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Low-level industrial action has begun at Parliament after workers rejected an offer from the employer that would have slashed redundancy provisions and kept pay outside the collective, meaning wage cuts for the foreseeable future. The management is trying to please their political bosses by cutting…
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Paula Bennett: "The number of people needing an Unemployment Benefit has slowed significantly over the last month, says the Minister for Social Development and Employment." Here, let me correct that for you: "The growth in the number of people needing an Unemployment Benefit has slowed…
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From the NZEI. Great to see the low paid mobilise so effectively.
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Last week the Employment Court decided that Talleys-owned Open Country was acting illegally in locking out its unionised staff. The Court upheld the right of workers to demand a collective agreement and stated it was illegal for the Talleys to lock them out rather than…
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Visionstream completed its takeover of the Auckland and Northland patch on Thursday and it's now become clear that they've failed to meet the terms of their contract with Telecom as workers have continued to hold out despite being made redundant. The situation is just crazy.…
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I have to agree with Tim Selwyn in his criticism of Phil Twyford's peace about Moriori pacifism. Twyford writes on Red Alert: Moriori elders told us the story of chief Nunuku who made the covenant of peace, renouncing warfare and cannibalism. Hand to hand fighting…
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I love that, after studiously ignoring Bill English's housing rort, Farrar's now got unending questions for the Greens. Pretty desperate stuff too - 'sure, you paid the money back of your own accord after you yourselves discovered you had over-claimed but why did it take so…
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When they're struggling to defend Bill English's housing rip-off, or John Key's clowning, or Richard Worth's dodgy dealings, or Anne Tolley's incompetence, or Paula Bennett's bullying, righties will still often try to deflect by recalling the time the car Helen Clark was in sped in Canterbury.…
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Greetings to the good people of Dipton. Must be fun to be so much in the news lately! I hope some local entrepreneurs are working out how to make good on all the free publicity. I'd expect Dipton's high profile in the media to last…
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An interesting take on the Crafars from Bernard Hickey in the Herald. He starts off: The Crafar Farms tragedy is a microcosm of many of the things wrong about our business and investment culture. Then goes on to say: We believe land is the best…
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The Greens have a superannuation fund. That's fine. It has investments in a couple of houses. That's fine. The Green MPs have to rent somewhere to live when they're in Wellington. They claim the out of town allowance to cover those costs, which is what…
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Today's mediawatch on RNZ covers problems with the reportage of the tsunami warnings, the politics of climate change reporting, and features an interview with Mike King about his life and new Sunday night Radio Live show focusing on psychological issues and mental illness. Although it's…
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It was inevitable that Farrar would do this, although I really hoped he wouldn't. His post criticising Chris Carter for being in Samoa is a shameless attempt to make political capital off tragedy. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, Winne Laban headed to Samoa to…
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Maybe it would be good for my blood pressure to try not to be grumpy about politics on Sundays. So here is a site I found last week which both rekindled my sense of wonder, and re-calibrated my sense of perspective. The site displays a full…
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Colin Espiner also writes in yesterday's blog: The Government was slow off the mark in sending a minister up to Samoa. While Labour quickly dispatched two MPs, Winnie Laban and Chris Carter, as late as Wednesday McCully was still saying he saw no point in going…
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Colin Espiner: "To start with the ironical, Acting Prime Minister Bill English had no sooner hauled his protesting family back to Dipton for the parliamentary recess to prove that it was still really his home than he had to come straight back to Wellington again…
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Fran O'Sullivan has laid out the business elite's preferred successors to Bill English: At this stage English is not mortally wounded. But his reputation as one of the Mr Cleans of New Zealand politics has been damaged. And - more importantly for the Deputy Prime…
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Remember "Education cuts don't heal"? That was the rallying cry during the last National government. Looks like we might be needing it again this time round. National's 2009 budget was a very mixed bag for education, but it turns out that it only narrowly avoided…
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A couple of young nats and young labourites have created an online NZ Politics simulation game. It officially starts on the 3rd of October, but you can sign up now at www.politicsnz.com. It looks like it could be fun, but while I'll play initially, my…
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There is an astounding editorial in today's business newspaper The Independent (not online) titled Foolish idea spirited away. Commenting on the recent 11pm closing time fiasco for Auckland restaurants and bars, the paper slams Banks' leadership saying, 'the embarrassing back down by Auckland City Mayor…
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For my old mate Mercurius. I hope things are looking up.
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That's the headline from today's editorial in the DomPost. Th DomPost starts off: The last time this Government got into real trouble it had controversially made much-married former Winz boss Christine Rankin a families commissioner and selected a tyro to contest, almost unaided, the Mt…
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This live performance on CNN by Congressman Alan Grayson gives me some hope for the American Left. Unlike nearly every other Democrat I have ever seen Grayson doesn't back down and when the Republicans try to attack him for lowering the standard of debate (ironic…
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I want to make clear this post isn't about the relief effort in Samoa and Tonga. I think that has been well handled. It was good to see Winnie Laban and Chris Carter, both MPs with links to Samoa, were sent out there immediately to…
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That last post was probably a bit dull for a Friday morning, so now for something completely different. I was a little surprised last night to see on Scoop the following worthy publication: Plain English - No. 2, 2009 Welcome to Plain English, my regular…
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Bill English keeps claiming that he has "no pecuniary interest" in his family trust. What does that mean? A while back John A did a post on pecuniary interest. Time for Part 2 in the series. As John A noted, the main case which seems…
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Following on from yesterdays guest post on World Vegetarian Day, today is World Farm Animal Day. At the end of last year, I was a little bit involved in a documentary created by Animal Liberation Aotearoa called "Who are you having for dinner? The reality…
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bill english corruption john key national parliamentary spending
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I have to disagree with my comrade Zetetic's post arguing that it's best if Bill English stays in office. Yes, this scandal has permanently destroyed English's credibility and I can see how having a lame duck Deputy PM and Finance Minister plays into the Left's…