david parker

The Labour Party has hit out at the Government sending Defence Force troops to the Middle East, saying it has shades of the Iraq invasion.

Six personnel will assist in targeting coalition strikes on Houthi rebels, who have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Foreign Affairs spokesperson David Parker says they don't believe the country should be embroiled there.

"I think history shows that they've got some very deep-seated conflicts there, they've got warring factions of different religions, they've got long-term civil wars. We don't think New Zealand should be participating in those conflicts."

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Federated Farmers are calling on the incoming Government to repeal David Parker's controversial freshwater reforms.

The advocacy group believes repealing the current freshwater regulations will be the quickest way to restore farmer confidence- which is at a historic low.

The Country's Jamie Mackay says farmers are waiting with bated breath for these reforms to be scrapped.

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Labour's David Parker has responded to National's criticism of the Party's fiscal plan.

The plan promises to look for more savings across the Government's books and to keep net debt under 30 percent of GDP.

But National questions Labour's credibility- saying it's blown all operating allowances set since 2017.

Associate Finance spokesperson Parker says it's because of Covid and the cyclone and flooding.

"That's no more true of us than it was of John Key when he had to meet the consequences of the global financial crisis, and then the Canterbury earthquakes. We're a very responsible Government, fiscally."

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Labour's David Parker has responded to National's criticism of the Party's fiscal plan.

The plan promises to look for more savings across the Government's books and to keep net debt under 30 percent of GDP.

But National questions Labour's credibility- saying it's blown all operating allowances set since 2017.

Associate Finance spokesperson Parker says it's because of Covid and the cyclone and flooding.

"That's no more true of us than it was of John Key when he had to meet the consequences of the global financial crisis, and then the Canterbury earthquakes. We're a very responsible Government, fiscally."

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I know David Parker’s got a job to do. As Attorney-General, he’s got a job to do and part of that job is to run a fine-tooth comb through new laws to see if they stack up and won’t be more trouble than they’re worth. 

What I mean by that, is making sure they don't have so many holes in them that anyone who wants to could get all legal on it and either get away with whatever the law is designed to stop, or haul the government off to the likes of the Supreme Court. 

And that’s what David Parker, as Attorney General, is doing right now with this legislation Labour has been trying to rush through so it can say it’s cracked down on ram raiders. In particular, teenage ram-raiders who have been on the rampage up and down the country. 

Just today in Christchurch, for example, there’s a report about a 13-year-old who nicked dozens of cars - some of them used to do ram raids - and when the cops got him, he was just sent home to his family. And guess what? He went out and did it all over again. 

So the Government’s getting all hardcore on it and it’s got this new bill going through Parliament - “The Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill”. 

And, as it stands at the moment, what it would do is create a new criminal offence for ram raids (with a penalty of up to 10 years), which would also be applied to 12 and 13 year-olds through the Youth Court. 

And if the ram-raid was filmed and put online, that would be an aggravating factor when it came to sentencing. 

But David Parker has put a fly in the ointment, saying that he reckons this would cause more harm than good. Especially when it comes to the kids involved in these crimes. 

So one of the concerns he has is that this tough approach doesn’t take into account the fact that teenagers’ brains are still developing and they are "unlikely to understand the impact of their actions or to comprehend criminal proceedings".  

Yep, here we go. The old frontal cortex argument. It gets worse, though. 

As well as saying that we would get a much better outcome sticking with the softly-softly approach we’ve got now, David Parker is concerned about breaching the rights of these out-of-control kids. 

What about the rights of the people whose businesses are being targetted night-after-night by these kids? What about the rights of the people who work in these businesses? What about the rights of the people who wake up in the morning and find their car stolen? 

The bit that I think really takes the cake for me, is what David Parker is saying about the new bill making filming a ramraid and posting it online an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing. 

He's concerned it could violate these kids' right to freedom of expression. He thinks it could inhibit free speech. 

It would be easy to think, wouldn’t it, that after spitting the dummy because he didn’t get his way with the wealth tax stuff that David Parker is on a one-man mission to destroy the Labour government. 

I get that he’s wearing his Attorney-General hat and all that. But, aside from lawyers who are paid to try and get these scumbags off, who in their right mind is going to think that getting punished for filming a ramraid and putting it on TikTok is a bad thing? 

Who, in their right mind, is going to think that it inhibits free speech? That it violates the right to freedom of expression. 

Since when has a ramraid been an art form? Next we’ll be saying a ramraid is a piece of street art. We’ll be describing a car sitting in the front window of a jeweller's shop or a vape shop as an art installation. 

You’ll even be able to get Arts Foundation funding for it. Because if we’re going to have the Attorney-General saying that punishing people for filming ramraids and putting them online would inhibit free speech, that it would deny someone their right to freedom of expression, then let’s just go the whole hog and give these kids NCEA credits for it. 

It beggars belief, doesn’t it? 

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Tonight on The Huddle, STILL Director of Projects Sam Johnson and Jack Tame from ZB's Saturday Mornings and Q&A joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more!

The Post is reporting one first-term MP allegedly told colleagues they had been bullied and yelled at by Kiri Allan. Meanwhile, David Parker says he didn't want to be Revenue Minister anymore because he didn't want to ditch the Wealth Tax. Are Labour MPs starting to turn against each other?

James Shaw has increased the price of carbon by 44 percent, despite the Government earlier stating they didn't want to do that because it would add to cost of living pressures. What do we make of this move?

65 percent of shoppers prefer homebrand products- or at least agree that they're just as good as branded products according to a new EY survey. Do we agree?

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There’s a tax coming, there’s definitely a tax coming. 

And out of morbid fascination, I can’t wait to see how Labour goes about trying this one on. 

David Parker today released his research into how much tax Kiwis paid and he's got the headlines he wanted. They’re all screaming that 350 of the richest Kiwis pay half the rate of tax that the rest of us do. Only 8.9 percent, compared to our 20 percent.

Now this is where it gets tricky for David Parker, because he’s counting capital gains that aren’t  realised.

As in, he’s counting the increased value of the rich guy’s house and business and shares and buildings that he hasn’t sold, so it’s just a paper gain. And based on that, David Parker says the rich guy isn’t paying enough tax.

Now, think about this. It's the same as counting the increased value of your house over the last year and then asking you to pay tax on that.

You haven’t sold it, you still live in it, you haven’t got any more money coming on your wages to pay that tax on the house- but you have to pay a tax.

Sound fair? No.

Now I'm told no one in the world taxes capital gains that exist only on paper, this is because it’s very hard to do.

And by the way, forget the rate of tax these people are paying. Look at the value, on average they pay $2.5 m dollars each a year. That's a huge amount already. 

I'm guessing, based on what David Parker said today, that Labour are considering proposing a tax at the election. And the tax would be on the ultra-wealthy, these 350 people.

And it would be used to fund tax cuts for the average Kiwi worker. I suspect they’re going to do that based on the reaction they get from today. 

But it’s high risk for them.

Because (A) it needs to be a good sized tax cut for Kiwis to vote for it.

And (B) they’ll have to withstand a lot of political attacks for an idea that apparently hasn’t been tried anywhere else in the world.

So as I say, I can’t wait to see Labour trying this one on.

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Embattled civil servant Rob Campbell's role as Environmental Protection Authority chair looks to be on shaky ground.

Newstalk ZB understands the now-former chairman of Te Whatu Ora is soon to be sacked from his second public service position.

Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper says Environment Minister David Parker has written to Campbell.

"I would think he'd get the exact same reply that Rob Campbell gave to Ayesha Verrall yesterday. That, look, he's done nothing wrong. I think yes, he certainly will be."

Barry Soper thinks the decision to give him the boot a second time will be announced tomorrow.

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Environment Minister David Parker recently revealed that the Resource Management Act (RMA) will be reformed.

The replacement system will take a while to be rolled out, but this promised system overhaul is set to fix the economy and save money in the long run.

Political editor Barry Soper weighs in on this reform, and advises that we may have to wait and see any real changes going forward.

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New Zealand's new resource management system will get a road test first.

The Government plans to repeal the ailing RMA for new legislation designed to cut costs and consent times by the next election.

It will eventually slash and merge the 100-plus plans produced under the RMA, to just 15. The transition is expected to take roughly 10 years, as regions individually move their processes.

Environment Minister David Parker says it will initially be trialled in three regions.

He says it will ensure the Government can properly fund the new system, because doing it all at once would cost more.

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How much merit did Revenue Minister David Parker's now dead tax bill actually have?

Yep - the proposal to increase GST on some investment fund fees.

NZ Herald Buisness editor Jenee Tibshraeny explains and addresses these merits here today.

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How much merit did Revenue Minister David Parker's now dead tax bill actually have?

Yep - the proposal to increase GST on some investment fund fees.

NZ Herald Buisness editor Jenee Tibshraeny explains and addresses these merits here today.

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The Revenue Minister is accepting criticism of the cost of living payment.

The Auditor-General says it should have been rolled out more carefully.

New screening measures are being launched ahead of the second $116 payment on Thursday.

Minister David Parker says 31,000 people won't get the second payment until they confirm they're in New Zealand.

He told Mike Hosking the Auditor-General's criticism of some screening measures not being in place for the first payment is fair.

“In defence of Inland Revenue they would say they were busy setting up the system writing the software to get the payment out to 1.4 million people and, they didn’t think the extra tests were necessary at that point.”

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#Adrian #Health
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I am so pleased in this episode to bring you my interview with Dawn Lester and David Parker, the researchers and authors of What Really Makes you Ill?  Why everything you thought you knew about disease is wrong.  

This 800 page book that Dawn and David spent 10 years painstakingly researching and writing turns everything you thought you knew about disease on its head.  Completely referenced it is an awesome undertaking and once you read it you will never look at your health the same way.  You will also be empowered to take charge of your own health and well-being. 

Despite the poor audio we cover some fascinating ground and learn some very interesting things about the current paradigm and dogma around the medical industry.

You can only buy the book on Amazon either in Kindle format or paperback - note As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases:
https://amzn.to/3aRBj1V

There website is worth a visit:
https://whatreallymakesyouill.com/