Hekia Parasite-ata has left me gobsmacked

[PrincessBandit]

Just heard this bitch on the radio saying, about the school closures and amalgamations in CHCH, that while schools are "entitled to protest [over this]" she hopes "...that schools will use their money on education rather than fighting legal battles". She also added that schools had been given way more time than, basically, legally required to do something about it - by which it came across as: schools had been given considerably more time than they we entitled to over this issue, yet the whole thing was a fait accompli where schools were powerless to do anything in response as the government ignored them anyway!!!

Yet another case of the government saying they 'want the voice of the public' (all these useless referendums that cost the tax payer mega bucks) while always intending to ignore it if it doesn't go along with what they want.

I started off with a not-very-high opinion of Hekia P to begin with but was prepared to accept that sometimes a hatchet man (or woman) is needed. Her comments this morning (sound byte on Classic Hits news) has made me lose any last shred of benefit of the doubt I was nursing.

If she doesn't qualify as a nomination for bitch of the decade I don't know who would.

[BOGAR]

It is not often I want to say something bad about someone but I totally agree with you. Sometimes the tough decision has to be made but this isn't one of them and the only thing to go should be her.:bye:
Bloody money saving is just another way to get us all into a worse state for someone else to fix.
And I second that nomination.

[Kiwi Graham]

Its why they didnt give her the flick because of her poor people management skills...

They needed someone to dish this crap out and then give the flick too when the dirty deed is done.

In saying that we all know she will fall from office and like Nick Smith rise from the ashes a little while later somewhere else as a reward for fucking over a section of our community surrounded by her guffouring old 'boys club' mates.

It sickens me the old school values, community and resources we grew up in/with wont be there for our children thanks to this govenments current direction.

[Moi]

Despite the fact that school children can't vote - ok, some Yr13s might be able to - politics has always stalked the school playground and will continue to do so, irrespective of who is in power...

Meantime children and their families are deprived of the important centre of their community - the local primary school...

Talk about kicking people while they are down.

[Paul in NZ]

She has definately come into politics with an albatross around her neck.

My guess is she will end up either ruling the world or quietly being retired to the darkness of her (presumably) copious closet. Damn woman has enough 'power jackets' to run a small city.

[Hitcher]

As a person with an active interest in the community engagement space, Christchurch school closures have provided a feast of case study examples for how to break most of the established best practice "rules" and effectively alienate or really annoy a bunch of people. People with good memories and voting privileges. Nice work!

And don't lay all the blame at the Minister's door. There are officials in play here too who should have known better.

[mashman]

The law and fiscal prudence. 2 things you vote for every election. Technically it's your own fault. It's shit that these communities will be slowly taken apart, but hey, it's only a community and Friedman and his associates demand their pound of money, I mean flesh, irrespective of the human fallout.

[slofox]

In my opinion, Ms Piranha - err I mean Parata, is in her current role as a hatchet person - to chop the cost of education.

[Tigadee]

And don't lay all the blame at the Minister's door. There are officials in play here too who should have known better.


In my opinion, Ms Piranha - err I mean Parata, is in her current role as a hatchet person - to chop the cost of education.

Exactly... Agendas are being pushed here. The whole Auckland real estate bubble aka shambles is another example.

Why else is the Herald pumping out related articles at such a prodigous rate? And all subtly written to manipulate the market under the guise of 'reporting the facts'?

Quoting 'experts' (who by the way work for banks or real estate agencies) as saying the value of houses will go sky high in xx months, or quadruple in xx years because of the Unitary Plan, or how 'the market' is looking at neighbouring suburbs to popular ones as alternatives, or how there is a shift outwards of Auckland as houses become unaffordable, etc.

[imdying]

A lot of parents in Christchurch would be better off teaching their children how to act with good grace when something doesn't go their way, their circumstances change, or when there is a change in their daily routine.

The schools have only one agenda to push, I'm not surprised by their reaction in the slightest. These people should have never have been consulted in the first place.

[jellywrestler]

If she doesn't qualify as a nomination for bitch of the decade I don't know who would.
Crazy Man here on KB would

[oldrider]

Hekia Parata has given way more consideration of the situation than did Trevor Mallard and Helen Clark when they closed our local school.

Besides which, Christchurch has had a natural disaster to contend with as well.

IMPO Christchurch has had more than enough consideration, it's time they got their own heads out of the sand and got on with it!

It's not now just all about Christchurch, the flow on increases in the cost of everything is now being felt right across the country!

[Paul in NZ]

Hekia Parata has given way more consideration of the situation than did Trevor Mallard and Helen Clark when they closed our local school.

Besides which, Christchurch has had a natural disaster to contend with as well.

IMPO Christchurch has had more than enough consideration, it's time they got their own heads out of the sand and got on with it!

It's not now just all about Christchurch, the flow on increases in the cost of everything is now being felt right across the country!

Some truth here. Fact is some parts of ChCh being serviced by these schools either don't exist or are depopulated. Some tough and unpopular calls will need to be made and this is one of them... To a point...

[Gremlin]

It doesn't make sense to keep all the schools open, if the students have left and gone to other areas. Merge them together, and/or open new schools where required and put the funding for students where they actually are.

Understand that schools are the centre of the community etc, but they have a vested interest in keeping themselves open, don't they?

[oneofsix]

It doesn't make sense to keep all the schools open, if the students have left and gone to other areas. Merge them together, and/or open new schools where required and put the funding for students where they actually are.

Understand that schools are the centre of the community etc, but they have a vested interest in keeping themselves open, don't they?

What you say would sound more reasonable if she was just starting the process now, after leaving the communities some time to come to terms with the fall out from the quake but this is the end of a process started before the communities had reshuffled around the new conditions and is therefore unfeeling, callous and somewhat self fulfilling, what parent is going to enrol their kid at a school under threat.

[Clockwork]

..... and

Need to make room for those charter schools.

[mashman]

but they have a vested interest in keeping themselves open, don't they?

Which is?...

[oldrider]

Hekia Parata has given way more consideration of the situation than did Trevor Mallard and Helen Clark when they closed our local school.

Besides which, Christchurch has had a natural disaster to contend with as well.

IMPO Christchurch has had more than enough consideration, it's time they got their own heads out of the sand and got on with it!

It's not now just all about Christchurch, the flow on increases in the cost of everything is now being felt right across the country!

I forgot to mention that when the dust settled after our local schools were re-organised, it is with the greatest of fondness for the re-organised school that our local children, (having now passed on to secondary schools and out to work) express their memories!

By far the majority of the children have claimed the new school as being superior in every way, despite the extra travel (27km each way) etc.

I suspect the same will apply to Christchurch once the political antagonists and job protectionists have been put to bed.

[MisterD]

Some truth here. Fact is some parts of ChCh being serviced by these schools either don't exist or are depopulated.

I'm sure that the last time this issue was in the news, there was some anti-change type wailing "It's not fair! We're in the Red zone and the school is the only thing we have left!"

1 + 1 =....?

[F5 Dave]

The bit I'm struggling with is ":Classic Hits Radio?"

All the songs that were thrashed to death when they came out & since then, all brought out & thrashed some more.


C'mon!

[MSTRS]

The bit I'm struggling with is ":Classic Hits Radio?"

All the songs that were thrashed to death when they came out & since then, all brought out & thrashed some more.


C'mon!

It's just like the schools-thing. People like best what they know. Generally. New things can make people nervous, anxious or pining for the familiar.

[James Deuce]

And while HP is made into a pariah, and the necessary school closures in Chch are undertaken, DoC has been gutted of management staff so what was previously conservation land can be strip mined and the natural resources exported and money earned from their sale shipped overseas. The only benefit to the NZ economy from this move will be for a couple of hundred miners and their families. Important for them. A drop in the bucket in the broader sense.

I have to admit to having little sympathy for the teachers involved, particularly in light of their entirely typically childish reaction, generally speaking, to necessary fundamental changes to the Christchurch educational arena.

You have to give kudos to National's leadership for never forgetting their core ideology of preventing their taxpayers from ever benefiting from improvements to NZ's economic status, and never shirking from passing the cost of any mistakes they make onto their voters. After all, it's our fault the economy's rooted. Well played, National Caucus, well played indeed.

[MisterD]

previously conservation land

Where manuka and rata struggle to grow beyong "stunted", the only animal that can scrape an existence is a snail and the most interesting thing for a tourist to go and see is the "incline" which carried coal down off the plateau from 1870-something until the 1960's.

[Banditbandit]

..... and

Need to make room for those charter schools.

Naaa .. see .. the Government wants Charter Schools for the kids who are failing in the normal schools ...

So these Charter ASchools will not be available to the sons and daughters of parents who want to opt out of the state schools but can't afford private schools .. unless their kids are in the "at risk" category ... they wil be for "problem children" only ..

Then god help the Charter schools - they will be expected to have a very high sucess rate .. with kids who a failing at school !!!

Just a perfect combination isn't it .. we wil put untrained teachers into schools with problem kids and expect high standards !!!

Doh !!! Would you take your car to an untrained mechanic and expect high quality repair work?? Why would you trust your kids to untrained teachers ???

[Banditbandit]

It's just like the schools-thing. People like best what they know. Generally. New things can make people nervous, anxious or pining for the familiar.

Bwhahaha .. I agree .. and if they went to school in the 1960s/70s then a 21st century school is not what they know .. and they want their kids to have the eduction they had .. in 1960s/70s schools .. Well, sorry .. schools have moved on since then ..

(I know .. I know ... someone's going to say: "It never did me any harm - and look where I am today " Well sorry - it certainly did me harm ... I hated school and dropped out to ride big motorcycles with the bad boys and use lots of wonderful drugs ... and fuck ... look where I am today !!!)

[Banditbandit]

Where manuka and rata struggle to grow beyong "stunted", the only animal that can scrape an existence is a snail and the most interesting thing for a tourist to go and see is the "incline" which carried coal down off the plateau from 1870-something until the 1960's.

And where the coal is on fire ..don't have to wait for another Pike River-type explosion .. it's already burning

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burning_mine_near_Denniston,_New_Zealand.JPG

[Edbear]

Where manuka and rata struggle to grow beyong "stunted", the only animal that can scrape an existence is a snail and the most interesting thing for a tourist to go and see is the "incline" which carried coal down off the plateau from 1870-something until the 1960's.

And that it is a small percentage of the land. 100 Hectares of tens of thousands. Then ignoring that the mining company is obliged to restore the land afterwards.

To hear the Greenies, you would think it is the end of civilisation as we know it.

[Banditbandit]

Why the fuck do we want to mine more coal ???

First off all, the price has fallen out of the market - That's what fucked Solid Energy .. why the hell is a new company starting up ?? Seems very stupid to me ... gathering a resource that is falling in value ... a 40% drop in value ??? And we are opening new mines? Don't buy shares in that company ...

Second, why the hell are we mining and burning more coal and adding to the CO2 emmissions ???

All round - a dumb idea ..

[HenryDorsetCase]

I had very bad experiences at school, and shitty teachers. (rural NZ in the 1970's) so I am all for saying "screw you" to teachers. But the children do not deserve to be pawns in a political game.

Thats one view. the other is the very real demographic changes that have taken place in the town, which simply cannot be ignored. Whole suburbs are gone, or will be by the end of the year: some will not be rebuilt on. There is also a huge exodus of people from the town or from east to west or south in the town. and the forward planning has to take account of that. Plus the munstryuveddumacate has had a lot of severely damaged buildings to contend with.

Long story short, Trish Parata can go fuck herself, but some really hard decisions had to be made: Its the Patton thing (the General, not Mike Patton the musician) you have to make a decision. It might not be the right one, but you have to make A decision. then keep rolling.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Why the fuck do we want to mine more coal ???

First off all, the price has fallen out of the market - That's what fucked Solid Energy .. why the hell is a new company starting up ?? Seems very stupid to me ... gathering a resource that is falling in value ...

Second, why the hell are we mining and burning more coal and adding to the CO2 emmissions ???

All round - a dumb idea ..

Here's a thing. There are different types of coal. What new zealand has in relative abundance and easy to extract is high grade coking coal. Why is that important? That is the coal you need if you want to make high grade steel. One tonne of that stuff vs three to five tonnes of lesser quality coal in your steel mill. So there is a case that says "We should continue mining that coal in NZ because COMPARED TO THE ALTERNATIVE there is a nett benefit, to CO2 emissions, to NZ's bottom line, and even to the poor bastards whose job it is to dig it out of the ground.

Thats what Pike River were after but they had other problems.

and it will be burnt in India and China, not here: though I acknowledge that CO2 emissions are a global problem.

[Banditbandit]

Here's a thing. There are different types of coal. What new zealand has in relative abundance and easy to extract is high grade coking coal. Why is that important? That is the coal you need if you want to make high grade steel. One tonne of that stuff vs three to five tonnes of lesser quality coal in your steel mill. So there is a case that says "We should continue mining that coal in NZ because COMPARED TO THE ALTERNATIVE there is a nett benefit, to CO2 emissions, to NZ's bottom line, and even to the poor bastards whose job it is to dig it out of the ground.

Yeah .. I do get that .. but if the bottom's dropped out of the market then we may wel be selling a product that costs more to extract than the sale price brings in .. which is what appears to me wil happen ..



Thats what Pike River were after but they had other problems.

.

Pike River's biggest problem was that the mined into the Brunner seam ... every mine in that seam has exploded at some time ...
And on the Denniston Plateau there's already a mine on fire .. Geez Wayne .. doesn't take a high IQ to ask about the risk of that venture ...

[Laava]

The bit I'm struggling with is ":Classic Hits Radio?"

All the songs that were thrashed to death when they came out & since then, all brought out & thrashed some more.


C'mon!

Just for you my friend!
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dJoo7Tgjr8U&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded%2 6v%3DdJoo7Tgjr8U

[mashman]

And that it is a small percentage of the land. 100 Hectares of tens of thousands. Then ignoring that the mining company is obliged to restore the land afterwards.

To hear the Greenies, you would think it is the end of civilisation as we know it.

The same thing was likely said about those who wanted to mine in the Amazon.

Where we rape for profit, that includes the ocean, civilisation doesn't exist... just a bunch of savages who think too much of themselves. Some of them believe in God too, which seems very hypocritical for some unknown reason.

[Road kill]

And that it is a small percentage of the land. 100 Hectares of tens of thousands. Then ignoring that the mining company is obliged to restore the land afterwards.

To hear the Greenies, you would think it is the end of civilisation as we know it.

From my understanding the Denniston Plateau as it is today is a result of the original mines so it can always be bought back to the condition it's currently in.

Read "The Denniston Rose",,,,a good NZ book based on the Plateau and incline.

[caseye]

Yeah .. I do get that .. but if the bottom's dropped out of the market then we may wel be selling a product that costs more to extract than the sale price brings in .. which is what appears to me wil happen ..




Pike River's biggest problem was that the mined into the Brunner seam ... every mine in that seam has exploded at some time ...
And on the Denniston Plateau there's already a mine on fire .. Geez Wayne .. doesn't take a high IQ to ask about the risk of that venture ...

The quality of the coal that Bathurst mining is after is amongst the best in the world.
The operation is now going to be what it always should have been, OPEN CAST, no hole no tunnels.
Extraction costs a fraction of what it does to mine it in the traditional sense.
Bathurst mining has to stump up with millions for DOC before they start, they then have to return the entire area they've stripped and extracted from to pristine condition including putting the snails back.
The coast gets jobs, employment and expenditure, Doc gets more money than Govt could ever give it, who exactly, loses here?

[HenryDorsetCase]

The same thing was likely said about those who wanted to mine in the Amazon.

Where we rape for profit, that includes the ocean, civilisation doesn't exist... just a bunch of savages who think too much of themselves. Some of them believe in God too, which seems very hypocritical for some unknown reason.

When humankind kills the oceans the planet dies. fact.

hopefully that will be after I am dead and gone (say another 50-80 years). after that I dont care. Those of you with children might have an opinion though

[PrincessBandit]

From my understanding the Denniston Plateau as it is today is a result of the original mines so it can always be bought back to the condition it's currently in.

Read "The Denniston Rose",,,,a good NZ book based on the Plateau and incline.

Ah, since this thread has wandered off topic anyway, I have just finished assessing my Year 10 class on a piece of music called "The Ghosts of Denniston" by Dorothy Buchanan. A lovely piece, and the kids all had to learn about the Denniston incline and history as part of the social context of the piece. Quite fascinating.

p.s. I still think Hekia Parata is a bitch

[F5 Dave]

Just for you my friend!
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dJoo7Tgjr8U&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded%2 6v%3DdJoo7Tgjr8U

erm didn't seem to work, but here's one back at ya,


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56EktzaYtBE

[mashman]

When humankind kills the oceans the planet dies. fact.

hopefully that will be after I am dead and gone (say another 50-80 years). after that I dont care. Those of you with children might have an opinion though

Fuck that... I wanna be here coz the witch hunt is going to be epic.

[James Deuce]

Where manuka and rata struggle to grow beyong "stunted", the only animal that can scrape an existence is a snail and the most interesting thing for a tourist to go and see is the "incline" which carried coal down off the plateau from 1870-something until the 1960's.
This time. This is just the start and it was deliberately started on an unloved pile of tailings and scree, so the next one that removes hectares of virgin forest goes unremarked because the core, qualified individuals who were capable, motivated and informed have been removed from DoC and the lay protest movement discredited because they are complaining about a pile of tailings and scree being mined.

Did the bikoi not inform people enough of the process used by National to justify money making schemes for Government and corporate interests alike? Create a smokescreen, hammer an unloved minority and discredit their point of view, create a smokescreen and then just implement the plan while everyone stares intently at the tiny fire fuelling the smoke irrespective of the ultimate implications for the tax paying public and largely powerless public of NZ.

Back on topic, I don't like teachers. I really don't like teachers who use children as political footballs.

[Katman]

I don't really understand the problem.

Children are instinctively extremely adaptable.

It simply seems to be the wailing of the parents that's causing the kid's tears.

I changed schools more times than I can remember as a kid.

Didn't seem to do me any harm.

:wacko:

[Oakie]

Hekia Parata? Kind of nice to have a politician around who will make decisions without giving a shit about what it will do for her popularity.

I live in the north-east of Christchurch and looking at the decisions to close and merge, cold-bloodly, they're understandable. Close to home for me, my grandaughter enrolled in a school with a role of 106 two and a bit years ago. It didn't wait for 'the decision'. They closed with a role of just 36 at the end of last school year. My grandaughter was upset at the time but is loving her new school.

Get over it guys. As a local, I honestly feel it'll be for the best even though there will be some pain and loss out there.

[Katman]

If parents wanted to they could turn the merging of schools into some sort of adventure for their kids.

The parents are just pissed that they're going to have to make changes in their own lifestyles.

[James Deuce]

If parents wanted to they could turn the merging of schools into some sort of adventure for their kids.

The parents are just pissed that they're going to have to make changes in their own lifestyles.
Yep. Sad innit?

[Berries]

I'd tap it.

[98tls]

If parents wanted to they could turn the merging of schools into some sort of adventure for their kids.

The parents are just pissed that they're going to have to make changes in their own lifestyles.

We live in a country that hands out cash to those that produce a child no matter what,i see now that the country is handing out breakfasts for those children,why would those parents ever consider changing there lifestyle"

[Winston001]

For what it is worth, being a Minister of Education is a deadly appointment. Over the last 40 years virtually no Minister of the Education portfolio has lasted in the job beyond the parliamentary term of three years. The exceptions (and my memory is vague) were Phil Amos and Phil Goff. Basically if you are in Cabinet and you get Education...you are stuffed. It is a rite of passage and if you survive you go on to much better things. Both Phil Goff and Bill English are examples.

[Winston001]

I'm not convinced that Hikea Parata is a good Minister of Education but in truth, there has never been a good minister during my lifetime. Or at least that has been the public view.

As for Christchurch they probably don't remember and certainly didn't care when Timaru and Invercargill suffered far greater closures and amalgamations of schools under Trevor Mallard. I went to public meetings where he tried to defend the decisions and promised consultation community involvement etc etc, my wife (not a teacher) as a Trustee engaged in very detailed work opposing the closures but it was all in vain. Invercargill used to have 3 but now has no intermediate schools at all. Zero.

Of course we have sympathy for the people of Christchurch but amalgamating schools when whole suburbs are silent wastelands is simple common sense.

[oldrider]

I'm not convinced that Hikea Parata is a good Minister of Education but in truth, there has never been a good minister during my lifetime. Or at least that has been the public view.

As for Christchurch they probably don't remember and certainly didn't care when Timaru and Invercargill suffered far greater closures and amalgamations of schools under Trevor Mallard. I went to public meetings where he tried to defend the decisions and promised consultation community involvement etc etc, my wife (not a teacher) as a Trustee engaged in very detailed work opposing the closures but it was all in vain. Invercargill used to have 3 but now has no intermediate schools at all. Zero.

Of course we have sympathy for the people of Christchurch but amalgamating schools when whole suburbs are silent wastelands is simple common sense.

+one there Winston, Labour were absolutely ruthlessly arrogant as they swept through the Southern schools, not a murmur from Christchurch back then.

Once everybody got over it and got on with it though all the complaints and fears withered away to nothing the kids themselves just get on with life! :niceone:

[mashman]

Once everybody got over it and got on with it though all the complaints and fears withered away to nothing the kids themselves just get on with life! :niceone:

As it is with everything else in life. Our attitude is relied upon in so many ways innit?

[HenryDorsetCase]

If parents wanted to they could turn the merging of schools into some sort of adventure for their kids.

The parents are just pissed that they're going to have to make changes in their own lifestyles.

to a certain extent that is true, but there are very real issues in this town and particularly in the east about roading, bridges, access, delays and things that can make what might seem to be a minor change into a major epic clusterfuck.

Seriously, this is our Vietnam. You don't know man, you weren't here.

[HenryDorsetCase]

We live in a country that hands out cash to those that produce a child no matter what,i see now that the country is handing out breakfasts for those children,why would those parents ever consider changing there lifestyle"

That is appalling. You can't equate these two things though I acknowledge that some of the people affected by school closures are in the low decile areas. But blaming the kids for their circumstances is fucking low, if you don't mind my saying so.

[oldrider]

That is appalling. You can't equate these two things though I acknowledge that some of the people affected by school closures are in the low decile areas. But blaming the kids for their circumstances is fucking low, if you don't mind my saying so.

Sorry but you are adding a little flavour to your post, I do not see anything in 98tls comments that suggests he is blaming the kids! :no:

[HenryDorsetCase]

Sorry but you are adding a little flavour to your post, I do not see anything in 98tls comments that suggests he is blaming the kids! :no:

errrrr. Actually you might be right. Sorry mr tls.