Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Anatomy of a Shambles

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  • simon g,

    So Parliament will rush through emergency legislation, again. Last time, all parties voted for it, but plenty of voices (not least here on Public Address) spoke out against the steamroller. But ... there had been an earthquake. An emergency. So although both the haste and extent of powers was disturbing, it was defended as a very, very rare exception.

    This is not an earthquake. This is a movie. OK, two movies.

    The law changes may be less draconian than the King Gerry Act, but it will be the same method. There will be only fleeting scrutiny. And even the CERRA has a sunset clause.

    How is this good law-making?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1333 posts Report Reply

  • Cecelia,

    Islander. We will just have to live with Hobbitfilmmania.
    Congrats on 25 years. Article on Scoop and my homesick, London-dwelling son is reading it and loving it. Must reread.

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    And, of course, AE's mess has managed to shaft the taxpayer (concessions), but the CTU's campaigns for teacher pay and the opposition to the 90-day at-will sacking law. But, hey, I'm informed it was worth it so some people could express their feelings...

    Dead right there. Nothing like laying a bit of groundwork for the next hit at the teachers. Joe Public will then see all unions as heretics and oblige our Lords and Masters with cheering, the stacking of wood and waving of torches.

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    This is not a oneupmanship thing, Tony, but I would just like to remind all secondary and primary teachers that you are in a compulsory sector. If Tolley doesn't like you guys, just imagine how she feels about early childhood education. Just as well my decision to get into teaching was a political one, I guess.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    Are we at the record yet?????

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    Hey Jackie. Meant to ask. Crown Lynn Clark?

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite,

    Fucked off with the whole thing is my reaction.
    There is no increase in funds for the Arts bodies - but Nats/Nacts have never been interested in those except if it has been/is a throroughly capitalist structure.

    Deeply sympathetic to the union cause, but deeply disturbed too by the polarisation. Too many demons invoked. Solidarity is a virtue, but to see it used as an obligation gives me the willies. I feel a Godwin coming on when I think of Trotter and T' Standard.

    I also have friends and former students in Weta, and didn't care one fucking little bit for those bastards deciding that their livelihoods were dispensible in the name of their chickenhawk fantasies of class war. Did Irish Bill or Trotter really have anything personally at stake in this? No.

    The personal hatred directed at PJ is ... disturbing, or amusing if one is prone to cynicism. The implied belief that he is some kind of Dark Lord, manipulating affairs smacks of a fundamental naivete about the nature of global finance and the film industry nowadays, something amenable to exploitation by some demagogue. And to think that the old left like to pride themselves on their analysis of economics...

    I felt that a strategic withdrawal was only the least worst thing in the short term, and I'm depressed too in terms of the medium term for labour conditions. In the longer term... Well, I think that that's become a bit longer term. It's a tragedy that the real concerns of the unions have been lost in all this, but frankly, incompetence may be as much of a crime as malice... and so might one colossal miscalculation and bad luck. Hopefully, to get rather pompous (can you tell the difference?) this might be more a Dunkirk (as it was for the Allies) than a Waterloo ( as it was for the French)

    I did actually meet Helen Kelley a few years back when I was involved in a dispute with an employer of mine when she was head of what was then the AUS, I and I have to say that I was impressed by her determination and integrity. It's been a tragic mess, exploited all too well by the worst of both the Guelphs and Ghibellines. I hope she can keep building on the momentum that is behind this dispute.

    I notice some Standardistas are saying "I won't go and see it anyway, 'cos Jackson's a class traitor scumbag and so pthbttt!" reminds me of the Trekkies who were deeply, deeply, fundamentally, utterly, outraged at the design of the Enterprise in the recent Star Trek reboot. To misquote Comic Book Guy ('cos I don't have the time to check) "Worst. Episode. Ever. I'm only going to see it X more times. Today."

    I'm glad people have work. I hope that things get better from here, but it's going to take a lot longer and a lot more intelligence than has been shown so far (ooh, I love hindsight, it gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling. It's like a deep. hot bath with lots and lots of bubbles).

    (Well, back to First Life for a while - it's not going away so quickly)

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Eade,

    unparalleled in their unique beauty.

    you either get that or you don't. You can go through the world clapping landscapes for sure, but this land is unique,travel down the north island and look hard, it sure doesn't look like france, it looks better.

    auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 1112 posts Report Reply

  • rodgerd,

    Dead right there. Nothing like laying a bit of groundwork for the next hit at the teachers. Joe Public will then see all unions as heretics and oblige our Lords and Masters with cheering, the stacking of wood and waving of torches.

    And teachers are behind the 8-ball with so many years of anti-teacher, anti-school, anti-education sentiment. Too many Warick Rogers/Joe wossisname/pick a columnist at random. Beeby ought to be a national fucking hero on a par with Hilary or Kate Sheppard.

    I thought things we looking promising from a PR point of view with the contrast between the teachers' miserly offer and the Education head's rather more generous effort, and most folks talking about teachers' action were discussing it in terms of the derisory offer (not even cost of living, etc), with only a few of the "teachers are all dickheads" munters.

    Once the Hobbit debacle kicked off, though, it was all "bloody unions, they'll ruin the country" though.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    How is this good law-making?

    We also get to pay $10 mil to WB to advertise our own country as a destination. Found that a bit suck.
    Is the $15 mil rebate the difference that Ireland could offer or is our high dollar that difference? If so, it's predictable. Just gotta follow the money.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Cecelia,

    Line from a vaguely remembered song - while The Standard still raises the red flag, Public Address:

    The people's flag is coloured pink
    It's so much nicer don't you think

    Hibiscus Coast • Since Apr 2008 • 559 posts Report Reply

  • Kracklite,

    [Deleted]

    The Library of Babel • Since Nov 2007 • 982 posts Report Reply

  • DexterX,

    It is good news.

    With Employment Law changes some reforms were likely on the way and this has bought them forward with a wider emphasis. We will wait and see.

    The solutions make sense.

    I will look forward to introducing the kids to the Hobbit in book and then in Movie form and then taking them to see where it was filmed.
    You can't buy that.

    Can’t help thinking that some Neanderthal malcontents will have a go to protest and disrupt the filming.

    I hope the agitation to Peter Jackson dies down and the stress to the production crew and others dissipates reasonably and they are all left to get on with making the movies.

    NZAE - MEAA(NZ) I - Simon Whip and CTU - well they shoudl be turn to stone by their own stupidity.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report Reply

  • Petra,

    We also get to pay $10 mil to WB to advertise our own country as a destination. Found that a bit suck.

    It's actually not suck though. I used to sell advertising, and NZ would spend that very easily in a very short space of time to market itself as a destination. It's a good deal.

    Rotorua • Since Mar 2007 • 317 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    I'd very much like to add something but I've just read Kracklite's contribution and can't possibly say it better... any of it. Thanks.

    (Hand-wringing teachers don't carry much weight at the moment I'm afraid.)

    Oh hang on now... I'm pretty critical of teacher unions but that's quite unfair. In my not inconsiderable experience, teachers work incredibly bloody hard at a very difficult task that has enormous value and meaning for us all... some can be a bit precious, more often than necessary in fact, but can we keep this in context...

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    It's buying WB. That is a bit suck.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Just thinking,

    Gotta love Socialism for rich Americans.

    Putaringamotu • Since Apr 2009 • 1158 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I'd very much like to add something but I've just read Kracklite's contribution and can't possibly say it better... any of it. Thanks.

    Hear, hear.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    [Deleted]

    You bastard - I jumped forward a few pages just to read that :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Brendon Mills,

    Well, you guys got what you wanted. Your precious little film is going to be made here, and a lot of workers are going to see their wages and conditions being eroded, courtesy of the Hobbit Act.

    I would have thought you PA members to be better than that, support the right of all workers to organise for decent pay and conditions, but you want to put the boot still into the very organisations that you should be down on your knees thanking every day for the fact that you have sick pay, ACC, annual leave, breaks, overtime, etc.

    New Plymouth • Since Oct 2010 • 33 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Ha! I watched that disappear Sacha.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Not the Hobbit Brendon, the NAT coalition is doing all the erosion right across this land.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Petra,

    It's buying WB. That is a bit suck.

    That's just normal trade negotiations. The journey to this sucked, because a few months ago it was all so unnecessary. But that's business - something changes, and you finding that you have to discount your product or throw in a "free gift" or something in order to buy a potential customer's patronage or to keep an established customer loyal. It's a bit suck, but I can shrug that off easily enough.

    Rotorua • Since Mar 2007 • 317 posts Report Reply

  • Jonathan King,

    Your precious little film is going to be made here ...

    I think you'll find, Brendon, it is two of the Very Biggest Films Ever Made.

    And if you think wages are going down in the film biz, you should have seen what they would have done when almost everyone in the industry was out of work and producers could name their price. It's when there's a big 'show' in town, when everyone is busy that the workers name their price.

    But, like I said, you don't know shit about the film business.

    Since Sep 2010 • 185 posts Report Reply

  • Brendon Mills,

    But you guys support them because you want your precious film. Quite frankly, Trotter is right about you guys. You are scabs, everyone who marched on that rally on Labour Day. marching to destory the union movement and make every single worker an independent contractor.

    New Plymouth • Since Oct 2010 • 33 posts Report Reply

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