ACT opposed Willis plan for policy costings unit to referee 'fiscal black hole' election debates; Officials advised extra 30,000 parent migrants would stretch infrastructure; Awful migrant abuse case
Really hope that Satnam has a full recovery. Just awful and an illustration of what the non-housing side of our economy looks like and the vision this government has for it.
I was interested to hear Corin on NatRad this morning make a point of asking interviewees on weather-related crises (there are so many of them) whether there was a feeling that this was related to climate change.
Certainly there were no deniers along the lines of "oh, it's just weather," but the mere asking of the question should be enough to encourage listeners to make the necessary connections. This is why the Trumpo-fascists are so avidly intimidating what they call the mainstream media https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5380894-paramount-trump-60-minutes-settlement/ - so the questions don't even get asked.
As an alternative proposal to what Minister Seymour has blocked, we should constrain funding of political parties to either just public funding or significantly smaller amounts capped to New Zealand individuals registered to vote (and not organisations of any kind).
This will level the playing field of funding to be more equitable. He is being cute to refuse access to resources without addressing the asymmetric funding issues and lack of transparency around lobbying.
It’s also important to note that this comment from Seymour clearly reveals he sees public agencies as a part of the government. They aren’t. They have independence and need to be free from political manipulation. Yes they must execute policy, but they are not the government. So that is him being cute in yet another way.
I don't think it would work in practice. We would just get more TPUs and NZIs etc. Like American PACS. Not constrained by laws applying to campaign costs and in fact able to funnel more money than ever before into supporting without directly supporting.
That’s possible, of course. Perhaps limits on them in some way. My point simply is that it’s all very well blocking access to a central government agency to cost campaign promises (appreciate that’s a simplified summary of the proposal), and for spurious reasons, but we also have to address the asymmetry in funding. NZ democracy is predicated on 1 vote - 1 person. It is not predicated on I vote - 1 dollar. It remains an issue, not quite an elephant, but also - with lobbyists - not something that is truly being addressed.
The Independent Electoral Commission's November 2023 report included recommended measures to limit political donations and third party lobbying. The report was received by Minster Goldsmith who has done nothing about it since.
The next three months from the coalition includes new legislation on elections - "Introduce legislation to support the timeliness, efficiency, integrity and resilience of the electoral system, and introduce a ban on prisoner voting."
What will this include - ending enrolling and then voting on election day, and bringing in voter id? Won't have compulsory voting. Very much doubt serious limits being introduced on political donations or third party lobbying.
News this week out of South Australia, of all places... the state government has banned political donations and placed a cap on spending which will be publicly funded. New candidates will receive a one off payment to help them establish. This is a bipartisan policy squarely aimed at restoring trust in politics (noted as a global problem in the press release). They will have a statutory review after 18 months, I'm pretty sure the new legislation will cover the next state election.
Solid precedent and something that could gain momentum. Being so progressive and courageous in NZ of course, we might see something similar in a century.
There's a lot happening - not all of it good. I'm grateful to BH for helping to curate it to make it easier to stumble across items of interest, or disgust (Seemore and the violence meted out to a worker asking for his wages)
This is more private bank corporate cross-ownership complex, take over of New Zealand, false economics. With its ACT Leader David Seymour, taking full advantage of his balance of power, for his corporate backers.
It is becoming very clear that the cost of these, now all completely neo liberal frog marching party's, ability to hold there places in power, is going to be the destruction of New Zealand as a social democratic entity.
However, as Bernard's post suggests, this sort of behaviour is an unfortunate inevitability with the policy direction our country has decided to take, if you assume (as I do) that people and outifits like Uber will try to get away with whatever they are allowed to get away with.
We need to tackle the big picture stuff. We need effective regulation. We need fairness.
Agreed. The bigger issue is what Bernard talks about which is larger than the gobshites who did this. But now knowing it happened, I’d like to be sure I never use that place.
Because the liberal consensus says we have to maintain the illusion that ethnic minorities are always victims, never perpetrators. We are also required pretend that there isn't an 'omerta' culture among certain communities where they deal with issues (such as having the temerity to ask for wages owed) without reference to the legal framework of their host countries. The wider purpose of this is not so much the intimidation of the individual who has been beaten, but the chilling effect it has on the migrant community at large. Mafiosi, Zionist vs non-Zionist Jews, Albanian sex-worker traffickers- the list is quite extensive.
For the sake of avoiding prejudicing any legal process, I haven't named the business. My understanding is people of interest are being talked to by the Police.
Parental visa arrivals will still end up in public system if they have an acute event. Sure, they might have insurance but they will still take time and bed space. Can't see the public system saying NO, go into private care.
And private care does not cover most acute episodes, so yes they will be a direct load on an already stretched public system. I think the Minister knows that but does not care as she sees it as an extra income stream for the public system.
How can Seymour block this? He's not the bloody Prime Minister, nor is he in the majority party. Time for Luxon to bloody well stand up and grow a pair.
The Satnam Singh situation makes Erica Stanford look like a complete idiot. Has anyone else drawn the line between Stanam's terrible story and the fact that Satnam is the almost the type of person she expects to be paying for medical insurance? Lets face it, migrants pay to come to NZ and work for minimum wage, less the 'cost' of the work visa in restaurants. Has she no clue?
Your message this morning, Bernard, is in keeping with the weather here. [I am wondering if the sun has risen!]
1. Of course DS doesn't want transparency of election budgets - why on earth did Nicola back down when she had other support? Tail and dog. Again. What is DS really holding over them?!
2. Shame on us that migrant worker abuse continues to happen here - and didn't this government reduce funding for the unit that monitored this activity? Today's example is shocking.
"there was no need for the unit and he wouldn’t trust what the officials said anyway."
He really tries to play the role of an outsider, someone should tell him he's the deputy prime minister and should be shoring up confidence in our democracy, not undermining it. It's pretty insidious these constant jabs at the public service. He's missed the point entirely also, the purpose of this as I see it is for the voting public to hold politicians accountable for promises. We're fed up with bad policy making.
Shame as I think the idea was a good one, and one that potentially would backfire on National and its fiscal cliff scaremongering.
These regional and city deals the government is pursuing seem more like an extortion racket than good governance. The sorts of benefits that the government is offering are what it should be providing to local government anyway. But it seems to be limiting this by requiring local authorities in regional and city deals to start implementing Mr Bishop's replacement for the Resource Management Act before it has even been produced to Parliament, and is trying to force PPPs and other dubious funding arrangements on local authorities in order to avoid providing direct financial support (eg transferring a share of gst revenue) to local authorities.
Though, as Keen and others say in the YT comments, Ted Cruz is a political nutjob who just happens to get a thing right once in a while, more by coincidence than by actual nouse.
Keen (I'm a long-time follower & paying subscriber) has a habit of using nutjobs like Cruz and Musk as illustrative tools for valid points, but I fear that these are unwise associations for his own credibility, as they might be seen as personal endorsements to these crazies, which I am sure they are not.
Pretty convenient by Seymour. All of ACT's policy work is house-of-cards stuff, which - to the average punter - looks and sounds like it will be great for cost-saving and productivity. But, any consideration for the flow-on effects reveals then to be monstrous, ineffective, and built around an infantile understanding of the society and economy. The trouble is, that unit would have revealed the Green's fully-coated policies and ACT's Randian fairytales
In the same way the now defunct productivity commission outlined real policy proposals for productivity growth via government investment, which didn’t suit ACTs preference for treating productivity as a moral economy issue.
There’s a consistency in attacks against independent voices and issue referees.
not getting paid the 10 weeks of wages he was entitled to. And then, getting beaten for 3 hours after asking for the money owed to him. The more I hear about the exploition of migrate workers, the more I think we shouldn't be bringing them into NZ. They come here for a better life and to make more money, that perhaps they cany get in their own country.
Really hope that Satnam has a full recovery. Just awful and an illustration of what the non-housing side of our economy looks like and the vision this government has for it.
I was interested to hear Corin on NatRad this morning make a point of asking interviewees on weather-related crises (there are so many of them) whether there was a feeling that this was related to climate change.
And was such a feeling that it was climate change related generally agreed by interviewees?
Certainly there were no deniers along the lines of "oh, it's just weather," but the mere asking of the question should be enough to encourage listeners to make the necessary connections. This is why the Trumpo-fascists are so avidly intimidating what they call the mainstream media https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5380894-paramount-trump-60-minutes-settlement/ - so the questions don't even get asked.
As an alternative proposal to what Minister Seymour has blocked, we should constrain funding of political parties to either just public funding or significantly smaller amounts capped to New Zealand individuals registered to vote (and not organisations of any kind).
This will level the playing field of funding to be more equitable. He is being cute to refuse access to resources without addressing the asymmetric funding issues and lack of transparency around lobbying.
It’s also important to note that this comment from Seymour clearly reveals he sees public agencies as a part of the government. They aren’t. They have independence and need to be free from political manipulation. Yes they must execute policy, but they are not the government. So that is him being cute in yet another way.
I don't think it would work in practice. We would just get more TPUs and NZIs etc. Like American PACS. Not constrained by laws applying to campaign costs and in fact able to funnel more money than ever before into supporting without directly supporting.
That’s possible, of course. Perhaps limits on them in some way. My point simply is that it’s all very well blocking access to a central government agency to cost campaign promises (appreciate that’s a simplified summary of the proposal), and for spurious reasons, but we also have to address the asymmetry in funding. NZ democracy is predicated on 1 vote - 1 person. It is not predicated on I vote - 1 dollar. It remains an issue, not quite an elephant, but also - with lobbyists - not something that is truly being addressed.
The Independent Electoral Commission's November 2023 report included recommended measures to limit political donations and third party lobbying. The report was received by Minster Goldsmith who has done nothing about it since.
The next three months from the coalition includes new legislation on elections - "Introduce legislation to support the timeliness, efficiency, integrity and resilience of the electoral system, and introduce a ban on prisoner voting."
What will this include - ending enrolling and then voting on election day, and bringing in voter id? Won't have compulsory voting. Very much doubt serious limits being introduced on political donations or third party lobbying.
News this week out of South Australia, of all places... the state government has banned political donations and placed a cap on spending which will be publicly funded. New candidates will receive a one off payment to help them establish. This is a bipartisan policy squarely aimed at restoring trust in politics (noted as a global problem in the press release). They will have a statutory review after 18 months, I'm pretty sure the new legislation will cover the next state election.
Solid precedent and something that could gain momentum. Being so progressive and courageous in NZ of course, we might see something similar in a century.
A post so long Peter Jackson will make 3 movies out of it!
Rubbish: quality summary of what is in the news today.
Why did you say "rubbish"?
I assumed you were referring to Bernard's post today...........
It is a remark on quantity, not quality. I think we agree that Bernard produces excellent work
Great stuff, we agree!
Hey, you guys - this is the internet! You can't just agree like that!
There's a lot happening - not all of it good. I'm grateful to BH for helping to curate it to make it easier to stumble across items of interest, or disgust (Seemore and the violence meted out to a worker asking for his wages)
Typical tactics from ACT and NZF. Resist anything that might stop the lies...
This is more private bank corporate cross-ownership complex, take over of New Zealand, false economics. With its ACT Leader David Seymour, taking full advantage of his balance of power, for his corporate backers.
It is becoming very clear that the cost of these, now all completely neo liberal frog marching party's, ability to hold there places in power, is going to be the destruction of New Zealand as a social democratic entity.
Is there a reason why the restaurant and/or its owner involved in that terrible assault cannot be named. A shame if so.
I must admit this was my first response too.
However, as Bernard's post suggests, this sort of behaviour is an unfortunate inevitability with the policy direction our country has decided to take, if you assume (as I do) that people and outifits like Uber will try to get away with whatever they are allowed to get away with.
We need to tackle the big picture stuff. We need effective regulation. We need fairness.
Agreed. The bigger issue is what Bernard talks about which is larger than the gobshites who did this. But now knowing it happened, I’d like to be sure I never use that place.
Because the liberal consensus says we have to maintain the illusion that ethnic minorities are always victims, never perpetrators. We are also required pretend that there isn't an 'omerta' culture among certain communities where they deal with issues (such as having the temerity to ask for wages owed) without reference to the legal framework of their host countries. The wider purpose of this is not so much the intimidation of the individual who has been beaten, but the chilling effect it has on the migrant community at large. Mafiosi, Zionist vs non-Zionist Jews, Albanian sex-worker traffickers- the list is quite extensive.
Have the police charged any of the perpetrators with any criminal offences?
For the sake of avoiding prejudicing any legal process, I haven't named the business. My understanding is people of interest are being talked to by the Police.
Parental visa arrivals will still end up in public system if they have an acute event. Sure, they might have insurance but they will still take time and bed space. Can't see the public system saying NO, go into private care.
And private care does not cover most acute episodes, so yes they will be a direct load on an already stretched public system. I think the Minister knows that but does not care as she sees it as an extra income stream for the public system.
How can Seymour block this? He's not the bloody Prime Minister, nor is he in the majority party. Time for Luxon to bloody well stand up and grow a pair.
The Satnam Singh situation makes Erica Stanford look like a complete idiot. Has anyone else drawn the line between Stanam's terrible story and the fact that Satnam is the almost the type of person she expects to be paying for medical insurance? Lets face it, migrants pay to come to NZ and work for minimum wage, less the 'cost' of the work visa in restaurants. Has she no clue?
Your message this morning, Bernard, is in keeping with the weather here. [I am wondering if the sun has risen!]
1. Of course DS doesn't want transparency of election budgets - why on earth did Nicola back down when she had other support? Tail and dog. Again. What is DS really holding over them?!
2. Shame on us that migrant worker abuse continues to happen here - and didn't this government reduce funding for the unit that monitored this activity? Today's example is shocking.
"there was no need for the unit and he wouldn’t trust what the officials said anyway."
He really tries to play the role of an outsider, someone should tell him he's the deputy prime minister and should be shoring up confidence in our democracy, not undermining it. It's pretty insidious these constant jabs at the public service. He's missed the point entirely also, the purpose of this as I see it is for the voting public to hold politicians accountable for promises. We're fed up with bad policy making.
Shame as I think the idea was a good one, and one that potentially would backfire on National and its fiscal cliff scaremongering.
These regional and city deals the government is pursuing seem more like an extortion racket than good governance. The sorts of benefits that the government is offering are what it should be providing to local government anyway. But it seems to be limiting this by requiring local authorities in regional and city deals to start implementing Mr Bishop's replacement for the Resource Management Act before it has even been produced to Parliament, and is trying to force PPPs and other dubious funding arrangements on local authorities in order to avoid providing direct financial support (eg transferring a share of gst revenue) to local authorities.
Re The chart of the day. This discussion with Professor Steve Keen explains a lot.
https://youtu.be/BdDUulGASBo
Though, as Keen and others say in the YT comments, Ted Cruz is a political nutjob who just happens to get a thing right once in a while, more by coincidence than by actual nouse.
Keen (I'm a long-time follower & paying subscriber) has a habit of using nutjobs like Cruz and Musk as illustrative tools for valid points, but I fear that these are unwise associations for his own credibility, as they might be seen as personal endorsements to these crazies, which I am sure they are not.
Pretty convenient by Seymour. All of ACT's policy work is house-of-cards stuff, which - to the average punter - looks and sounds like it will be great for cost-saving and productivity. But, any consideration for the flow-on effects reveals then to be monstrous, ineffective, and built around an infantile understanding of the society and economy. The trouble is, that unit would have revealed the Green's fully-coated policies and ACT's Randian fairytales
In the same way the now defunct productivity commission outlined real policy proposals for productivity growth via government investment, which didn’t suit ACTs preference for treating productivity as a moral economy issue.
There’s a consistency in attacks against independent voices and issue referees.
So, so sad about the migrate worker
not getting paid the 10 weeks of wages he was entitled to. And then, getting beaten for 3 hours after asking for the money owed to him. The more I hear about the exploition of migrate workers, the more I think we shouldn't be bringing them into NZ. They come here for a better life and to make more money, that perhaps they cany get in their own country.
This makes no sense. Deport the restaurant owner and the attackers and give the Kebab business to the beaten worker as compensation for his injuries.
I want to see Goldsmith in a stand up saying the restaurant owner will be harshly punished and see the full strength of the law.