That's creative thinking – if I had known that I probably would have joined them. – Inspector John Kelly on the New Year revellers who built a large sandcastle in the middle of the Tairua estuary in an attempt to avoid the liquor ban.
Among western leftists, morality had become culture-specific. If imperialism's victims asked for support, then they would be given it, unquestioningly. If not, then they would tend to their own political gardens exclusively.
The problem for western feminists is that, in spite of these cultural and political self-denying ordinances, the only garden currently showing unequivocal signs of flourishing, is their own. Across vast regions of the planet, not only are women's rights not flourishing, they are being diminished. – Chris Trotter
Any family, in any part of the country, dealing with any one of those challenges, would find it difficult. But when you have all of those at once, it is incredibly difficult to see how a family could navigate their way through all of that on their own.
And you sure as heck, can't have an official sitting in Wellington waving a magic wand, and fixing it for them. – Louise Upston
If I look at my colleagues, they get up and go to work every day because they care so much. . .Why would we do that if we didn't care? Why would we do that if we didn't care about individuals and actually want something better for their lives? – Louise Upston
Men who have been inculcated into a culture of toxic masculinity need to regularly top up their King Dick Metre, which can only be fuelled by the disempowerment of someone else. And that someone else is very often a woman.
Their feelings of strength only come when someone else is in a position of weakness. They can only feel valid when they are able to invalidate someone else. They only feel like they have won when someone else has lost. – Kasey Edwards
Could you imagine a return to a world where the only people that gave dairy farmers grief were sheep farmers and bank managers?
Could you imagine the next time Fonterra was in the news, it was for a collaboration with Lynx in producing a deodorant that smelled of silage and cowshit, that dairy farmers could put on if they used too much soap in the shower?
Maybe we can hope that our on-farm processes continue to develop, along with scientific developments, adoption of best practices and consumer preferences, as opposed to at the whim of vote-hungry politicians, misinformed urban housewives and the combined armies of anaemic vegans, animal rights activists, goblins and orcs.
Maybe we could hope that we can reverse the trend that has seen rural folk and farmers become an ethnic minority in this country – a minority that is now seen by many New Zealanders as dirty, destructive and somehow freeloading on resources, with less credibility then prostitution. . . – Pete Fitzherbert
We welcome the government's focus on tracking the number of children in persistent poverty and hardship. However, setting multiple arbitrary targets for reducing child hardship is easier than actually helping people extricate themselves from their predicaments. – Dr Oliver Hartwich
Good intentions are not enough. They're not even a start, because there's been a lot of money wasted and lives wrecked on the basis of good intentions expressed through public services. – Bill English
. . . the only reason we have a 37-year-old female Prime Minister is because a septuagenarian put her there. – Fran O'Sullivan
Peters' inability to contain his bitterness suggests the coalition negotiations were a charade. His resentment towards National is deep-rooted, and since the election, the feeling is reciprocated. It is unlikely that National's change of leader will diminish Peters' toxicity. – The Listener
It strikes me as rather unfair that while we've been up in arms over where the country's burgeoning cow population does its business, our burgeoning human population has been fouling up the waterways with what comes out of our own backsides. We can't berate dairy farmers for dirtying the rivers if we're content for our biggest city to keep using its waterways as one giant long drop. – Nadine Higgins
Over-reacting about everything someone says or does, creating controversy over silly innocuous things such as what I choose to wear or not wear, is not moving us forward. It's creating silly distractions from real issues. – Jennifer Lawrence
The incident has also highlighted the danger of a government full of academics, health professionals, public servants, teachers and career politicians picking business winners.
The idea that councils around the country would rail or truck their rubbish to Westport for incineration is one of those ludicrous ideas that only regional development officials would think is a flyer. – Martin van Beynen
Getting policy right matters. In the end, lots of money and good intentions is never enough. You've got to get the policy right. – Nicola Willis
So consumed are they with the grassy vistas opening up in front of them that they are oblivious to their drawing ever closer to journey's end, namely the holding yards of the local freezing works. – John Armstrong
Businesses, by and large, are better at coping with bad news than they are at coping with uncertainty. You cannot plan for it or adapt to it. Hamish Rutherford
Feminism is about choice, the right to have one, the right to be equal. It is not about trampling men to death in the process. It is not about spending so much time telling girls that "they can do anything" that they become curious and confused as to why you keep telling them something they already knew.
Guess what? The girls we're raising haven't had it occur to them they can't do anything. – Kate Hawkesby
I'm not sure what affordable means but I am sure I'm not alone in that. It's bound to be a complicated formula with one of the variables being the price of avocados. I just hope it doesn't add up to borrowing from KiwiBank to buy from KiwiBuild during the KiwiBubble resulting in KiwiBust. – James Elliott
If we believe that correcting harmful inequities lies in asserting an inherent malice and/or obsolescence in all people with a specific combination of age, gender and ethnicity then we have already lost the fight. The real enemy is the unchecked and uncontested power exercised through institutions, social norms and structures which privilege one group over another. – Emma Espiner
A tagged tax has to be a tagged tax, otherwise it's a rort. – Mike Hosking
While the Greens are dreaming of compost, wheelbarrows, chook poo and quinoa, the rest of us wouldn't mind getting on with business. And that means we need water. – Mike Hosking
Certainly a rational person, and especially one convinced of the threat of global warming and the possibility of more droughts, would increase, not stop investment in irrigation?
That is not to argue that water quality and nitrate leaching are not problems – they are. But to stop irrigation as a solution is to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The rational approach is to find ways of reducing nitrate leaching even under high-producing irrigated pastures. This requires more science, more evidence, more rational thinking. – Dr Doug Edmeades
Businesses — it doesn't matter what they are — require reliable steady staff; not rocket scientists but reliable steady staff. Unless we have those types of people available our whole economy has an issue. – Andre de Bruin
There's power in love. There's power in love to help and heal when nothing else can. There's power in love to lift up and liberate when nothing else will. There's power in love to show us the way to live. – Michael Bruce Curry
The well-being of all communities can be enhanced by enabling greater levels of social solidarity, empowering people in their personal and community lives, enhancing social infrastructure and establishing opportunities for dignified work and alternative livelihoods. – Tracey McIntosh
Tough on crime is popular with the insular and ignorant when it comes to justice policy, while restorative approaches with enduring outcomes that help people stay away from jail because they offend less are not popular, not sexy and seen as "soft on crime". – Chester Borrows
Everyone can do something amazing once. You've got to back it up and do it again – Rowland Smith
The money spent on eliminating risk in one area means less available to fix problems in other areas. In other words, the consequence of lowering risk in one sphere can hinder minimising risk in another one. Chew carefully on that one. – Martin van Beynen
That's what the call for diversity means. An endless slicing and dicing of society into every thinner minority groups with everyone scrambling for quotas and box ticking.
It's a bureaucratic nightmare. It's also a complete denial of individuality. You are not important. All that matters is what boxes you tick. It's the boxes that define you, not what you do, what you think or what you produce. – Rodney Hide
We went to do a story about an American billionaire buying up wineries in Wairarapa. Local wine makers were going broke and in stepped the American billionaire. I went down with a TV crew expecting locals to be up in arms about the 'foreigner' buying up the land. But I couldn't find one voice raised against him.
There is one thing worse than a foreign buyer, they told me, and that's not having a buyer at all. – Guyon Espiner
It feels like a Dear Winston moment really – Mike Jaspers
We grow up thinking the world is fair, but it's not, so you're not always going to get the results you're looking for. The challenge is to pick yourself up again when you have those days. – Joe Schmidt
I believe rugby is similar to society, where it is about interdependence and us trying to help each other. Imagine if everyone in life became the best version of themselves and made life easier for those either side of them. – Joe Schmidt
The very premise of our system is we learn from our mistakes and wrongs and are given freedom to make amends. – Mike Hosking
Grown-ups know that being short $60 a week is not what ails and troubles our most vulnerable children. Proper parenting can't be bought for $60 a week. – Rodney Hide.
So stop beating yourself up for buying too many books or for having a to-read list that you could never get through in three lifetimes. All those books you haven't read are indeed a sign of your ignorance. But if you know how ignorant you are, you're way ahead of the vast majority of other people. – Jessica Stillman
Feminism has descended into a cauldron of cattiness; of nasty factionalism. It doesn't empower. It scrutinises and judges groups within groups. Like extreme left or right politics, the creed is hardest on those most like it – those who should know better but fail. – Lindsay Mitchell
Regional development is about more than funding a few projects; it's about allowing people to make a living. – Paul Goldsmith
This image of Anglo-Saxon culture isn't grounded in the up-to-date distinct cultural traditions or practices of the United Kingdom. It is a cover of a misremembered song, played by a drunk who forgot the words mid-song and so started humming. – Haimona Gray
Imagine the world today if William Wilberforce and Kate Sheppard had refused to engage with people whose views they found repugnant. If Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr had decided not to argue back. If Desmond Tutu and Te Whiti had seen no point in suffering the slings and arrows of their opponents because, hey, nothing's gonna change.
The twist in this debate is that the Molyneuxs, Southerns and other so-called champions of free speech only win when their shouting drowns out other voices. Voices of conciliation and peace. Because regardless of the polarisation we see today, people can change. We can learn. And, even if we still disagree on some profound issues, we can find other things to agree on and other things to respect in each other. Tim Watkin
The day that this country's dictated to by the social media trolls is the day that democracy dies. If we are to be spooked into compliance by what an anonymous moron threatens by the swipe of a cellphone screen then we're little better than they are. – Barry Soper
It is unfortunate, but the world seems to have lost the ability to disagree well. Civility in our discussions and debates over contentious issues seems to have been lost. We are increasingly polarised in our views with recourse to extreme positions in order to 'prove' or force our point. However, the answer is not to avoid difficult and, at times, confronting conversations. Rather, community leaders, and universities in particular, play a vital role in leading our communities in those discussions, as difficult as they may be, applying the principles of informed discussion, compromise, enlightenment of the points of view of others, and if all else fails, respectful disagreement. – Chris Gallavin
But where is that line that we need to find as a Parliament between being culturally sensitive to people that may not see things in the way in which New Zealand's own cultures have developed, and, on the other hand, being firm enough that, actually, no, these things, regardless of culture, are not right. Nick Smith
We have an education system that does not reward excellence and does not punish failure. Decades of bureaucratic hand-wringing has delivered a broken system that relies on the personal integrity and good intentions of those who choose teaching as a profession. – Damien Grant
After all, as long as we can discern the truth clearly, love it passionately, and defend it vigorously, we have nothing to fear from open debate; and if we can't do those things, then why are we claiming to be a university at all? – Dr Jonathan Tracy
The answer to suffering, physical or mental, is affection and good care. This should come first and as far as possible from family and community, supported by institutions.
"Finishing people off" may suit our current individualistic, utilitarian, impatient culture, but it will degrade us all in the end. – Carolyn Moynihan
In a liberal, democratic society, there will always be speech in the public domain that some people find offensive, distasteful or unsavoury. Unless that speech is manifestly doing harm to others, there is no case to ban it, only a case for arguing strongly against it or ridiculing it. Recourse to suppression is redolent of authoritarianism, not democracy. – Chris Bishop
The irony is that although the elimination of subsidies started out as a kind of political punishment, it wound up becoming a long-term blessing for farmers. We went through a difficult period of adjustment but emerged from it stronger than ever. . .
We became ruthlessly efficient, which is another way of saying that we became really good at what we do.
We also improved our ability to resist regulations that hurt agriculture. Subsidies empower politicians, who can threaten to cut off aid if farmers refuse to accept new forms of control. Without subsidies, we have more freedom to solve problems through creativity and innovation rather than the command-and-control impulses of government. – Craige Mackenzie
But as someone who's spent a bit of time writing and talking about the important, and not so important, issues in life, there is one thing I know which will never change.
Truth always wins. If you report the facts you can never go wrong. – Peter Williams
We can't prosper by taking in our own washing so, strutting it on the global stage has to be our modus operandi.And I mean strutting, not just selling low value stuff that rises or falls on the rise or fall of the NZ dollar. Strutting starts with the daring of the ambition and is sustained by the ability to execute. Ruth Richardson
The frightening retreat from sane economics. Free trade is the path to growth, protectionism is the path to decline. Ruth Richardson
This is an accidental government formed on the fly and governing on the fly.– Ruth Richardson
Death of great science on the alter of doctrinal and PC positions doesn't strike me as the smartest choice. – Ruth Richardson
I'm satisfied within myself. I've got more to do with my life than look at that. Barbara Brinsley
Each of us has made different life choices and, actually, that gives women everywhere role models.
It's legitimate to choose. We don't have to be the same, we don't have to judge each other, we make our own choices. – Dame Jenny Shipley
Every student who walks out of the gate to truant is already a statistic of the worst kind, highly likely to go to prison, highly likely to commit domestic violence or be a victim of domestic violence, be illiterate, be a rape victim, be a suicide victim, be unemployed for the majority of their life, have a major health problem or problems, die at an early age, have an addiction – drugs, gambling, alcohol or smoking. – Virginia Crawford
I am Māori. Tuhinga o mua Ngāti Hāmua a Te Hika a Pāpāuma. Ko taku iwi Ngāti Kahungunua a Rangitāne. I am Scottish, I am English, I am a New Zealander. I am not defined by the colour of my skin. I am a victim. I did not choose to be a victim. – Maanki
If we want to see fewer Māori in prison, our whānau broken apart because dad is in prison and mum is now in rangi (heaven), we must free ourselves and our whānau from the increasing level of domestic violence and abuse in our homes. The drugs must stop, the high level of drinking and violence among our own must be gone.
How many of our fathers are incarcerated, because their fathers taught them the only way to deal with anger was violence, to punch their way through a situation. How many of our whānau have lost a mother, a child, a brother from our people's own hand. – Maanki
The blame needs to stop. It is not the police, the system, the state, the Government, the justice system or even the Pākehā who made a man beat his wife to death, to rape an innocent stranger, to murder their own child or to sexually abuse a daughter or son.
No, it was a choice, a choice made by a perpetrator. – Maanki
The Senate, collectively, could not find their own arses with a sextant and a well-thumbed copy of Gray's Anatomy – Jack the Insider
Over the years I have come to the conclusion that God's table is a smorgasbord of theological truths with some in conflict with others and some more important that others. People are free to pick and choose from that smorgasbord and do so based on what is important to them. – The Veteran
But I can't remember not having books. I'd go to the library every week, search every shelf with children's books, then go home with a stack. . . Every choice was my choice. Then I could control what went into my head by plugging into new worlds, learning new things and just imagining a different life. . .
When we only look to reinforce our taste and beliefs we lose the opportunity to browse and the opportunity for serendipity, and that's unfortunate. – Maud Cahill
It was sort of total irritability associated with feeling hungry that would manifest as grumpiness. This void in my stomach would create a void in my sense of humour and my ability to tolerate things. – Simon Morton
This is a partnership designed by a drover's dog and a clinical psychologist who have absolutely nothing in common except they both have experience dealing with rogue steers who don't believe in being team players. – Clive Bibby
I live down in the South Island, and there's been a lot of farmers trying to curtsey. Most of the time they're in gumboots. – Dame Lynda Topp
In the west food is produced by a few to feed the many and when people are relieved of the duties of working on farms and subsistence farming the job is handed to a few and people move to the cities and that is when they become disconnected. – Anna Jones
Class is a commodity that doesn't seem to be in conspicuous supply in politics at the moment. – Chris Finlayson
New Zealand's real problems are not identity politics, no matter what the left may think. They are that the welfare state has failed. Too many kids don't get educated. Too many working aged adults are on welfare. Too many are in jail because there is too much crime and they're never rehabilitated. Housing has gone from a commodity to a ponzi scheme. Our productivity growth is anaemic. With government's and councils' approach to regulation, it's amazing anyone still does anything. – Andrew Ketels
I certainly don't celebrate diversity for its own sake. You have to distinguish pluralism from relativism. Relativism tends towards 'anything goes' and that can't be right
Pluralism is the view that although some ways of living really are wrong, the list of possible good ways to live a flourishing human life and have a good society contains more than one item. – Julian Baggini
We didn't need a tax on stones, there wasn't a concern about 'peak stone' and we didn't need to stage protests in front of the chieftains' caves to argue for the use of bronze. It came down to developing the new technology, which had benefits over the old technology, and disseminating the knowledge. – Andrew Hoggard
I am the culmination of generous moment after generous moment, kind moment after kind moment and that is the glue that holds this country together. – Kurt Fearnley
It is a privilege for any mother to be able to propose a toast to her son on his 70th birthday. It means that you have lived long enough to see your child grow up. It is rather like – to use an analogy I am certain will find favour – planting a tree and being able to watch it grow. – Queen Elizabeth II
When I noticed that I was spending far more time scrolling through my email and Twitter than I was playing on the floor with my son, I realized that the problem wasn't with screens warping his fragile mind. It was that I'd already allowed my phone to warp mine. So these days, my husband and I try not to use our phones at all in front of our son. Not because I think the devil lives in my iPhone, but because I think, to some extent, a small part of the devil lives in me. – EJ Dickson
The proper purpose of journalism remains as Kovach and Rosenstiel defined it – not to lead society toward the outcome that journalists think is correct, but to give ordinary people the means to make their own decisions about what's in their best interests. – Karl du Fresne
I'm bloody angry at New Zealand for fighting over Santa and I want us to stop. This is not what Santa's about. Santa is not about angst and Santa is not about Santa hate.
Santa is about hope, Santa is about dreams. Santa can come down the chimney even when you don't have a chimney. Santa can come in the ranch slider, Santa can drink craft beer. Santa can drink strawberry-flavoured Lindauer for all I care. – Patrick Gower
The expectation that we rustics just need to lean on the gate chewing a straw and making obscure pronouncements about the weather in impenetrable accents for picturesque effect is entertaining until it dawns on you that your role apparently really is just to provide background local colour and not disturb the peace too much. Rural places are workplaces — stuff happens down on the farm and that stuff can be noisy. And not just on the farm — gravel quarries, jet-boat companies and the construction sites of all those new houses that didn't used to be there. – Kate Scott
Rose-tinted nostalgia strikes us all from time to time, but when it comes with a side of imported urban world view where non-working weekends and the notion of property values is accorded more worth than building community resilience, I begin to feel resentful of the twittering worries of suburbia intruding on my bucolic peace with its soothing soundtrack of barking huntaways, topdressing planes and chainsaws –Kate Scott
I had a gentleman come to my office three years ago. He was a Labour candidate. He ran for the Labour Party. He was coming to see me because he'd been to see his own team—they wouldn't help him with an issue, so he came to me. Did I say, "Oh, sorry, you've been a Labour candidate. I'm not going to assist you. I'm not going to help you."? No, I didn't. I actually helped him with his issue, because that's my job as a member of Parliament. I don't care whether you support New Zealand First, I don't care whether you're a supporter or member of the Labour Party, the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, or the National Party—if you come and ask for help and support, you will get it. That's my job.- Mark Mitchell
The only positive outcome from the UN's 2009 Copenhagen fiasco was the launch of New Zealand's Global Research Alliance (GRA) to reduce methane and nitrous-oxide emissions, which account for 22 per cent of the world's GHG total. More than 50 countries are now involved. If the GRA develops science to cut agricultural emissions by two-thirds it would be the equivalent of the US becoming a zero emitter. If it eliminated them, it would be like China going carbon zero. This would benefit the world at least 100 times more than New Zealand becoming net-zero domestically. – Matthew Hooton
No one bets on a horse with a dud jockey. – Simon Bridges
Ms Ardern promised to lead the most open and transparent Government New Zealand has seen. That doesn't mean picking and choosing to be open and transparent when it benefits her. – Tova O'Brien
Shaw and his comrades have a vision of a different economic model, one that sane people have tunnelled under barbed wire fences to escape. Alas, the sacrifice required to achieve this gender-fluid post-colonial paradise requires a reversal of most of the economic gains of the last 50 years. – Damien Grant
The less you trust people, the more distrustful they become and so the more law you need in order to trust them. A good society would not have too much law, because people would do the right thing he says. But in New Zealand we have a lot of law. – Professor Mark Henaghan
2 Comments	| quotes	| Tagged: Andre de Bruin, Andrew Hoggard, Andrew Ketels, Anna Jones, Barbara Brinsley, Barry Soper, Bill English, Carolyn Moynihan, Chester Borrows, Chris Bishop, Chris Finlayson, Chris Gallavin, Chris Trotter, Clive Bibby, Craige Mackenzie, Dame Jenny Shipley, Dame Lynda Topp, Damien Grant, Dr Doug Edmeades, Dr Jonathan Tracy, Dr Nick Smith, Dr Oliver Hartwich, Emma Espiner, Fran O'Sullivan, Guyon Espiner, Haimona Gray, Hamish Rutherford, Inspector John Kelly, Jack the Insider, James Elliott, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Stillman, Joe Schmidt, John Armstrong, Julian Baggini, Karl du Fresne, Kasey Edwards, Kate Hawkesby, Kate Scott, Kurt Fearnley, Lindsay Mitchell, Louise Upston, Maanki, Mark Henaghan, Mark Mitchell, Martin van Beynen, Matthew Hooton, Maud Cahill, Michael Bruce Curry, Mike Hosking, Mike Jaspers, Nadine Higgins, Nicola Willis, Patrick Gower, Paul Goldsmith, Pete Fitzherbert, Peter Williams, Queen Elizabeth II, Rodney Hide, Rowland Smith, Ruth Richardson, Simon Bridges, Simon Morton, The Listener, The Veteran, Tim Watkin, Tova O'Brien, Tracey McIntosh, Virginia Crawford	| Permalink
Doing something not doing good
The government isn't alone in thinking it must do something, and it's also not alone in thinking that something is better than nothing.
But something isn't better if it's not doing good.
Take the government's ban on oil and gas exploration that was done without a cost-benefit analysis, consultation and environmental assessment for example:
. . . "I am not aware of a cost-benefit analysis using the Treasury's CBAx tool being undertaken in relation to the decision to grant no further offshore oil and gas exploration permits," Megan Woods said. . .
No formal consultation was undertaken with PEPANZ in relation to the decision to grant no further offshore oil and gas exploration permits. However, I have spoken publicly about the Government's direction to transition away from fossil fuels and my office has had open dialogue with PEPANZ before this announcement."
There's also been no estimates on whether global greenhouse gas emissions will fall as a result of the decision.
"No specific estimate has been provided to me. I have been advised by officials that the effect on global emissions depends on the response of New Zealand's large gas users." . .
The goal is to reduce carbon emissions but there is no plan for how that will be done.
Ending oil and gas exploration here will merely mean we are more reliant on imports and lose export income.
It's putting the cart before the horse at Greg economic, environmental and social cost.
This is doing something but it's not doing good and not better than doing nothing.
This government has initiated more than 70 groups and committees to look at policy in its first six months. But as Rodney Hide points out that's not all bad. At least while they are deliberating, the government isn't doing something that will do no good or worse do bad.
Leave a Comment »	| environment, politics	| Tagged: Megan Woods, PEPANZ, Rodney Hide	| Permalink
. . . And there it was, the secret of all overseas-born grandparents the world over who give up everything, their own brothers and sisters back home, their independence, their everything to look after grandchildren.
They do it so their sons and daughters can work or study full time (and keep the economy running) and avoid insanely expensive childcare options.
They do it because they love their grandchildren so much they are willing to live in a country where they can't understand a lot of what is being said or written around them, but march on nonetheless.
And, in the case of Nai Nai, they do it knowing that even if they can't teach their grandchild English they will do whatever they can to make sure someone else can. . . Angela Cuming
Cooking means you use better food and you have far more control over what you eat. It also brings a lot of the things to the table – manners, eye contact, social skills, the art of conversation and confidence. . . Ray McVinnie
. . .Yes, according to the science, dairying is a major factor in a decline in water quality. The science also shows this is the result of 150 years of farming, albeit escalated in the past 20 years.
Dairy farmers are doing everything asked of them to reduce the loss of nutrients from their farms. They have bridged stream crossings, fenced waterways, planted riparian strips and built highly technical effluent treatment systems. They want clean streams as much as any other New Zealanders.
But those with their own axe to grind don't want to know this. And the ignorant follow along.
The opinion writers and the commenters seem to think that clean streams and lakes can be accomplished immediately, that 150 years of pollution can be erased overnight.
It can't be – even if all farming was banned and the land converted to trees and bush, the leaching would go on. . . Jon Morgan
The brutal truth is that while the Treaty's influence has grown to the point where it is now cemented into New Zealand's unwritten constitution, Waitangi Day is sinking under the weight of its conflicting roles.
It doubles as a mechanism for acknowledging legitimate Maori grievances past and present while also serving as the country's national day and which is about projecting an image of unity and happy families.
Divisiveness and inclusiveness are oil and water. They don't mix.
The tiresome antics regularly on display at Waitangi have undermined the power and symbolism of the occasion.
The wider New Zealand public which should be happily embracing the proceedings instead feels alienated by them. – John Armstrong
I can perfectly describe why we're dying on the roads.
It's you.
It's not the lack of cops, or lack of passing lanes, or sub standard roads. It's you. It's the 40% in 2016 who died or caused death on the roads due to drugs and alcohol. The 24% who died due to speeding and dangerous driving. And the majority of the remaining deaths caused by those who were so clever they didn't need a seatbelt. Why the hell wouldn't you put on a seatbelt when you get in a car? – Bernadine Oliver-Kerby
If you become what you are fighting you have lost. You must fight freedom's cause in freedom's way. – Helen Dale
Trump is never more certain than when he is completely clueless. The truth is that protection against foreign trade leads away from prosperity and strength. A country that deprives itself of foreign goods is doing to itself what an enemy might try to do in wartime—cut it off from outside commerce. It is volunteering to impoverish itself. – Steve Chapman
Protectionism amounts to the claim that everyone benefits when choices go down and prices go up. The only reason more Americans don't dismiss that claim as self-evident crackpottery is because it comes cloaked in the language of nationalistic resentment. – Jeff Jacoby
Honesty is to be preferred. However, there is a genuine gulf between the burdens of opposition and leadership. Opposition is fun, and largely without responsibility. Leadership only sounds fun, and carries abounding burdens, among them the inchoate demands of "American leadership" and the rather specific requirements of interagency coordination. – Danielle Pletka
Greater understanding, insight, knowledge – even wisdom – are gifts we acquire if we're lucky, as we grow older, yet it's when we're young that we have to step up, and so often blunder blindly into the unknown, sometimes realising fearfully that we don't know, or often, thinking we know better. – Valerie Davies
It was not so long ago that I was a young boy, crying in my room, wishing that I had real legs. In an attempt to lift my spirits, my dad said one day someone will build you legs that will allow you to run faster than your friends. – Liam Malone
If only I had known that broadening a church required merely climbing up the steeple to set the clock back 20 years, I could have saved a lot of ink and cognitive energy. Apparently, all New Zealand voters have been waiting for is for Labour to finally reinvent itself as The Alliance Historical Re-enactment Society. Is there anything Labour's deviously brilliant internal polling can't teach us? – Phil Quin
Agriculture is being attacked by misinformation. Agriculture is being attacked by ignorance. Agriculture is being attacked by science illiteracy. Agriculture is being attacked by deceitful marketing. And those things do not discriminate based on party lines. – Kate Lambert
Mr Average migrant is healthier with less character problems than the average New Zealander because they had to go through all of those hoops before they got permission to stay in our country. – David Cooper
My challenge to employers is to hire people based on merit, to give women as many opportunities as men and to pay women what they are worth.
It's 2017. It's not about what you can get away with. It's not about what she is willing to accept.
It's about what she is worth.- Paula Bennett
If borrowing to put money into the Super Fund is such a perfect "free money" scenario, why stop at $13.5 billion? Surely we should borrow a couple of trillion. Nobody will notice – it's all still on the books somewhere. Then we could make mega trillions, pay all our super costs, and never work again. – Steven Joyce
Not that it matters. None of it matters. Who came from where & what happened there. Because lets admit it, New Zealand is a tiny remote island at the ass-crack of the world…WE ALL CAME ON A BLOODY BOAT SOMETIME OR ANOTHER! – Deanna Yang
By nature, I am a pragmatist, not an ideologue. That is because, in my experience, most people just want results that work. Some people have said that my pragmatism indicates a lack of a clear set of principles. I do not think that is true. It is just that my principles derive mostly from the values and ethics instilled in me by my upbringing, rather than by the "Politics 101" textbook. . .
Mum taught me the things that allowed me to succeed and which I think are echoed by so many Kiwi parents—that you get out of life what you put in to it, that hard work can create opportunities. And that you really can change your own life, not by wishing it was different but by working to make it different
I have brought to politics an unshakeable belief that, regardless of our circumstances, most of us share the same aspirations: we want our children to be fulfilled and we want them to do better than we have. To most of us, what matters more than anything else are the health, welfare, and happiness of those people about whom we care most. In the end, Mum did not leave me any money, our holidays were always pretty basic, and the house we lived in for a long time was owned by the State Advances Corporation. But, truthfully, she left me the most important gift of all: the determination to succeed and the work ethic to make it happen. . . – John Key
God, I wish I ran a small country. – David Cameron
The only vision really worth having for any government in a democratic society is enabling individual citizens the maximum amount of freedom to pursue their own visions.
All the rest is just politicians indulging in their personal narcissism. – Rob Hosking
But in these troubled times of shifting societal landscapes, the simple joy of a cheese roll is a throwback to when times were perhaps less complicated.
That such a simple dish has survived mostly unchanged and is still revered, is a sign that – at the bottom of the country at least – we still enjoy the simple things in life. – Oscar Kightley
He was another example of that unique Aussie — a New Zealander. We claim him with pride, along with Russell Crowe and Ernest Rutherford. – Robyn Williams on John Clarke.
If humour is common sense dancing, John Clarke was Nureyev. He proved that you can laugh at this strange part of the world, and still keep your mind and heart fully engaged. – Don McGlashan on John Clarke.
I think I thought he might have been immortal. The Great God Dead-Pan. – Kim Hill on John Clarke
I always said as long as my mind, my body and my heart were in it, then I could do this for as long as I like. My mind's been pretty good, my body's been pretty good, but it was my heart that was on the fence. So, it's time to go." – Eric Murray
We prefer to be in a situation where we have a positive relationship with Australia and Kiwis get a good deal in Australia – that's better than mutual 'armed war' to see who can treat each other's citizens worse. – Bill English
Keep that moment. You get to hold the baby and the mother is there and it's an experience you can't prepare for. There's going to be so many times when this looks hard and it is, so keep that moment. – Bill English's advice to new fathers.
Beware of the guy with the soft hands – go with the guy with the calluses on his hands. – Neil Smith
Spend two minutes of the hour being negative, but you have to spend the other 58 being positive. – Neil Smith
I'm the person who got us into this mess, and I'm the one who will get us out of it. – Theresa May
Civilisation is built on cultural appropriation.
Every society absorbs influences from other cultures, often cherry-picking the best of what's on offer. This process cuts both ways, because disadvantaged societies learn from more advanced ones. It's not all about exploitation.
Those who seek to outlaw what they arbitrarily define as cultural appropriation would condemn us to a monochromatic, one-dimensional world beset by sheer boredom – and one in which New Zealanders would be reduced to eating tinned spaghetti on toast, since it's one of the very few dishes we can call our own.
On second thoughts, scratch that. Spaghetti's Italian. – Karl du Fresne
Beaver's far and beyond what I am – he's a top man. There's no movie here. I'm just a little white fella that's chipping away in Dunedin. – Marty Banks
"Yeah, well just the same way you prepare every day," Peter Burling in response to a reporter's question: "You know, looking back to 13, going, okay, you guys were on match point a lot in 13, how do you prepare for tomorrow?"
The biggest software company in the world just got beaten by little old New Zealand software." – Grant Dalton.
. . . it's a privilege to hold the America's Cup – it's not a right. And was embodied in the way Team New Zealand was under Sir Peter Blake. If you're good enough to take it from us then you will and we'll try very hard to be good enough to keep it. We won't turn it so to make sure you can't.– Grant Dalton
More so than any other industry, agriculture is a relationship industry. We work with, and spend money with, people we like. People we trust. People we often times consider part of our family. Sometimes those people work for "Big Ag". Sometimes they don't. But farmers don't do business with corporations or small companies. Farmers do business with people. – Kate Lambert
You only get 40 attempts at farming. From your 20's to your 60's, you get 40 seasons," says Duncan Logan, the founder and CEO of RocketSpace, a tech accelerator company. "In tech, you get 40 attempts in a week. – Duncan Logan
My philosophy is that people who are born with a healthy body and a healthy mind can look after themselves, but people that are unfortunate [enough] not to have that blessing, I'm prepared to help. – Mark Dunajtschik
I am repeating the warning that free money to able-bodied humans anywhere can do just the opposite of what it intends: take away the will to work, the guts to struggle, the spirit to pick yourself up by the bootstraps. . . – Alan Duff
I got up again. – Bill English
Just because males talk loudly doesn't mean they have anything to say. – Deborah Coddington
Those who work to change public perception in spite of the evidence use a number of tactics – they cherry pick data, they drive fear, they over simplify, they take data out of context, they deliberately confuse correlation with causation and they undermine trust. – William Rolleston
Innovation in agriculture is where the future health and wealth of New Zealand lies. As a country we need to invest in how we can support this innovation and practice change. Taxation as an answer to agricultural challenges demonstrates a lack of imagination. – Anna Campbell
. . . once a society makes it permissible to suppress views that some people don't like, the genie is out of the bottle and the power to silence unfashionable opinions can be turned against anyone, depending on whichever ideology happens to be prevalent at the time. . . . What we are witnessing, I believe is the gradual squeezing out of conservative voices as that monoculture steadily extends its reach.- Karl du Fresne
I learned from the film that if we want to have enough food to feed the 30 billion people soon to inhabit the planet and we only grow organically, we'll have to chop down the rainforest and make it farmland. But if we grow GMO crops that need less space and less water, the rainforest is safe. – Lenore Skenazy
Personality doesn't feed your children or keep the rivers clean, personality doesn't make the country safe, it requires sound leadership strong intellect and the right policies. – Jim Bolger
I got up again – Bill English
The only thing that could bring English down is Winston Peters choosing to go with Labour and the Greens. – Patrick Gower
There are good and bad people in all parties. Sometimes, people with whom you agree will do something dumb. Sometimes, they will conduct themselves in a manner of which you do not approve.
If your chief criteria for judging propriety and competence boils down to partisan affiliation and advantage, then you really are contributing to a problem that is going to drain all the goodwill out of this country's politics. – Liam Hehir
This is the only assurance to an irreversible path to national freedom, happiness and economic prosperity.
To our neighbours, you now all know the simple choice you face; either support our rights or our refugees. – Morgan Tsvangirai
Loss comes in all forms, not just death, but loss of careers, loss of confidence, loss of relationships and marriage, my own succumbing to the high percentage of those that end upon the death of a child.
With all our collective legislative wisdom, there shouldn't also have to be loss of faith in a system supposedly designed to protect those that need it at precisely the time when they most need it. . . .
Politics really did become personal for me then. A flick of the pen, wording of an amendment, an exchange in the debating chamber – parliament's processes affect everyday lives.- Denise Lee
We are not a nation of holier-than-thou busybodies. We are friendly, moral realists who face facts and credit others with doing the best they can when they are in circumstances we are fortunate not to share. That is how we should be represented to the world. – John Roughan
. . . Abundance is no long-term solution. We can't have as much as we want, for as long as we want. That's not how life works, it's not up to us to decide when the fun ends.
We ought to make the most of moments, of the people, of the laughs, because we are numbered. They are numbered. As you wind through them, one day there will be a final click.
We all know this deep down, but we gloss over it day to day. Either because more pressing issues take centre stage, or because pondering mortality of loved ones and ourselves isn't that enjoyable.
Yes, looking back on captured moments after they're developed is great. But being present in these moments is key to truly appreciating the finite things in life. – Jake Bailey
Telling the truth is colour blind. – Duncan Garner
. . .New Zealand's GST is uniquely, and admirably, clean. It applies broadly. Every producer has an incentive to report honestly because they also report the GST they paid to their suppliers on every item when claiming GST on their inputs.
Were New Zealand to exempt healthy foods from GST, we would well be on the slippery slope. It is one of those things that sounds really easy, but would be an utter disaster in practice. . . Eric Crampton
I must say, it has been a bit rich sitting here listening to the moral awesomeness and self-congratulation of the Labour Government over the family incomes package when they opposed every single measure that it took to generate the surpluses that they are handing out. That is why they won't get the credit they expect from the New Zealand public, because the New Zealand public know it's a bunch of people who found the lolly bag and ran the lolly scramble without having any idea where it came from. – Bill English
Everybody wants to do the right thing; they just want to know what the expectations are, how long they have got, what it's going to cost, where the tools are, and they will get up and they will get on with it. – Barbara Kuriger
. . . the United Nations has just declared access to the internet a basic human right. It's no more that than ownership of a Rolls Royce.
One can laugh at this stuff but for humanity to make progress it's actually damaging, leading as it does to false expectations. Far better if the UN was to talk sense and describe it as an aspiration achievable through effort rather than by right. – Sir Bob Jones
The number of children the Labour-led government will lift out of poverty next year is 12,000. That's over and above the 49,000 the previous government's 2017 Budget was already lifting out. That"s right 80% of the new government's achievement was already in train.
The new caring and sharing government's achievement is much more modest when compared with the previous heartless government's achievement. But that's the power of the headline. – Rodney Hide
Essentially, progressives tend to make up their minds about things according to a grievance hierarchy, which goes something like this: Worries about Palestine trump concerns about gay rights. And concerns about gay rights trump women's rights which, despite the big and necessary push against harassment and abuse over the past several months, tend to wind up as the last unionised, fair-pay electric cab off the left's organised and properly supervised rank.
Or to put it another way, being anti-Western means never having to say you're sorry, but being female doesn't mean that the left will let you get away with having your own opinion. – James Morrow
One of the wonderful things about living the years that I have, is that Time has taught me so much about myself. In doing so, Time and opportunity have set me free to be the essence of who I really am, rather than the person who has been beset by the grief of bereavement, abandonment, divorce, poverty, pain and rejection. The insights that Time has allowed me to gather, have set me free from those profound and painful experiences to be joyful, happy, fearless, and, – I hope -loving… – Valerie Davies
3 Comments	| Family, Farming, food, quotes	| Tagged: Alan Duff, Angela Cuming, Anna Campbell, Barbara Kuriger, Bernadine Oliver-Kerby, Danielle Pletka, David Cooper, Deanna Yang, Deborah Coddington, Denise Lee, Dr Eric Crampton, Duncan Garner, Duncan Logan, Eric Murray, Grant Dalton, Helen Dale, Jake Bailey, James Morrow, Jeff Jacoby, Jim Bolger, John Armstrong, John Clarke, John Roughan, Jon Morgan, Karl du Fresne, Kate Lambert, Kim Hill, Lenore Skenazy, Liam Hehir, Liam Malone, Mark Dunajtschik, Marty Banks, Morgan Tsvangirai, Nai Nai, Neil Smith, Oscar Kightley, Patrick Gower, Paula Bennett, Peter Burling, Phil Quin, Ray McVinnie, Rob Hosking, Robyn Williams, Rodney Hide, Sir Bob Jones, Steve Chapman, Steven Joyce, Theresa May, Valerie Davies, William Rolleston	| Permalink
Electorate accommodation could backfire on both parties
Is an electorate accommodation on offer in an effort to woo Winston Peters?
Many commentators think this will be his last term. That has been said before and while each time it's said he's a bit older, there's no certainty he'll be any keener on retirement in 2020 than he has been before.
Whether or not he stands again, the party is at risk of slipping below the 5% threshold and out of parliament unless it wins a seat.
But even if Peters wants to contest another election, it's unlikely he'd risk standing and not winning an electorate. He's won three but also lost them, he won't want to lose another.
His repeated criticism of National for allowing electorate accommodations for Act and United Future, would open him to criticism should he ask for one to give him a better chance. But doing what he's criticised others for doing isn't usually a problem for him.
However, the people of Northland tired of him in less than a term and voted for Matt King instead. He will spend the next three years doing the hard work a good electorate MP does and winning the loyalty of voters by doing so.
They are unlikely to show enthusiasm for ignoring that and voting Peters back in, even if they're given a very strong message from National to do so.
Other electorates that have been suggested where National might stand aside are Whangarei and Wairarapa.
Accommodations worked in Ohariu and Epsom. But Peter Dunne already held Ohariu when National's then leader Jim Bolger gave the wink and nod to voters to give his party the party vote but vote for Dunne as the electorate MP.
Act's Rodney Hide didn't need an accommodation to win Epsom the first time. He won the seat from Richard Worth without any help from National.
In successive elections, National's candidate campaigned only for the party vote making it easier for Hide and then David Seymour to win the electorate vote.
But that is very different from asking voters to drop support for a sitting MP to allow a New Zealand First candidate to win the electorate.
There will be no enthusiasm for that from National members and absolutely no guarantee that enough voters would be prepared to turn their backs on their MP in favour of the NZ First candidate.
It would be a very risky move which could backfire on both parties.
1 Comment	| politics	| Tagged: David Seymour, Epsom, Jim Bolger, Matt King, Northland, NZ First, NZ National Party, Oahriu, Rodney Hide, Winston Peters	| Permalink
Rural round-up
Why we need irrigation and water storage – Nathan Guy:
Water is one of New Zealand's greatest natural and renewable assets. Many New Zealanders probably don't fully appreciate how it powers our economy through the primary sector, giving us a standard of living many other countries can only envy.
For farmers and growers the importance of water is obvious, especially in the many areas that have suffered through droughts in recent years. You only need to look at Hawke's Bay where the tap is close to being turned off for new resource consent applications for commercial use.
The impact of climate change is likely to make dry spells even more frequent in the future. This is why irrigation and water storage is so important, and why as a Government we are proud to be a strong supporter and investor. So far we have allocated nearly $280 million towards these schemes around the country. . .
Feds disappointed but not surprised by M.bovis finds:
Federated Farmers is disappointed, but not surprised, to learn of three new finds of stock with Mycoplasma bovis.
The affected properties confirmed by the Ministry for Primary Industries today are all linked to Van Leeuwen Group farms where the cattle disease was first identified last month.
"This latest identification is obviously disappointing but it was anticipated as the animals were traced back to the origin of the initial outbreak," says Federated Farmers biosecurity spokesperson Guy Wigley. . .
Farmers, schools and hapu join forces to save Kaipara Harbour – Lois Williams:
The project is part of a larger campaign to stop silt build-up on the seabed, and reverse the damage caused over the years by deforestation and the failure until recently to fence off cattle from waterways.
The Integrated Kaipara Harbour Management Group, made up of councils, landowners, Crown agencies such as NIWA and iwi, has been working for a decade to protect the harbour, which drains half of Northland.
Its chairman, Willie Wright of Te Uri o Hau, said two million trees had been planted in the massive catchment, stretching from Hokianga to Whangarei down to the Waitakere Ranges. . .
Even Labour doesn't know it's tax policy – Rodney Hide:
Starter for 10 – What's Labour's tax policy?
Don't know? Don't feel bad – neither does Labour. Or it is just not telling.
It has said it will tax water. But Labour isn't calling it a tax – it's calling it a "royalty".
The royalty will apply to commercial consumption, the rate will be "proportionate and fair" and will be set after consultation post-election.
We don't know what the price of a cabbage, or anything else, will be because we don't know the rate and exactly what the royalty is to apply to.
What is and isn't "commercial consumption" also isn't clear. . .
Ingham's NZ plant recognised for outstanding water management:
Inghams Group Limited Australia and New Zealand's leading integrated poultry producer, has been recognised for its outstanding water management by a global leader in sustainable water use.
Ingham's Te Aroha primary processing plant is the first New Zealand site to achieve certification from the international Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) and only the seventh site in the world to be certified. . .
Plant milk a 'threat' to IQ of unborn children – Sarah-Kate Templeton:
The fashion for alternatives to cow's milk, such as soya, almond and coconut drinks, is putting women at risk of giving birth to children with low IQs, a professor will warn at a conference next month.
Researchers at Surrey University have found that plant-based milks, which also include oat, rice and hazelnut drinks, have about only 3% of the concentrations of iodine that are in cow's milk. . .
We'll be supporting #LoveLamb week, starting 1st September! Give @LoveLambWeek a follow to keep up to date with everything! #BritishAgri pic.twitter.com/99ZSJw49O5
— British Beef & Lamb (@BritishBeefLamb) August 29, 2017
Leave a Comment »	| business, environment, Farming, food, health, rural	| Tagged: #LoveLamb week, Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), Guy Wigley, Inegrated kaipara Harbour Management Group, Ingham's Group, Lois Williams, Mycoplasma bovis, Nathan Guy, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Rodney Hide, Sarah-Kate Templeton, Surrey University, Te Uri o Hau, Van Leeuwen Group, water tax, Willie Wright	| Permalink
Labour policy protects big multinational hits small locals
Water bottlers fear they'll be put out of business if Labour's water tax is applied:
Charging water exporters a per litre levy will penalise a small, struggling New Zealand industry and lead to company closures and job losses, say two Putaruru water bottlers. Aquasplash and NZ Quality Waters are united in their opposition to Labour's proposed water policy and say it is unfair to cherry pick by industry.
"You should charge everyone who uses water for commercial purposes, or no one. As it stands, this policy would hit small exporters like us but wouldn't affect the big multi-nationals who are using the same resources. At a time when people are upset about the lack of tax paid by companies such as Google and Apple, is this really a wise position to take?" says Aquasplash chief executive Mark Manson.
Labour has been a vocal critic of multinationals not paying enough tax yet they're going to tax small local companies but not Coca Cola.
He and NZ Quality Waters General Manager Bruce Sherman agree, if the policy became law, many of the 27 water bottlers around the country could close. "It would hit the livelihood of the 370 people who work directly in the industry, plus a similar number indirectly. The majority of those 750 people work and live in rural economically depressed parts of the country. A lot of those jobs could disappear," says Manson.
That's a lot of jobs that would be lost from regions where alternative employment opportunities will be scarce.
Sherman adds: "Of the 213 billion litres of water consented for bottling, only 0.5% of that is used. A mere 26 million litres were exported in 2016, equivalent to just two minutes' flow over the Huka Falls or one and a half hours' consumption of water in Auckland.And why is so little water exported? Because there's virtually no money in it. It's a hugely competitive global industry and the offshore markets are swamped by the giants like Evian and Perrier. Our margins are already extremely low so an additional levy would see companies shut down."
Manson adds: "Given a 10c per litre levy, and assuming everyone managed to stay in business, we're talking about an extra $2.6 million a year into Government coffers. Is that worth it for a potential loss of 750 jobs and the extra WINZ benefits those people would then require?" He says Aquasplash's contract with the South Waikato District Council allows it to take up to 200,000 litres per day from the Blue Spring. Currently it uses 35,000 litres per day. That equates to 0.4 litres per second, compared to the minimum flow through the Blue Spring of 700 litres per second. "Clearly, this is a very sustainable, well-monitored and well-controlled water supply."
Manson and Sherman say, should Labour become the Government, they would welcome the opportunity to discuss the issue in-depth and help devise a fair and equitable system that protects New Zealand companies and jobs and does not let the multi-nationals off the hook. "For instance, we are interested in exploring the system used in Canada, where they charge a levy based on the number of litres you have consent for, rather than the actual amount of water taken. This encourages users to only ask for what they need, thus ensuring there is plenty available for other consents for other users. It also avoids anyone "stockpiling" consent volumes for commercial gain."
Both Aquasplash and NZ Quality Waters are members of the New Zealand Beverage Council Water Bottlers' Sub-committee, which is also opposed to Labour's policy.
Rodney Hide is another to point out the inconsistencies and unfairness of Labour's water tax:
Farmers are right to be worried about Labour's plan to tax water.
The power to tax is the power to destroy and such a tax has the potential to tip a farm from profitability to bust. . .
Of even more concern is a complete lack of any detail of how much the tax will be, how it will be applied, and what Labour is expecting to raise.
It's hard to imagine a party heading into election promising, say, to tax cars without declaring what the tax will be or how much is expected to be taken.
The bare-bones announcement shows just how little farmers count in an election. They still drive the economy but matter little in politics.
Sad but true.
But even a small tax should be worrying. All taxes start out small. The principle is established and then the tax is ramped up. Whenever government is a bit short, up goes the tax. . .
A little bit of tax is like a little bit pregnant.
Of course, water should not be free. It's a scarce and valuable resource. It's also nonsense that its use is often subsidised. That's bad both from an economic and an environmental viewpoint.
Rather than applying a blunt and damaging tax, it'd be better to allow tradeable water rights.
It's not without precedent. A system operated excellently for the most valuable water in the country in central Otago for well over 100 years.
The Resource Management Act abolished these old rights in favour of government control and regulation. It was a huge loss.
Today's system doesn't provide any certainty and doesn't confront users with the cost of their use.
It would be better to convert all existing water rights to perpetual rights and allow them to trade. That would get farmers onside – and it would price a valuable resource. It'd also keep environmentalists happy, if done right.
The only ones missing out would be politicians and bureaucrats who would not have the tax dollars to spend.
And there's the issue: taxes are good for Wellington and bad for everyone else.
When there is room in projected surpluses for tax cuts, there is no need for new taxes, especially not ones as ill considered, inconsistent and unfair as Labour's water tax.
Leave a Comment »	| business, employemnt, environment, Farming, politics, rural, tax, trade	| Tagged: Aquasplash, Blue Spring, Bruce Sherman, Labour Party, Mark Manson, NZ Quality Waters, Rodney Hide	| Permalink
Was not naming father fraud too?
Metiria Turei admitted she didn't admit to having flatmates in order to collect a bigger benefit payment.
Rodney Hide at the NBR and Whaleoil have past quotes which show she didn't name the baby's father when she not only knew who he was but ensured he maintained a relationship with his daughter and took money from him and his family.
Is that fraud too?
After earlier saying she'd pay back the money if WINZ asked her to, she's now decided she'll pay it back anyway.
Will it be just the extra accommodation payment she got or should she, or the child's father, also be paying what he would have been liable for had she named him and will anyone be looking into whether the help she got from him, his family and her own should have been declared too?
Life on a benefit wasn't easy back then and isn't now.
But a lot of people managed then and manage now without committing fraud.
A lot more people work hard to pay taxes.
Most accept the necessity of doing so to help people in genuine need, a lot fewer are happy to support someone who's getting more than they're entitled to through fraud.
39 Comments	| politics, Welfare	| Tagged: Metiria Turei, Rodney Hide, Whaleoil	| Permalink
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