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Finance Minister Bill English has told doctors, teachers, and other public servants that they will not be getting pay-raises when their collective contracts come up for renewal. That is constitutionally outrageous and a big political mistake. Ministers are not allowed to direct public sector pay negotiations.…
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I know this free condoms idea is just a remit, not Labour Party policy, but it's exactly the kind of thing that the right has used to drive a wedge between Labour and it's working-class base. It is a liberal idea that conservatives on the…
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On Thursday Animal Rights Activists did a protest outside the Norwegian Embassy against the fur trade there. This was to support the campaign in Norway, where activists have just released an investigation into 50 fur farms. During the protest a man was observed sitting in…
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There was an interesting preview paper published back in January by by Peter Doran and Maggie Kendall Zimmerman. It sheds light on how the scientists who work in the field view the probability of climate change happening. It is pretty clear from the results that…
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If you're looking for something to do on a Sunday that's a bit more uplifting than arguing politics, why not check out some NZ literature instead? This is brilliant: 1000 New Zealand classics released as eBooks New Zealanders can now freely download—and store in their…
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There are a couple of things that I hadn't realised about the rather strange changes to the Auckland super-city boundaries. They are just weird and show a strange idea of what Auckland. About 50% of Auckland's water comes from the Hunua's. Surely the provision of…
act auckland supercity local government national/act government
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Following on from the workers' rights/class war theme of the last few days, here's an old classic:
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Goff is using Labour's national conference to swallow some dead rats, distancing himself and the party from the social reform agenda of the previous Labour government. Good. People like the socialist element of Labour's agenda - retention of public assets, nationalisation of important infrastructure (Kiwirail),…
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The most interesting feature of the Labour conference so far has been from Jim Anderton. It looks like the Progressives are now able to have dual membership with Labour. However he also talking about better organisation of the party towards campaign planning. Some of his…
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Phil Goff is quoted today as saying "we made mistakes" with policies that were perceived as "nanny state": Asked if he would apologise to the conference for the nanny state policies, Mr Goff replied: "I think we want to draw a line under the past…
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A coalition of unions, Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party, and community groups has come together to support Darian Fenton's Redundancy Protection Bill. There's a website, facebook group, petition, and other ways you can get involved. The Bill, due to be debated later this month,…
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We're seeing a new pattern in work relations emerging. The big employers, emboldened by having their party in power and using the recession as an excuse, are attacking workers' pay and conditions. But this isn't 1991 redux. The unionised workers of today have joined voluntarily…
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There's a nasty dispute brewing at Open Country Cheese involving a six week lockout threat, some highly aggressive anti-union PR, calls for the Government to gut labour laws and major links between the company and senior National Party figures. It's early days yet, but this…
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Remember the iconic photos of the first Labour Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage and his cabinet celebrating the introduction of State Housing by carrying furniture into the first home at 12 Fife Lane, Miramar? State housing in New Zealand was set up to provide relief…
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Today, 200 Telecom engineers in Auckland and Northland will be fired. Not because there's no work for them but because Telecom and it's $7 million CEO want to cut 'labour costs' - that's workers' incomes, families' livelihoods to you and me. Here's how Telecom's scam…
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No Right Turn and Frogblog both have pieces up on Labour's decision to vote in support of the Government's moves to gut the RMA last night. It's disappointing to say the least. I'd be interested to hear from some Labour MPs why they voted this…
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Former National Party leader Dr Don Brash and Auckland Mayor John Banks love making the big bucks. And what better way to do it than hitting the most vulnerable in society. Today the National Party stalwarts are after mental patients. The Herald notes: KiwiSaver targets…
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The Labour party conference is on in Rotorua this weekend, so I'll be heading there Friday morning. If the writers and readers want to catch up then I'll generally be around the Mt Albert delegation - they can direct you towards my grey hairs. I'm…
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Socialist Aotearoa have organised a Telecom solidarity fundraiser on Friday night. Not for $7m man Paul Reynolds, but for the lines engineers his contractors are busy laying off with no redundancy and trying to force into sham dependent contracts. If you're in Auckland head along…
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The economists think the recession is probably over (for now). If you're one of the lucky ones, you may very well be thinking 'well that wasn't so bad' but what does the end of the recession mean? All it means is that the economy is has stopped shrinking.…
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"I'd really like to know what Treasury is on for it to be so bullish about the economy, as it must be good stuff." - Federated Farmers press release, 09, Sep. 2009 The day after Herald and TV headlined a Treasury report announcing a recovery,…
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r0b's post on John Key's 'uprising' comment (which was written last night) seems grimly ironic in light of this morning's news. Someone has thrown some kind of incendiary device, like a molotov cocktail, through a window of Key's electorate office. Obviously, such actions are to be…
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There was an odd little piece in The Herald on Tuesday: Uprising would force Super City changes: PM Prime Minister John Key says the Government will back down on the new Super City boundaries for Rodney and Franklin if there is enough of a community…
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National and the business elite led by former Telecom chairman Peter Shirtcliffe (who led the pro-FPP campaign back in the 1990s) want to replace MMP with a voting system called Supplementary Member. SM is kind of a halfway house between FPP and MMP. Rather than…
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An email doing the rounds of the women's networks found its way to me today. It's link to an article about the late Sophie Elliott, fomerly of Otago University and the essay she wrote on equity and and equality. Sophie may have been heading to…
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Fran O'Sullivan has rather given the game away on the MMP referendum. Frog has explained it so well, I can't do better than repost it: Holding a referendum on MMP was discussed at cabinet on Monday 31 August 2009. Yesterday Ms O'Sullivan informed Newstalk ZB drive time…
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John when you say 'overtly' you mean 'overly'. Like on Monday when you told Paul Henry "I'm not overtly stressed..". Sometimes, you say something like 'we're not overtly planning X' when you just mean 'we're not planning X'. Here's a little hypothetical test. What's wrong with…
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John Key has admitted he didn't bother to get detailed briefings before sending our SAS to kill and possibly die for a corrupt regime in Afghanistan: Hon Phil Goff: Was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, John Allen, correct in stating on Q+A on Television New Zealand…
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That prolific climate campaign - Sign On - has been casting its mark across the Capital, with a new motif popping up on some unlikely arms and paws. The blue cast, which appears to have replaced Keisha and Lucy as the face of the campaign,…
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National put Parliament back into urgency yesterday. It is ramming through the extension to the retail deposit guarantee, the RMA amendments, changes to the Biosecurity Act (and something else that escapes my memory). The RMA changes are particularly contentious but we won't get to know…