Based on that comment in bold above, what do you think about the PM intending to leave her baby in Auckland during the week while she works in Wellington ? Power ahead of family is it ?
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Thats a very fair point. Did i read that baby was a surprise because of fertility difficulties or something like that, so the timing of baby was not planned?. Didn't try to highlight it btw? The thought was initially triggered by Bill using the more time with family line when resigning , forgetting he had been in for 27 years and the kids had all grown up and left(?) by the time he resigned.
Mark Mitchell, the 'unknown' MP who is vying for the opposition leader, should not be completely out of the memory of those who bothered to read "Dirty Politics" by Nicky Hager. Read the new public posting by Hager to see how he got to be the candidate in a safe seat, from 2011.
https://dirtypoliticsnz.files.wordpr...ics_p55-67.pdf
You mean he's cut from the same cloth as John Key? Maybe. He had just enough cash to pay delusional media right-wing lobbyists to push his barrow at the right time. However, it might be a common theme that most MPs had to start by winning a local electorate candidacy, and some are a lot more ruthless about that than others.
I was wondering how long it would take you to come up with a conspiracy theory about one or more of the candidates !!
Hipkins upsetting the Universities with his ill thought out and rushed free fees policy: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11999085
Don't think this clown will last long in the education portfolio.
What an idiot that Hipkins is, much like the rest of the COL cabinet. Davis is lost whenever in the house, Twitford well enough said and Cindy looks more in place on the covers of magazines otherwise she is lost in action. As for Shane who? and Winston where are you enough said as well. This disaster is unfolding slowly.
Dirty beyond belief, based on what ive just read what a revolting disgusting devious muck raking contaminators lusk and slater are imo ,the go to hitmen for national, guns for hire. Thanks to people like Hager to transparently reveal the trail and links of extreme indecent behaviour here. What goes on behind the trueblue scene. And this behaviour seems tacitly supported by people on this thread. Oh ,its just that you havnt read it yet?
Inconvenient truth ehh!Tacitly approve i thought so.
Good point. Hager has about as much credibility as Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth". Said 15 years ago all ice would be gone from Arctic by 2017.
I have a problem with this and question whether we should be doing business with people that treat our MPs in such a disrespectful way http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11999765
Yeh I was a bit shocked by the Machiavellian nature of what that Hager excerpt revealed. But I think you also have to understand that Hager is interpreting it and presenting it a way that magnifies his narrative.
I'm assuming all that detail was revealed through the hacking - it would seem they had access to the Facebook Messenger history.
If you bothered to inform yourself of some clear truths you'd be more up with it other than being openly blind to whats going on. hager finds the truth, fact.
regarding above i guess you didn't listen to Winston either?
WP" you've got to have a regard for cultural sensitivities around the world and regard for the environment you're in, a member of parliament would be expected to know that..... a lot of cultures dont go in for handshaking whether its male or female"
Winston was really sensible about this.
Isn't this the sensible way to treat this "incident"?
"Labour's Jo Luxton is the deputy chair of the Primary Production select committee, which held a meeting with the Iranians today.
She says as a woman it made her uncomfortable, but she understands that in her role as an MP she'll deal with situations of cultural difference."
A storm in a teacup!
:sleep:
For sure, nuff said.
I don't agree that treating people differently based on gender is a "storm in a teacup". It is not acceptable in NZ, not the way we live our lives and we shouldn't accept such treatment of our female MPs or anyone else. It is a human rights issue but we grovel for these people, both in their home country and ours, to avoid upsetting them. Sad.
We do grovel a lot. When Chinese dignitaries come, Tibet cant be mentioned and the entourage is rerouted to avoided any possible protestors etc.
Yes "glistens like a pearl at the bottom of the world" Tim Finn
But for most we are just a pimple on the backside of humanity at the bottom of the world selling bulk bin inn stuff and often treated like supermarkets treat their suppliers, even forcing them to supply and bag stuff under the supermkt brand PAM,man. Well not yet, luckily the world still believes in our fake clean green brand.
Having that we still have that Ministry of Women's Affairs says it all. So yes, we're treated differently based on gender.
Is Phil’s housing fix starting to unravel as those he trying to help what be able to afford the $600,000 houses
Phil needs to learn that to solve his (perceived) problem the state needs to become the ‘landlord’ and provide ‘affordable rentals’
Go for it Phil
I'm still staggered that $600,000 and $140,000 family income is the new standard for an affordable first house. I would have thought a target should be closer to $300,000 and $65,000 in income.
Time for Govt to incentivise old folks to move from their house into a SUM or RYM village
Fascinating day tomorrow, when National decides on a new leader (and probably co-leader).
No-one seems certain of the result.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...eadership-race
If Collins, the party favourite, is judged to be too polarising, that suggests Bridges or Adams, and Bridges with the kiwi vernacular and Paula Bennett as a possible deputy, well that's a pretty average offering. No rush, they'll be out in the cold for a while anyway ;)
You seem very hung up on Collins EZ. When you say ¨party´s favourite", do you mean the Labour Party ? Can´t be National as you also say noone seems certain of the result so nobody can really be the favourite. Whil I would not support Collins for National Party leadership, she may well have the potential to tear the strips off the PM in debates so you should be concerned if she becomes leader. Fortunately, there are no Union or other groups that decide this vote. The MPs choose their leader as it should be.
My mistake, I meant deputy leader. Some on here are happy to point out that the MPs choose their own leader in the National Party. Not super democratic is it? Especially when their early voting intentions could partly be driven by what they are likely to be offered in the new lineup. Who would know? The electorate LECs and party faithful can lobby all they want, they actually have no say.
Looks like Simon Bridges nearly has the numbers already.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...ect-new-leader
A bit of comedy with Simon Bridges.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-ple...ectid=11905515
Really? The leader is there to lead the party, as represented by it's MP's. Doesn't work to have a leader that the MP's don't have confidence in - as demonstrated by the Labour party last year!Quote:
Some on here are happy to point out that the MPs choose their own leader in the National Party. Not super democratic is it?
Dream on , it won't happen, and that was such a pathetic 60 min interview as many others are saying. 60 min used to be a great current affairs programme, becoming more click bait, trumpy like now unfort. You do sound a bit desperate there BP, maybe try some collaborating rather than diviseness, could be a tonic for you and great for your country;)
Well, this is even considering your usual standards a remarkable thoughtless reply from you. I never referred to any interview - so what is your response about? Might pay for you to review your usual posting process. I'd recommend something like
1) read the post you want to respond to
2) process the information (i.e. think)
3) Respond (but only if you can add value)
You are welcome :p
Sorry im not in your controlled world BP:t_up:
Looks like Bridges and Bennett. She had enough numbers to hold her position, not a good look for their party unfortunately imo. They really needed to refresh totally but hey i guess some are holding back until after the next election to have a crack at the opposition leadership then.
"Hyperbowl" Bennett brought some votes for Bridges with her to the selection process, maybe that was the deal. She looks a bit try-hard in the recent photos, and Bridges on TV3 this morning had to repeat several words that he'd mangled. I don't think either of them, in tandem or singly, will make much of an impression on the Labour/Green/NZFirst juggernaut. National's still out in the cold, relatively powerless. Bridges will probably stay for a while, I'm not so sure about Bennett. There's still her dirty laundry from the last election that hasn't been sorted out.
I'm pleased you think politicians should learn to speak properly. That's one point where we agree. Bridges is a shocker. If you really want to do your bit, you could get Jacinda to pronounce 'women' properly (wimmin is the correct pronunciation). She pronounces it as the singular 'woman'. I cringe everytime she mentions the word.
I also agree that Bridges and Bennett won't make much of an impression on Labour. Twyford and Hipkins will do more harm than they could ever do.
Pronunciation, get used to it :) http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/...ectid=12002280 Arnold is now history.
westerly
Well, looks like Nationals strategy works out. I guess while Bridges and Bennett are clearly not the best National has to offer, they are still orders of magnitude better than the straw man which Labour used as leader for the better part of the last term. Feel free to use up all your poison against them .... the real National leader and next PM will be appointed six weeks prior to the next elections ;p - always good to learn from the opposition.
On a hiding to nothing unfortunately. The national base will desert in droves imo, its looking like a 3 term labour govt already esp with two spuds at nationals helm.
Do you really think National will get back in after the next election? The coalition would have to be pretty inept compared to the National team (they're not), and you'd need a big swing away from Labour too. The swing is strongly to Labour at the moment. It'll take a while for KiwiBuild and other policies to start working, and I think the NZ voters will wait a few years to see what happens. Most of them aren't too worried either way. The Labour coalition is in power, they are pulling the levers, they get to set the tone in the media for once. It'll be very hard for National to make some headway, or even to keep their current ranking.
The way Climate Change issues are forefront in the news, I'm a bit happier we have at least a chance of making some progress on carbon neutrality with the new team.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/inside-t...-across-europe
Remember though Jacinda is pregnant and once she has the baby and takes maternity leave all sorts of things can happen and the 6 weeks can extend to 6 months or even longer. Hormonal changes can upset the best of intentions. Once Peters becomes leader of the COL then I think it will be a different scenario and National will take over again. That said I do not think Bridges and Bennet will be the 2 come election 2020.
I think the supporters on here are getting a little bit ahead of themselves. I give it to Jacinda that her smiles have been great and she has captivated the media and some of the public. But that is not what people will vote on come next election.
So far this Government hasn't actually done much except sign the TPP that they all spoke against before the election and also made a whole lot of announcements, mainly about new inquiries or committees.
Shane Jones seems to be running ahead with money for Winston's desired Northland electorate and his own wanted Whangarei electorate. Oh yes and don't forget his decision to give money to an energy project down the West Coast run by someone already under investigation by the SFO. How many more issues will we see like this when a politician is given $ 1 Billion per year to hand out to his pet projects. Add to that the billion trees he said he is going to plant, just forgot to mention most of them are already being planted by private enterprises and will continue to be done by them.
Mike Hosking has got his finger on the pulse in this article http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=12003652
It won't be Bridges winning the next election, it will be this incoherent lot losing it.
Mike hosings is on the same level as judith collins mate in Whale Oil, finger is somewhere else than on imo.
The money has been stopped as i understand it while checks are being done.
Simon bridges was the guy who gave $50,000 away to that entity in 2017 lol, not recoverable
Get your seeing eye dog to have alook at what labour are doing and the things that have happened in the first 100 days plus.
The coalition is strong and the latest polls show where the real bleeding is.
Sir Owen Glenn pulls his funding of $4.5 million for the Waikato rural medical school project due to frustrations with the new Government and political indecisions and interference from them. Surely its not Winnie holding a grudge and delivering a personal payback. NO
It will be a real shame if this 3rd medical school in the country doesn't go ahead with its focus on primary and rural health care. It is much needed.
"the university relies heavily on Waikato Hospital for student placements and Fraser, the dean of the medical and health science faculty, called the proposal "an ill-considered and expensive folly" in a media statement.
"The addition of up to 200 new medical students into the system would put severe pressure on the national training pipeline," Fraser said.
Glenn playing politics because doubts have been expressed about the ability to cope with 200 extra students. No mention of Peters but never miss an opportunity?
Seems like the Govt. has every reason to be cautious about the proposal.
westerly
Silly comment westerly that we can not cope with 200 extra students. We are in desperate need of much more medical doctors and as BP points out, we'er currently importing a whole lot of them. Auckland and Otago Universities have lodged a competitive bid so the debate is hardly about whether there is need for the students or not.
The Waikato DHB, the University, Owen Glenn, Waikato politicians (Labour and National) and many others agree with this proposal.
Yes thats been the national easy fix for a long time, import people, clog up our country, infrastructure , housing , prisons you name it, what a mess they've left.
I did not say we could not cope with 200 more students, that was a quote by the Dean of the Medical and Health Science Faculty at Waikato University. He was saying the Waikato hospital could not cope with training an extra 200 students. I assume some training is done at the hospital
westerly
So you mean the department (not SB) paid $50k in 2017 BEFORE the SFO investigation, for work conducted in 2016? $50k is also less than the amount where he would personally be alerted to said payment.
The moral of the story is, make sure as minister you are privy to every transaction and business dealing AND make sure you can see into the future. That's not something any party has been able to do.
The big picture at Waikato Uni is that VC Quigley is pretty far-right and has already effectively delivered a pay decrease to staff by charging for their parking for the first time, and students too. On top of that, he's keen on crippling the Music department and other areas deemed not to be exciting enough in terms of volume. Waikato Uni already has a fairly new Law School, competing with other universities, and are we sure we need a lot more lawyers? Auckland and Otago have brought in a proposal for more Rural Doctor training, and in view of their existing expertise in the area, it would probably be a better bet, and cheaper.
I raised a glass of beer to Bill English's departure today. I thought his JK Baxter metaphor was interesting. Taking a chisel to NZ over the 10,000 days he was a politician. Perhaps I might suggest it was a pretty blunt chisel, maybe a cold chisel, and it might well have been a pick axe, or in view of his penchant for irrigation, a water blaster.
National are the guys who removed Labour's R&D tax credits, accessible by all SMEs, and instead doled out $5mill per company in grants to those who were of a sufficient scale to meet the criteria of R&D spend. So just tens of companies in NZ. The result of that was seen in the Waikato Times today, BBC Technologies sold for $67mill to an overseas buyer who already owns Compac. How long before BBC disappears offshore like Endace did (back in local hands recently, based in Auckland), with no compunction for the company shareholders to refund any of their taxpayer R&D grants, and of course no tax to pay on the capital gain either. Like Trademe before them, this company was probably due to run into some decent profit, and would have had to pay some ongoing tax. Cue the sale. BBC also accessed several other grants over the years, they got pretty good at it.
If small NZ is to encourage R&D, let's do it at the initial stage, bring through hundreds of new companies, each of which will need to gear up and employ people to do their research and develop IP. So that's through R&D tax credits, easily the best option. Labour said they'll bring it back.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/inn...rossparty-deal
Clare Curran donky deep in shonky politics. If this is the level of Labour ministers well they have big problems.
https://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2018/03/c...t-melissa-lee/
Whale oil the lowest of the low , a mercenary dirt gun for hire imo.National still up to their dirty tricks politics still?
Great to see consumer confidence the highest in 5 months
NZ consumer confidence rises to 127.7 in February - ANZ survey
IME, the issue isn't so much the lack of locally produced talent, it's that said talent can gain much higher levels of pay and experience overseas so that's where they naturally head. To fill the gap, we must recruit foreign talent. All highly skilled industries are experiencing this issue.
So let's get this right. It's very bad for a new contract staffer in the PM's Office to speak on a RadioNZ panel using an expired work address, but it's OK for a permanent staffer like Jason Eade to work from an office physically close to the PM and feed all sorts of inside dirt to Whaleoil for years to destabilise the opposition and usurp normal processes?
I can see why the Nats aren't too keen on RadioNZ. On that station, they actually take the time to look properly at important issues, and give a balanced view. So what if it generally points to leftie policies being more suitable, or people being more aware of issues around NZ. To give them credit, the 2017 National Govt unfroze the longstanding $32m annual funding for RadioNZ, and they deserve the $2.84m increase.
Labour proposes a bigger step, though.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/elect...c-broadcasting
talking about whale oil...
this response by cam to a reader would be interesting reading for a lefty....
might be a few MPs getting worried
https://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2018/03/r...mails-respond/
The real reason John Key left parliament, yep I'd like to know that one. He is such a loose cannon, Cameron Slater. He's left the National Party, I would guess he knows a lot more about the National MPs and members than internal Labour/Green/NZFirst business, so the risk is going to be on the National Party in future. It does seem he has a right to feel personally aggrieved about some aspects of National Party behaviour.
Im sure they will buy him back at some stage; he's just bargaining in advance, good move imo, Blue and dirty politics forever linked.
You mean he's been on the sauce?
Now Matthew Hooton and Steven Joyce are having a ding-dong in the press.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politi...n-reports.html
Interesting that having a lack of power seems to cause this fractious behaviour. They've got most of nine years to sort it out.
A snippet from Mickey Savage from The Standard
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXOnuSBVAAAoxSL?format=jpg
A stunned mullet with only 4 votes according to Hooten.
NZ PM Jacinda Ardern puts Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull in the shade
She ended her speech with a great rugby analogy. She said we are "locked in a great rolling maul: furiously energetic; sometimes fast, sometimes slow; a bit messy, with different players coming and going, and completely incomprehensible to outsiders.
"But those in the mix know exactly what they're doing – and we're moving steadily forward toward a distant try line."
And for the fearful and misinformed on this thread
"It was a chance to dispel some of the myths that have built up about her "socialist' agenda."
That's a very pithy reply, comrade FP. Would you care to elaborate on which part of the dreaded socialist spectrum you think Jacinda is on, apart from slightly left of centre? I don't think she's advocating for the state to control all goods and services in NZ. Or market socialism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism
The mention of "comrade" says it all really.
I heard today that today being census day, the minister in charge is out of the country - and therefore should not be counted!:confused:
Sir Michael Cullen believes most of the Nation's ills can be fixed with new taxes. The environment, global warming and obesiety to name just a very few. Maybe just smart politicking from the old master to not attract too much attention on his wealth tax idea.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/ind...michael-cullen
Looks like the new government is already quite busy to run our economy into the ground:
http://act.org.nz/free-press-monday-...-act-disaster/
The government proposal is to stop utilities incl Telco's (with more than 25% overseas ownership - which is basically everybody) to buy land for new substations or cell phone towers without long winded OIO approval. They want to stop retirement village providers and most development companies (with more than 25% overseas ownership - which is basically all of them) to buy new land (without OIO approval).
OIO approval takes these days 6 months if the applicant is lucky. Given that the number of applications are likely to more than thirty-fold with this proposed bureaucratic nightmare (thanks Jacinda ...) - use your imagination how this will speed up any new housing developments ;).
This happens if ideological blindness (Labour) and xenophobia (NZ First) wins over common sense.
Just one example of the things to come? Remember - it rarely gets better ...
I'll have to raise a glass to Steven Joyce, too. It's getting crowded on the National Party valedictory speeches podium.
Some Nats are worried about losing some institutional knowledge.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...leadership-bid
Sounds like Joyce was not liked by many in National, i wonder who's next in this cleanup, hope Bennett stays on for a while :).
Core LOgic has ripped the Government's "Housing Stocktake Report" apart for inaccuracies. Says they use the average building cost per sqm for 230 sq.mtrs (average size) houses which is around $ 2,000/sq.mtr.
But the "affordable" houses, much smaller and often on more than one level, they claim cost more than $ 3,400/sq.mtr. to build
Furthermore, the claim costs such as fees, land costs, admin costs, groundwork, Branz levies and development contributons are grossly udner estimated or absent. I suppose its easy to come up with an "affordable" number by leaving out most costs.
I can't find that report, I guess it's for subscribers to CoreLogic. But the KiwiBuild programme is meant to be disruptive in the building methods area, as well as leveraging (in part) off crown land. There will be no need to make a big profit margin, as long as the housing capital is turned over. So maybe there is no need to work too hard on the costs yet, it's more putting the methods in place and organising or training up for the workforce needs.
Steven Joyce sticking hard to his story on TV this morning, but does admit that if he'd been given the shadow Finance job he'd still be there. National's caucus is collectively taking the opportunity to clear the decks.
Reading the Waikato Times paper today and considering the tyre fire in Amberley the other day, it looks like National's plan to get more established tyre shredders in NZ hasn't been actioned yet. But here's a case for govt to lead the investment to remove old tyres from the environment. Pity they can't leave the shredded rubber intact instead of burning it. It can be used to help make roading surfaces.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-ze...ling-plan.html
Jacinda and Davis. Gutless and pathetic, do not even dare to come on Newstalk zb. Davis is an intellectual lightweight so I can understand his reluctance. Cindy is all sugar an spice (vogue and children) but no substance. Up your game Labour or you will be out next election.
Interesting Joyce never had an electorate seat. Andrew Little received plenty of criticism for never having won an electorate seat but the National supporters were strangely quiet about their finance minister being in the same situation.
Nick Smith must be concerned about his position.
westerly
Yes and he doesn't want to go.:t_down:
Int that the first two to go were the big black hole liars to the whole of NZ. I feel my/our posts about this added to the thousands of others around the country to give the full picture and helped Bill, the National party and Bridges and Joyce and co to make the logical easy decisions. And remember Simon Honesty and Integrity wins out in the end.
I don't think Nick is too concerned. He's a very active and good electorate MP and I think he's happy serving in that capacity for the term. Both Cullen (from memory) and English vacated their electorate seats to focus on the full time job of being Finance Minister.
Little tried to become an electorate MP but always lost !! I think Little is probably one of the smarter Ministers in this Government but just wasn't a Leader.