NZpol: A Dick-Burning Dumpster Fire

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > NZpol: A Dick-Burning Dumpster Fire

Are you a This poll is closed.
homeowner	39	22.41%
renter	69	39.66%
stupid peace of poo poo	66	37.93%
Total:	174 votes

[Edit Poll (moderators only)]

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

-neutrino- posted:

There are good people at WINZ who do try to help. Also wankers as well, like anything.

Winz staff performance reviews are based on the number of people they see and how quickly they get them out the door again. Not on results, not on finding the best solution to their problem, but just churning them out of the system as quickly as possible for 'efficiency'.

So if they get someone come in who's homeless and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, they really don't want to deal with it because it'll take ages and make their stats look bad that day.

Naturally the stats they have to reach are actually impossible to do at the same time as doing a good job. This way they can point to bad metrics and poor performance as a reason why it needs to be privatised to make it better.

An example of what it's like dealing with WINZ:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11336725

quote:

On top of that, he said, a transfer of the social housing waiting list from Housing NZ to Work and Income in April had removed the flexibility that Housing NZ managers used to have.

For example, Work and Income might assess a family with six children in a van as needing a house with four or five bedrooms, so they might sit on the waiting list for months until such a large house became available.

"Under the old system, you could talk to a manager and they could get you a three-bedroom house, which was better than nothing," Mr Clatworthy said. Social Development Ministry general manager Marama Edwards said Work and Income still worked closely with emergency housing providers and adjusted families' priority ratings when their circumstances changed.

"If people are experiencing hardship they should contact Work and Income," she said.

Which leads to...

quote:

So the family applied to Work and Income for social housing and were placed on the waiting list on September 9. Almost a month later, they are still waiting.

"I rang them early in the morning on Monday," Mrs Tuuu said. "I keep ringing them every day. They say the only thing they are doing is waiting for a house."

They have not been given a case manager so ring the call centre.

"You can't make another appointment to go there, only for the assessment."

"If someone needs help, please contact the bureaucracy" *Contacts* "Sorry, you're in the system now and have to follow the pre-set rules"

# ¿ Jan 20, 2015 04:46

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 05:29

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Winnie rattling his cage again: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11392652

quote:

New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters has criticised the number of foreign students choosing to study here, saying it is likely due to incentives such as permanent residency.

Mr Peters said there were 93,000 overseas students enrolled to study, an increase of 12 per cent in the last year.

He also noted that the number of Indian students studying in New Zealand had risen by 60 per cent over the last year. "The number coming in is spiralling thanks to 'incentives' being offered beyond the visa rules. The National government's softening of restrictions, by allowing foreign students to work is pushing numbers to unacceptable levels.

"At the same time, students are being 'sold' the student visa as a pathway to permanent residency."

Earlier today Radio New Zealand reported there were 15, 640 Indian students studying at tertiary institutions and polytechnics around the country in the first eight months of last year - a 60 per cent increase over the same period in 2013.

Independent Tertiary Institutions chairman Feroz Ali told RNZ the right incentives were in place for attracting students to New Zealand.

These incentives included opportunities for students to gain job-seeker visas and also to qualify for residency.

Mr Peters said many of these overseas students were "behind counters in supermarkets and working in service stations".

"Kiwi workers now face more unfair competition for jobs, which are not in abundance. The official unemployment rate is 140,000 and about a quarter of young Maori and Pasifika do not have a job.

"Student visas should not be used to flood the job market, drive down wages and undermine conditions and increase the already record number of permanent immigrants."

When I was getting my degree, I was frequently the only non-foreign student in the class. Do you know what that means? It means without all those foreign students, a lot of our tertiary programmes wouldn't even be able to exist due to low numbers. Eat poo poo Winston.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2015 08:55

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

In Queensland they've seen a massive swing against the Liberals to Labour, because people hate Tony Abbott that much, and were especially mad about the asset sales the state government was doing. It's entirely likely Abbott will get rolled by his own party and they'll select a new PM.

This could either be a good sign for the future of New Zealand, and a warning for John Key, or it's a sign that the kiwis that moved to Australia are coming back :smith:

# ¿ Jan 31, 2015 23:19

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

El Pollo Blanco posted:

Key doesn't believe Catton exists now? Peak Yes, Prime Minister has been reached.

At the end of the day, why would someone not like good bloke John Key? She must be made up by the Greens, like that science stuff they go on about.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2015 04:29

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Butt Wizard posted:

Yea we had cloud cover and it was under that so it must have been pretty low when the really big flash went off.

I'd be very surprised if it was anywhere near cloud level, or even jet aircraft level, this sort of things happens VERY high up in the atmosphere.

Basically if you still saw the flash despite being under clouds, that just shows how drat bright these things are.

I only indirectly saw it, it lit up the wall in my living room, and my thought process quickly went from lightning (then I remembered it was clear out), to a passing car with bright headlights (I live on a main road). It was only later I saw the news articles and realised what had happened.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2015 00:20

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Turns out the meteor was a long way away, shows how impressive they truly are (the yellow streak)

https://twitter.com/AucklandCDEM/status/565445842321305602/photo/1

# ¿ Feb 12, 2015 03:25

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

I just watched an interview this morning on TV3 with the Minister of Sports and Recreation who was making the exact same points Slavvy's friend was saying. So at least you know where he got that poo poo from.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 20:40

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

John Key was just at the cafe where I'm having breakfast. He looked like he was having a really poo poo day.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2015 00:14

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Paul Henry back on breakfast TV, replacing the news that TV3 was previously airing. So now I have no actual source of local news in the morning. I was able to watch him for about 5 seconds before deciding TV1's Breakfast couldn't be that bad.

TV1's Breakfast was still that bad.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2015 00:33

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

swampland posted:

Getting a lot of why is the media going on about this when there are far more (unspecified) important things to cover on facebook this morning

We should be talking about how the media itself discourages women from coming forward and making complaints about sexual harassment, because they then pull poo poo like this.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2015 23:04

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

I made this post on the 28th of March:

NZAmoeba posted:

John Key was just at the cafe where I'm having breakfast. He looked like he was having a really poo poo day.

That cafe I saw him at wasn't Rosie's, it was a different cafe.

quote:

Saturday, 28th March, came and his security personnel were in for their morning coffee. Upon leaving one of them asked me �how was the wine?�

quote:

A source told the Herald Mr Key had been going to the cafe for years and would regularly enjoy "banter" with the staff on his Friday morning and Saturday afternoon visits.

Instead of going to his usual place every Saturday afternoon, after he had been confronted by the waitress he was clearly embarrassed enough to try somewhere else.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2015 23:09

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Slavvy posted:

Tell the herald so they can use it as proof that he was never actually there at all.

His security went to Rosie's that morning, it doesn't mention him that day.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2015 23:19

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

I want to keep the southern cross because it fits with the Pacific theme, same as Scandinavia has the Nordic cross.

# ¿ May 10, 2015 01:44

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Byline on NZHerald article promoting their new "PJs for kids" thing

Herald posted:

Child poverty figures can be hard to believe. The very word poverty hardly seems appropriate for a country with New Zealand's welfare net.

# ¿ May 23, 2015 21:25

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

On the news last night they covered med students who took a degree before starting med school, and that they were now hitting the new 7 year limit for student loans. They're hitting their final year with no way to pay for it, so they have to take a year off to work and save up the $15k required to continue training to be a doctor in New Zealand. A year is the maximum amount of time they're allowed to take off from med school and still continue their study.

Uni education is still heavily subsidized (ask any foreign student just how much they're paying), so the tax payer has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into these people so they can have their legs cut out from underneath them at the final hurdle. All in the name of financial prudence.

Steve Joyce was interviewed about it and said he didn't see it as that big a problem, because doctors earn lots of money when they graduate. Smug prick clearly forgot that you have to actually graduate to earn that money, otherwise you just end up with a gigantic loan and no way to ever pay it off. I guess it serves poor people right for trying to achieve something.

All for the want of a loan, not even free money, just 1 more year of a loan. I yelled at my TV like an old man

The Auspol thread goes to great lengths to get people to sign up for a party, typically the Greens. At this point yelling about things on the internet doesn't seem to be doing anything to change things, and I'm wondering if anyone here is able to share what's involved when you join a party in NZ. Assuming anyone has of course.

# ¿ May 25, 2015 23:09

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

focal ischemia posted:

shaw should be ok. unlike others in the caucus he hasn't outright rejected the party's socialistic leanings.

Got any good references to things he's said/written wrt economics? Would be keen to read them.

# ¿ May 30, 2015 05:15

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Lancelot posted:

The poster clicked the link and read the article. Did he enjoy it? No he didn't.

Why not? It also linked to his maiden speech in Parliament, where *gasp* he quotes Thatcher:

quote:

In their speeches, friends of mine in the seats opposite sometimes quote conservative heroes like Margaret Thatcher.

Well, Margaret Thatcher was one of the first world leaders to warn about the problem of climate change. Thatcher trained as a chemist. She understood you can't change the chemical composition of the atmosphere without consequences.

In a speech to the United Nations in 1989 she said, "What we are now doing to the world by adding greenhouse gases to the air at an unprecedented rate is new in the experience of the earth. It is mankind and his activities that are changing the environment of our planet in damaging and dangerous ways."

gently caress it, here's the whole thing for the lazy: https://home.greens.org.nz/speeches/james-shaw-s-maiden-speech

quote:

Tena Koe, Mr Speaker.

I would like to take this opportunity to speak a little of the past, the present and the future.

The privilege to serve in this Parliament was given to me by all those who gave their Party Vote to the Green Party at this year's election.

I thank them all. I pledge to do my utmost to live up to their hopes and expectations.

In particular, I would like to thank the people of my electorate, Wellington Central, 30 percent of whom voted Green this year.

Mr Speaker, over 300 people volunteered on the Green Party Campaign in Wellington Central.

Thank you all, so much, for everything that you did. That 30 percent belongs to you. You are an amazing group of people. I am proud to be associated with you.

***

I am proud, also, to be a Wellingtonian. I was born here in 1973. Surviving on only her teacher's salary, my mother, Cynthia Shaw, raised me and somehow saved enough money to send me to a private primary school. Scots College. Later I transferred to Wellington High School, where, occasionally, I even went to class.

My mother grew up on a farm called Waiphero near Opotiki. She and her brother and sisters were the last generation to grow up on that farm, which had been in the family for nearly a century. They were the first generation to go to university, live in cities and travel the world.

My first ancestors in New Zealand were Charles John Shaw and Annie Mathilda Baggett. They were married in St Johns Church in Christchurch in 1867.

Annie was the grand-daughter of a Jamaican plantation slave, who was valued at eighty pounds in an inventory of her master's property in 1807.

Charles Shaw grew up in Somerset in the UK. His older brother William died fighting in India, in a struggle for independence that the victorious empire named the 'Indian Mutiny'.

After that, Charles' father thought his prospects might be brighter in New Zealand, and so packed him off here with little more than a saddle, a bridle, spurs - and a double-barrelled shotgun.

My mother is here today, with my brilliant, beautiful wife Annabel. Annabel and I were married in January of 2013.

Six months later the right to marry the person you love was extended to same-sex couples. Couples like my mother and her partner of thirty years, Susanne, who helped raise me.

They're here along with many other members of my family. I thank them and acknowledge them all. My story is woven together with their stories.

***

In their speeches, friends of mine in the seats opposite sometimes quote conservative heroes like Margaret Thatcher.

Well, Margaret Thatcher was one of the first world leaders to warn about the problem of climate change. Thatcher trained as a chemist. She understood you can't change the chemical composition of the atmosphere without consequences.

In a speech to the United Nations in 1989 she said, "What we are now doing to the world by adding greenhouse gases to the air at an unprecedented rate is new in the experience of the earth. It is mankind and his activities that are changing the environment of our planet in damaging and dangerous ways."

Thatcher was right. In 2013 New Zealand was hit by our worst storm in sixty years. It left 30,000 Wellington homes without power, some for up to a week. It set the city back $4 million in direct clean-up costs. Around the country, it resulted in over $31 million worth of insurance claims.

That summer of the same year we had our worst drought in seventy years. It cost New Zealand $498 million in lost exports. Treasury estimates that this drought cost our economy over $1.5 billion.

The worst drought in seventy years. The worst storm in sixty. The warmest winter on record. Billions of dollars in costs and damages. All in the same six months.

***

Mr Speaker, I am forty-one years old. In just those forty-one years, fully half of all the planet's wildlife has been extinguished. Thousands of species have become extinct.

This is ecocide. The destruction not just of species, but of the habitats and life-support systems they need to survive.

We know that the cause of this carnage is economic but that the solution is political.

Annie's grandmother was a slave during a time in which slavery was seen by many as a vital component of the global economy. The abolition of slavery was opposed as a threat to financial stability.

Charles' brother William was a colonial soldier, during a time in which India was the jewel in the British crown and empires were considered necessary for the expansion of wealth and trade.

Annie herself wasn't allowed to vote, and people opposed to the suffrage movement argued that giving women the vote could lead to the breakdown of civilisation. There would be a battle between the sexes. Society would crumble as women become militant and unruly.

Just as well, because the Green Party draws much of our strength from militant, unruly women.

Mr Speaker. People pollute the atmosphere. They destroy rivers and species and ecosystems for the same reasons they used slave labour, or seized land belonging to people of a race they considered inferior.

Because they can. There's nothing stopping them. If people can maximise profits or reduce costs by polluting the environment they'll do so, because the market incentivises that behaviour.

***

Now, I'm a huge fan of the market. When it comes to setting prices and allocating scarce resources it usually beats the alternatives hands down.

But the market isn't sentient. It isn't magical. It doesn't know that habitats are being eradicated or that species are being extinguished or that our climate is changing.

We need to tell the market that this is happening, and we can do it the same way we told the market we wouldn't tolerate slavery, or colonialism, or limits on suffrage.

Through the political system. We change the law.

Just as we believe that we have an inherent, fundamental and inalienable right to "life, liberty and security of person", we can eradicate ecocide by extending to Earth's other inhabitants the same legal protections that we enjoy.

Corporations already have legal personhood - why not actual living things?

There are already precedents for this in Aotearoa. Both Te Uruwera and the Whanganui River now have legal personhood. They have the right not to be polluted. The right not to be degraded. The right to exist, inherent, fundamental and inalienable. Just like us.

There is always controversy about the expansion of rights. Whenever the status quo is threatened there are always doomsayers warning that civilisation will collapse, or vested interests predicting that the economy will be destroyed.

But the changes that seem so threatening never are in hindsight, and the warnings that seem so serious to so many people always sound absurd to subsequent generations.

***

In my early twenties I left New Zealand. I joined AIESEC, l'association internationale des �tudiants en sciences �conomiques et commerciales. Founded in the aftermath of World War II to promote peaceful relations between nations, AIESEC was and is the world's largest student run, student exchange programme and I went to work for them in Brussels.

Then I moved to London where I worked as a business consultant for twelve years, first as a manager in the Chairman's Office of PricewaterhouseCoopers, then at Future Considerations, an organisational development consultancy I helped to establish.

My speciality was in working with business teams to build solutions to seemingly intractable problems.

In my time I've worked with groups of people in over thirty countries and I've travelled to more than fifty. I've learned that beneath all our differences there are values that are common to all of us, no matter how incomprehensible or alien we seem to each other.

That should serve me well here.

***

Last year, we were working with a village near Lake Bhimtal in the foothills of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand, India.

The village was on the edge of a forest that theoretically enjoyed full protection. And yet the people from the village relied on bamboo that they harvested illegally from the forest.

Their traditional sources of bamboo were disappearing because of dramatic changes in rainfall patterns. The forest park rangers were in conflict with the villagers. The villagers were losing what little livelihood they had. Their children were leaving the mountains to look for work in factories and call centres in Delhi.

When we sat down with these people we had no idea what the solution to their problem would be.

As it turned out, part of the answer was to get the forest park rangers to bend the rules to allow the villagers to enter the forest and continue to harvest the bamboo - in return the villagers agreed to plant two bamboo seedlings for every one plant they took.

It was a simple solution, it just hadn't occurred to the villagers or the forest park rangers because of the adversarial relationship between them.

When we're presented with this conflict between the economy and the environment it is almost always a false choice. There's almost always a solution that delivers both. The solution isn't always obvious when you start out. Problems and conflicts that seem unsolvable have solutions, and the hard part is getting the different parties to work together to find them.

***

Mr Speaker, I enter Parliament as a member of our country's 'loyal opposition'. My role is, in part, to hold to account, to challenge and to speak truth to power.

But I am not committed to partisanship for its own sake. Political tribalism is, I believe, the single greatest barrier to creating enduring solutions to the great challenges of our time.

I do not know what the answers are. I believe that the notion that anyone here has the answers is itself a dangerous thing. It is a pretence that we feel forced to maintain for purposes of political theatre.

I do know that we will need to change the way we think about ourselves and our relationship to the world.

I know that those changes will scare some people, and that there will be warnings about the destruction of the economy and the end of civilization, but that, as always, those changes will be seen as obvious and harmless in hindsight.

And I know that the first step in finding the answers is to work together.

Presently we are stuck. To get unstuck, we will all need to let go of some things and to be more committed to finding the answers than to being right or to others being wrong.

Time is too short for resignation. Things are too bad for pessimism.

It is too big a task for petty politics. It's too important for partisanship.

These we must transcend and transform.

If any other member of this House from any political party - or any member of the public listening - hears this challenge and wants to rise to it, my door is open.

edit:

NZAmoeba fucked around with this message at 09:59 on May 30, 2015

# ¿ May 30, 2015 09:49

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Here's his speech this morning at the AGM: https://www.greens.org.nz/news/speeches/james-shaw-speech-2015-green-agm

quote:

Hi. I�m James.

It is a huge privilege to be speaking here today.

I want to start by paying tribute to Russel and all the work he�s done for our party and our cause.

There�s this clich� about politics that all political careers end in failure. And it�s because the leaders of most political parties always cling onto their power until someone snatches it from them.

The Green Party and Russel are different.

When Russel became Co-leader we were always hovering around the 5% threshold of political oblivion.

Now we�re the third largest party in Parliament.

Russel leaves with an awesome legacy and every day I spend as Co-leader will be spent endeavouring to live up to it.

I�d also like to pay tribute to Metiria Turei, my Co-leader.

Some people have asked me questions like �What will you do once you�re �leader� of the Green Party?�

Well, mostly I�m going to do whatever Metiria tells me to do. Same as before.

I want to tell you a little about myself.

I�m forty-two years old.

I was born in Wellington. I grew up there.

My mother was a history teacher.

She looked after me on her own for the first twelve years of my life.

She was � and still is � a unionist and a feminist, and we lived in the Aro Valley, so it was inevitable that I would join the Green Party.

I first heard about the Greens when I was sixteen.

It was an election year � 1990 - and the candidates from the parties came to my school for a debate.

The candidates from the two main parties disagreed a lot. But not about values, or policy.

Mostly they disagreed because they both wanted to be MP for Wellington, and only one of them could be.

But there was also a candidate from the Green Party � which had only been founded that year.

His name was Gary Reese.

He talked about the need for politics to be bigger than it is.

He talked about the madness of treating the environment as a fuel for the economy, pretending that it is limitless.

Pretending that the destruction of the ecosphere, which sustains us, has no consequences.

He said that, instead of working within the current political system, we needed to change the system itself.

His words and his values inspired me to join the Green Party.

In 1991 I ran for Wellington City Council as a Green candidate. I door-knocked in Karori wearing a paisley waistcoat.

It didn�t go that well.

But in 1993 I was the campaign manager for the Victoria University Student�s Association and we ran a nationwide campaign to mobilise students to vote for MMP.

That went very well.

I worked alongside some of the giants of our movement.

People like Rod Donald, who taught me that politics is hard work, but that it�s worth it, because we can change the system.

We can win.

In 1997 I left New Zealand. I spent the next thirteen years working overseas, first in Brussels, then in London, and then just about everywhere.

I worked on poverty alleviation in the Andes and environmental protection in the Amazon.

I helped develop micro-hydroelectricity schemes in Indonesia and negotiated the protection of forestry preserves in the Himalayas.

My career has always been about bringing the values of the Green Party into the business world.

Since I returned to New Zealand in 2010 I�ve taken the skills and experience I learned in business and put them to work for the Green Party.

That�s what I want to do as Co-leader.

During this co-leadership campaign a lot of people from different sides of the political spectrum announced that I was the right-wing candidate.

I worked in the corporate sector in New York and London, so surely I must be a champion of capitalism and an enemy of socialism.

I was in London during the second half of 2008, during the global financial crisis, when the financial sectors of all of the advanced capitalist economies collapsed.

And then an amazing thing happened.

Their governments socialised them.

They decided that the financial sector � the heart of the free market capitalist system � would be guaranteed by the state.

When companies in that sector failed, they were rescued by the taxpayer.

This happened right here, in New Zealand.

The Government guaranteed deposits in all of our banks and financial institutions.

We spent over a billion dollars bailing out investors when some of those companies failed.

So I am not a hero of free market capitalism, because free market capitalism is dead. It has been dead for seven years.

The reality of politics in the wake of the global financial crisis is that there is no longer a struggle between capitalism and socialism.

What we have now is a hybrid model that takes some of the good but most of the bad elements of both systems.

We have an economy where profits are privatised but the risks - and the social and environmental costs - of that profit are socialised.

Paid for by the state. By the people.

It�s an economy based on rational irresponsibility.

It encourages people and companies to extract as much short term wealth as they can, from the environment or from their workers, regardless of the damage they cause, because they don�t have to pay for it.

Everyone else does. Now and for many generations.

There�s no name for this system that we now live under.

It�s not capitalism or neoliberalism.

And it�s not conservatism.

It�s not conservative to destroy all of your rivers and streams, and mine your oceans and national parks.

It is definitely not compassionate conservatism.

There�s nothing compassionate about the rapid extinction of our native species.

And it�s not compassionate or conservative to subsidise businesses to damage the atmosphere of the planet that we�re living on.

There is no name for this system.

Nobody speaks for it. Nobody voted for it.

It happens in the spaces between speeches and elections.

It happens behind closed doors or over dinner with lobbyists.

We have a political economy of friendly deals and whispers. Of overnight polling and focus groups.

The government is supposed to help those who need help the most, not those who need it the least.

Those who have little, not those who already have everything, and always want more, and more, and more.

My opposition to our current, deliberately broken economic system is not ideological. It is moral.

I oppose it because it is wrong.

Some economists and commentators tell us that the Green Party shouldn�t worry about social issues.

We should stop talking about the economy and focus on the environment.

That�s like saying �Stop complaining that your kitchen is on fire and focus more on your house.�

We talk about social and economic issues because we are an environmental party. All of these things are bound together.

We cannot talk about any of them without talking about all of them. To change one we must change them all.

Change. It�s a word that can be inspiring. It can be frightening.

I stood for Parliament and for Co-leader because I want to change things.

And some change is urgent.

Our climate can�t wait while politicians squabble over how to fix it.

I have been clear on the campaign trail that while I don�t support a formal coalition with National, I am very open to working with National where there is common cause.

Let us build common cause on climate change.

The Government is currently setting an emissions reduction target to take to the Paris climate talks.

The Green Party has just launched a climate campaign.

We should talk to each other rather than past each other, and agree on an ambitious target that New Zealanders can be proud off.

New Zealanders want their politicians to work together, and act on common interest.

Let�s find common interest on climate change. That is my challenge to John Key today.

Because if we don�t the future looks bleak.

Our cities and our regions and our environment are transforming, changing in radical ways, at terrifying rates.

One of the key aims of the Green Party should be to stop this radical change. To treasure and preserve what we have.

Instead of bringing in a strange new world, we want to protect and restore what we can of this one.

Three of the core Green Party values are sustainability, consensus-building and long-term thinking.

We will take these values into government with us.

The stability of that government and the long term consequences of its policies will be at the heart of any coalition agreement we enter into.

Any change we make will be careful and sustainable, and it will be made with future generations of New Zealanders in mind.

I also want to change the Green Party.

We need to grow.

We need to transition from an opposition party to a party of government.

But how do we do this without losing sight of who we are?

And how do we change so we can bring about the change we seek?

The Co-leaders in the Green Party can�t just wave our hands and demand that the party does our bidding.

The party is bigger than we are. So I�m going to talk about what I want us to do, and I hope I can convince you.

First. We need more of us.

I want to double the membership of our party this year and then double it again next year.

The National Party is a behemoth of money and skilled strategists and power.

The Green Party�s strength comes from its members, and if we�re going to contend with such a formidable adversary, we need a lot more of them.

And then twice that number again.

Second. We need to be more like modern New Zealand.

People vote for people they feel a connection to. If we aim to govern the country then we need to represent it.

That means more Maori candidates.

More Pasifika candidates.

More Asian New Zealanders.

More farmers.

More business people.

Doctors.

Lawyers.

More of almost everyone.

Although, National can keep their tobacco lobbyists.

Third. We need to modernise the way we run campaigns.

Ever since the 2008 Obama campaign there has been a revolution in the way political parties win elections.

Technology-based, data-driven but founded on communities, self-organisation, and on the passion of volunteers.

This type of campaigning is perfect for the Green Party. We used it in Wellington Central last year.

We need to use it in every electorate in the country in 2017.

Because my job now is to deliver on the promises I made to you to get here.

I know that not everyone here supported me, but I am accountable to all of you.

My job is to listen.

My job is to learn.

And my job is to change the party so that we can change the country.

The campaign to put the Greens in government in 2017 starts today.

Thank you.

# ¿ May 31, 2015 03:32

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

~Actually~ the Governor General is the head of state
:goonsay:

It doesn't matter, they can't do poo poo, the effective head of state is the PM

# ¿ Jun 2, 2015 04:12

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

It looks like he's put on a lot of weight since the election :ohdear:

# ¿ Jun 8, 2015 12:45

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

There's an article comparing Toronto's bubble to Auckland's: http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11442645

In short, there was an economic downturn, and immigration halted. Suddenly there wasn't the ever increasing population looking for somewhere to live, in fact some people left the city and went to live elsewhere with a better economy.

House prices CAN drop, they've done it many times in the past.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2015 06:19

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Butt Wizard posted:

People seem pretty happy with William and there's no real urgency to become a republic though. I'd expect a few countries to back away once Charles has been in for a few years though.

I'd bet the queen will outlive Charles

# ¿ Jun 27, 2015 05:16

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

exmachina posted:

Because everyone is refusing to actually collect the data that would prove the issue one way or the other.

Like I said Labour did this wrong but only because the data we want is not being collected.

What Labour did was to remind every Asian New Zealander that they're not a real New Zealander. It makes people bitter.

exmachina posted:

And somehow I don't think resident and citizen Chinese are buying houses at 3 or 4 times the rate of other ethnicities.

Why not? Maori and Pacific Islanders are buying at rates far lower than their population, you could probably determine from that that race based house buying data isn't going to be identical to population figures?

Also Labour is referring to the estate agent that leaked the data as a "Whistle Blower". As if something was deeply wrong about people with Asian names buying houses and the public needed to know. It totally wasn't just a case of someone leaking private data (the names of all their customers!) to a 3rd party without permission, completely breaching existing privacy laws?

NZAmoeba fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Jul 15, 2015

# ¿ Jul 15, 2015 23:17

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

exmachina posted:

http://publicaddress.net/speaker/house-buying-patterns-in-auckland/

Rob Salmond from PA, same site as Keith Ng made his original critique of the Twyford data, has made my point much better than I could have.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11482300

quote:

About 50 Chinese buyers packed a real estate agency office in Epsom, and snapped up 23 sections within minutes of release yesterday.

James Law, principal agent at James Law Realty, said more than 100 people, all ethnic Chinese, registered interest with the agency to purchase sections in a Hobsonville subdivision.

...

All the buyers were required to present their passports on signing the sale and purchase agreement.

Mr Law said all were either New Zealand citizens or permanent residents.

...

"If we went by Labour's logic, then our data would suggest that the Chinese were snapping up 100 per cent of our land," Mr Law said.

Mr Law said buyers were required to show proof of residency because non-residents have to pay a higher deposit.

There could be many reasons why Chinese are buying more property compared to Indians, it could be everything from their specific economic situation, all the way down to cultural attitudes to property investment.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2015 22:06

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Before anyone commits a crime they fully think through the potential consequences in a thorough and fully informed cost:benefit analysis.

Everyone is a rational actor after all.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2015 05:03

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/70760473/Police-shoot-kill-armed-man-in-Auckland-park

quote:

Police were called to the park at 7.23pm and on arrival the man told officers he was armed. Armed officers were called and attempts to negotiate with the man were unsuccesful. The man was fatally shot after indicating he was about to use a firearm.

Note the wording, NZ police likely just killed an unarmed man in central Auckland.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2015 12:37

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

It's baffling that the idea of someone else expressing their culture is FORCING THEIR CULTURE ON US. It's a strange form of insecurity I don't completely understand.

There was an article I read a few months ago, not sure how to look for it now, but it was on the topic of immigrant culture. A Chinese person living in NZ will know that there will always be a China where Chinese culture is practised, same for most other migrants. But for Maori, the only place their culture can exist is in NZ. If it ceases to be expressed here, it goes extinct everywhere. This is why NZ is still technically a bi-cultrual society, and why Maori culture has special significance.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2015 23:59

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

focal ischemia posted:

ohh, we got colin's pamphlet in the mail today. exciting!

Same, I was lucky I spotted it stuffed in the middle of the Warehouse Stationery booklet.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2015 21:39

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Varkk posted:

Good thing no one is being distracted away from other issues by this flag debate.

The other Big Issue is JK Good Bloke's surprise birthday party!

_{not a cult}

# ¿ Aug 10, 2015 11:48

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Butt Wizard posted:

And if Labour was pushing it? Would you be up in arms about it then? I suspect most people currently opposed would be hailing it as a vital change in our country's forging of a post-colonial identity. You know, like when Labour got rid of our right to appeal to the Privy Council without running it past anyone. But that's just petty constitutional stuff, no need to consult anyone about that, nope!

You're also turning a blind eye to Andrew Little flip-flopping on his position on this but yea, focus on Key being 'shady'.

E: No you're right, what Key should be doing is making racist inferences from poorly-interpreted incomplete data and then crying when he's accused of being racist, because vilifying people with foreign names is apparently the kind of thing we should focus on instead of our flag.

Oh no guys! He's besmirching our precious Labour party that we all support and vote for! We are undone!

# ¿ Aug 11, 2015 05:14

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Displeased Moo Cow posted:

The national anthem should be changed at the same time as the flag, to t.he all black haka.

I like our current anthem but this would be genuinely awesome

# ¿ Aug 11, 2015 06:56

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

A human heart posted:

Are they really dumb enough to try replacing him? i mean i don't think anyone else would be as popular, even if his 'brand' has been damaged recently.

Helen Clark was criticised for not having a clear successor, so it makes sense for them to be wary of the dependence on Key.

lol at that stat about 80% of wealthy ceos think Key is in touch with the common man.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2015 10:47

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Exclamation Marx posted:

red peak is good btw

I really don't understand the attention this is getting. There is nothing about this flag that says "New Zealand" in any way, shape, or form. It could be the flag of *any* country.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2015 12:05

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Butt Wizard posted:

Red Peak blows. There's too much white. Like it's a huge, in-your-face amount of white that renders the meaning of the red peak kind of irrelevant.

As a piece of social commentary it's OK I guess but it's not as great as a flag as some people make it out to be.

Now the Swanny on the other hand...

Someone show me a version where the white line is a thin outline like on the Norwegian or South African flag, then I might be able to reconsider.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2015 02:54

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

spanky the dolphin posted:

Here it is with equal triangles.

Still needs to be thinner, basically like Norway's

# ¿ Sep 5, 2015 04:06

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

One "recent" flag I really dig is Greenland's, which was adopted in 1985.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Greenland

The wiki article shows some of the previous contenders, which naturally were all variations of the Nordic cross. I'm actually a fan of "flag themes", such as the Nordic cross for Scandinavia and friends, or the Southern Cross for the pacific. And I was still hoping to keep the Southern Cross for any new NZ flag for exactly that reason, to cement ourselves as still being a part of the Pacific.

But then I saw some examples which used Matariki instead, and I'd be totally down for that. The way the Greenland flag has the same ratios of a Nordic Cross flag, while still doing it's own thing, we could do with replacing the Southern Cross with Matariki. Similar enough to remind you of our Pacific neighbours, but still unique.

It would also go hand in hand with the push I've noticed lately to get Matariki recognised as an official holiday (perhaps to replace Queens Birthday)

# ¿ Sep 5, 2015 05:17

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Abbott was too incompetent to actually execute most of his policies. Turnbull knows what he's actually doing.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2015 23:30

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

Not to mention the incident at Lower Hutt last week seems like someone attempting a suicide by cop, that the police seemed keen to assist him with, when a member of the public was talking him down and attempting to de-escalate the situation.

But yeah nah the cops should totally carry guns for their own protection nothing could go wrong.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2015 23:40

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

A loophole means you've done a series of legal things that let you do something you shouldn't be able to.

She appears to have committed a series of crimes, including impersonating an officer, to get her gun. That's just fraud.

I also heard of this loophole where it's easy to get free cash, you just need to beat up an old lady and steal her purse! Our entire system is broken!

# ¿ Oct 22, 2015 01:13

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 05:29

NZAmoeba: Feb 14, 2005; It turns out it's MAN!; Hair Elf

And so our nation can carry on without imploding on itself in angst

# ¿ Oct 31, 2015 19:10

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > NZpol: A Dick-Burning Dumpster Fire

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