I remember reading that article a few days ago and it brought such a smile to my face.
“NEW Zealanders have voted for change – a leap from Left to Right – with all the enthusiasm and reasoning power of a doped slug.” Is one of my favorite quotes as well as “Bring Barack Obama to mind — strip him of charisma and vision, then douse him in White King — and you’ve got NZ’s new PM.”
John, what are you basing your “logic” on? Have you actually read the article this post was set aside for, it doesn’t seem like it. It seems like your trolling for… well i’m sure you have your reasons.
He doesn’t realise Vinsin that the world media thinks we are just a stupid little country that needs a reminder that voting is actually a responsibility. Voting for change for change sake has the world laughing at us and maybe we just realise how great this country is… perhaps now, was.
New Zealand voted for change simple. I think most of us on the right can say one reason we won was because New Zealand doesn’t like their governments in power for too long hence one reason Labour lost.
Labour won the Australian election after a strong Liberal-National coalition and over there you couldn’t exactly justify the change either.
I never understood arguments from the left saying because other countries went left New Zealand should stay left. The reason Australia went left was that they too were tired of their long-term government. And because of their system, that resulted in a massive defeat.
Its simply the removing of long-term governments in English speaking countries. It’ll be interesting to see what Britain does. They may indeed become the exception and not change governments.
Lampie – I am not thuck, just a sales manager on over $100K. I am a rich prick actually.
I was re calling my days from Stage 1 Logic at Uni.
Please tell me how Greens would get NZ out of the mire we are in, ohhhhhhhh please. By tax, tax, tax to pay for the poor thick people out there? Job creation would ruin the environment, we need a committee to decide.
Wouldn’t worry too much what the Ozzies say – their economy is going pear-shaped just as quickly as ours, if not faster.
I really hope they have invested their squillions from mineral exports into things like producing fresh water and food – at least we (still, just) have enough of those things over here.
I always find it amusing, but slightly sad, how whenever someone overseas publishes something negative about NZ the media, including bloggers, are so quick to publish it.
Why do they (you) feel they (you) need to do that?
Wow John, $100k plus? Can I have your babies, you sound purrrrfect!
But seriously, people who talk about their enormous “salaries” in front of strangers. Like, whatever 🙂
do I take it how the last nine years of national would be dealt by you in the same sense as your commentary regarding Labour..?
You write of “longterm government”. Nine years.. lucky kiwis huh. Yeah, seriously, for instance the Thatcher years in UK are no mean respecter of justice for Britain’s prevailing mess.. financial, economic and you name it.. Like Blackpool rock ‘the thatcher’ went the whole way through..
Something you could never say for Prime Minister Clark and her Deputy Dr. Cullen.. or are ever likely to say for their successors.
Jill, spot on. Like the magpie that swoops on anything flashy, my fellow New Zealanders could not get past the shiny new political offering that is John Key. His forex career was king but bereft of any investigation into it, we were offered crafted populist pieces about the “state house kid” made good.
Questions in the last two weeks of the campaign over the contradictory timeline of his earliest career in New Zealand were readily glossed over by media. The contradiction was simply explained away as “he had his dates wrong” when he said in a NZ Herald article last year he had left Elders for Bankers Trust in 1987 three months before H-Fee and three months before the October 87 sale of NZ Steel.
We were asked to take it as given the NZ Herald had corrected the year he resigned from Elders to 1988 in an article in February; although making a 1988 resignation possible to support his 1991 NCA H-Fee testimony, the article committed much of it’s February copy to the lucrative working relationship he had with Bankers Trust New York trader Andrew Krieger. Considering Krieger resigned New York’s Bankers Trust in December 1987, a 1988 relationship with Krieger would have being impossible.
In the wake of Saturday’s election result, Key has said he’d “rather be a loser, than a liar”. It looks like he’s mastered the first; let’s see how long it takes him to master the second.
John: ” I am not thuck, just a sales manager on over $100K. I am a rich prick actually.”
………given your job probably will not survive the crisis looming like a tsunami round our shores, you may have to go into buzzness yourself, and become a struggling prick. Failing that you may have to go on the dole with the rest of the sales team and join the newly formed but rapidly growing queues of thuck. Good luck.
Dont forget remove the F from Failure and you get Sailure.
My statement was simply New Zealand doesn’t like long-term governments. New Zealand favours 2-3 term governents. National right now should look forward to winning the 2011 election. (Though its early days so who knows).
If National does get two terms. Then they will really have to fight for three terms. If they do get three terms the probability is they get removed like Helen Clark’s Labour government only got three terms. Because I don’t think New Zealand wil have a government in for longer than three terms. And likely the same arguments the people on the left used will be used by the right. I think New Zealand did want change in 2008 but I also think many were simply tired of Labour.
Lets say National enjoys the success that Labour did from 1999-2008 then the same will be in effect. New Zealand will desire change but maybe most important they just want a new government and have become tired of the last government.
Your glee over that nasty article strikes me as the start of *your* “NZ Sux” campaign.
That is, I’m fairly confident that you don’t consider the NZ public to have the reasoning ability of a doped slug but are cynically willing to promote an article that says so now that it suits you to do so. Hypocritical.
Off topic : So Osama bin Laden’s son wants to live here, this could this be the first foreign affairs test for John Key and the world media is taking an interest in this case.
Sorry Vinsin. The fact National won this election as decisive as they did seems to me people wanted a change. People wanted a change and were tired of the Labour government. Both the Howard government and Clark’s government enjoyed excellent economical times. They played it safe with neither going too extreme. But both fell victim to a mood for change.
The vote turnout was lower compared to 2005. Clearly South Auckland voters felt change was in the air, thus they chose not to turn-up. Basically it was South Auckland and Waitakere that chose not to turn up for the polls. Otherwise voter turnout was rather the same as 2005. So sorry but I don’t think your argument rings true. New Zealand gets TIRED OF LONG TERM GOVERNMENTS AND OVERTIME THEY WANT CHANGE. How clear can I be?
Not much in the way of introspection as to why labour lost. Still that will come in time. In the meantime I expect, must like a jilted husband left wing posters will blame everyone but themselves. Tumeke is a precusor to this.
It’s funny how a couple of weeks ago the Aussie media were just the propaganda wing of a war supporting, racist colonial nation and now we should all defer to their wisdom about our new government.
Gc, I agree with you, “over time people get tired of a long term government and want a change.” (In government.)
What I find problematic is this vague use of the word “change.” If you mean change in government then fine, but you need to say this.
“How clear can i be?” You can be clearer by saying, “change in government,” not just “change,” change can mean anything and everything. This is why I have problems with this constant use of the word because if people were really voting for change then perhaps we would have seen an Act led government. National has been called Labour-lite, moderate centrist, and by Wodney, “more left leaning then Helen” so to say again, ‘did NZ’ers really vote for change?’ (When i say change I mean real changes to policies, thinking and methods.) Or – and this is probably more correct – did they vote for less of the same?
Another point that should probably be made here is that National only managed to grab an extra 6% of the party vote. The support National had in the last election was around 41% and I get the feeling that they could probably described as core supporters. Now then, I don’t think they would’ve voted differently – or for this fantastic word change – because the core support believes in the ideals, political ideology and views of their particular party. So, once again I don’t think we can say without any doubt that NZ voted for change; this is too simplistic, we could probably say 6% voted for “change” and if we add in Act’s party vote – let’s just round it up to ten – we can say 10% of NZ voted for a change in government. It was enough to push the Nats over the line but not enough for me to buy this “NZ voted for change” slogan your parroting.
‘Clearly South Auckland voters felt change was in the air, thus they chose not to turn-up.Basically it was South Auckland and Waitakere that chose not to turn up for the polls.’ This isn’t a vote for change, this a vote of apathy. I’m sorry but your argument that not voting is a vote for change (National) is ludicrous.
It may seem like i’m being a stickler for clarity but if there’s one lesson we all should take from this election result it’s to never underestimate the power of language. I, like a lot of people, didn’t realize how effective this word, “change,” was at getting people to pay less attention to actual policies. The Nats did well to borrow Obama’s slogan and we (us lefties) underestimated it’s appeal.
Jill Singer reckons the New Zealand public has shown the reasoning of a “doped-up slug” when voting. Since she’s started with the insults, I’d say she should probably leave the politics alone and stick with book reviews, celebrity gossip and such.
It is offensive to suggest that New Zealanders don’t know what they’re doing when they exercise their democratic right to chose. Jill Singer knows no more about my motivations in voting than I know about her last bowel movement.
As an opinion piece, her article is fine. If it’s supposed to be real journalism, she should have made that bowel movement directly onto paper.
any chance you telling us what a ‘chose’ is..? and yes, quite correct of you to say you have “motivatuons”.. a little shrill, however, to infer that yours and yours alone are the modus operandi of kiwi voters on the last election day..
When John Key, at the end of election night, burbled euphorically of “New Zealanders in their hundreds of thousands” voting for change, it was a total exaggeration. Tens of thousands, maybe; while the core supporters of the left and the right voted pretty much as they always have, in accordance, rightly or wrongly, with their beliefs.
The floating voters in the middle are the ones who decide an election, and they unfortunately include the greedy (or, I must admit, the needy), who will vote for the best short term bribe, the confused and ignorant, who are trying to do their best and hope they haven’t made the same mistake as last time, and the gamblers and pin-stickers, who think elections are a sort of lotto – and they might just get lucky.
NEW Zealanders have voted for change – a leap from Left to Right – with all the enthusiasm and reasoning power of a doped slug.’ Is one of my favorite quotes as well as “Bring Barack Obama to mind — strip him of charisma and vision, then douse him in White King and give him a sex change — and you’ve got NZ’s OLD PM
“NEW Zealanders have voted for change – a leap from Left to Right – with all the enthusiasm and reasoning power of a doped slug.’ Is one of my favorite quotes as well as “Bring Barack Obama to mind — strip him of charisma and vision, then douse him in White King and give him a sex change — and you’ve got NZ’s OLD PM
“Off topic : So Osama bin Laden’s son wants to live here, this could this be the first foreign affairs test for John Key and the world media is taking an interest in this case.”
Simple, has physical attributes suitable for fruit picking and can wipe his own arse, he’s in!!!
Vinsin – You are right on the mark, I think the apathy was put there by the brain washing and negativity of the media (and the polls) in the leadup which had a huge influence in the outcome of the election.
I have to agree with Jill. I have never lived in a country were people in general were so stupid and uninformed about politics and so dumb in their reasons to vote.
Someone said in another article that everywhere else people put the Wall street bankers on shelves of ice and pushing them into the ocean and in NZ they give them more power.
No Jimbo,
People here really are incompetent and the suckers who voted for JK deserve what they are going to get, it’s just too bad that the people who voted against him are going to get hurt too.
In the kiwi defence I’d have to say that I have also never lived in country were the mass media were so controlled but in a time were we have the internet to do more research this should not have mattered that much.
travellev, if you think New Zealanders are so stupid and uninformed, then feel free to return the intelligent and informed country you came from.
What a horrible, nasty description of New Zealanders: “Incompetent and suckers”. You clearly made the wrong choice to come here. Have you got nothing other than abuse in your “New Zealand sux” campaign?
I live in a rural and well informed community and I am very happy here. I’ve been happily married to a wonderful NZ bloke for more than 21 years and intend to stay that way for as long as I can but after a couple of days of contemplating about how NZers decide who to vote for I have come to the conclusion that most of them vote with their dick, also known as the little head.
The reasoning being the following: If it’s female and I would not want to bed her I won’t vote for her, no matter how competent. If the opponent is a bloke I would like to make misogynist jokes about ugly women with while sipping a beer next to the burning bangers on the BBQ I’ll vote for him no matter what his background or his experience is.
The big head doesn’t enter the equation as it where.
The result: New Zealand is the laughing stock around the world and has a lot of people shaking their head.
The entire world wants to get rid of the Wall street/City of London elite and we give our country to the same Wall street/City of London elite even though John Key has been a proven liar just because the newspapers have been telling us for the last three years that “we need change”.
Do you have a link confirming the December 1987 departure of Andrew Krieger?
I found one article in which Krieger tells us he left 1987 but three confirming a February 1988 departure, all of them from the NY Times archives.
Since Krieger left trading altogether after a short stint in senior management for Soros in June 1988 the August 29 1988 still makes it impossible for John Key to have worked with Krieger in 1988 anyway but I want my timeline to be as close to the facts as possible.
You’re very wrong, travellerev. I don’t make personal comments about Helen Clark. I have a lot of admiration and respect for her, particularly for what she has done for New Zealand internationally.
New Zealanders voted for Helen Clark three times. They weren’t misogynist then, and they aren’t now. It was the National Party who selected New Zealand’s first woman prime minister in Jenny Shipley.
Nice try at smearing all New Zealanders who voted for John Key as woman-haters, but you’re just wrong. You should try and understand more about New Zealanders and our political history rather than just abusing us.
I try, I honestly try but I fail to see what is so attractive about a proven lying Wall street/City of London banker.
That is not a personal attack on John Key. He was caught lying a multitude of times. That’s a fact.
And even though the mainstream media does not want to delve into his past the fact remains that he lied about his career timeline, about his policies and about the amount of shares he had in Transrail.
The only hope I have is that as the financial crisis will hit hard, people will want to know how and why and whom to hold responsible and it won’t be too late.
I would not want to be in JK’s shoes when farmers and real estate builders and exporters find out what JK’s been up to in the years leading up to the global financial collapse; Selling crap financial products to suckers like the people in NZ who have lost their nest egg last year due to the subprime crisis.
Wouldn’t feel too insulted Tim, what you are hearing from travellerev is pretty true to form. You aren’t the first she’s had a go at and won’t be the last. Just check her other posts, on this blog and others.
At the end of the day, which many of the more reasonable bloggers from the left here have recognised, the election is over, and regardless of which side you stand on, it should be about getting on with it now.
Travellerev, you have been caught lying multiple times about John Key’s background, including in your most recent post. By your own standard, you are a proven liar.
New Zealanders have chosen John Key as Prime Minister to lead a National-led government. That is what happens in democracy. You have two choices. You can either accept the popular choice, as changes of government happen in democracies, or you can continue to show contempt for democratic systems by abusing New Zealanders who voted for him.
If you’re going to abuse New Zealanders, and hate us so much for making our democratic choice, then I suggest you go back to Holland. Or better yet, go to a regime that you like, and isn’t democratic so that it doesn’t change and you won’t suffer the pain of thinking ill towards your new country. Cuba and North Korea come to mind.
As part of a wider sociological research study, I have been tracking bloggers post election using the Kubler-Ross model. It has proven quite interesting.
Just to let you know, based on your postings in the last 24 hours, I have you pegged at around the peak of Stage 2.
i thought we’d put to bed the myth you’re pedaling about “Selling crap financial products to suckers like the people in NZ who have lost their nest egg last year due to the subprime crisis”. If you are talking about investors in 4 specific managed funds run by two specific investment managers, you have half a point but if you are talking about all the people who lost around $3 billion invested in NZ finance companies – very little to do with the subprime crisis. Fundamental reason those companies failed is because:
1 they were undercapitalised
2 their loans were almost 100% to property developers
3 their loans were amost exclusively second lien
4 their loans were almost exclusively PIK
5 they had a complete funding mismatch between the term profile of their assets and their liabilities
5 their management was generally either incompetent or corrupt
6 they generally engaged in ridiculous amounts of related party lending
7 the NZ property market was clearly highly overvalued, as many commentators have been pointing out for at least 3 years now.
All of these are red flags to any first year business studies student, let alone regulators and auditors, and yes – investors who typically should have known better. Unfortunately sucked in by slick TV advertising or poor advice by dopey financial planners.
Who is really to blame:
– the management of these companies for ignoring basic business principles and trying to get rich quick with little in the way of ethcs
– the NZ regulators and Government who were aware of the risk in this sector but chose to do feck all about it
You didn’t see and won’t see properly run finance companies like SCF, UDC, Marac etc fall over.
You need to get over your blind hatred of John Key. Even if one accepts you’re assertions are true (and we have already proved most of them are not), are they that significant? If they are true, are they any different to the slips of tongue pretty much every other politician has had. Like Helen Clark for instance – if you wanted to you could prove exactly the same types of things of her (or any other public figure) you are alleging of Key. The attacks on her as far as I am concerned are just as irrelevant, unless the incidents impact on how she did her job as PM. But if you critique her slip ups and trangressions with the same figure I would accept that you have an objective view point.
Get over it. He is rich. You don’t like rich people. This is tall poppy syndrome. In the absence of a socialist paradise where all income is completely redistributed (god forbid) “rich people” (those above $60,000 income per annum apparently), pay the bulk of taxes.
Hold Key to account for his actions as Prime Minister. Otherwise everyone will think you just have a personal vendetta. And clearly the misogynist line is a joke. There will always be fringe nuts on both right and left on many issues – the 90% in the middle of NZ is not, it is generally fair and reasonable. Keep on believing the vote went right because “men hate Helen”, you’ll doom labour to many years in opposition.
I am sorry you have such a poor opinion of New Zealanders. It is extremely arrogant to suggest that a country with the democratic tradition that NZ has has voters that are “Incompetent and suckers’. The most incredible thing about countries like NZ, Australia, US, Canada etc is the good grace with which power changes hands at after the people have voted, and often after a heated and spirited contest. You, me or any other individual (including Chris Trotter – his last commentary was the closest thing I have ever seen in this country to a call to fascism by a mainstream commentator) is not smarter than our democatic tradition. If you don’t like it, go back to whence you came. If you do like it, welcome.
Crowing is still crowing even when its dressed up as pseudo scientific crowshit.
Tim Ellis:
You won, get over it. The next three years will prove how correct the left is that this election was bought by the rich and powerful posing as ‘centrists’ in order to implement their Rogernomics 2.
I’m sure youll keep cheeking back to lift your morale.
quite good summation.. thanks for it..
then:— (re blame) – the management of these companies for ignoring basic business principles and trying to get rich quick with little in the way of ethcs
– the NZ regulators and Government who were aware of the risk in this sector but chose to do feck all about it
likely correct in the first part, half correct in the second. There has been a worldwide reliance on commercial corporations, who carried some pretty bad and recklessly arrogant attitudes on from prior industrials peers. This amounted to over-ride on corporate compliant governments..
silver lining, however, is certain knowledge that when commerfcial corporates stuff up bigtime they fall back on socialising their losses. This. assuredly, brings governments, public sectors, what you will, back into contention. At least.
And that, IMO, is the challenge for voters to take up. Singer (aussie link) revealed a missing aspect in the kiwi electorate’s character.
And yes, it’s a stretch perhaps, but this morning’s news of a 59 percent voter turnout would suggest something like a 60:40 breakdown in the enzed electorate’s sense of responsibilities.
Lying is when you tell something proven to be false.
Lie number one/ John Key told is in this interview that he started to work with AK in late August 1988.
That is a lie and I can prove it is a lie. Why? Because in three articles in the NY Times online archives written by three different journalists on three different dates stretching over a period of three years from February 1988 via <a href=’http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFDF153FF934A35755C0A96E948260&scp=3&sq=andrew%20krieger&st=cseJune 1988 until September 1990 it is stated that AK left Bankers Trust possibly as early as December 1987 but definitely not later than February 1988 making it impossible for JK to have worked with him in late August 1988 for the Bankers Trust.
Since the 1990 article states that AK left Soros in June 1988 and that he left forex trading altogether in that month it is impossible for JK to have worked with him in August 1988 period.
I feel to see where I lie here.
Lie number two/ JK and the NZ Herald tell us that the Subprime crisis products were not developed until 2004-2005.
This is what the article tells us:
Key explains: “I had a whole lot of people working for me who were at the cutting edge of delivering quite complex and new and innovative products. They tended to either be a new product or into a new market, usually the emerging markets, Russia, Brazil, Argentina. I wasn’t the guy sitting there dreaming it all up, but I was the guy who was responsible for those people.” Did he foresee the problems which resulted in the sub-prime crisis? “Was it hard to predict? Not really.”
And it continues:
The products which underpinned the sub-prime boom – then bust – were hatched in 2004-2005, long after Key had left Merrill. Indeed, he says when he went back to London in 2007 he was “horrified” at the level of risk Merrill was running. “It was enormous and I just didn’t think that enough had changed to warrant that level of risk.”
This is an absurd lie and I can prove it. In this BBC timeline in graphics article there is a graph showing when the Subprime mortgages started. This was at the end of 1997. and the bubble peaked in 2004 2005 2006 and collapsed in early 2007 so when JK visited his ex-bosses in their posh London headquarters on October 2007 ML was well onto their way of collapsing.
This is what happened when the Glass Steagall act was repealed unofficially in 1999 and officially in November 1999. Banks such as ML had been lobbying for this law to be repealed since 1987 and it made the whole scam possible. “A beautiful model for fraud”
Since JK was reported by this link to be the Managing director of debt and he according to his own worlds was presiding over this department developing al these exiting new products in exactly the same time as the bubble began to build I reckon JK has every reason to tell people that ridiculous whopper especially since he worked and lived in New York of and on according to his own words in this speech and he was one of only four upon invitation only advisors to Alan Greenspan from 1999 until March 2001.
…people in general were so stupid and uninformed about politics and so dumb in their reasons to vote.
Outside of the political circles that is a pretty accurate description of most peoples political decision making process this time around. They weren’t voting about anything substantive issue wise, they were voting on visceral responses on what are essentially non-issues.
For instance:-
Repeal of s59 – affects a few people each year, and was removed so judges could convict without having a ill-worded exception put up as a defense. Probably had more to do with the outcome of the election than anything else.
compared to
EFA. Most people had no idea what that is, and even fewer cared. But it was a substantive change in electoral law. The few that did know about it simply repeated the mantra that it was something to do with the pledge card (which was different legislation)
compared to
Cullen fund and its future. There was no debate about Nationals lack of commitment to keep forward loading it. The only debate I saw about Nationals commitment to change the law on it to put 40% in the local market was from economists and market analysts. They pretty well universally panned it as stupid and an ineffective use of the funds – contary to the intended purpose. The best I heard from the public was something about it sounds like a good idea…
compared to
Well you can fill in the list.
A suggestion to change the standards for lightbulbs to move towards something that produces less waste, consumed less power, and followed most of the western countries heading in that direction. People were up in arms about this… It was weird. I also saw more bullshit ‘science’ over this than I have since G was around.
compared to…… well you get the point
Essentially the less important an issue was, the more it seemed to have made an impact on the decision of people to vote centre-right. That is at least from the people I’ve talked to.
I’d say that travellerev’s description is pretty accurate. However it says as much about the media as it does about anything else. The Herald for instance ran massive sets of articles on the EFA. I never saw them say a damn thing about why the legislation was brought forward apart from the bretheren angle, and their crappy lies about it curtailing democracy (ie you have to declare the source of your political funds, and that would curtail the Herald’s advertising).
quite true lprent.
a stupid vote from a largely ignorant public.
but then in this age of microscopic party membership and minimal political participation what do the public rely on for pretty much all their political agenda and ‘supporting’ information? the msm.
and do our commercial msm really care if they actually fullfil their democratic duty to properly inform the electorate in order that we can then make fully informed, and thereby genuinely free, choices?
well just consider for example why TV3 didn’t even bother to run a minor leaders debate this election.
I’ve seen many elections come and go and was happy to concede.
This is different.
The global financial world is collapsing. This is due to the speculative bubble building of a handful of very powerful unscrupulous banksters. As the world glides into a financial abyss we will be made to pay for the speculation that made JK rich.
In the US alone the banksters have already robbed the population of 5 trillion dollars in the last year alone and counting.
I’ll tell you what will happen under Key. The reserve bank will start to borrow and borrow and borrow from the Federal Reserve in order to stave off the inevitable collapse and it will prop up the international banks and guess who are going to pay that money back?
I’ll give you a hint; It ain’t John Key and it ain’t the Wall street scheisters.
While John Key will travel off to his condo in Hawaii you and me and generations to come will be paying and paying and paying.
Patronising much. See my comment to chess player.
I don’t hate John Key. I don’t know him and for all I know he probably a likeable chap in day to day contact.
I don’t like the big hiatus in his career narrative, I don’t like what is happening in the international finance world and how it’s linked to JK.
And the lies, I can’t stand the lies and how the MSM does not investigate those lies.
I don’t think anybody capable of lying about just about anything should be elected the PM of this country. Seems pretty reasonable to me.
And no you haven’t disproven the two woppers I gave in my previous comment.
Not a singly link breaking my evidence. Not a single fact against my facts disproving my narrative.
He lied about AK and he lied about his involvement with the subrpime crisis and he lied about the subprime product timeline. Period.
If you’re happy with a man like that in power good for you cause you got him and your going to have to live with him for the next three years while his mates are collapsing the worlds financial system.
I personally like my politicians relatively honest and open and no, I did not vote for Helen Clark
LP, your own newly-elected leader has just admitted that Labour made big mistakes with the EFA, and is now seeking the multipartisan support that his own party rejected last year. That’s about the biggest condemnation of the EFA you can get, in his first real pronouncement as Leader.
travellerev – just try and keep interestng, this time i’ll work backward thru your “facts” until I get bored.
JK and the Fed – he was on their foreign exchange committee. I note you are no longer he was “advising Greenspan on how to repaeal Glass-Steagall”. Key was global head of FX at ML, thats why he was on teh Fed FX committee. What does this committee do? Wikipedia has a short entry on it which sums it up. Its not that exciting. They mostly worry about operational risk in the markets and how to reduce it. Satan is not and never has beena member. Link here:http://www.newyorkfed.org/fxc/
JK and NY – what is the issue. He lived and worked in NY presumably. Satan actually lives in Birmingham though he does travel widely.
JK was a managing Director – along with about (at least) 5 or 600 others at Merrill Lynch. There are lots of MD’s in a bank, even more Directors and way more Vice -Presidents. Did you know thats how the rankings work? “Debt Markets” is the catch all description of the unit that includes a zillion business lines – depending on the bank – from Govt Bonds to ABS to MBS to DCM to etc etc. At about the same time, my bank had 3 business lines: Equities, Global Banking, and Debt Markets. FX was in Debt Markets.
A beautiful model for Fraud – Yes. But this crisis ins no different in cause to any other- it;s just bigger. It’s what you get when greed intersects with easy liquidity and poor regulation and politics. Whats different this time is that the “too big to fail” argument is being trotted out a lot more than is usual.
JK horrified – this wouldn’t surprise me. Anyone who left a bank around 200 (oer whenever he did) and then had a good look at the same bank in 2007 would be horrified. Leverage, size of balance sheet and reliance on VAR risk models would be starkly different from what was common 6 or 7 years early. Mayb not so obvious to those who had stayed in the business in the intervening years and seen it grow gradually.
Your BBC timeline only tells some of the story. The real problem was sub-prime not mortgages per se. Even this article which you recklessly quote does describe the real issue which is now obvious:
“In the past five years, the private sector has dramatically expanded its role in the mortgage bond market, which had previously been dominated by government-sponsored agencies like Freddie Mac.
They specialised in new types of mortgages, such as sub-prime lending to borrowers with poor credit histories and weak documentation of income, who were shunned by the “prime” lenders like Freddie Mac.”
Key words – IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS ie since Q2 2002. The start of the crisis (in terems of market prices for CDO’s going down rather than up) occured in March 2007 – I remember it vividly because it was the start of the end of that phase of my career. ABS CDO’s and super senior trade did only get going in in 2003 or so and didn’t get to the vast issuance stage until around late 2005. I showed you the numbers a few weeks ago and you just blithely ignore them.
The AK and JK links – I still don’t know what you are trying to prove here. That they never had the chance to talk at various times? Where’s the quote saying both guys only ever talked to each or dealt with each other while BOTH were at BT. Both guys were key figures in NZ FX markets thru the mid 80’s. Are you trying to prove they never talked or did talked? Or just that people get mixed up on dates over 20 years ago. If KEy was trying to hide is currency trading past in order to look “nicer” then I am sure he would want to deny knowing Krieger. He doesn’t. You’d have a real conspiracy if Key said “I never knew Krieger”
Show some consistency – why not do an expose on some of the things Phil Goff said as a student radical and what that implies for foreign policy under his leadership if he becomes prime minister. Just as ludicrous right?
A link to the Federal reserve site is all you have?
The Glass Steagall act was repealed because the banksters including Alan Greenspan and his banking masters spend between a 100 to 200 million dollars in the 12 years leading up to it in order to lobby congress to get that law repealed.
JK is at the very top in Merrill Lynch trading in debt products while the one barrier that keeps banking even remotely honest is being eroded away by the banksters themselves and you think he did not know what was going on? F*&king hell, Gomango I would dearly like to know what colour the sky has on your planet.
So John Key is Global head for Forex, Europen head for bonds and Derivatives for a bank most notable for it’s aggression in the derivatives trade now causing all the problems and the banking wrold has spend $ 100 to $ 200 million in the 12 years leading up to what every banker knew would be the biggest greed fest ever and JK “the smiling assassin” was not involved so I guess that is why he tells us that and I quote “the products causing the subprime crisis were not hatched until 2004-2005.”
Yeah right. F*&k, you believe that I’ve got a piece of rainforest in the Sahara that would be just right for you.
By the way that sacking JK had to do was because ML had just burned it’s fingers badly on the LTCM hedgefund which had to be bailed out by the Feds too.
What was that about again ooh oops. Forex derivatives and speculation about Asian currencies and the collapse of the Russian rouble. Could JK have something to do with…. nah JK wouldn’t do that, he was a nice banker.
According to JK and his boss in this interview and this interview
he was responsible for huge amounts of trades with AK. If this is true he could not have done these trades when he alleges he starts to work for Bankers trust in August 1988 because AK had left the forex business by then only to return in 1990.
So either John Key worked with AK in 1987 or he did not work with AK at all. Simple.
And if he worked with AK in 1987 than I bet you that he was working with AK during the raid on the NZ dollar almost bringing NZ’s economy down. And twenty year later he lies about it because he wanted to become your PM.
“The global financial world is collapsing. This is due to the speculative bubble building of a handful of very powerful unscrupulous banksters. As the world glides into a financial abyss we will be made to pay for the speculation that made JK rich.
In the US alone the banksters have already robbed the population of 5 trillion dollars in the last year alone and counting.
I’ll tell you what will happen under Key. The reserve bank will start to borrow and borrow and borrow from the Federal Reserve in order to stave off the inevitable collapse and it will prop up the international banks and guess who are going to pay that money back?
I’ll give you a hint; It ain’t John Key and it ain’t the Wall street scheisters.
While John Key will travel off to his condo in Hawaii you and me and generations to come will be paying and paying and paying.
Not too smart mate.”
You are the one panicking, “mate”, not me.
This was all foretold, in various forms, such as in The Collapse of Globalism: And the Reinvention of the World by John Ralston Saul.
Saul is remarkably accurate in this book of some years ago in his projected sequence of events.
He stops short, however, of explaining what will happen next, and finished with a rather hopeful view that everyone will somehow be nicer to each other.
Interestingly he even interviewed Helen Clark and reports on her in this book as one of the more ‘aware’ leaders around. Can’t say I’ve seen much evidence of that myself tho’, given where she’s left things.
I don’t doubt that you, and generations to come, will be “paying, and paying, and paying” as you say, but personally I will not be, unless they start taxing fresh air and rainwater.
Unlike panickers such as yourself, I have prepared for this situation and while it has cost me short term opportunities, I and mine are reasonably well protected from the coming crises.
Please just tell me that this time round you will learn from the situation and do something to ensure it affects you less next time, which it most certainly will, as this is not the end of the world?
Remember, according to the Kubler-Ross model, you will not get from Stage 2 to Stage 3 until you recognise that you yourself are also in some way to blame.
TE: How about reading my comment rather than just editorializing on it. I didn’t say that there aren’t problems with the EFA (I have yet to find an act that significantly changes anything that works straight out of the house).
What I said was that media didn’t report on the reasons that changes to the electoral law were required. All they concentrated on were the things that affected their revenue or were in Hagers book. I got the distinct impression that they hadn’t even bothered to look up the results of a series of court decisions going back to 1993, or indeed even read the 1993 law.
Therefore the public were really badly informed on the EFA and why electoral finance reform was required.
Travellerev, Yes it sux; however, this is what happens in a democracy – it’s not perfect but it’s the best system we have right now. I agree with you on a lot of issues you have raised. Nz’ers were fooled and they were fooled well, the problem National has is that it’s a lot easier to fool people then it is to govern. So, cheer up and keep on keeping on – to borrow from my good friend Curtis – stay vigilant and informed, get your friends involved in political discussions, encourage them to vote, encourage them to seek information outside of the conventional means, and finally, don’t waste your time getting involved in political discussions that go nowhere but
You’re wrong!
No, you’re wrong!
Well I have proof.
So what.
You’re an idiot.
No, you’re an idiot, I have proof.
You suck.
No I don’t.
Yes you do.
You suck.
No i don’t, i have proof.
You still suck.
So do you.
No i don’t.
What I said was that media didn’t report on the reasons that changes to the electoral law were required. All they concentrated on were the things that affected their revenue or were in Hagers book.
This isn’t correct LP. The media’s major concern with the EFA was that the Labour Party was ramming through major changes to electoral law without proper consultation with opposition parties. Goff acknowledges now that it was a poor process, and this single-party approach to electoral law was wrong, and is what has led to the problems with the EFA.
The media did give a lot of coverage to Hager. That coverage led to Don Brash’s resignation. Labour was too concerned with writing electoral law to suit itself rather than a mulitpartisan approach to redefining electoral law. I didn’t see a single author at the Standard condemn Labour for ramming it through, or condemn Labour for turning electoral law into a partisan football.
I’m of the grid more or less and working toward a pleasant self sustainable life.
I’m way past panic and made my choices years ago.
But there are a lot of people who aren’t and who still think there is a quick fix like vote a banker in because he knows about money.
Looked up the Kubler-Ross model. I don’t get were the have yourself to blame comes from but I can assure you that I have accepted the election results as the state of affairs. It is not the election outcome I want to change. I just will not let John Key have an easy rule, that is a big difference. I will not go to sleep like most of the voters just awake for long enough to vote for “Change”. I’m an active political person and just because he got the votes doesn’t mean he will have free hand to do as he pleases.
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 5, 2024 thru Sat, May 11, 2024. (Unfortunate) Story of the week "Grief that stops at despair is an ending that I and many others, most notably ...
Last night the largest solar storm in decades resulted in Aurorae being seen across Aotearoa, causing many to ask why?Why was the sky pink? What was all this stuff about the power grid? Have we, as so many have wondered since the election, reached the end of days?I had a ...
We have been on the road in England, squeezing down narrow lanes, flying up the M6, loving hedgerows and villages and cathedrals, liking the 21st century less.There have been moments when it’s felt like a movie trope. The pub in Exford, lovely seventeenth century bar, almost more dogs than people, ...
There’s a solar-storm on at the moment, and since the South Island is having a day and night with clear skies, that means Aurorae. I have just got back from a midnight visit to Tunnel Beach – southwards-looking over the Sea, and without the light pollution. Quite a few others ...
Michael Bassett writes – I’m not sure that it’s much comfort to anyone to know that the post-Covid surge in violent crimes, gang activity, ram raids, random shootings, thuggery and stabbings is occurring in other countries as well as New Zealand. These days, wagging school, out-of-control welfare and ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – Cast your mind back to mid-December. A new Prime Minister had just been sworn in, the new Government started its 100-day programme, and Christmas was only days away.Amid all the haste, a report landed that would have deserved our attention.I am talking about the ...
TL;DR: An unseasonally early icy blast at the same time as some long-overdue maintenance almost caused Aotearoa-NZ’s electricity system to black out this week. That’s because a quadropoly of gentailers1 have prioritised paying dividends from their rising profits and adding debt over investing in 1.5 GigaWatts of new wind farms ...
Hi,Before we crack into today’s Webworm, I wanted to acknowledge the fact that Israel is pushing into Rafah. Over 100,000 Palestinians are now attempting to flee the one place that was deemed “safe”.Trouble is, the place they’re fleeing to is already destroyed. Total annihilation is the end goal here.“Israel is ...
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
Asia Pacific Report About 1000 people in Aotearoa New Zealand gathered for a two-hour rally in central Auckland today and marched down Queen Street and returned to Aotea Square to mark the Nakba three days early — and protest over Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. They called for an immediate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As it looks to an election next year when holding up Labor’s female vote will be vital, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has declared Tuesday will bring “a budget for mums and middle Australia”. “The primary ...
By Repeka Nasiko in Suva “Justice has won,” says Fiji’s acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku following the sentencing of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho. Speaking to The Fiji Times, Rabuku said that while they welcomed the judgment by acting Chief Justice Salesi ...
The foreign affairs minister has landed in Solomon Islands for the first leg of his Pacific tour, and an audience with the newly elected Prime Minister. ...
PNG Post-Courier New Zealand High Commissioner Peter Zwart and PNG Defence Minister Dr Billy Joseph welcomed a C-130 Hercules to Port Moresby this week to support Papua New Guinea’s response to the March 24 earthquake and recent severe flooding. “Papua New Guinea has requested New Zealand’s assistance to transport emergency ...
Grub Street King Luxon rode through the streets Of King’s Landing, and was troubled By the sight of hungry urchins in the mud. “Who would be the best of my Lords To deal with this negative optic?” He pondered. The answer came to him instantly. “Seymour!” he said to himself. ...
“The Bill does not provide environmental protection, good quality decision making, certainty, public participation or speed. It should be withdrawn.” ...
RNZ News Television New Zealand has breached its collective agreement with the E tū union when deciding on discontinuing programmes, the Employment Relations Authority has ruled. It was announced in March that 68 staff members who work for news programmes Midday and Tonight, consumer justice programme Fair Go, current affairs ...
Asia Pacific Report Barangay New Zealand’s Rene Molina has interviewed the country’s first Filipino Green MP Francisco Hernandez who was sworn into Parliament yesterday as the party’s latest member. This is the first interview with Hernandez who replaces former Green Party co-leader James Shaw after his retirement from politics to ...
An Australian Strategic Policy Institute report says Pillar Two could raise the industry to state of the art capability - or "crush" it "under the weight of the globe's biggest player". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marlene Longbottom, Associate Professor, Indigenous Education & Research Centre, James Cook University ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the violence experienced by First Nations people in encounters with the Australian carceral system. It also contains references to ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
The New Zealand comedy legend takes us through her life in television, including the time she hugged Elton John and the unshakeable legacy of a girl named Lyn. In 1981, Ginette McDonald stood on the stage of Auckland’s St James Theatre and directly addressed Queen Elizabeth II. It was a ...
An essay by Lily Duval from the just-released anthology Otherhood: Essays on being childless, childfree and child adjacent.I was 22 when my friend Alice gave birth in the living room of our pokey Addington flat. She laboured in the blow-up pool for hours. Garish fish swam along the inflated ...
Ella Borrie on the best books about motherhood she’s come across so far. Over the past few years I’ve been drawn to books about motherhood. I’m fascinated by the joys and horrors of becoming a parent. The question of children also feels more pressing than it used to. It’s like ...
Out of gift ideas for mum? You can’t go wrong with a bottle of toilet cleaner and a new squeegee. Emily Writes is the writer and editor of Emily Writes Weekly. This week marks five years since I published a post on The Spinoff about Mother’s Day marketing titled ‘A ...
My husband is posted overseas for 12 months and I’m armed with an expensive, newfangled vibrator. Will I miss him? The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.A few days after my husband leaves, a new sex toy arrives at the front door. Nestled ...
Jaimie Baird’s new book Here Today Gone Tomorrow is a record of four decades of graffiti and street art in Wellington, told through more than 1,200 photographs. He spoke with Joel MacManus about what inspired the book. How did you first get interested in photographing street art? I remember ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at a busy week where food of all political leanings dominated. Sometimes you’re just going about your week thinking you’ve got a good handle on what might be coming as far as news topics and then someone (usually a politician) says something so ridiculous that ...
In a week of cold rain and frost, the climate in courtroom four upstairs at the Invercargill courthouse was simmering with restrained indignation. At times it felt like the famous Mexican standoff scene from Reservoir Dogs, or, as someone watching the proceedings described it, there was so much throwing of ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
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By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
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The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
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The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
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Logic 101:
There is no such thing as bright & poor.
Labour are the party for the thick.
Therefore Labour will make you poor.
Probably written by the same person Batman met in Melb uncovering the H-Fee boomerang.
Thanks for putting your hand up as one of the thuck there John
I remember reading that article a few days ago and it brought such a smile to my face.
“NEW Zealanders have voted for change – a leap from Left to Right – with all the enthusiasm and reasoning power of a doped slug.” Is one of my favorite quotes as well as “Bring Barack Obama to mind — strip him of charisma and vision, then douse him in White King — and you’ve got NZ’s new PM.”
John, what are you basing your “logic” on? Have you actually read the article this post was set aside for, it doesn’t seem like it. It seems like your trolling for… well i’m sure you have your reasons.
He doesn’t realise Vinsin that the world media thinks we are just a stupid little country that needs a reminder that voting is actually a responsibility. Voting for change for change sake has the world laughing at us and maybe we just realise how great this country is… perhaps now, was.
New Zealand voted for change simple. I think most of us on the right can say one reason we won was because New Zealand doesn’t like their governments in power for too long hence one reason Labour lost.
Labour won the Australian election after a strong Liberal-National coalition and over there you couldn’t exactly justify the change either.
I never understood arguments from the left saying because other countries went left New Zealand should stay left. The reason Australia went left was that they too were tired of their long-term government. And because of their system, that resulted in a massive defeat.
Its simply the removing of long-term governments in English speaking countries. It’ll be interesting to see what Britain does. They may indeed become the exception and not change governments.
Lampie – I am not thuck, just a sales manager on over $100K. I am a rich prick actually.
I was re calling my days from Stage 1 Logic at Uni.
Please tell me how Greens would get NZ out of the mire we are in, ohhhhhhhh please. By tax, tax, tax to pay for the poor thick people out there? Job creation would ruin the environment, we need a committee to decide.
“I am not thuck, just a sales manager on over $100K. I am a rich prick actually.”
Please explain why that negates the possibility of you being a bit thuck.
You don’t need to use university level logic (it’s beyond you anyway), primary school level should suffice for this.
Glad that discrimination is alive and well in NZ
Wouldn’t worry too much what the Ozzies say – their economy is going pear-shaped just as quickly as ours, if not faster.
I really hope they have invested their squillions from mineral exports into things like producing fresh water and food – at least we (still, just) have enough of those things over here.
I always find it amusing, but slightly sad, how whenever someone overseas publishes something negative about NZ the media, including bloggers, are so quick to publish it.
Why do they (you) feel they (you) need to do that?
Just seems negative and un-necessary to me…
Wow John, $100k plus? Can I have your babies, you sound purrrrfect!
But seriously, people who talk about their enormous “salaries” in front of strangers. Like, whatever 🙂
lol Felix, I’m on $130K so I must be brighter
GC: Hell no, the UK Tories are going to completely own the coming election. Though the LibDems might increase their share of the pie a little.
L
gingercrush,
do I take it how the last nine years of national would be dealt by you in the same sense as your commentary regarding Labour..?
You write of “longterm government”. Nine years.. lucky kiwis huh. Yeah, seriously, for instance the Thatcher years in UK are no mean respecter of justice for Britain’s prevailing mess.. financial, economic and you name it.. Like Blackpool rock ‘the thatcher’ went the whole way through..
Something you could never say for Prime Minister Clark and her Deputy Dr. Cullen.. or are ever likely to say for their successors.
ps: the singer song – aussie link – entertains
Jill, spot on. Like the magpie that swoops on anything flashy, my fellow New Zealanders could not get past the shiny new political offering that is John Key. His forex career was king but bereft of any investigation into it, we were offered crafted populist pieces about the “state house kid” made good.
Questions in the last two weeks of the campaign over the contradictory timeline of his earliest career in New Zealand were readily glossed over by media. The contradiction was simply explained away as “he had his dates wrong” when he said in a NZ Herald article last year he had left Elders for Bankers Trust in 1987 three months before H-Fee and three months before the October 87 sale of NZ Steel.
We were asked to take it as given the NZ Herald had corrected the year he resigned from Elders to 1988 in an article in February; although making a 1988 resignation possible to support his 1991 NCA H-Fee testimony, the article committed much of it’s February copy to the lucrative working relationship he had with Bankers Trust New York trader Andrew Krieger. Considering Krieger resigned New York’s Bankers Trust in December 1987, a 1988 relationship with Krieger would have being impossible.
In the wake of Saturday’s election result, Key has said he’d “rather be a loser, than a liar”. It looks like he’s mastered the first; let’s see how long it takes him to master the second.
lol Felix, I’m on $130K so I must be brighter
pssst Jono, I made that up, beauty of the net, be anyone
John: ” I am not thuck, just a sales manager on over $100K. I am a rich prick actually.”
………given your job probably will not survive the crisis looming like a tsunami round our shores, you may have to go into buzzness yourself, and become a struggling prick. Failing that you may have to go on the dole with the rest of the sales team and join the newly formed but rapidly growing queues of thuck. Good luck.
Dont forget remove the F from Failure and you get Sailure.
My statement was simply New Zealand doesn’t like long-term governments. New Zealand favours 2-3 term governents. National right now should look forward to winning the 2011 election. (Though its early days so who knows).
If National does get two terms. Then they will really have to fight for three terms. If they do get three terms the probability is they get removed like Helen Clark’s Labour government only got three terms. Because I don’t think New Zealand wil have a government in for longer than three terms. And likely the same arguments the people on the left used will be used by the right. I think New Zealand did want change in 2008 but I also think many were simply tired of Labour.
Lets say National enjoys the success that Labour did from 1999-2008 then the same will be in effect. New Zealand will desire change but maybe most important they just want a new government and have become tired of the last government.
Anyone notice that Key is about to get a 5 headed monster government?
Juhn? are you stull here?
Are you stull reading the quustiun? I’ll guv you a but more time thun…
Kiwis and Americans arnt so different it seems , maybe we’ve just come out of our Clinton years.
oh yay commentator’s are comparing salary sizes now , whats next, I drive a Lexus with walnut dash?
Evidence, no it’s a sound government when National do it.
Gc, i don’t actually think people were that keen on “change”, a lot of people didn’t vote. (tired left-wing argument i know but nonetheless true)
felix,
Juhn? are you stull here?
One of the other notes left for me here was “look out for the fellix(sic) joker”.
I can see why.. 🙂
bobo I think we all know what’s next.
Is John Stevens for real?
Your glee over that nasty article strikes me as the start of *your* “NZ Sux” campaign.
That is, I’m fairly confident that you don’t consider the NZ public to have the reasoning ability of a doped slug but are cynically willing to promote an article that says so now that it suits you to do so. Hypocritical.
Am quite enjoying the spectacle of such intelligent debate….
A bit like sitting in on a group counselling session….
Off topic : So Osama bin Laden’s son wants to live here, this could this be the first foreign affairs test for John Key and the world media is taking an interest in this case.
camryn,
but are cynically willing to promote an article that says so now that it suits you to do so
Thats a great filter on yo’ pic. Green. Eye cover..?
Sorry Vinsin. The fact National won this election as decisive as they did seems to me people wanted a change. People wanted a change and were tired of the Labour government. Both the Howard government and Clark’s government enjoyed excellent economical times. They played it safe with neither going too extreme. But both fell victim to a mood for change.
The vote turnout was lower compared to 2005. Clearly South Auckland voters felt change was in the air, thus they chose not to turn-up. Basically it was South Auckland and Waitakere that chose not to turn up for the polls. Otherwise voter turnout was rather the same as 2005. So sorry but I don’t think your argument rings true. New Zealand gets TIRED OF LONG TERM GOVERNMENTS AND OVERTIME THEY WANT CHANGE. How clear can I be?
Is this the same Australia that elected John Howard four times?
“Juhn? are you stull here?
Are you stull reading the quustiun? I’ll guv you a but more time thun ”
Hess aut dule office, gettiung handout from your tuxes
Yeah, it’s cathartic (supposedly for them)
Not much in the way of introspection as to why labour lost. Still that will come in time. In the meantime I expect, must like a jilted husband left wing posters will blame everyone but themselves. Tumeke is a precusor to this.
FUTZY???
G/cruch,
OVERTIME THEY WANT CHANGE. How clear can I be?
Well, over time would help. Can’t have folks working anytime and all the time can we..;-)
“Your glee over that nasty article strikes me as the start of *your* “NZ Sux’ campaign.”
Sorry, your mob got a head start on that one
It’s funny how a couple of weeks ago the Aussie media were just the propaganda wing of a war supporting, racist colonial nation and now we should all defer to their wisdom about our new government.
Gc, I agree with you, “over time people get tired of a long term government and want a change.” (In government.)
What I find problematic is this vague use of the word “change.” If you mean change in government then fine, but you need to say this.
“How clear can i be?” You can be clearer by saying, “change in government,” not just “change,” change can mean anything and everything. This is why I have problems with this constant use of the word because if people were really voting for change then perhaps we would have seen an Act led government. National has been called Labour-lite, moderate centrist, and by Wodney, “more left leaning then Helen” so to say again, ‘did NZ’ers really vote for change?’ (When i say change I mean real changes to policies, thinking and methods.) Or – and this is probably more correct – did they vote for less of the same?
Another point that should probably be made here is that National only managed to grab an extra 6% of the party vote. The support National had in the last election was around 41% and I get the feeling that they could probably described as core supporters. Now then, I don’t think they would’ve voted differently – or for this fantastic word change – because the core support believes in the ideals, political ideology and views of their particular party. So, once again I don’t think we can say without any doubt that NZ voted for change; this is too simplistic, we could probably say 6% voted for “change” and if we add in Act’s party vote – let’s just round it up to ten – we can say 10% of NZ voted for a change in government. It was enough to push the Nats over the line but not enough for me to buy this “NZ voted for change” slogan your parroting.
‘Clearly South Auckland voters felt change was in the air, thus they chose not to turn-up.Basically it was South Auckland and Waitakere that chose not to turn up for the polls.’ This isn’t a vote for change, this a vote of apathy. I’m sorry but your argument that not voting is a vote for change (National) is ludicrous.
It may seem like i’m being a stickler for clarity but if there’s one lesson we all should take from this election result it’s to never underestimate the power of language. I, like a lot of people, didn’t realize how effective this word, “change,” was at getting people to pay less attention to actual policies. The Nats did well to borrow Obama’s slogan and we (us lefties) underestimated it’s appeal.
Could Jill Singer be any more patronising?
Jill Singer reckons the New Zealand public has shown the reasoning of a “doped-up slug” when voting. Since she’s started with the insults, I’d say she should probably leave the politics alone and stick with book reviews, celebrity gossip and such.
It is offensive to suggest that New Zealanders don’t know what they’re doing when they exercise their democratic right to chose. Jill Singer knows no more about my motivations in voting than I know about her last bowel movement.
As an opinion piece, her article is fine. If it’s supposed to be real journalism, she should have made that bowel movement directly onto paper.
Jimbo,
any chance you telling us what a ‘chose’ is..? and yes, quite correct of you to say you have “motivatuons”.. a little shrill, however, to infer that yours and yours alone are the modus operandi of kiwi voters on the last election day..
Exactly right, Vinsin.
When John Key, at the end of election night, burbled euphorically of “New Zealanders in their hundreds of thousands” voting for change, it was a total exaggeration. Tens of thousands, maybe; while the core supporters of the left and the right voted pretty much as they always have, in accordance, rightly or wrongly, with their beliefs.
The floating voters in the middle are the ones who decide an election, and they unfortunately include the greedy (or, I must admit, the needy), who will vote for the best short term bribe, the confused and ignorant, who are trying to do their best and hope they haven’t made the same mistake as last time, and the gamblers and pin-stickers, who think elections are a sort of lotto – and they might just get lucky.
NEW Zealanders have voted for change – a leap from Left to Right – with all the enthusiasm and reasoning power of a doped slug.’ Is one of my favorite quotes as well as “Bring Barack Obama to mind — strip him of charisma and vision, then douse him in White King and give him a sex change — and you’ve got NZ’s OLD PM
About right!!
“NEW Zealanders have voted for change – a leap from Left to Right – with all the enthusiasm and reasoning power of a doped slug.’ Is one of my favorite quotes as well as “Bring Barack Obama to mind — strip him of charisma and vision, then douse him in White King and give him a sex change — and you’ve got NZ’s OLD PM
About right!!”
What, Key’s been rolled aready?
“Off topic : So Osama bin Laden’s son wants to live here, this could this be the first foreign affairs test for John Key and the world media is taking an interest in this case.”
Simple, has physical attributes suitable for fruit picking and can wipe his own arse, he’s in!!!
Vinsin – You are right on the mark, I think the apathy was put there by the brain washing and negativity of the media (and the polls) in the leadup which had a huge influence in the outcome of the election.
Jimbo,
I have to agree with Jill. I have never lived in a country were people in general were so stupid and uninformed about politics and so dumb in their reasons to vote.
Someone said in another article that everywhere else people put the Wall street bankers on shelves of ice and pushing them into the ocean and in NZ they give them more power.
No Jimbo,
People here really are incompetent and the suckers who voted for JK deserve what they are going to get, it’s just too bad that the people who voted against him are going to get hurt too.
In the kiwi defence I’d have to say that I have also never lived in country were the mass media were so controlled but in a time were we have the internet to do more research this should not have mattered that much.
travellev, if you think New Zealanders are so stupid and uninformed, then feel free to return the intelligent and informed country you came from.
What a horrible, nasty description of New Zealanders: “Incompetent and suckers”. You clearly made the wrong choice to come here. Have you got nothing other than abuse in your “New Zealand sux” campaign?
Tim Ellis,
I live in a rural and well informed community and I am very happy here. I’ve been happily married to a wonderful NZ bloke for more than 21 years and intend to stay that way for as long as I can but after a couple of days of contemplating about how NZers decide who to vote for I have come to the conclusion that most of them vote with their dick, also known as the little head.
The reasoning being the following: If it’s female and I would not want to bed her I won’t vote for her, no matter how competent. If the opponent is a bloke I would like to make misogynist jokes about ugly women with while sipping a beer next to the burning bangers on the BBQ I’ll vote for him no matter what his background or his experience is.
The big head doesn’t enter the equation as it where.
The result: New Zealand is the laughing stock around the world and has a lot of people shaking their head.
The entire world wants to get rid of the Wall street/City of London elite and we give our country to the same Wall street/City of London elite even though John Key has been a proven liar just because the newspapers have been telling us for the last three years that “we need change”.
Pretty stupid if you ask me.
Ms M,
Do you have a link confirming the December 1987 departure of Andrew Krieger?
I found one article in which Krieger tells us he left 1987 but three confirming a February 1988 departure, all of them from the NY Times archives.
Since Krieger left trading altogether after a short stint in senior management for Soros in June 1988 the August 29 1988 still makes it impossible for John Key to have worked with Krieger in 1988 anyway but I want my timeline to be as close to the facts as possible.
You’re very wrong, travellerev. I don’t make personal comments about Helen Clark. I have a lot of admiration and respect for her, particularly for what she has done for New Zealand internationally.
New Zealanders voted for Helen Clark three times. They weren’t misogynist then, and they aren’t now. It was the National Party who selected New Zealand’s first woman prime minister in Jenny Shipley.
Nice try at smearing all New Zealanders who voted for John Key as woman-haters, but you’re just wrong. You should try and understand more about New Zealanders and our political history rather than just abusing us.
Trust me Tim Ellis,
I try, I honestly try but I fail to see what is so attractive about a proven lying Wall street/City of London banker.
That is not a personal attack on John Key. He was caught lying a multitude of times. That’s a fact.
And even though the mainstream media does not want to delve into his past the fact remains that he lied about his career timeline, about his policies and about the amount of shares he had in Transrail.
The only hope I have is that as the financial crisis will hit hard, people will want to know how and why and whom to hold responsible and it won’t be too late.
I would not want to be in JK’s shoes when farmers and real estate builders and exporters find out what JK’s been up to in the years leading up to the global financial collapse; Selling crap financial products to suckers like the people in NZ who have lost their nest egg last year due to the subprime crisis.
Wouldn’t feel too insulted Tim, what you are hearing from travellerev is pretty true to form. You aren’t the first she’s had a go at and won’t be the last. Just check her other posts, on this blog and others.
At the end of the day, which many of the more reasonable bloggers from the left here have recognised, the election is over, and regardless of which side you stand on, it should be about getting on with it now.
Travellerev, you have been caught lying multiple times about John Key’s background, including in your most recent post. By your own standard, you are a proven liar.
New Zealanders have chosen John Key as Prime Minister to lead a National-led government. That is what happens in democracy. You have two choices. You can either accept the popular choice, as changes of government happen in democracies, or you can continue to show contempt for democratic systems by abusing New Zealanders who voted for him.
If you’re going to abuse New Zealanders, and hate us so much for making our democratic choice, then I suggest you go back to Holland. Or better yet, go to a regime that you like, and isn’t democratic so that it doesn’t change and you won’t suffer the pain of thinking ill towards your new country. Cuba and North Korea come to mind.
travellerev,
As part of a wider sociological research study, I have been tracking bloggers post election using the Kubler-Ross model. It has proven quite interesting.
Just to let you know, based on your postings in the last 24 hours, I have you pegged at around the peak of Stage 2.
Kind regards,
Chess Player: If you’re serious, and not taking the (well-deserved) piss, I’d be interested to see them results.
L
travellerev – where do we stat….. again.
i thought we’d put to bed the myth you’re pedaling about “Selling crap financial products to suckers like the people in NZ who have lost their nest egg last year due to the subprime crisis”. If you are talking about investors in 4 specific managed funds run by two specific investment managers, you have half a point but if you are talking about all the people who lost around $3 billion invested in NZ finance companies – very little to do with the subprime crisis. Fundamental reason those companies failed is because:
1 they were undercapitalised
2 their loans were almost 100% to property developers
3 their loans were amost exclusively second lien
4 their loans were almost exclusively PIK
5 they had a complete funding mismatch between the term profile of their assets and their liabilities
5 their management was generally either incompetent or corrupt
6 they generally engaged in ridiculous amounts of related party lending
7 the NZ property market was clearly highly overvalued, as many commentators have been pointing out for at least 3 years now.
All of these are red flags to any first year business studies student, let alone regulators and auditors, and yes – investors who typically should have known better. Unfortunately sucked in by slick TV advertising or poor advice by dopey financial planners.
Who is really to blame:
– the management of these companies for ignoring basic business principles and trying to get rich quick with little in the way of ethcs
– the NZ regulators and Government who were aware of the risk in this sector but chose to do feck all about it
You didn’t see and won’t see properly run finance companies like SCF, UDC, Marac etc fall over.
You need to get over your blind hatred of John Key. Even if one accepts you’re assertions are true (and we have already proved most of them are not), are they that significant? If they are true, are they any different to the slips of tongue pretty much every other politician has had. Like Helen Clark for instance – if you wanted to you could prove exactly the same types of things of her (or any other public figure) you are alleging of Key. The attacks on her as far as I am concerned are just as irrelevant, unless the incidents impact on how she did her job as PM. But if you critique her slip ups and trangressions with the same figure I would accept that you have an objective view point.
Get over it. He is rich. You don’t like rich people. This is tall poppy syndrome. In the absence of a socialist paradise where all income is completely redistributed (god forbid) “rich people” (those above $60,000 income per annum apparently), pay the bulk of taxes.
Hold Key to account for his actions as Prime Minister. Otherwise everyone will think you just have a personal vendetta. And clearly the misogynist line is a joke. There will always be fringe nuts on both right and left on many issues – the 90% in the middle of NZ is not, it is generally fair and reasonable. Keep on believing the vote went right because “men hate Helen”, you’ll doom labour to many years in opposition.
I am sorry you have such a poor opinion of New Zealanders. It is extremely arrogant to suggest that a country with the democratic tradition that NZ has has voters that are “Incompetent and suckers’. The most incredible thing about countries like NZ, Australia, US, Canada etc is the good grace with which power changes hands at after the people have voted, and often after a heated and spirited contest. You, me or any other individual (including Chris Trotter – his last commentary was the closest thing I have ever seen in this country to a call to fascism by a mainstream commentator) is not smarter than our democatic tradition. If you don’t like it, go back to whence you came. If you do like it, welcome.
Chess Player:
Crowing is still crowing even when its dressed up as pseudo scientific crowshit.
Tim Ellis:
You won, get over it. The next three years will prove how correct the left is that this election was bought by the rich and powerful posing as ‘centrists’ in order to implement their Rogernomics 2.
I’m sure youll keep cheeking back to lift your morale.
that should be “same vigour” not “same figure”
Lew,
“Chess Player: If you’re serious, and not taking the (well-deserved) piss, I’d be interested to see them results. ”
No worries, for a small fee…
Just send your 30 pieces of silver to;
Mr. K. Keiser
c/- Level 47,
Ray Zorgang House
1 The Terrace
Wellington
Your order will then be promptly fulfilled via our Nairobi clearing house.
gomango,
quite good summation.. thanks for it..
then:— (re blame)
– the management of these companies for ignoring basic business principles and trying to get rich quick with little in the way of ethcs
– the NZ regulators and Government who were aware of the risk in this sector but chose to do feck all about it
likely correct in the first part, half correct in the second. There has been a worldwide reliance on commercial corporations, who carried some pretty bad and recklessly arrogant attitudes on from prior industrials peers. This amounted to over-ride on corporate compliant governments..
silver lining, however, is certain knowledge that when commerfcial corporates stuff up bigtime they fall back on socialising their losses. This. assuredly, brings governments, public sectors, what you will, back into contention. At least.
And that, IMO, is the challenge for voters to take up. Singer (aussie link) revealed a missing aspect in the kiwi electorate’s character.
And yes, it’s a stretch perhaps, but this morning’s news of a 59 percent voter turnout would suggest something like a 60:40 breakdown in the enzed electorate’s sense of responsibilities.
Way to go…
Tim Ellis,
Lying is when you tell something proven to be false.
Lie number one/ John Key told is in this interview that he started to work with AK in late August 1988.
That is a lie and I can prove it is a lie. Why? Because in three articles in the NY Times online archives written by three different journalists on three different dates stretching over a period of three years from February 1988 via <a href=’http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFDF153FF934A35755C0A96E948260&scp=3&sq=andrew%20krieger&st=cseJune 1988 until September 1990 it is stated that AK left Bankers Trust possibly as early as December 1987 but definitely not later than February 1988 making it impossible for JK to have worked with him in late August 1988 for the Bankers Trust.
Since the 1990 article states that AK left Soros in June 1988 and that he left forex trading altogether in that month it is impossible for JK to have worked with him in August 1988 period.
I feel to see where I lie here.
Lie number two/ JK and the NZ Herald tell us that the Subprime crisis products were not developed until 2004-2005.
This is what the article tells us:
And it continues:
This is an absurd lie and I can prove it. In this BBC timeline in graphics article there is a graph showing when the Subprime mortgages started. This was at the end of 1997. and the bubble peaked in 2004 2005 2006 and collapsed in early 2007 so when JK visited his ex-bosses in their posh London headquarters on October 2007 ML was well onto their way of collapsing.
This is what happened when the Glass Steagall act was repealed unofficially in 1999 and officially in November 1999. Banks such as ML had been lobbying for this law to be repealed since 1987 and it made the whole scam possible.
“A beautiful model for fraud”
Since JK was reported by this link to be the Managing director of debt and he according to his own worlds was presiding over this department developing al these exiting new products in exactly the same time as the bubble began to build I reckon JK has every reason to tell people that ridiculous whopper especially since he worked and lived in New York of and on according to his own words in this speech and he was one of only four upon invitation only advisors to Alan Greenspan from 1999 until March 2001.
I fail to see where I lie here either.
Tim: I’d have to agree with travellerev.
Outside of the political circles that is a pretty accurate description of most peoples political decision making process this time around. They weren’t voting about anything substantive issue wise, they were voting on visceral responses on what are essentially non-issues.
For instance:-
Repeal of s59 – affects a few people each year, and was removed so judges could convict without having a ill-worded exception put up as a defense. Probably had more to do with the outcome of the election than anything else.
compared to
EFA. Most people had no idea what that is, and even fewer cared. But it was a substantive change in electoral law. The few that did know about it simply repeated the mantra that it was something to do with the pledge card (which was different legislation)
compared to
Cullen fund and its future. There was no debate about Nationals lack of commitment to keep forward loading it. The only debate I saw about Nationals commitment to change the law on it to put 40% in the local market was from economists and market analysts. They pretty well universally panned it as stupid and an ineffective use of the funds – contary to the intended purpose. The best I heard from the public was something about it sounds like a good idea…
compared to
Well you can fill in the list.
A suggestion to change the standards for lightbulbs to move towards something that produces less waste, consumed less power, and followed most of the western countries heading in that direction. People were up in arms about this… It was weird. I also saw more bullshit ‘science’ over this than I have since G was around.
compared to…… well you get the point
Essentially the less important an issue was, the more it seemed to have made an impact on the decision of people to vote centre-right. That is at least from the people I’ve talked to.
I’d say that travellerev’s description is pretty accurate. However it says as much about the media as it does about anything else. The Herald for instance ran massive sets of articles on the EFA. I never saw them say a damn thing about why the legislation was brought forward apart from the bretheren angle, and their crappy lies about it curtailing democracy (ie you have to declare the source of your political funds, and that would curtail the Herald’s advertising).
quite true lprent.
a stupid vote from a largely ignorant public.
but then in this age of microscopic party membership and minimal political participation what do the public rely on for pretty much all their political agenda and ‘supporting’ information? the msm.
and do our commercial msm really care if they actually fullfil their democratic duty to properly inform the electorate in order that we can then make fully informed, and thereby genuinely free, choices?
well just consider for example why TV3 didn’t even bother to run a minor leaders debate this election.
Chess player,
I’ve seen many elections come and go and was happy to concede.
This is different.
The global financial world is collapsing. This is due to the speculative bubble building of a handful of very powerful unscrupulous banksters. As the world glides into a financial abyss we will be made to pay for the speculation that made JK rich.
In the US alone the banksters have already robbed the population of 5 trillion dollars in the last year alone and counting.
I’ll tell you what will happen under Key. The reserve bank will start to borrow and borrow and borrow from the Federal Reserve in order to stave off the inevitable collapse and it will prop up the international banks and guess who are going to pay that money back?
I’ll give you a hint; It ain’t John Key and it ain’t the Wall street scheisters.
While John Key will travel off to his condo in Hawaii you and me and generations to come will be paying and paying and paying.
Not too smart mate.
Gomango,
Patronising much. See my comment to chess player.
I don’t hate John Key. I don’t know him and for all I know he probably a likeable chap in day to day contact.
I don’t like the big hiatus in his career narrative, I don’t like what is happening in the international finance world and how it’s linked to JK.
And the lies, I can’t stand the lies and how the MSM does not investigate those lies.
I don’t think anybody capable of lying about just about anything should be elected the PM of this country. Seems pretty reasonable to me.
And no you haven’t disproven the two woppers I gave in my previous comment.
Not a singly link breaking my evidence. Not a single fact against my facts disproving my narrative.
He lied about AK and he lied about his involvement with the subrpime crisis and he lied about the subprime product timeline. Period.
If you’re happy with a man like that in power good for you cause you got him and your going to have to live with him for the next three years while his mates are collapsing the worlds financial system.
I personally like my politicians relatively honest and open and no, I did not vote for Helen Clark
LP, your own newly-elected leader has just admitted that Labour made big mistakes with the EFA, and is now seeking the multipartisan support that his own party rejected last year. That’s about the biggest condemnation of the EFA you can get, in his first real pronouncement as Leader.
travellerev – just try and keep interestng, this time i’ll work backward thru your “facts” until I get bored.
JK and the Fed – he was on their foreign exchange committee. I note you are no longer he was “advising Greenspan on how to repaeal Glass-Steagall”. Key was global head of FX at ML, thats why he was on teh Fed FX committee. What does this committee do? Wikipedia has a short entry on it which sums it up. Its not that exciting. They mostly worry about operational risk in the markets and how to reduce it. Satan is not and never has beena member. Link here:http://www.newyorkfed.org/fxc/
JK and NY – what is the issue. He lived and worked in NY presumably. Satan actually lives in Birmingham though he does travel widely.
JK was a managing Director – along with about (at least) 5 or 600 others at Merrill Lynch. There are lots of MD’s in a bank, even more Directors and way more Vice -Presidents. Did you know thats how the rankings work? “Debt Markets” is the catch all description of the unit that includes a zillion business lines – depending on the bank – from Govt Bonds to ABS to MBS to DCM to etc etc. At about the same time, my bank had 3 business lines: Equities, Global Banking, and Debt Markets. FX was in Debt Markets.
A beautiful model for Fraud – Yes. But this crisis ins no different in cause to any other- it;s just bigger. It’s what you get when greed intersects with easy liquidity and poor regulation and politics. Whats different this time is that the “too big to fail” argument is being trotted out a lot more than is usual.
JK horrified – this wouldn’t surprise me. Anyone who left a bank around 200 (oer whenever he did) and then had a good look at the same bank in 2007 would be horrified. Leverage, size of balance sheet and reliance on VAR risk models would be starkly different from what was common 6 or 7 years early. Mayb not so obvious to those who had stayed in the business in the intervening years and seen it grow gradually.
Your BBC timeline only tells some of the story. The real problem was sub-prime not mortgages per se. Even this article which you recklessly quote does describe the real issue which is now obvious:
“In the past five years, the private sector has dramatically expanded its role in the mortgage bond market, which had previously been dominated by government-sponsored agencies like Freddie Mac.
They specialised in new types of mortgages, such as sub-prime lending to borrowers with poor credit histories and weak documentation of income, who were shunned by the “prime” lenders like Freddie Mac.”
Key words – IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS ie since Q2 2002. The start of the crisis (in terems of market prices for CDO’s going down rather than up) occured in March 2007 – I remember it vividly because it was the start of the end of that phase of my career. ABS CDO’s and super senior trade did only get going in in 2003 or so and didn’t get to the vast issuance stage until around late 2005. I showed you the numbers a few weeks ago and you just blithely ignore them.
The AK and JK links – I still don’t know what you are trying to prove here. That they never had the chance to talk at various times? Where’s the quote saying both guys only ever talked to each or dealt with each other while BOTH were at BT. Both guys were key figures in NZ FX markets thru the mid 80’s. Are you trying to prove they never talked or did talked? Or just that people get mixed up on dates over 20 years ago. If KEy was trying to hide is currency trading past in order to look “nicer” then I am sure he would want to deny knowing Krieger. He doesn’t. You’d have a real conspiracy if Key said “I never knew Krieger”
Show some consistency – why not do an expose on some of the things Phil Goff said as a student radical and what that implies for foreign policy under his leadership if he becomes prime minister. Just as ludicrous right?
Now I’m bored.
Ha hahaha Gomango,
A link to the Federal reserve site is all you have?
The Glass Steagall act was repealed because the banksters including Alan Greenspan and his banking masters spend between a 100 to 200 million dollars in the 12 years leading up to it in order to lobby congress to get that law repealed.
JK is at the very top in Merrill Lynch trading in debt products while the one barrier that keeps banking even remotely honest is being eroded away by the banksters themselves and you think he did not know what was going on? F*&king hell, Gomango I would dearly like to know what colour the sky has on your planet.
So John Key is Global head for Forex, Europen head for bonds and Derivatives for a bank most notable for it’s aggression in the derivatives trade now causing all the problems and the banking wrold has spend $ 100 to $ 200 million in the 12 years leading up to what every banker knew would be the biggest greed fest ever and JK “the smiling assassin” was not involved so I guess that is why he tells us that and I quote “the products causing the subprime crisis were not hatched until 2004-2005.”
Yeah right. F*&k, you believe that I’ve got a piece of rainforest in the Sahara that would be just right for you.
By the way that sacking JK had to do was because ML had just burned it’s fingers badly on the LTCM hedgefund which had to be bailed out by the Feds too.
What was that about again ooh oops. Forex derivatives and speculation about Asian currencies and the collapse of the Russian rouble. Could JK have something to do with…. nah JK wouldn’t do that, he was a nice banker.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I give up. Our worlds just aren’t in the same realities.
Go and read some of those books I have suggested. Speak to some people who have worked in the finance industry. Stop googling for proof.
Oh and about the AK and JK connection.
According to JK and his boss in this interview and this interview
he was responsible for huge amounts of trades with AK. If this is true he could not have done these trades when he alleges he starts to work for Bankers trust in August 1988 because AK had left the forex business by then only to return in 1990.
So either John Key worked with AK in 1987 or he did not work with AK at all. Simple.
And if he worked with AK in 1987 than I bet you that he was working with AK during the raid on the NZ dollar almost bringing NZ’s economy down.
And twenty year later he lies about it because he wanted to become your PM.
travellerev,
“The global financial world is collapsing. This is due to the speculative bubble building of a handful of very powerful unscrupulous banksters. As the world glides into a financial abyss we will be made to pay for the speculation that made JK rich.
In the US alone the banksters have already robbed the population of 5 trillion dollars in the last year alone and counting.
I’ll tell you what will happen under Key. The reserve bank will start to borrow and borrow and borrow from the Federal Reserve in order to stave off the inevitable collapse and it will prop up the international banks and guess who are going to pay that money back?
I’ll give you a hint; It ain’t John Key and it ain’t the Wall street scheisters.
While John Key will travel off to his condo in Hawaii you and me and generations to come will be paying and paying and paying.
Not too smart mate.”
You are the one panicking, “mate”, not me.
This was all foretold, in various forms, such as in The Collapse of Globalism: And the Reinvention of the World by John Ralston Saul.
Saul is remarkably accurate in this book of some years ago in his projected sequence of events.
He stops short, however, of explaining what will happen next, and finished with a rather hopeful view that everyone will somehow be nicer to each other.
Interestingly he even interviewed Helen Clark and reports on her in this book as one of the more ‘aware’ leaders around. Can’t say I’ve seen much evidence of that myself tho’, given where she’s left things.
I don’t doubt that you, and generations to come, will be “paying, and paying, and paying” as you say, but personally I will not be, unless they start taxing fresh air and rainwater.
Unlike panickers such as yourself, I have prepared for this situation and while it has cost me short term opportunities, I and mine are reasonably well protected from the coming crises.
Please just tell me that this time round you will learn from the situation and do something to ensure it affects you less next time, which it most certainly will, as this is not the end of the world?
Remember, according to the Kubler-Ross model, you will not get from Stage 2 to Stage 3 until you recognise that you yourself are also in some way to blame.
Have a nice day, “mate”.
TE: How about reading my comment rather than just editorializing on it. I didn’t say that there aren’t problems with the EFA (I have yet to find an act that significantly changes anything that works straight out of the house).
What I said was that media didn’t report on the reasons that changes to the electoral law were required. All they concentrated on were the things that affected their revenue or were in Hagers book. I got the distinct impression that they hadn’t even bothered to look up the results of a series of court decisions going back to 1993, or indeed even read the 1993 law.
Therefore the public were really badly informed on the EFA and why electoral finance reform was required.
Travellerev, Yes it sux; however, this is what happens in a democracy – it’s not perfect but it’s the best system we have right now. I agree with you on a lot of issues you have raised. Nz’ers were fooled and they were fooled well, the problem National has is that it’s a lot easier to fool people then it is to govern. So, cheer up and keep on keeping on – to borrow from my good friend Curtis – stay vigilant and informed, get your friends involved in political discussions, encourage them to vote, encourage them to seek information outside of the conventional means, and finally, don’t waste your time getting involved in political discussions that go nowhere but
You’re wrong!
No, you’re wrong!
Well I have proof.
So what.
You’re an idiot.
No, you’re an idiot, I have proof.
You suck.
No I don’t.
Yes you do.
You suck.
No i don’t, i have proof.
You still suck.
So do you.
No i don’t.
This isn’t correct LP. The media’s major concern with the EFA was that the Labour Party was ramming through major changes to electoral law without proper consultation with opposition parties. Goff acknowledges now that it was a poor process, and this single-party approach to electoral law was wrong, and is what has led to the problems with the EFA.
The media did give a lot of coverage to Hager. That coverage led to Don Brash’s resignation. Labour was too concerned with writing electoral law to suit itself rather than a mulitpartisan approach to redefining electoral law. I didn’t see a single author at the Standard condemn Labour for ramming it through, or condemn Labour for turning electoral law into a partisan football.
Vinsin,
I hear yah. LOLOLOL and well put.
Chess player,
I’m of the grid more or less and working toward a pleasant self sustainable life.
I’m way past panic and made my choices years ago.
But there are a lot of people who aren’t and who still think there is a quick fix like vote a banker in because he knows about money.
Looked up the Kubler-Ross model. I don’t get were the have yourself to blame comes from but I can assure you that I have accepted the election results as the state of affairs. It is not the election outcome I want to change. I just will not let John Key have an easy rule, that is a big difference. I will not go to sleep like most of the voters just awake for long enough to vote for “Change”. I’m an active political person and just because he got the votes doesn’t mean he will have free hand to do as he pleases.
T/rev,
Tis the question and not the answer that matters: gogalgo!
northpaw,
I so agree with you.