The Wellington Regional Council has contracted its bus services but not protected its drivers’ incomes. They stand to lose an average of $200 a week.
And Wellington risks losing the great public transport system it is so proud of.
Two public meetings are being held next week to shine a light on the government’s Education (Tertiary Education and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. […]
The Government is attempting through coercion and cajoling to get Auckland Council to privatise Ports of Auckland.
Some time in the next 12 months it is likely that the forgone dividend payments and loss in share value from the Power Company shares and Air NZ share sale will be greater than the amount received, only three years after the sale.
The fiction that National is doing a competent job of managing the economy is entirely due, now that the boom from Dairy and Christchurch rebuilding is ending, to immigration and rising house prices.
They are now riding a bolting horse that they cannot dismount, caused by their own inaction.
It’s naked panic now. In response to the crisis that isn’t a crisis Key is going to overrule the council that his government created and screw over Auckland democracy just like he screwed over Canterbury. What do you think of that Aucklanders?
Lynton Crosby on his knees receiving a knighthood for services to conservative politics. To me, this really signals who is running the show, who is still running the show, and what their values are.
Flogging off Kiwibank is not an option.
‘ In between slurping simpers during his most recent session of MediaWorks virtual fellatio, John ‘The Liar’ Key managed to express concern for […]
“There is a pristine piece of beach and bush in the heart of the Abel Tasman up for private sale. Together we can buy it and gift it to NZ.”
It has become clear that John Key’s recent SOTN speech was delivered to an audience that paid for the privilege of attending.
How many more lies will John Key tell today in his so-called State of the Nation address? Virtual chocolate fish to whomever guesses the closest number.
Serco’s contract to run the Mt Eden Corrections Facility will not be renewed when it expires next year.
Julian Robertston, a US billionaire who made his money with hedge fund Tiger Management, Merryl Lynch’s largest customer when John Key was working there, is the man behind privatisation trojan horse Teach First (NZ).
To date, TeachFirst(NZ) has received more than $6.4 million dollars of public money and, as a result, has infested 18 schools with dozens of so-called “teachers”.
That National Ltd™ is currently in the process of giving away New Zealand’s sovereignty in areas such as energy resources and related regulations, explains its contempt for the environment and the talking down of expectations regarding climate change.
About time the Police got around to becoming a “very evidence based” service. Building great relationships with academia is a sensible way to start.
The Law? That’s not for Cabinet Members, the Law is for the lazy malcontents who don’t want to work hard.
Isn’t it amazing how many Ministers can’t wait to front up to the media when they are selling. But when it comes to after sale service they just don’t want to front?
This week we have had the release of the Priestley Report into the escape of Phillip Smith which details a litany of problems within Corrections and overnight there have been reports of rape and assault on a person moved from segregation in Serco managed South Auckland Correctional Facility. But no sign of Corrections Minister Sam Lotu Iiga. Where is he?
One News has discovered that over the past five years Housing Corporation has divested itself of 2,472 houses at the same time that the need for social housing has escalated.
Twelve months on from the last election and that brighter future we were promised has not happened.
Under Unitec’s new vision students will be known as Customers. Student services will be outsourced (overseas)
Aspiration statementTo be a world leader in contemporary applied learning and an agent of positive economic and social change.
Recent focus has been on the tragedy and incompetence of a Serco run private prison. But problems extend further than that, into the entire way NZ views its prison system. We need fundamental penal reform.
The Friday afternoon bad news dump is on with news that Education Minister was recommended to close a poorly performing charter school. She has elected not to do so and to instead give the school extra money.
Nick Evans was alleged to have been dropped from a height while being supervised in a Serco run prison. He was transferred to another prison and shortly after this died from injuries apparently inflicted from the dropping. Yet there is no police investigation and Minister in charge Lotu-Iiga says the allegations are “unproven” without making the most basic of inquiries.
Video from the urgent debate today in Parliament concerning Serco and that company’s failure to abide by basic standards of imprisonment.
The Social Housing Reform (Transaction Mandate) Bill allows designated Ministers to sell off state houses. Currently Housing New Zealand has no such power. Interestingly however this Government could introduce a Bill with criteria to enable sales to be signed off by the CE of Housing New Zealand but instead they are seeking that power for themselves. But within it there is a fishhook for iwi. UPDATE: comment from Turei and response from Bennett
John Key’s interview on Morning Report this morning suggests that National does not know what it is doing with its social housing policy. Are we approaching a situation where profits from New Zealand social housing is going to underwrite the cost of Australian social housing?
One News has reported that the Government is on the verge of introducing Social Bonds whereby investors in social services will be rewarded if targets are met.
Sky City has managed to persuade the Government to allow it to build a cheaper building while retaining the same valuable gambling regulatory concessions. Update: and the Government appears to have made further contractual concessions to Sky City.
Back in March 1988 David Lange had a clear idea about what lay ahead for New Zealanders as the long-term consequences of Roger Douglas’ psychopathic worshipping of the metaphysical Invisible Hand gradually materialised.
The Auditor General found that no one in National Ltd™, the Māori Party, Te Puni Korkiri, or any other of its apologists can detail exactly what Whānau Ora is supposed to be doing, provide evidence of its outcomes, or explain why up to 33% of the money is being paid in “administration”. In other words, Whānau Ora is a shambles. And dodgy.
The Government has appointed Paula Restock to head an expert panel tasked to review Child Youth and Family. Even now the intent appears clear, outsource functions and cut costs. But if they were determined to improve matters they should reduce child poverty.
The social democracy of my youth has radically collapsed into our current culture of individualism, privatisation and personal greed.
Sky City is doing what Rio Tinto and Warner Brothers have done in the past. Threaten to walk away from a deal unless the Government writes you a big cheque …
