Archive for October, 2014
Thursday, October 30th, 2014
By co-incidence, one of the prime dangers of the government’s new employment relations law has been underlined by the release of the death and injury statistics among workers at New Zealand ports. These are highly profitable enterprises for the port owners. The Port of Tauranga for instance, is expecting its ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on the links between bad labour laws and poor safety practices
Tuesday, October 28th, 2014
If the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal wasn’t such a serious matter, this would be pretty funny. Here’s Trade Minister Tim Groser on RNZ this morning:
The finish line for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement is in sight after talks in Australia over the weekend, Trade Minister Tim Groser says.
And ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on the TPP finishing line, and Amazon’s woes
Thursday, October 23rd, 2014
Was John Key born lucky or what? Political performance tends to be judged on three things – the unemployment rate, the petrol price at the pump, and the market value of your house. This year, Key was lucky enough to hit a peak in the business cycle just as the ...
Posted in Articles | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014
Ridiculous reported comments on RNZ this morning by Trade Minister Tim Groser, as he sought to dampen down concerns about yesterday’s leaked draft of the IP chapter of ther Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations. According to Groser, ‘extreme’ positions are common at the outset of negotiations, and these get whittled down ...
Posted in Articles | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, October 21st, 2014
The release by Julian Assange on Wikileaks of the draft Trands Pacific Partnership chapter on intellectual property – including drug patents - contains some pretty disturbing evidence about what’s still on the table. The leaked drafts pertain to the May 2014 negotiating positions and enable comparisons with the August 2013 ...
Posted in Articles | Comments Off on Gordon Campbell on the latest TPP leaks
Thursday, October 16th, 2014
Apparently, the Key government is still pondering how New Zealand will contribute to the fight against Islamic State. Long may it ponder, given the lack of consensus among our allies as to how to fight IS, where to fight it (Syria, Iraq, or both ?) and with whose ground troops, ...
Posted in Articles | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, October 15th, 2014
The politicisation of (a) the public service and (b) the operations of the Official Information Act have been highlighted by the policy advice package on child poverty that RNZ’s resolute political editor Brent Edwards has finally prised out of the Ministry of Social Development. Not only was the MSD advice ...
Posted in Articles | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, October 14th, 2014
So the Key government is about to launch a four week review of the ability of our existing legislation to deal with “suspected and returning foreign terrorist fighters, and other violent extremists.” According to its terms of reference, the review will consider whether the SIS, GCSB and Police are sufficiently ...
Posted in Articles | 6 Comments »
Friday, October 10th, 2014
One of the main achievements of the Clark government was that it kept New Zealand out of overt involvement in the 2003 Iraq invasion. It also kept our Afghanistan role within the direct UN mandate. By doing so, Clark minimized the risk to New Zealanders from retaliatory action by terrorists ...
Posted in Articles | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, October 8th, 2014
When Parliament resumes on October 20, Prime Minister John Key will reportedly be making a major speech on security and intelligence issues. The speech is likely to indicate how New Zealand proposes to manage the security risk posed by Kiwi jihadis returning home after fighting in Syria and Iraq for ...
Posted in Articles | 8 Comments »
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