In recent news it has been stated that the Government has let Serco off fines totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars while at the same time it is sneaking through retrospective changes to the law to deny thousands of beneficiaries money they are otherwise entitled to.
And they’re off!
Political awakenings.
While Labour leaders are in the spotlight, a good piece on Andrew Little by Audrey Young in the weekend.
Jeremy Corbyn’s election provides a further opportunity to discuss if elections should be won by tacking to the centre or adopting a principled approach to politics.
Climate change induced sea level increases poses a huge threat to most Pacific Islands. They are seeking support for a goal of limiting temperature increases to no more than 1.5 degrees. Australia and New Zealand are insisting on sticking to a goal of no more than 2 degrees even though this will likely mean that many Islands will disappear.
Labour Party General Secretary Tim Barnett has also announced his resignation today.
Russell Norman has announced that he is resigning from Parliament to become Executive Director of Greenpeace.
Text of a speech delivered today by Andrew Little to Whanganui Grey Power where he talks about New Zealand’s tradition of standing up for our values and interests on the world stage.
In the UK, in Australia and in New Zealand conservative governments have initially refused to accept more refugees then in a matter of days they have changed their view. At the same time they have announced increased support for refugees they have announced military action against ISIS. Makes you wonder if this is based on Crosby Textor advice.
Figures have been released showing that Warner Bros were paid NZ $191 million in tax rebates to create the Hobbit Trilogy. The films were very profitable. Why is corporate welfare for profitable activity tolerated?
At a time where the need for social housing has possibly never been greater the Housing Corporation is to pay the Government a dividend of $118 million, the third largest in the Corporation’s history.
Winston’s solution to war and refugees.
According to Cameron Slater the left support the Red Peak flag coz the Nazis used to brand political prisoners with a red triangle that looks like an upside down red flag.
In both England and New Zealand conservative Prime Ministers are looking to urgently backtrack from recent refusals to do anything further for refugees.
Labour plans to seek leave to introduce an emergency bill into Parliament on Tuesday to increase the number of refugees the country can receive.
The Greens are attempting something remarkable, a plan that is economically credible, but set in the context of realistic environmental constraints. Did they succeed?
The Government is under increasing pressure to increase the number of refugees that it takes. Amnesty International’s proposal to double the number could be met by less than the cost of a flag referendum.
A climate change induced drought from 2006 to 2009 appears to have sparked the instability that has caused the Syrian Civil war. The mass exodus of citizens that we are witnessing may be the first of many climate change induced events.
John Key has ruled out an emergency intake of refugees and claims that New Zealand is doing its bit and that bit is enough.
All Black fan boy John Key opened up Parliament to allow the New Zealand Rugby Union announce this year’s world cup All Black squad on the weekend.
Black Monday on the casino Chinese stock markets wasn’t a particular problem for NZ. John Key’s short-term thinking government will be. Both us and our next biggest trading partner Australia are now heavily exposed to falling Chinese imports and falling commodity prices. That is going to hurt over the coming years.
They were, until a few months ago, the biggest company you’d never heard of. They failed in the UK, they failed in Australia and they’ve failed here in our prisons. But they are still making good profits here. They’re a company dedicated, it seems, to making a profit while failing to deliver lots of different public services. We don’t need or want them here.
The latest financial reports for the privatised companies suggests that the New Zealand Government has lost in the past twelve months $470 million in dividends it would have received had it held onto the shares.
Last night the Nats passed their widely ridiculed health and safety legislation. This morning a Waikato farm worker died in a workplace accident. Sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Simon Louisson recently made a post about National’s profligacy, and all of the debt they have racked up. Guest poster Michael disagrees with Simon and says that “Yes, National was profligate.” and “No, National should not have balanced the books.”
Chris Finlayson has criticised the New Zealand Law Society for not being aware that a change to the Health and Safety Reform Bill affecting human rights introduced after submissions had been heard was itself being changed. But all this does is reinforce the Law Society’s criticisms that such provisions should have been part of the original bill.
Dita De Boni’s possibly last column for the Herald is a must read.
“John Key’s increasingly lacklustre defence of the shambles consists of answers that sound more like satire by the day.”
The Government has snuck into the Health and Safety Reform Bill a provision that allows for withholding from the parties to court proceedings of classified security information and for decisions affecting their rights to be made on the basis of information they have no access to. This was not in the original bill and you have to wonder why such a contentious provision has been introduced so late.
Shane Reti lied about the process of ratifying the TPP. In a Press Release to the Northern Advocate, Reti states “. . . the agreement comes before parliament and opposition parties and select committees for debate and modifications . . .”
As the worm turns, the Nats are all over the place on health and safety. Andrew Little suggests that National is “terrified of the farming lobby”. Something sure has to explain the fact that they ended up fronting this crock.
As Mike Smith’s post last night relates, Rob Salmond makes the case that a properly left wing Labour Party is always going to lose. Screw that. More like a Tory Labour doesn’t deserve to win.
Today’s Herald has an excellent piece on charter schools – School cash flows to owners’ pockets. What a surprise!
A small sample of the reaction to National’s “health” and “safety” nonsense.
