Auckland Coal Action. Next Meeting: Saturday 4th May
Place: Quaker Meeting House: 113 Mt Eden Rd
Time: 1 00 – 4 00 pm
Agenda:
Follow up of letter to Fonterra – progress?
Contacting members prior to meetings.
Leaflet to residents of Waitoa and Te Awamutu?
Proposed: film screening of Thin Ice as a fundraiser in collaboration with 350.org
Green Party’s All Party Climate Change Conference June 7th. Should we be there?
T Shirts – progress?
Suggested: A review of the wording of bumper stickers. Would “Coal-Free New Zealand” ( a statement of commitment to make NZ Coal-Free) be stronger than “Proud to be Coal Free” (which is an individual’s claim about themselves). As we plan to share these across all NZ anti-coal groups – could we consult with other groups re the prefered wording?
Targeted communication re carbon bubble and the science that says we can’t burn 2/3rds of the reserves we have already – so why drill/mine for more?
From 2 00 pm onwards:
Mangatangi campaign in a wider context.
ACA involvement in Bathurst campaign
Mangatawhiri campaign matters:
The hearing: Our presence – what form will this take?
Sign-up of people to Coal-Free Mangatawhiri – progress?
Situation re billboards at Mangatangi.
Beyond the hearing: Planning future actions?
School boiler collaboration with Gen Zero – progress?
The relationship between this firm and the National Party has been a very rewarding one. Financially for us and in political terms for the National Party.
Our charges have been higher than the industry standard but this is because of the difficulty of the various assignments we have received. We were required to make Don Brash appear human and we nearly succeeded. We were then required to make a merchant banker whose wealth was directly related to the manipulation of the New Zealand dollar, whose memory is appalling and who has succeeded in politics only because he has psychopathic tendencies appeal to ordinary New Zealanders. And we were forced to make a party with misogynist, racist and homophobic tendencies attractive to women, Maori and homosexuals.
We have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. But we have a reputation to protect and so we are discontinuing our relationship with your party.
The reason is that there is no way we can repair the damage caused by Aaron Gilmour’s behaviour. We have spent huge resources creating the fiction that National MPs are ordinary people who are respectful of workers rather than overbearing arrogant toffs which they have traditionally been. We had persuaded enough people to believe that this reality was not true but in one drunken evening Mr Happy Gilmour has destroyed the work of many years and it is irreparable.
The firm’s directors cannot tolerate any further association with the group of self centred, arrogant, misguided mess that is the current National Party as the firm has a reputation to protect.
RNZ. Mr Key accepts Mr Gilmore’s word that he did not threaten the waiter with the PM office and sacking. And no complaint received from the hotel. Clearly the friend who was embarrassed by Mr Gilmore’s actions must have fabricated the story. Mr Gilmore earlier said that he could not remember what he had said but obviously he had been very polite and the others were rowdy.
And the Gilmore brain fade is OK as it fits the PM lead.
RNZ have forgotten how to be serious journalists and ask hard questions.
You’ll get tougher questioning from Sean Plunket and John Campbell than a lot of the timid ones presently claiming to be journalists at RNZ.
Give your example Paul. This is of interest, as we need to monitor, fairly, the effectiveness and devotion to their journalistic task of Radionz. If criticising, state the occasion and content so we can listen.
Aaron Gilmour sounds like quite a revolting character. In the Herald today, this from a fellow diner at the restaurant.
“We were sitting about 5m from them. Right from the beginning, pretty much [from] when he [Gilmore] walked in he was already being quite arrogant – whistling at the waiters and clicking his fingers to get them over there to give them more drinks and stuff like that,” Mr Rangi said.”It was quite awkward, the restaurant was nice and quiet.”
Right from the beginning….he was whistling at waiters and clicking his fingers to summon them.
So he did not need alcohol to turn himself into a boorish prat.
“So he did not need alcohol to turn himself into a boorish prat.”
No you’re correct – he’s just a natural born boor.
Think of of a trio of boors – arrogant, bogoted, born-to-rule, holier-than-thou, mean spirited, nouveau riche, arse licking future Nat careerists:
They hang together like flies sticking to shit. Think Aaron Gilmore, Simon Bridges and Todd McClay
That’s a UK company sending it’s employees here on a working holiday.
You can’t employ from outside NZ if the job can be filled by kiwis, but you can set up shop, pay no income taxes and be immune to employment laws.
karol
Like it, an employment option: within these time zones, where would you like to work for six months tours of duty? And not as a grunt type tour of duty, a foot soldier, but as a member of the cossetted class with your own nice air conditioned seat and office.
The Allen
The speaker did say something about getting NZs included, in passing. Surely anyone working within NZ is covered by our employment laws,. whatever they now are?
“Surely anyone working within NZ is covered by our employment laws,. whatever they now are?”
I don’t know about that. It’s not a NZ company and they’re not taxpayers, does employment law cover what tourists do on their holiday?
I know the poor seamen that regularly wash up abused on our shores are covered, but that’s probably quite a different thing.
another trawl of market failures.(many published sustainable seafood guides suggest consumers should avoid the species; anyway, bright red until they give up the ghost and too much consumption can have adverse effects on health).
if they’re working in NZ, they need work visas and are covered by NZ employment law.
And I’m sure the cleaners would be paid locally, so the call centre is still a workplace.
We won’t see it on TV or in the papers but maybe we will see it in Parliament next week?
( hint hint to the MP’s out there ) i suggest something effective, say in a billboard scale held aloft across the entire opposition benches.
In all seriousness though, this simple image deserves widespread public exposure and a very public statement from National saying how it’s all good and there is nothing to be concerned about. Then perhaps Simon Bridges can qualify how permits were given for this most fragile of regions. We must have it on the record now, for when the inevitable destruction occurs later the memory holes will be cavernous.
Plus the fact the nats are involved, of course. They’d discover that plugging a well built by the lowest bidder is not as simple as snapping your fingers and whistling.
Because it’s in a plate boundary area and I don’t care what fail-safe methods they say they have to prevent blowout in a mega-thrust quake they would probably be about as worthless as the failsafes at Deepwater Horizon and Fukushima (where nobody factored in their safety designs that the land would drop). We won’t have the capacity to manage a large earthquake, tsunami, and gigantic, gushing oil leak.
There is a big risk if Kiwibank was made a stand-alone entity away from NZPost, for governments with short-term views to sell it. (Disbelievers, there are such things!) It will soon be worth a billion, and be a nice boost to a government’s balance sheet. Jim Anderton was talking about this on Radionz this am, and he sounds like the Voice of Wisdom, really, after listening to the present conmen (he embraces she) in the present government.
And getting mail deliveries three days a week will work as well as milk delivery of three days a week, NOT for most. Some subsidy, through accepting less profitability by gummint, would be right behaviour with a five day delivery, suggestion to miss Monday when business letters would be low.
It could also be that more care for the company’s effectiveness and efficiency will bring costs down. What the Queenstown debacle revealed, when the curtains opened, should have been the main actors with guilty faces from top management down – some with egg on their faces, others pie, according to preference. Damn disgusting and it occurs to me that perhaps they have focussed too much of their attention and expertise on selling mail systems overseas, which they have done as an arm of the company. What effect this at home cesspit will do to their image of selling a modern styled process when learned by the distant customers, will likely be a stain on their trousers.
The Remuneration Authority, which sets the pay for city, district and regional councils, has increased the national pay pool by 8.9 per cent, meaning some councillors will pocket rises of up to $16,000 after this year’s elections.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if wage and salary earners were paid by the same standards used by the Authority? You would get what would be deserved like 8.9%.
Oh well be really grateful with your 1% increase you workers. Times are tough you know!
I referred to Zelda D’Aprano in Australia in a comment about International Workers Day and thought I’d look up Google to see what she has been up to – and find it much.
For women interested in those who worked hard for themselves and other women to gain fair treatment and have better lives, here is a link about this lady which is just one on a page full under her name. http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/Bookstore/author/id=61/
Food Poverty in the land of plenty, yet that’s OK, the government is going to fund researchers who have jobs and good starts in life to the tune of 73Million to find out why other children do not!
The ensuing comments would suggest many people in NZ would support Hone’s Feed the Kids bill. Let’s hope our government gives a damn…
Oh I forgot, these NACT folk see hungry poor people as wine waiters who should be at their beck and call and grovel in their midst.
Umm wouldn’t it be easier to just use said 73 million to sort out some of the problemsm instead of Paying some Joe 90 type who’s all theory and no practical!
Joyce defensively concludes the decline in postgrads
numbers isn’t due to the removal of support, but is
population decline. This immediately would have shown
up in previous years of undergraduate intakes, as of
course the declining numbers would have them flowed on.
So of course Joyce could do nothing about declining
undergraduate numbers because either they weren’t
declining or Joyce wasn’t worried that less graduates
were shrinking the skilled workforce, as growth
is just around the corner and we don’t need to be
ready for it, China will take up any slack. đ
We can’t afford it, we can’t afford that we benefit
when China could be.
“I’ve never ever had a problem getting into a public pool,” she said. “There is obviously a surge in demand during the holidays – it’s a peak time for them when they have larger than normal volumes, but this is the first time I have ever experienced an inability to get in, and not just at one pool but at all the other pools, too.” She said the entry fees should return.
“I thought the prices were trivial anyway, it’s a very affordable type of family entertainment … I’ve never heard anyone complain about the price of the pool or decide not to go because it was too expensive.”
A wild guess that her people that haven’t complained about the previous ‘trivial’ prices are not low income. And now it costs nothing and more kids come to swim so it should cost again so fewer kids swim, but the cost didn’t stop people in the first place? Hmmm, I think she might need to sort that logic out.
Todayâs [2/5/13] New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows a substantial gain in support for Prime Minister John Keyâs National Party to 46.5% (up 6% since April 1-14, 2013). Support for Keyâs Coalition partners remains low with the Maori Party 1.5% (down 0.5%), ACT NZ 0.5% (unchanged) and United Future 0.5% (unchanged).
Support for Labour is 31.5% (down 4%); Greens are 11% (down 2.5%), New Zealand First 4.5% (down 0.5%), Mana Party 1% (up 0.5%), Conservative Party of NZ 2% (up 0.5%) and Others 1% (up 0.5%).
From Scoop.
This poll was taken from the 15th to 28th of March. What makes 46.5% people vote for this hopeless bunch? What made 6% change their vote to National?
This is an atrocious government that looks after the top 1%, how the hell do they get nearly half the Nation voting for them?
McFlock thinks Shearer is just fine for the job; shearly 32% or so will win the Treasury benches (with a bit of help from the Greens and others), what more could one possibly want from the Labour Party?
Oh, I’d love it if the right choice of leader would simultaneously turn labour into the NZ Socialist Party with support boosted to 70% in the two weeks from one roy morgan to the next.
But relentlessly nagging about it for months on end would just end up alienating my political allies and making me look like an obsessive, delusional loser.
So I take a breath, get the fuck over it, and try to improve the real world rather than pining for a leftist rapture.
It isn’t solely about winning an election McFlock – it is also about containing the excesses of an existing government from the opposition benches. Think about Michael Cullen, who with a blistering verbal attack, embarrassed Ruth Richardson into amending a rule by which widows’ benefits would have been paid from the date of application rather than the date of the partner’s death.
In comparison, the National Government now have carte blanche in their attacks on the powerless. Jacinda and Darien certainly do what they can with what they’ve got, but you never get the sense that the full force of the party is behind them in their efforts, and John Key can cheerfully bring in anti-worker legislation on May Day while damning Shearer with faint praise. If Labour eventually do get the treasury benches under Shearer, with 30% + add-ons, they will not only be a minority government, they will inherit an entrenched tyranny, partly of their own making. The only spark of conviction I have seen from them has been pitted against the left of their own party, not the Tories.
Well, except for a few members who throw their toys around because they didn’t get the leader they want, yes.
I get the impression that caucus are settling into their roles in the house quite well. More effectively than the nats have been of late.
Must Read for all concerned with health care delivery, fair assessments and with WINZ decisions based on such by designated doctors:
Welcome to our truly “independent”, “fair” and “caring” HEALTH AND DISABILITY COMMISSIONER and his staff at their office.
As of recent, some bizarre “decisions” have been made upon complaints to the Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner. A recent one was made by Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Theodora (Theo) Baker.
I looked up her background on LinkedIn, and by doing an online search, I found revealing info re her last job at “Capsticks LLB”, which is a kind of large, virtually “corporate” style law firm in the UK, which does do a lot of work for NHS, private health care providers, trusts, and organisations that work with health care providers there.
See these links for intersting information:
Theo Baker’s personal Linked In “profile” lists her background of having worked for the ‘Health and Disability Commissioner Office’ before – as “Director of Proceedings” from 2004 to 2009. Then she appears to have left that office for an “overseas experience stint” at ‘Capsticks LLB’ in the UK, presumably to get more “legal expertise” in the health sector there – see this:
Theo Baker returned to New Zealand and did in 2011 accept an appointment by Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, to take up a new job at the ‘Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner’ as DEPUTY HEALTH AND DISABILITY COMMISSIONER. She is according to online info and their staff chart responsible for “disputes resolution”! Anecdotal info about that “disputes resolution” is, that “resolution” appears to be more about “talking over matters” than investigating and holding medical practitioners and other health professionals accountable.
Now one wonders what motivated her to come back, and why National Party member and now Minister of Health Tony Ryall appointed her.
There was controversy about the appointment of Anthony Hill as new Commissioner before, which the Otago Daily Times wrote about here:
On reading that ODT article, one has to ponder on Dr Des Gorman again, head of a number of key health administrations (now ACC, so far Health Workforce NZ, National Health Board, Medical School of Auckland Uni, etc.), and apparently also a member of an international organisation called the ‘Medical Protection Society’! See this for VERY interesting information:
So Dr Gorman is a clear advocate for protecting the interests of medical professionals, and he was like other key stakeholders (government and other providers and so forth) tasked with appointing a new Health and Disability Commissioner, whom they chose Anthony Hill for.
Given this information, does anybody still show any surprise about the lack of “action” and investigations that have been taken and started under the present Commissioner and his “team”? Theo Baker appears to “blend in” well with the office staff, who now operate under a top Commissioner appointed by Tony Ryall.
That is a marked drop from what former, more effective and committed Commissioner Ron Paterson did in the way of investigations and decisions upon complaints.
So one may wonder, does NO “medical misadventure” or other “mistake” or failing happen in the medical and treatment professions in New Zealand these days? Well, it seems like with “welfare” suddenly figures “improve” under a slash, burn and “off-loading burdens” kind of government, and the “commissioners” and other office holders they have appointed.
Any person who has had reason to make a complaint to the H+D Commissioner (numbers are rather unchanged or even up with these), and who wonders, why no satisfactory action is taken, just needs to draw their conclusions from reading and studying the info found under links show above!
Fairness, reasonableness, objectivity and accountability no longer appear to be a priority for many office holders in such key institutions in New Zealand, I am afraid, if they ever were, really!
Do not be surprised, if you are getting fobbed off, off-loaded, treated with little respect, little dignity and honesty, be this by ACC, WINZ or any health professional, acting under stress, pressures, and demands to perform responsibilities in a cost saving environment. Time to worry, really!
Strangely one recent “decision” was about a WINZ designated doctor, who is well known to be a much used and preferred “assessor” for MSD and WINZ. The HDC Commissioner appears to have let him off the hook for extremely biased and questionable conduct and unfounded diagnosis and “recommendations”. The “assessment” just happened to be “too long ago”, and his statement “contradicted the one of the complainant”, was the simple conclusion, while an abundance of evidence was apparently not considered worth looking at.
So the matter was considered to not be worth “investigating further”.
Add the dots together. New Zealand is NOT the transparent, accountable and fair place that many still think it is.
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The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the âBrahminsââ emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealandâs ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day â hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labourâs and Nationalâs failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Governmentâs failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
âMembers of Parliament donât work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPsâ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. Thatâs when they began to be treated like employees â public servants â whose diaries had ...
Itâs becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client â the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUSâs âPillar 2â â or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HEâS FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
Henry Ergas writes –Â When in Randall Jarrellâs Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novelâs narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes –Â Radio NZÂ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision  Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morningâs post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government â and it isnât the buffoon from Botany â then this weekâs announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architectâs visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when  the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Te PÄti MÄori have launched a petition to stop the repeal of Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act. This announcement comes prior to the first reading of the Section 7AA repeal bill in Parliament today. âSection 7AA forces the Government to adhere to Te Tiriti o Waitangi with respect ...
The Government has yet again failed to do the one thing that needs to happen to ensure houses can be built â commit to ongoing funding, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick used this year's State of the Planet to call on the Government to prioritise people and planet as the delivery of the Budget approaches. A full transcript of their speeches can be found below. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
More than 4,500 jobs are set to go as the National Government continues its deep cuts to services to pay for irresponsible and ill-timed tax cuts. Â ...
The Governmentâs introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Todayâs justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Governmentâs misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
âWith Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,â Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said.  ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te PÄti MÄori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Memberâs Bill that will protect womenâs spaces. The âFair Access to Bathrooms Billâ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Wattsâ continuation of Hon. James Shawâs cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
This morningâs pre-Budget speech from the Minister of Finance offered no âmeaningfulâ news on the Governmentâs trickle-down economics based plans. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Councilâs District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion âThis House Believes British Museums are not Very Britishâ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP HĆ«hana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of MÄori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of MÄori land. ...
A senior, highly respected Kingâs Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga MÄori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealandâs growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesnât know or care about the frontline cuts sheâs making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
The Coalition Governmentâs Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which will improve tenancy laws and help increase the supply of rental properties, has passed its first reading in Parliament says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. âThe Bill proposes much-needed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 that will remove barriers to increasing private ...
Standing here in Cassino War Cemetery, among the graves looking up at the beautiful Abbey of Montecassino, it is hard to imagine the utter devastation left behind by the battles which ended here in May 1944. Hundreds of thousands of shells and bombs of every description left nothing but piled ...
I present a legislative statement on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill Mr. Speaker, I move that the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the Bill. Thank you, Mr. ...
The Bill to repeal Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has had its first reading in Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Coalition Governmentâs commitment to the care and safety of children in care, says Minister for Children Karen Chhour. âWhen I became the Minister for Children, I made ...
Kia ora koutou, good morning, and zao shang hao. Thank you Fran for the opportunity to speak at the 2024 China Business Summit â itâs great to be here today. Iâd also like to acknowledge: Simon Bridges - CEO of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. His Excellency Ambassador - Wang ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home.  âNew Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. âNew Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing them ...
The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. âAlcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of KÄinga Ora â Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. âKÄinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. âPharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
TÄnÄ koutou katoa.âŻDa jia hao.  Good morning everyone.  Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran OâSullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. âTrees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this yearâs Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in MÄori dairy farming. MÄori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, WhakatĆhea MÄori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Departmentâs correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,â says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. âI raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachersâ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on studentsâ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools.⯠âŻÂ âThe PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stoboâs appointment is for a five-year term. âThe FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. âHeading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. âNew Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,â says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. âIt is my pleasure ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoaâs O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. âHis Highness and I reflected on our two countriesâ extensive community links, with SamoanâNew Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. âIsland Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russiaâs invasion of Ukraine. âRussia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. âI want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Governmentâs first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges â Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich â Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.  âIt is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealandâs relationship with Vanuatu,â Mr Peters says.  âThis ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). âI am looking forward to sharing this Governmentâs education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. âTracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,â Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Callâs work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.  This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leadersâ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People â Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Todayâs announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Governmentâs pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. âThe National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Koreaâs aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. âNew Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,â Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Billâs introduction reaffirms the Coalition Governmentâs commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. âWhile section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. âI am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
âThe results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,â Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. âWe heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tÄna koutou, apinun tru  Itâs a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. Â âPapua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,â Mr Peters ...
Education is facing a bunch of changes, but the important ones are not banned cell phones or ‘woke’ foods. The Government has ordered teachers to adopt ‘structured literacy’ to get children reading. That means Reading Recovery, a system New Zealand pioneered and spread to the world, along with ‘whole language’, ...
What a difference a year has made for Caroline Powell. After coming last at the Badminton Horse Trials in 2023, Powell triumphed at this yearâs event earlier this month, on board her sometimes-feisty Irish-bred mare Greenacres Special Cavalier â much to her astonishment. Now she hopes to succeed at the ...
The publishing sensation of 2024 is wartime memoir The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour and Jude Dobson, which tells the amazing story of a woman who operated behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France. Sales went through the roof as soon as it was published: in its first week it became ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 22 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Comment: NZ’s main political parties need to reach a consensus on how to adjust to China’s dominance and coercion The post Bridging the Aukus chasm appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: Jacinda Ardernâs leadership significantly enhanced New Zealandâs profile on the global stage. In the first five months of her second term of government, between December 2020 and April 2021, her name appeared 24 times in the Washington Post, 10 in the New York Times, 27 in the Times and ...
Comment: The public has seen the PM’s ruthless side, but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a member of the coalition faces the same punishment The post Christopher Luxon the disciplinarian appeared first on Newsroom. ...
By Maia Ingoe, RNZ News journalist A NZ Defence Force plane carrying 50 New Zealanders evacuated from New Caledonia landed at Auckland International Airport last night. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it would be working with France and Australia to ensure the safe departure of several evacuation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Snow, Research Scientist, CSIRO CSIRO How often do you check your local weather forecast? How about your local climate projections for 2050? For many farmers, the answer to the first question is all the time. But the answer to the ...
Pacific Media Watch A MÄori supporter of Pacific independence movements claims the French government has âconstructed the crisisâ in New Caledonia by pushing the indigenous Kanak population to the edge, reports Atereano Mateariki of Waatea News. A NZ Defence Force Hercules is today evacuating about 50 New Zealanders stranded in ...
COMMENTARY:By Gordon Campbell The split opening up in Israelâs âWar Cabinetâ is not just between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallantâs open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed ...
Reacting to todayâs Budget Speech from Labourâs Finance spokesperson, Barbara Edmonds, Taxpayersâ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: âIt is encouraging to see that one of Labourâs stated priorities is to focus on creating âa level ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Turner, System Lead, Sustainable Economies, Climateworks Centre atk work/Shutterstock In the budget last week, the government was keen to talk about its efforts to turn Australia into a renewable superpower under the umbrella of the Future Made in Australia policies. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Opposition Leader Peter Dutton might have done us a favour. As part of his budget reply speech on Thursday night he promised to stop foreigners buying existing Australian homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Maguire, Associate Professor in Human Rights and International Law, University of Newcastle The request by Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders is a significant step in the effort to ...
RNZ Pacific A New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region since the 1970s says liberation âmust comeâ for Kanaky/New Caledonia. Professor David Robie sailed on board Greenpeaceâs flagship Rainbow Warrior until it was bombed by French secret agents in New Zealand in July 1985 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Renwick, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand Fonterra caught the business world by surprise last week with plans to sell off its consumer brands and businesses â including supermarket mainstays such as Anchor, Fresh’n Fruity and Mainland. The move ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Small, Senior lecturer, Above the Bar School of Educational Studies and Leadership, University of Canterbury With an air force plane on its way to rescue New Zealanders stranded by the violent uprising in New Caledonia, many familiar with the islandâs history ...
Regional councils must focus on building meaningful and enduring relationships with iwi and hapƫ to support better freshwater management, says the Auditor-General in a new report. ...
Chris Glaudel, Deputy Chief Executive of Community Housing Aotearoa, sees the announcement as a step towards addressing New Zealandâs high and rising levels of homelessness by improving our approach and system to delivering affordable homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Mamouri, Research fellow, Middle East studies, Deakin University The death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash this week occurred during one of the Islamic Republic of Iranâs most challenging periods. Raisi, a prominent figure in the political elite, ...
The end of universal flu shot funding for under-12s is a step backwards for New Zealand child health, say experts from the University of Auckland and the University of Otago. New Zealandâs decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent ...
The PSA is taking action to force the Ministry of Education to comply with its legal obligations to do everything it can to find other roles for staff it is laying off because of the Governmentâs spending cuts. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Waling, Senior Lecturer & Research Fellow, Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University Netflix There has been much excitement in the lead up to the first four episodes of Bridgertonâs season three, featuring leading couple Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa De Bortoli, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research Taylor Flowe/Unsplash, CC BY Australian teenagers have more disruptive maths classrooms and experience bullying at greater levels than the OECD average, a new report shows. But in better news, Australian ...
Poet, editor and former bookseller Jane Arthurâs debut childrenâs novel Brown Bird is the story of a shy, self-conscious 11-year-old â partly based on her childhood self â venturing out of her quiet comfort zone. Childrenâs books are close to my heart because mostly I believe that adults are rings ...
Peter Jackson is bringing Lord of the Rings back to Wellington, producing two new Gollum films in Wellington. Madeleine Chapman (Gollum) argues with Madeleine Chapman (Smeagol) about it. First of all, I canât believe weâre even having this conversation. Of course itâs great news!I donât know, it gives me ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a part-time media librarian and superannuitant explains how he spends and saves. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Male Age: 65 Ethnicity: EuropeanRole: Media librarian ...
The Governmentâs Environmental Select Committee is refusing to engage meaningfully when it matters the most over new fast tracking environmental legislation, says NgÄti Ruanui. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Marsh, Senior Research Fellow in Public Health, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Christoph Soeder/dpa New Zealandâs decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent gains in uptake. And it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexis Anja Kallio, Deputy Director (Research), Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University Many young people in contact with the justice system come from backgrounds of extreme poverty, parental abuse or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education. These complex traumas often manifest as addictions ...
The agency was found to be underperforming and ânot financially viableâ, explains Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A damning report A government-ordered ...
Asia Pacific Report For more than 76 years, Palestinians have resisted occupation, dispossession and ethnic cleansing, culminating in Israelâs genocidal war on Gaza. Yet in the midst of this catastrophic seven months of âhell on earthâ, it is a paradox that there exists an extraordinary oasis of peace and nature. ...
Youâll never set foot in one. But its emissions still effect you. Shanti Mathias reports on a campaign to make private jet owners pay for their emissions in some way. The private jet passengers saunter down the red carpet, wearing sunglasses and heels; paparazzi cameras flash. The sky is blue, ...
Quality teachers back on the front line can only be a good thing. One of the difficult things we teach in senior English classes at secondary school is the development of an idea. This involves deepening your argument, without instead âgoing sidewaysâ and merely adding examples while repeating the same ...
Opinion: As an indication of the eye-watering sums involved for the mega-prison plans announced two weeks ago by Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell, consider that $932 million has already been spent on a separate facility due to open at Waikeria next year â that’s about $1.5 million for each of the ...
Opinion: People with certain types of health conditions are more likely than others to have their symptoms dismissed, minimised or disbelieved. These conditions are diagnosed based on the patient self-report of symptoms, where there is no definitive diagnostic test that can prove the existence of disease or demonstrate structural or ...
The intensity of it, ironically, can feel like bullying. Social media activism is reaching something of a peak with the war in Gaza, using the hashtag Blockout2024. It started at this year’s MetGala when influencer and model Haley Kalil was caught on video muttering ‘let them eat cake’ – suddenly ...
Itâs 2011 and I am 43 years old. My partner, Christine, and I got together when I was 36. We had been friends for about 10 years before that. One of the first things I asked Christine was whether she wanted to have kids. I had just come out of ...
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New Caledoniaâs Tontouta International Airport remains closed, and Air New Zealandâs next scheduled flight is on Saturday â although it is not ruling out adding extra services. Air NZâs Captain David Morgan said on Monday evening flights would only resume when they were assured of the security of the airport ...
Asia Pacific Report As Israel drives the Palestinians deeper into another Nakba in Gaza with its assault on Rafah, the Palestine Youth Aotearoa (PYA) and solidarity supporters in Aotearoa New Zealand tonight commemorated the original Nakba â âthe Catastropheâ â of 1948. The 1948 Nakba . . . more than ...
Auckland Coal Action. Next Meeting: Saturday 4th May
Place: Quaker Meeting House: 113 Mt Eden Rd
Time: 1 00 – 4 00 pm
Agenda:
Follow up of letter to Fonterra – progress?
Contacting members prior to meetings.
Leaflet to residents of Waitoa and Te Awamutu?
Proposed: film screening of Thin Ice as a fundraiser in collaboration with 350.org
Green Party’s All Party Climate Change Conference June 7th. Should we be there?
T Shirts – progress?
Suggested: A review of the wording of bumper stickers. Would “Coal-Free New Zealand” ( a statement of commitment to make NZ Coal-Free) be stronger than “Proud to be Coal Free” (which is an individual’s claim about themselves). As we plan to share these across all NZ anti-coal groups – could we consult with other groups re the prefered wording?
Targeted communication re carbon bubble and the science that says we can’t burn 2/3rds of the reserves we have already – so why drill/mine for more?
From 2 00 pm onwards:
Mangatangi campaign in a wider context.
ACA involvement in Bathurst campaign
Mangatawhiri campaign matters:
The hearing: Our presence – what form will this take?
Sign-up of people to Coal-Free Mangatawhiri – progress?
Situation re billboards at Mangatangi.
Beyond the hearing: Planning future actions?
School boiler collaboration with Gen Zero – progress?
Divestment as a strategy
Celebrating 20 years of the World Wide Web, the first web page has been recreated.
Memo from Crosby Textor
To John Key
Subject: So long …
The relationship between this firm and the National Party has been a very rewarding one. Financially for us and in political terms for the National Party.
Our charges have been higher than the industry standard but this is because of the difficulty of the various assignments we have received. We were required to make Don Brash appear human and we nearly succeeded. We were then required to make a merchant banker whose wealth was directly related to the manipulation of the New Zealand dollar, whose memory is appalling and who has succeeded in politics only because he has psychopathic tendencies appeal to ordinary New Zealanders. And we were forced to make a party with misogynist, racist and homophobic tendencies attractive to women, Maori and homosexuals.
We have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. But we have a reputation to protect and so we are discontinuing our relationship with your party.
The reason is that there is no way we can repair the damage caused by Aaron Gilmour’s behaviour. We have spent huge resources creating the fiction that National MPs are ordinary people who are respectful of workers rather than overbearing arrogant toffs which they have traditionally been. We had persuaded enough people to believe that this reality was not true but in one drunken evening Mr Happy Gilmour has destroyed the work of many years and it is irreparable.
The firm’s directors cannot tolerate any further association with the group of self centred, arrogant, misguided mess that is the current National Party as the firm has a reputation to protect.
So long and thanks for all the money …
RNZ. Mr Key accepts Mr Gilmore’s word that he did not threaten the waiter with the PM office and sacking. And no complaint received from the hotel. Clearly the friend who was embarrassed by Mr Gilmore’s actions must have fabricated the story. Mr Gilmore earlier said that he could not remember what he had said but obviously he had been very polite and the others were rowdy.
And the Gilmore brain fade is OK as it fits the PM lead.
RNZ have forgotten how to be serious journalists and ask hard questions.
You’ll get tougher questioning from Sean Plunket and John Campbell than a lot of the timid ones presently claiming to be journalists at RNZ.
Give your example Paul. This is of interest, as we need to monitor, fairly, the effectiveness and devotion to their journalistic task of Radionz. If criticising, state the occasion and content so we can listen.
O.K. I’ll record time etc next time..
Aaron Gilmour sounds like quite a revolting character. In the Herald today, this from a fellow diner at the restaurant.
“We were sitting about 5m from them. Right from the beginning, pretty much [from] when he [Gilmore] walked in he was already being quite arrogant – whistling at the waiters and clicking his fingers to get them over there to give them more drinks and stuff like that,” Mr Rangi said.”It was quite awkward, the restaurant was nice and quiet.”
Right from the beginning….he was whistling at waiters and clicking his fingers to summon them.
So he did not need alcohol to turn himself into a boorish prat.
“So he did not need alcohol to turn himself into a boorish prat.”
No you’re correct – he’s just a natural born boor.
Think of of a trio of boors – arrogant, bogoted, born-to-rule, holier-than-thou, mean spirited, nouveau riche, arse licking future Nat careerists:
They hang together like flies sticking to shit. Think Aaron Gilmore, Simon Bridges and Todd McClay
đ đ
Well done.
a scarlet letter mickey
“Wrexham call centre staff fly to New Zealand to cover night shifts”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-22370334
That’s a UK company sending it’s employees here on a working holiday.
You can’t employ from outside NZ if the job can be filled by kiwis, but you can set up shop, pay no income taxes and be immune to employment laws.
What’s in it for us?
Maybe NZ employers should follow suit – send NZ call centre staff to the Mediterranean to cover NZ nights?
karol
Like it, an employment option: within these time zones, where would you like to work for six months tours of duty? And not as a grunt type tour of duty, a foot soldier, but as a member of the cossetted class with your own nice air conditioned seat and office.
The Allen
The speaker did say something about getting NZs included, in passing. Surely anyone working within NZ is covered by our employment laws,. whatever they now are?
“Surely anyone working within NZ is covered by our employment laws,. whatever they now are?”
I don’t know about that. It’s not a NZ company and they’re not taxpayers, does employment law cover what tourists do on their holiday?
I know the poor seamen that regularly wash up abused on our shores are covered, but that’s probably quite a different thing.
still asking the fishy, hard questions then.
As cod is my witness
a pointedly red piece then.
‘
Dolphinitely.
you guys play roughy
another trawl of market failures.(many published sustainable seafood guides suggest consumers should avoid the species; anyway, bright red until they give up the ghost and too much consumption can have adverse effects on health).
Only way to get a squidward in egdeways
as long as no Krusty Krabs are served beneath Sandy Cheeked Bikinis at all.
Nah, just a load of old Pollocks !!.
Wood leave quite an abstract splash.
if they’re working in NZ, they need work visas and are covered by NZ employment law.
And I’m sure the cleaners would be paid locally, so the call centre is still a workplace.
Something to ponder
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/480201_558461730865261_613173355_n.jpg
Oh dear – brilliant graphic; not so brilliant Anadarko.
We won’t see it on TV or in the papers but maybe we will see it in Parliament next week?
( hint hint to the MP’s out there ) i suggest something effective, say in a billboard scale held aloft across the entire opposition benches.
In all seriousness though, this simple image deserves widespread public exposure and a very public statement from National saying how it’s all good and there is nothing to be concerned about. Then perhaps Simon Bridges can qualify how permits were given for this most fragile of regions. We must have it on the record now, for when the inevitable destruction occurs later the memory holes will be cavernous.
hat tip to Trillion for the image btw
An oil platform in the Pegasus zone will be an ecological disaster waiting to happen.
Why?
Because some breathless hippy says so
Unlike some moronic Monkey?
Hey! Wotcha!
probability over time
Plus the fact the nats are involved, of course. They’d discover that plugging a well built by the lowest bidder is not as simple as snapping your fingers and whistling.
Because it’s in a plate boundary area and I don’t care what fail-safe methods they say they have to prevent blowout in a mega-thrust quake they would probably be about as worthless as the failsafes at Deepwater Horizon and Fukushima (where nobody factored in their safety designs that the land would drop). We won’t have the capacity to manage a large earthquake, tsunami, and gigantic, gushing oil leak.
There is a big risk if Kiwibank was made a stand-alone entity away from NZPost, for governments with short-term views to sell it. (Disbelievers, there are such things!) It will soon be worth a billion, and be a nice boost to a government’s balance sheet. Jim Anderton was talking about this on Radionz this am, and he sounds like the Voice of Wisdom, really, after listening to the present conmen (he embraces she) in the present government.
And getting mail deliveries three days a week will work as well as milk delivery of three days a week, NOT for most. Some subsidy, through accepting less profitability by gummint, would be right behaviour with a five day delivery, suggestion to miss Monday when business letters would be low.
It could also be that more care for the company’s effectiveness and efficiency will bring costs down. What the Queenstown debacle revealed, when the curtains opened, should have been the main actors with guilty faces from top management down – some with egg on their faces, others pie, according to preference. Damn disgusting and it occurs to me that perhaps they have focussed too much of their attention and expertise on selling mail systems overseas, which they have done as an arm of the company. What effect this at home cesspit will do to their image of selling a modern styled process when learned by the distant customers, will likely be a stain on their trousers.
The Remuneration Authority, which sets the pay for city, district and regional councils, has increased the national pay pool by 8.9 per cent, meaning some councillors will pocket rises of up to $16,000 after this year’s elections.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if wage and salary earners were paid by the same standards used by the Authority? You would get what would be deserved like 8.9%.
Oh well be really grateful with your 1% increase you workers. Times are tough you know!
I referred to Zelda D’Aprano in Australia in a comment about International Workers Day and thought I’d look up Google to see what she has been up to – and find it much.
For women interested in those who worked hard for themselves and other women to gain fair treatment and have better lives, here is a link about this lady which is just one on a page full under her name.
http://www.spinifexpress.com.au/Bookstore/author/id=61/
Food Poverty in the land of plenty, yet that’s OK, the government is going to fund researchers who have jobs and good starts in life to the tune of 73Million to find out why other children do not!
The ensuing comments would suggest many people in NZ would support Hone’s Feed the Kids bill. Let’s hope our government gives a damn…
Oh I forgot, these NACT folk see hungry poor people as wine waiters who should be at their beck and call and grovel in their midst.
Possibly because the roots of the problem are serious, deep, systemic, and require a bit more thrown at it than just money.
Umm wouldn’t it be easier to just use said 73 million to sort out some of the problemsm instead of Paying some Joe 90 type who’s all theory and no practical!
73.5Million Actually
speaking of hungry
Joyce defensively concludes the decline in postgrads
numbers isn’t due to the removal of support, but is
population decline. This immediately would have shown
up in previous years of undergraduate intakes, as of
course the declining numbers would have them flowed on.
So of course Joyce could do nothing about declining
undergraduate numbers because either they weren’t
declining or Joyce wasn’t worried that less graduates
were shrinking the skilled workforce, as growth
is just around the corner and we don’t need to be
ready for it, China will take up any slack. đ
We can’t afford it, we can’t afford that we benefit
when China could be.
Lecture on Press freedom now streaming online from AUT:
http://ondemand.aut.ac.nz/Mediasite/Play/7952ba4a329d4ad09420e725cbbed4f31d
Prof Pearson.
World Press Freedom Day
According to a visitor from North Shore swimming pools charges for kids should return
A wild guess that her people that haven’t complained about the previous ‘trivial’ prices are not low income. And now it costs nothing and more kids come to swim so it should cost again so fewer kids swim, but the cost didn’t stop people in the first place? Hmmm, I think she might need to sort that logic out.
Todayâs [2/5/13] New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows a substantial gain in support for Prime Minister John Keyâs National Party to 46.5% (up 6% since April 1-14, 2013). Support for Keyâs Coalition partners remains low with the Maori Party 1.5% (down 0.5%), ACT NZ 0.5% (unchanged) and United Future 0.5% (unchanged).
Support for Labour is 31.5% (down 4%); Greens are 11% (down 2.5%), New Zealand First 4.5% (down 0.5%), Mana Party 1% (up 0.5%), Conservative Party of NZ 2% (up 0.5%) and Others 1% (up 0.5%).
From Scoop.
This poll was taken from the 15th to 28th of March. What makes 46.5% people vote for this hopeless bunch? What made 6% change their vote to National?
This is an atrocious government that looks after the top 1%, how the hell do they get nearly half the Nation voting for them?
This Natz government is so blessed with a really appropriate Labour leader. And then there is the deputy who thinks he is really smart.
McFlock thinks Shearer is just fine for the job; shearly 32% or so will win the Treasury benches (with a bit of help from the Greens and others), what more could one possibly want from the Labour Party?
Oh, I’d love it if the right choice of leader would simultaneously turn labour into the NZ Socialist Party with support boosted to 70% in the two weeks from one roy morgan to the next.
But relentlessly nagging about it for months on end would just end up alienating my political allies and making me look like an obsessive, delusional loser.
So I take a breath, get the fuck over it, and try to improve the real world rather than pining for a leftist rapture.
It isn’t solely about winning an election McFlock – it is also about containing the excesses of an existing government from the opposition benches. Think about Michael Cullen, who with a blistering verbal attack, embarrassed Ruth Richardson into amending a rule by which widows’ benefits would have been paid from the date of application rather than the date of the partner’s death.
In comparison, the National Government now have carte blanche in their attacks on the powerless. Jacinda and Darien certainly do what they can with what they’ve got, but you never get the sense that the full force of the party is behind them in their efforts, and John Key can cheerfully bring in anti-worker legislation on May Day while damning Shearer with faint praise. If Labour eventually do get the treasury benches under Shearer, with 30% + add-ons, they will not only be a minority government, they will inherit an entrenched tyranny, partly of their own making. The only spark of conviction I have seen from them has been pitted against the left of their own party, not the Tories.
No, you don’t get the sense that the full force of the party is behind them.
But you do?
Well, except for a few members who throw their toys around because they didn’t get the leader they want, yes.
I get the impression that caucus are settling into their roles in the house quite well. More effectively than the nats have been of late.
At least you lot arent doing a ‘victory lap’ because a left government is a mathematical possibility.
Must Read for all concerned with health care delivery, fair assessments and with WINZ decisions based on such by designated doctors:
Welcome to our truly “independent”, “fair” and “caring” HEALTH AND DISABILITY COMMISSIONER and his staff at their office.
As of recent, some bizarre “decisions” have been made upon complaints to the Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner. A recent one was made by Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Theodora (Theo) Baker.
I looked up her background on LinkedIn, and by doing an online search, I found revealing info re her last job at “Capsticks LLB”, which is a kind of large, virtually “corporate” style law firm in the UK, which does do a lot of work for NHS, private health care providers, trusts, and organisations that work with health care providers there.
See these links for intersting information:
Theo Baker’s personal Linked In “profile” lists her background of having worked for the ‘Health and Disability Commissioner Office’ before – as “Director of Proceedings” from 2004 to 2009. Then she appears to have left that office for an “overseas experience stint” at ‘Capsticks LLB’ in the UK, presumably to get more “legal expertise” in the health sector there – see this:
http://nz.linkedin.com/pub/theo-baker/61/301/b64
See ‘Capsticks LLB’:
http://www.capsticks.com/business-areas.php
http://www.capsticks.com/risk-management-and-litigation.php
(see comment re good record for “defending” “clinical negligence cases”!!!)
http://www.capsticks.com/regulatory.php
http://www.capsticks.com/careers.php
That corporate law firm has even entered the “social housing” business now:
http://www.capsticks.com/social-housing.php
Theo Baker returned to New Zealand and did in 2011 accept an appointment by Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, to take up a new job at the ‘Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner’ as DEPUTY HEALTH AND DISABILITY COMMISSIONER. She is according to online info and their staff chart responsible for “disputes resolution”! Anecdotal info about that “disputes resolution” is, that “resolution” appears to be more about “talking over matters” than investigating and holding medical practitioners and other health professionals accountable.
Now one wonders what motivated her to come back, and why National Party member and now Minister of Health Tony Ryall appointed her.
There was controversy about the appointment of Anthony Hill as new Commissioner before, which the Otago Daily Times wrote about here:
http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/191661/independence-commissioner-paramount
(by the way, the author of that article, Stuart McLennan, was a former staff member of that HDC Office himself, as Complaints Assessor!)
On reading that ODT article, one has to ponder on Dr Des Gorman again, head of a number of key health administrations (now ACC, so far Health Workforce NZ, National Health Board, Medical School of Auckland Uni, etc.), and apparently also a member of an international organisation called the ‘Medical Protection Society’! See this for VERY interesting information:
http://www.medicalprotection.org/
http://www.medicalprotection.org/newzealand/
So Dr Gorman is a clear advocate for protecting the interests of medical professionals, and he was like other key stakeholders (government and other providers and so forth) tasked with appointing a new Health and Disability Commissioner, whom they chose Anthony Hill for.
Given this information, does anybody still show any surprise about the lack of “action” and investigations that have been taken and started under the present Commissioner and his “team”? Theo Baker appears to “blend in” well with the office staff, who now operate under a top Commissioner appointed by Tony Ryall.
Until this day, the 4th of May 2013, only 7 cases have been decided on in this year, which involved proper investigation and an official, publicised statement by that office:
http://www.hdc.org.nz/decisions–case-notes/commissioner%27s-decisions/2013
That is a marked drop from what former, more effective and committed Commissioner Ron Paterson did in the way of investigations and decisions upon complaints.
So one may wonder, does NO “medical misadventure” or other “mistake” or failing happen in the medical and treatment professions in New Zealand these days? Well, it seems like with “welfare” suddenly figures “improve” under a slash, burn and “off-loading burdens” kind of government, and the “commissioners” and other office holders they have appointed.
Any person who has had reason to make a complaint to the H+D Commissioner (numbers are rather unchanged or even up with these), and who wonders, why no satisfactory action is taken, just needs to draw their conclusions from reading and studying the info found under links show above!
Fairness, reasonableness, objectivity and accountability no longer appear to be a priority for many office holders in such key institutions in New Zealand, I am afraid, if they ever were, really!
Do not be surprised, if you are getting fobbed off, off-loaded, treated with little respect, little dignity and honesty, be this by ACC, WINZ or any health professional, acting under stress, pressures, and demands to perform responsibilities in a cost saving environment. Time to worry, really!
Strangely one recent “decision” was about a WINZ designated doctor, who is well known to be a much used and preferred “assessor” for MSD and WINZ. The HDC Commissioner appears to have let him off the hook for extremely biased and questionable conduct and unfounded diagnosis and “recommendations”. The “assessment” just happened to be “too long ago”, and his statement “contradicted the one of the complainant”, was the simple conclusion, while an abundance of evidence was apparently not considered worth looking at.
So the matter was considered to not be worth “investigating further”.
Add the dots together. New Zealand is NOT the transparent, accountable and fair place that many still think it is.
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