Tamatha Paul Gives Shoplifting The Green Light
'The Greens are singing from the same old song sheet, making excuses for anyone who attacks or steals from hard working New Zealanders.'
Yesterday Ms Paul said, 'if people don't have enough money to buy food, then they're going to look towards shoplifting things.'
'That seems to be okay with her and the Green Party. Does Labour agree?' Mr Goldsmith says.
'Kiwis need to remember that Labour and the Greens joined forces to vote against tougher sentences for violent criminals, reinstating Three Strikes, banning gang patches and giving Police the power to conduct warrantless searches on gang members. We can only assume this week will be the status quo.
'This Government is making significant progress on restoring law and order. Violent crime is down and Kiwis can feel safer in their homes and communities. A Labour-Greens government would put all of that at risk.'
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Scoop
3 hours ago
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Eye-Watering Break Fee For Botched Ferries
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1News
7 hours ago
- 1News
How much it cost to cancel iRex ferry contract: $671 million
KiwiRail has reached a settlement agreement with South Korean shipyard Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) following the coalition Government's cancellation of the iReX ferry project. Chief financial officer Jason Dale said the state-owned enterprise effected an agreement with Hyundai for a full and final settlement to exit the contracts for two rail-enabled ferries that were signed in 2021. "After constructive negotiations we have concluded a settlement agreement with HMD for a final amount of $144 million. Including previous payments, this brings the total paid to HMD to $222 million and the final cost for the entire iReX project to $671 million." Project iReX was launched to replace KiwiRail's ageing Interislander fleet with two large, rail-enabled ferries. The plan also included major upgrades to port infrastructure at Wellington and Picton. The ships were due to cost $551 million, with the delivery of the two ferries set to occur in 2025 and 2026. ADVERTISEMENT Approved in 2021, the contract was cancelled with Hyundai in December 2023 shortly after the coalition Government came into power, citing Treasury warnings of costs associated with the ferries and required port upgrades ballooning. Minister for Rail Winston Peters said the $144 million final settlement payment was to cover the costs incurred by Hyundai and its global suppliers. "That is only fair as the decision to cancel Project iReX was never a reflection on Hyundai." Around $300 million was originally provisioned to cover the potential cost of exiting the iReX commitments, Peters said, adding that more funding was now available for other Government projects as a result of the lower settlement cost. He also hit out at media reports and the Opposition for suggesting the final settlement could be more than $300 million. "Doomsayers said cancelling the contract would cost the taxpayer the full $551 million contract value, but these are some of the same people who accepted Project iReX ballooning from $1.45 billion when approved in 2021 to Treasury warning it was on course to $4 billion in 2023 thanks to eyes-bigger-than-their-mouths ambitions and absentee management." ADVERTISEMENT Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the settlement ended "yet another sorry chapter in the story of the previous government's mismanagement of the Crown's books". "It signed up to purchase two big new ferries without giving sufficient consideration to the port infrastructure needed to support ships of a much bigger size." She said the cost of the project "had almost quadrupled" by the time of its cancellation in December 2023. "No Government should be advised of billion-dollar blowouts in a major infrastructure programme upon being elected, as was the case after the 2023 general election. 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Otago Daily Times
8 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Opportunities Party goes public in search for new leader
Photo: Screenshot The Opportunities Party is looking for a new leader, and has taken to Seek to find them. TOP has been leader-less since 2023, and has taken the unusual approach of an open-call job ad to recruit the person it hopes will lead them to success in 2026. The job ad was uploaded on Seek on Thursday evening. The ad said the party was "not fussy" about a candidate's CV. "PhD in economics? Tremendous. Self-employed builder? Fantastic. Nurse? Magnificent," it said. "What matters is your ability to lead us towards a better future, live our values (fearless honesty, equitable opportunity, ingenuity, and results that matter), and handle the heat without melting." Instead, TOP was looking for someone who "understands the reality" of the cost of living, had a reputation for honesty and truth, communicated effectively, and was open to different viewpoints without taking disagreement personally. "We're not looking for an ideologue. We're looking for someone unashamedly driven by practical solutions that work for everyday Kiwis. Someone who believes in solutions being based on evidence, not whether they sound "left" or "right" and calling it "good" or "bad" based on that alone" No salary was posted. The successful candidate would be required to "steer the party to electoral success" in 2026. The party was founded in 2016 by businessman Gareth Morgan, who stepped down after the 2017 election. At that election, TOP got 2.4 percent of the party vote, to date its best result, but not enough to reach the 5 percent threshold needed to get into Parliament. Since then, it has been led by Geoff Simmons, Shai Navot, and Raf Manji. In 2023, Manji, a former Christchurch City Councillor, placed second in the seat of Ilam, ahead of the then-incumbent, Labour's Sarah Pallett. National's Hamish Campbell won the seat with a 7830 vote lead over Manji. In the most recent RNZ-Reid Research poll, TOP polled at 2.2 percent.
