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.
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by Don Franks Under a government claiming empathy with the fine arts, Radio New Zealand ( RNZ) is poised to cut back its classical music station, RNZ Concert. The plan is replacing it on FM radio with music “for a younger audience” as part of a new multimedia music brand. ...
More Thwaites This past week we heard disturbing news about Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier. Helping to fill in the longer term history of Thwaites' behavior and especially helpful in interpreting results of the recent drilling project and what it may say about the future of this unstable mass of ice is Revealing the ...
Inaccuracies are very common in scientific paper abstracts. Image credit:Science in the Abstract: Don’t Judge a Study by its Cover I have come to accept anti-fluoride campaigners will never stop cherry-picking research and findings ...
“The scene is set, the players met…”. And what players they are in this farce of an Election coming up in the United States this year. There is a multi-faceted anger in the broader situation the world finds itself in, in which the false promises of so-called “moderates” find themselves ...
A few years ago, a company lowballed a contract to dispose of toxic waste from the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. So, they dumped it in a disused paper mill in Mataura, then went into liquidation - effectively dumping the problem on local councils. The waste is dangerous - it releases ...
Unhappy with the demonisation of Iran in Western media, I was fortunate to have the Australian Institute of International Affairs invite me to write an alternative analysis for their on-line journal Australian Outlook. I did, and they serialised it into two parts. The essays are short, so I did not ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs The Government has agreed with Air New Zealand to charter an aircraft to assist New Zealanders leaving Wuhan, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. The aircraft will have capacity for around 300 passengers and will fly from Wuhan to ...
Tougher penalties for gun crime are a step closer with the passage of firearms reform legislation through another stage in Parliament. The Arms Legislation Bill has tonight passed its Second Reading. “The changes have one objective - to prevent firearms falling into the wrong hands,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Introduction Mr Speaker We all know why we are here today. It has been a long journey. The journey did not actually begin on 15 March 2019. It began on 30 June 1997. Almost 23 years ago, Justice Sir Thomas Thorp told us what was wrong with our firearms legislation. ...
The Government’s work to put trades and vocational education back on the agenda took another major step forward today with the passing of the Education (Vocational Education and Training Reform) Amendment Bill, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “This is a watershed day for trades and vocational education. These law changes formalise ...
Speeding up the return of Christchurch regeneration activities to local leadership is behind the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today by Minister Megan Woods. “As we approach nine years since the February 2011 earthquake in Canterbury, and with the transition to local leadership well underway, the time ...
Hundreds of New Zealanders and international visitors will be able to get back out into nature with the Milford Track partially reopening next week, after extensive assessments and repairs, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The popular Great Walk has been closed since 3 February after an extreme ...
Up to 110 new EV chargers nationwide in cities and regions 50 electric vehicles for ride-sharing The Government is helping deliver more infrastructure and options for low emissions transport through new projects, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. Tauranga, Nelson, Levin, New Plymouth and Oamaru are just some ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
Clear requirements for ensuring customers are treated fairly by banks, insurers and other financial service providers are included in new financial conduct legislation that passed its first reading today. “The recent reviews, by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, into the conduct of banks and ...
Applications are now open for the fifth round of the Regional Culture and Heritage Fund Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Grant Robertson announced today. “I am delighted to open this year’s fund which has some $7 million available to support performing arts venues, galleries, museums and whare ...
The Minister of Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta today congratulated Associate Professor Amokura Kawharu on her appointment as the next President of the Law Commission. “Amokura Kawharu will be a standout in her new role, leading in an innovative and forward looking approach to the law reform process. She will ...
Auckland University legal academic Amokura Kawharu has been appointed as the next President of the Law Commission, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Associate Professor Kawharu will take up her new appointment on 11 May 2020. “I would like to congratulate Associate Professor Kawharu on her appointment,” Andrew ...
A programme for employers to help them engage effectively with younger employees was launched today by Minister of Employment, Willie Jackson. The Youth Ready Employer Programme contains a range of on-line templates that employers can easily access to help with employing and retaining young people in their businesses. The programme ...
Budget 2020 will be delivered on Thursday 14 May, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “This year’s Budget will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also preparing the economy for the future. “Those challenges and opportunities cannot be resolved in one budget, ...
I move, That this House place on record its appreciation and thanks for the devoted and distinguished service to New Zealand by the late Rt Hon Michael Kenneth Moore, member of the Order of New Zealand, a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, an Honorary Member of the ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Northland as an adverse event for the primary sector, unlocking $80,000 in Government support. “This is recognition that the extreme and prolonged nature of this dry spell is taking its toll on our farmers and growers and additional support ...
The Minister of Police says an operation to smash a trans national drug smuggling ring today will make a significant impact on the methamphetamine trade fuelling harm in our communities. Police have announced 10 arrests and the seizure of up to five million dollars’ worth of illicit drugs after an ...
The Government’s books are in a strong position to withstand global headwinds, with the accounts in surplus and expenses close to forecast, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown accounts for the six months to December. The operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) was above ...
Race courses can improve safety with this year’s second round of funding from the Racing Safety Development Fund. Minister for Racing Winston Peters has announced the second funding round of 2019/20 is open with $347,875 available for distribution. “The racing industry is integral to the economic and social fabric of ...
Hundreds of thousands of young adults will be offered measles vaccinations in a new campaign to strengthen New Zealand’s immunisation system, Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter said at its launch in Auckland today. “About 300,000 young adults aged between 15 and 29 are not fully protected against measles, and ...
The Government is committing $300,000 to fund research to update behavioural information to make sure HIV and STI prevention services are targeted appropriately in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson made the announcement at today’s Big Gay Out in Auckland. “There is much talk about ...
The Prime Minister has tried to relieve mounting pressure on China and New Zealand's bilateral relationship at a Chinese New Year Celebration at Parliament. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Larissa Christensen, Lecturer in Criminology & Justice | Co-leader of the Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit (SVRPU), University of the Sunshine Coast This week’s ABC’s Four Corners exposed an elite Melbourne school for failing to adequately respond to the grooming of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trish Luker, Senior lecturer, University of Technology Sydney Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the names and voices of deceased people. When was the last time you signed your name? Perhaps you are more familiar with the ...
“Oranga Tamariki have remained silent on their role in this horrific situation,” a Māori leader tells Melanie Reid and Bonnie Sumner. A respected Hawke’s Bay kaumatua, who has been supporting the whānau whānui of a four-year-old boy being treated in hospital for brain injuries, says Oranga Tamariki needs to take responsibility ...
*Watch Melanie Reid's full interview in the video player above* Oranga Tamariki stands accused of returning a four-year-old who had been previously badly injured within a Flaxmere household to the same home, where he has since been severely injured again. It allegedly did so without full consultation with the wider whānau, some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roy Green, Emeritus Professor & UTS innovation adviser, University of Technology Sydney The only surprise about the termination of the Holden brand in Australia was that it caused such surprise. This was the final nail in an already empty coffin, given local ...
The owners of the disputed land at Ihumātao say for seven months they've halted development at the request of the Prime Minister, but that can't continue indefinitely. ...
Big Tech companies like Microsoft have raised the spectre of geo-blocking NZ if the Government proceeds with a bill for classifying streamed content. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grant Williamson, Research Fellow in Environmental Science, University of Tasmania As bushfires in New South Wales are finally contained, attention is turning to nature’s recovery. Green shoots are sprouting and animals are returning. But we must accept that in some cases, the ...
Are you a time-poor urban apartment-dweller who’s put composting in the too-hard basket? Read on…About half of what Aucklanders chuck in their rubbish bins is actually compostable material. That means a whopping 90,000 tonnes of Auckland households’ food waste ends up in landfill each year. Why is that a problem? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Associate Professor, Psychology, Deakin University Snapchat has announced a new feature called “Here For You” that promises to “provide proactive in-app support to Snapchatters who may be experiencing a mental health or emotional crisis”. The popular youth-oriented app is the ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.A very concerning element of the current NZ First donations scandal is the role of lobbying and lobbyists close to the Government. The most recent story from RNZ’s Guyon Espiner and Kate Newton, revealed that lobbyist Doug Woolerton, who is also a trustee of the NZ First ...
“The visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing has reinforced the need to view good, affordable homes as a fundamental human right – and highlighted what needs to happen to ensure all New Zealanders are well-housed,” says Scott ...
The government has announced a ban on electricity retailers using promotions to lure back customers who’ve changed companies. Flick Electric’s Nikki Cockburn explains why this is a victory for consumers and competition. Progress on the Electricity Price Review (EPR) might be slow – especially when it comes to putting recommendations into ...
Acculturation – the cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture or a merging of cultures – is increasingly evident in this country’s public agencies. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has not escaped the process. In July 2018, soon after ...
Pacific Media Watch The Philippines top state lawyer has filed a lawsuit against the country’s key television broadcaster with “guns blazing” but he ought to be devoting more effort on governance, says Rappler co-founder and managing editor Glenda M. Gloria. Gloria, who has been announced as a keynote speaker ...
The Electricity Authority says the ban on power companies offering better deals to customers who want to switch should bring down power prices. From 21 March the authority will ban the so-called win-backs offered to customers within 180 days of leaving their original supplier. Figures show 435,000 consumers switched suppliers ...
This is a press statement from UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing at the end of her 10-day visit to New Zealand. The Government of New Zealand has recognized that the country is facing a housing crisis, said Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur ...
Fletcher Building is hopeful the Ihumātao land dispute can be resolved soon but says it cannot hold off indefinitely. Presenting the construction company's half-year results to the end of December 2019 chief executive Ross Taylor said it has been a complex situation. But the company said in a presentation that ...
The telecommunications company Spark has made a larger profit off a big boost in mobile sales, with the company's bottom line rising 9.2 percent to $167 million in the six months ended December. Revenue rose 4 percent to $1.82 billion with increased margins in the mobile, broadband and cloud divisions. ...
Chief Human Rights Commissioner, Paul Hunt, welcomes the release of the preliminary findings of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha, today, and looks forward to giving her recommendations careful consideration. “Ms ...
Former National MP Jami-Lee Ross, has been named today as one of the four people facing Serious Fraud Office charges in relation to two $100,000 donations made to the National Party. ...
Former National MP Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four men charged by the Serious Fraud Office in the National Party donations case - alongside a Chinese community leader who reportedly gave $100,000 to the party, and two others. Name suppression for Ross and his co-accused Zhang Yikun, Zheng Shijia, ...
Almost a third of middle-aged New Zealanders have tried methamphetamine at least once, according to a new University of Otago, Christchurch study looking at the link between using the drug and violence in the general population. The study found those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Theresa Larkin, Lecturer Medical Sciences, University of Wollongong Why don’t burns bleed? – from the year three and four students at Islington Public School in NSW Hello year three and four students – thanks for your excellent question! To ...
The report details an unannounced follow-up inspection, the first in a new phase of inspections of all 18 New Zealand prisons by the Office of the Inspectorate. This follows the first phase of inspections, where all prisons were inspected in a process ...
Netflix’s new release Horse Girl promised a quirky indie dramedy from its trailer. In reality, it’s a nightmarish time-warped look into the mind of a mental illness sufferer, writes Alice Webb-Liddall.There was a horse girl in every primary school classroom. The one with ballet flats and low ponytails and books ...
You may not be punching strangers’ seats, but there’s plenty of other behaviour that is guaranteed to make your fellow passengers seethe with rage. Here’s how to travel by plane without making people hate you.You’ve probably seen the video: a woman leans back in her reclined seat as a man ...
Earmarked for big things since she left high school, the ‘Nothing to Regret’ singer has been dealing with the weight of expectations for a while now. With her debut EP just released, she’s OK with where she’s at.Given the circumstances, Robinson is surprisingly relaxed. It’s early afternoon on a swelteringly ...
By Meriba Tulo in Port Moresby Over the past month, the Autonomous Bougainville Government has made known its intention to put forward several proposed amendments to the Bougainville House of Representatives. These amendments include a provision to allow for a president to serve for more than two terms – ...
New Zealand’s Catholic bishops are concerned that unborn babies will lose their existing tenuous legal rights if Parliament passes the Abortion Legislation Bill in the form proposed by a select committee. And unborn babies with a fetal disability ...
Younger voters are being encouraged to take time now to make sure they are enrolled and ready to vote in this year’s election and referendums. The Electoral Commission’s enrolment teams will be at orientation events at universities, polytechnics and wānanga ...
FIRST Union’s Real Work Real Jobs campaign is expanding its focus to include ‘gig economy’ workers like Uber drivers and dependent contractors, with the public release of the union’s submission on the Government’s Better Protections for Contractors ...
Linda Burgess climbs the eternal staircase at the Opera House in Wellington to watch the virtuoso actor. At the interval her legs are aching. But in the second half, magic happens.There’s one person wearing a face mask, just the one, and it turns his face into a disposable nappy with ...
National Party leader Simon Bridges says the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the New Zealand First Foundation adds weight to calls for Winston Peters to be stood down. ...
Tutors at Northtec have begun strike action this week, action that will be disruptive for the institution and students. “Tutors never want to affect their students in negative ways, but they want their employer to show respect and put a decent pay ...
Dairy prices have fallen again in the latest global dairy auction, as the coronavirus outbreak takes its toll on trade. The average price at the overnight auction fell by almost 3 percent to $US3176 a tonne. Following a 4.7 percent fall at the previous auction two weeks ago, it was ...
Motorists are now able to offset their carbon emissions when they fuel up at Z Energy stations. A new feature in the Z app called Carbon Count will show drivers the carbon impact of each fill, then give them the option to offset that. There will be a per-fill option ...
Growth in bank sector profits stalled last year after years of seemingly unstoppable development. Business advisory firm KPMG's annual sector report showed the industry's collective profits fell just under 1 percent to $5.7 billion, with a growth in lending, while margins were squeezed slightly, costs rose markedly, and bad debts ...
After years of swearword-emblazoned book covers, are readers all out of fucks to give about bad language?Since Adam Mansbuch’s 2011 bestseller, Go the Fuck to Sleep, book titles have been swearing profusely to grab audience attention. The author followed up on the winning formula with You Have to Fucking Eat ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters will keep his Ministerial portfolios as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigates the New Zealand First Foundation. ...
Here's how the Government could force you to sell your house for state housing; and impact of drought, coronavirus could lead to recession - economist. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentNZ First donations scandal Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Jacinda Ardern right to let Winston Peters’ keep his head over donations ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners is calling on Police Minister Stuart Nash to front up and explain, after releasing new figures showing that since 2011, Police employees have been caught 244 times for unauthorised use of confidential and sensitive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute Young Australians are abandoning private health insurance in droves. And the overall decline in the percentage of the population with private coverage is continuing. New data for the three months to the end of 2019, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, University of Melbourne As the brutal reality of climate change dawned this summer, you may have asked yourself a hard question: am I well-prepared to live in a warmer world? There are many ways we can ready ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eva Plaganyi, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Currents are strong around the Torres Strait Islands, lying between Australia’s northern-most tip and Papua New Guinea. When the tidal conditions are right and the waters relatively still, though, up to 230 islanders – a sizeable ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Fahey, PhD Candidate, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University General Motors has announced the Holden brand will be “retired” in 2021. This week’s announcement has been a long time coming. The Holden brand has been in a state of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra An “unholy coalition” is attacking the planned increase in the superannuation guarantee, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says in his latest “vision statement”, pledging to resist any attempt to stop the legislated rise to 12% going ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, let the cat out of the bag this week when he lambasted Canberra over its decision to exclude Huawei from the build-out of Australia’s 5G network. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thami Croeser, Research Officer, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University The idea that we should decentralise our population has come up many times in Australia. Recently, the National Farmers’ Federation president pushed the notion, calling for a shift to the regions. And ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Fresh developments around in the political donations saga, the Chinese ambassador speaks out, and some troubling poll numbers for advocates of cannabis law reform.The Serious Fraud Office is formally investigating the operations of the NZ First Foundation. The confirmation came in ...
ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias interviews Dr Gwendoline Smith about how terrible it is to think too much.Certainly I overthink things, in the sense that I worry and fret and angst, but not in the sense that I actually think very deeply or intelligently. It’s more ...
A major report by the Auditor-General on how New Zealand's drinking, storm and waste waters are managed finds a conflicting, disorganised and stagnant system ill-prepared for climate change. Dileepa Fonseka reports. ...
Overworked and stressed teachers, overcrowded classrooms and substandard nutrition have ECE at crisis point. ECE teacher Susan Bates explains why everyone should care. If you want to know what NZ society might look like in the future, look into the eyes of the young children in your neighbourhood. Ask yourself ...
The pressures on the state budget of a rapidly ageing population must be acknowledged, and treated holistically and with nuance, write Susan St John and Dr Claire Dale The latest three-yearly 2019 Retirement Incomes Review takes a refreshingly holistic view of retirement policy and is welcomed by the Retirement Policy and ...
Manchester City and the Houston Astros are latest inductees into the sports hall of shame. Dirty, rotten cheats. Calculated, cynical, premeditated, habitual, recidivist, despicable cheats. Committed cheats. Add Manchester City and the Houston Astros to a gallery of shame occupied for all eternity by Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, Ben Johnson, ...
The 10-year-old girl from Tawa who cherished a cricket bat signed by her 2000 World Cup heroes, now wants to spur a new crop of cricketers through her own swashbuckling deeds. In a recent column looking ahead to the T20 World Cup starting in Australia this week, Sophie Devine wrote that she “hoped to inspire ...
Transforming diseases into foes and therapies into battles isn’t the best way to face contagion. Annemarie Jutel asks: When did panic and catastrophe help anyone organise anything? Public anxiety and nations’ responses to coronavirus (COVID-19) have been shaped by the hyperbolic metaphors surrounding its discussion. Even the usually sedate and measured ...
The dreaded pea weevil is no more in the Wairarapa, after a successful eradication effort. So why does this matter? OK, what on earth is a pea weevil?It’s a type of leaf beetle, so not actually a weevil after all, but the name is the name. Basically it gets into pea ...
Controversial Australian philosopher Peter Singer is coming to New Zealand in June. While he believes in reducing suffering for all humans and animals, his views on disability have sparked widespread alarm and condemnation.Utilitarian and moral philosopher Peter Singer is best known by many for the parable of the drowning child, ...
Sharon Brettkelly gets a rare look at the internal workings of Immigration New Zealand - and we look at what's holding up visa applications. Immigration New Zealand's Henderson office is like any other, with rows of workers at their computers. But in this workplace the lives of tens of thousands ...
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“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.