Hard News: All Change
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Without explanation, without context, without qualifying in any way, Stuff/Fairfax simply does a cut and paste of the most idiotic and offensive piece yet written about Jacinda Ardern.
I know we're all supposed to get terribly excited every time media overseas actually mention New Zealand, but are we so desperate for attention that we simply recycle their ignorance?
(and the silver medal goes to Newsweek, who tell us "The newly approved immigration policy for the coalition is estimated to cut refugees by 20,000 to 30,000 each year." Oh dear)
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Tom Semmens, in reply to
Without explanation, without context, without qualifying in any way, Stuff/Fairfax simply does a cut and paste of the most idiotic and offensive piece yet written about Jacinda Ardern.
And the Queen dinosaur of the FPP era is also getting
in on the act with lazy, old person opinions masquerading as facts in an idiotic and offensive piece ruthlessly debunked with contemptuous ease by one of the more impressive commentators "Swordfish" at the Standard.Linda Clark gave another dinosaur Barry Soper quite a serve on NatRad last week (she didn't name him, but it was obvious whose line of questions about Adern's competence to govern annoyed her - update or get out or words to that effect was her advice).
IMHO, one of the unexamined aspects of an aging population we need to guard against is an unnoticed, creeping cultural senility afflicting those western societies with too many old people hanging on for too long. The reactions of the likes of Soper and Clifton to the election of a youthful 37 year old PM is part of the evidence for that proposition.
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Joe Wylie, in reply to
IMHO, one of the unexamined aspects of an aging population we need to guard against is an unnoticed, creeping cultural senility afflicting those western societies with too many old people hanging on for too long.
"Apples and pears when they're ripe they fall down from the trees
Old people cling on to life like some kind of disease..." -
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
And the Queen dinosaur of the FPP era is also getting
in on the act with lazy, old person opinions masquerading as facts in an idiotic and offensive pieceWell it's Bauer Media innit!
No surprises there... -
Neil, in reply to
...we’re all supposed to get terribly excited every time media overseas actually mention New Zealand, but are we so desperate for attention that we simply recycle their ignorance?
A bit unfair to Ardern. The NZ equivalent of Trump isn’t the PM, he’s the Deputy PM.
Oddly, the last time Labour supported NZ troops in Afghanistan Peters was Minister of Foreign Affairs and there was a Republican president. This time round NZF also have the Defense portfolio.
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linger, in reply to
Newsweek, who tell us “The newly approved immigration policy for the coalition is estimated to cut refugees by 20,000 to 30,000 each year.”
For effing factchecking's sake! Estimated by which innumerate cretin? That's more refugees than NZ has taken in total over the past 50 years.
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My view, and this applies to all healthcare, but it could be piloted on mental health, is that we should apply the ACC model, which generally works, to non-accidental health issues.
People would be able to present to any accredited mental health provider, or their GP, the provider would file a claim and they'd get treated. Resources expand to meet demand (like there are usually an adequate number of physios around to get an appointment quickly).
You'd have a "Healthcare Commission" that would pay the providers and set levies to cover their costs across a range of tax types (as ACC levies income, vehicles, and employers based on risk).
Then, having removed funding from the political sphere, you can look at the most effective modes of provision.
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Rich of Observationz, in reply to
They conflated refugees with net migrants. They also know fuck all about NZ, it's population or its immigration policies.
We aren't perfect by any means, but compared to most other countries, and especially the US, we are one of the most migrant friendly places:
- our primary migration pathways are neutral as to the country of origin
- we select on an empirical points system based in theory on ability to successfully settle (and we work on improving settlement outcomes)
- we grant qualified migrants permanent residence at an early stage
- migrants are able to vote after 12 months permanent residence
- migrants have a clear path to citizenship -
Neil,
Twyford:
There will be a special KiwiBuild visa that will allow people in the construction to fast-track temporary work visas. We will reduce migrants coming in but nothing will be allowed to constrain the construction industry to get workers.
The need to resssure that not too many foreigners will be getting in is morally bankrupt.
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simon g, in reply to
They also know fuck all about NZ, it's population or its immigration policies.
They don't know anything, and it doesn't (usually) bother me that they don't know anything, because we are globally insignificant. Just as our journos probably don't know anything about Slovenia or Slovakia.
But what really grates is that our media then treat overseas ignorance as a worthwhile contribution to our own discourse. Why? It's the same fawning mentality that values an opinion by somebody who's just stepped off the plane ("Visitor says NZ is awesome", copyright most media, most weeks) ahead of people who live here and actually deal with daily reality.
I think we should pass a law to force all media corporations to amend their employment procedures, thus: "In all job interviews, especially for editors, references should not be sought from people who have worked with applicant for years, but from somebody on the street who has never met them. This will override all other considerations."
If they're going to foist this crap on us, the least they can do is follow the same rule.
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Neil,
Twyford is proposing a PPP with Fletchers. Govt money will be good news for Fletchers’ shareholders currently in dire need of good news.
I wonder if that means he’s no longer interested in the the role Fletchers plays in keeping building costs high.
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Used to be a thing that not everyone had to go to school at all, because there didn't seem to be much use for more people who could read, write, and do basic arithmetic. For a start, people who could read and write were rich, some of them could even afford pepper, and how would things even get done down on the manors if everyone could read and write and be rich?
But it turned out, not just with primary education that reading and writing for the entire population in every occupation was incredibly powerful, primary education was enough to solve farming for instance, quickly reducing the labour requirements by about 90% while dramatically raising outputs, even in the armed forces it worked such that once one country tried it every country either kept up or was quickly dominated by military force.
But that it was the same again with secondary education in the arts, culture, sciences, and mathematics, even sadly tinged with the racist nationalism of the time, not having that was bad for your culture and country in a big way, because those racist nationalists were good at stuff, including being an effective army, despite their racist nationalism.
It's the same with tertiary education, of course; law, medicine, economics, the sciences, sociology, advanced mathematics, engineering, data management, having a surfeit of people with those skills in every area of society would make us immensely powerful and rich compared to the world of our parents, and we're on the way already as more and more people are doing just that.
Yes, it's hard to imagine taxi drivers and check out operators in world of full of lawyers and doctors (he says, ironically). But just because you can't imagine a world where everyone is better educated than you and I, doesn't mean it won't be completely amazeballs and kick everyone else's ass, just like it has every other time this has happened in the past.
Honestly, it's a bit like people being worried about how the remaining shit jobs that no one really wants to do might go away. That's not a bad thing, in the past that has always turned out really well for everyone.
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Since Russell posted this six days ago it has become increasingly evident that our new government is indeed 'all change'. Perhaps except a couple of features of the last two governments: neoliberalism and financial discipline.
Jacinda hasn't declared any rejection of neoliberalism, so I believe she just wants to tweak it as per the agreed policy prescription. In regard to that, someone reported in the media that there's a 39 page document which will be made public. What has been reported so far is merely the gist of that (key points simplified).
Whether Grant Robertson proves capable of reaching the standard set by Michael Cullen remains to be seen. The public must be bemused that our economy will be supervised by someone with no financial qualifications, track record of successful management of financial systems, or any relevant experience whatsoever. Expect the right to liken his appointment as Minister of Finance to hiring an Afghan immigrant drain-layer as neurosurgeon.
The demeanour of Winston & Jacinda at the initial press conference impressed me. You can always read the chemistry between people via body language, and the relaxed rapport evident bodes well for the new government. I watched the swearing-in late this morning via the live stream. Normally wouldn't bother, but having spent five years working to establish the Greens as a viable operation in the early nineties, I wasn't going to miss seeing the fruits of that labour finally show up as three Green MPs entered our government for the first time. This is the foundation stone for the sustainable society to come. Better late than never. Very satisfying.
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Neil,
Hearing Twyford announce increased training of young people in the building industry was good news.
Thanks to immigration there’s now the demand to provide the work and also the market for up-scaling production and decreasing costs.
It would be a bit awakard to gear up such an industry only to have demand suddenly drop off.
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More fuckwitted non-journalism: on the day a new government is sworn in, there are dozens of potential stories on policies and people, so what does TV3 (Newshub) present as a major story tonight? (drum roll ...) - MPs who become Ministers get a pay rise. Gosh.
Honestly, how utterly indifferent to politics do you have to be to think that is anywhere near the headline of the day? Why even bother having a job as a political reporter, if you're not interested in news? FFS.
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linger, in reply to
It would be a bit awkward to gear up such an industry only to have demand suddenly drop off.
Three things that will still need doing regardless of future immigration policy:
Christchurch rebuild (...still, after nearly 8 years…);
Kaikoura rebuild;
Affordable housing (remembering that National didn't even get 1% of the way towards addressing the existing shortfall).
I think the building industry is safe for a few decades yet. -
A summary worth reading in the Herald;
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11937097
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Neil, in reply to
It only takes for the Australian economy to take off - which it is starting to do - for immigration to go back to how it was a few years ago.
That might not have any effect on the building industry in 5 years but perhaps in 10.
It might be nice gesture for Labour to admit they were wrong to bang on about immigration.
Twyford a few years ago was rightly criticising Fletchers for monopoly pricing - one of the real reasons we have a housing problem. But then went silent on that and started on about the Chinese. - just when they felt threatened by Peters.
A bit of humility - a bit of empathy even, might be appreciated.
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More international reckons: a UK Tory gets just about everything wrong, worth a read and a giggle.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
More international reckons: a UK Tory gets just about everything wrong, worth a read and a giggle.
Even funnier when read out by Rik Mayall in character as Allan B'Stard, if he was still alive.
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nzlemming, in reply to
It only takes for the Australian economy to take off - which it is starting to do
Yeah, about that. Turnbull is hanging on by his fingernails after today's court decision. I anticipate an election sooner rather than later over the ditch.
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