column are any one of the following:
– completely ignorant, and/or
– deceived by their own propaganda,and/or
– deliberately spreading lies and misinformation
Careful economic management by Michael Cullen meant this country had a healthy surplus but he was constantly criticised by the Tories that he wasn’t spending enough! The Tories take power, break numerous promises, give their rich mates undeserved and unaffordable tax cuts and ensure we’re in the economic doggie doos. Bereft of ideas Bill English reverts to the tried and true Tory formula – attack the public service and beneficiaries.
Unless we can reduce the right’s majority next Saturday, let’s wait for groundhog day and a reun of the morally bankrupt, vicious and ultimately useless policies of the 90’s and even more Kiwis deserting this country for Oz.
“wtf”?
Is that in response to his beloved party polling in the mid 20’s 🙂
I think he would be surprised that the Reserve Bank, which he took the trouble to nationalize, had now been made independent. He would also be surprised to find that the BNZ, which he also nationalized, was now owned overseas.
Seems like we have to nationalise it again, then.
No-one likes giving their money to a Banker, so why would you give your Vote to one?
MJS believed in hard work and the power of Christian living. Welfare in his frame was an ultimate backstop so yes, he would be gobsmacked at the extent that the population has been convinced that goodness comes from the state and you don’t really need to look after yourself for the bottomless purse of Government will provide.
These are aspects of the original MJS that the contributor who has adopted his name seems to have forgotten.