Hekia has gone rogue

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, October 5th, 2015 - 41 comments
Categories: education, Hekia parata, national, Politics, same old national, schools - Tags:

Spock_Parata

Jo Moir at Stuff has asked if Hekia Parata has gone rogue in announcing a change of the education funding formula. I am surprised she had to ask. The answer must be a resounding “yes”.

She did not sneak the announcement out. She went to the PPTA annual conference and at the same time she accused pretty well everyone present of being supporters of apartheid she announced that student academic progress was going to be at the forefront of the promised new funding policy.

From Stuff:

For more than two years the Education Minister has been vocal about her desire to give school deciles the chop, but just what a new funding model would look like has remained a mystery.

In 2013, Hekia Parata first criticised deciles as “clumsy” and sometimes used “to explain or excuse everything”.

By 2014, she was signalling the end of them when she said schools would only need to put up with deciles “for the present and for the near future”.

In between times, she had hinted at replacing deciles with academic progress measures, but by November last year she had ruled out any funding link to academic results.

Using student achievement data for school funding is  contentious because of the fear it would punish schools dealing with the most disadvantaged children.

On Thursday, Parata did the U-turn of all U-turns and told a room packed full of teachers that student achievement would “absolutely” be a factor in a review of the school funding system.

Finally, confirmation that student success would be front and centre of a new funding model that Parata wants sorted by the end of this parliamentary term.

As pointed out however there was a somewhat major problem with Parata’s announcement.  The Ministry was not aware of it:

On September 4, Ministry of Education deputy secretary Rawiri Bell said in a statement: “We absolutely reject any suggestion we are introducing performance-based funding for schools or performance-related pay for teachers. That is wrong.”

That is a difficult statement to get muddled – it couldn’t be clearer that the ministry has no plans whatsoever to include student performance in a new school funding model.

Of course this particular announcement fits into National’s desire to help its own.  Remember back in 2009 when National cut funding for night classes and very successful literacy and numeracy programmes so that $35 million extra to private schools?

The announcement has everything to do with politics and little to do with reality.  Cutting funding for the poorest schools may make the base feel better and it may allow the Government to save some money but if you needed the best measure of need then poverty and the decile system is it.  And pouring money into a system that can be easily gamed while ignoring the clear need that exists is a recipe for continued failure.

41 comments on “Hekia has gone rogue ”

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  1. Tiger Mountain 1
    5 October 2015 at 9:26 am

    a neighbour was at a NZEI conference in Rotorua recently and attendees all had strict instructions to behave themselves while the minister spoke and she coughed up the same line about deciles and education funding, the PM always seems to support old slapper features, so he probably well knows about Lady Gardiner’s latest wind up

  2. ianmac 2
    5 October 2015 at 9:34 am

    Formal teaching testing at Kindergarten level will no doubt be on the Parata/Key agenda to put funding/performance on the Agenda.

    Meanwhile in Finland:
    “When children play (in Finland Kindergarten), Osei Ntiamoah continued, they’re developing their language, math, and social-interaction skills. A recent research summary “The Power of Play” supports her findings: “In the short and long term, play benefits cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development…When play is fun and child-directed, children are motivated to engage in opportunities to learn,” the researcher concluded……..
    ….In fact, Finland requires its kindergarten teachers to offer playful learning opportunities—including both kinds of play—to every kindergartner on a regular basis, according to Arja-Sisko Holappa, a counselor for the Finnish National Board of Education……”
    http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/the-joyful-illiterate-kindergartners-of-finland/408325/

    • Puddleglum 2.1
      5 October 2015 at 11:33 am

      There’s a lot of very good research on the efficacy of play not just for children’s learning but for general performance, creativity, wellbeing, etc. of humans in general.

      The ‘problem’ for (free) play advocates, however, is that play is indeed ‘free’ and voluntarily chosen. This is a ‘problem’ not because it leads to chaos – far from it, it constructs (voluntary) order – but because not many social institutions (e.g., workplaces, schools, etc.) are willing for people to be that free – whatever their age.

      After all, institutions are set up to achieve particular purposes (e.g., make a profit in the short to medium term, provide a skilled workforce) so we wouldn’t want the uncontrolled freedom of people to interfere with the effective and efficient achievement of those goals.

      • ianmac 2.1.1
        5 October 2015 at 3:00 pm

        There is a school of thought which argues that all you have to do is set clear objectives and children will respond with vigour and success. Behaviourism. Of course it is not how most people learn. Most people need a context and see a need to learn stuff rather than have stuff foisted on them. And what is worse only the very simple ideas can be tested and scored. Complex ideas, beliefs and learnings are deeply personal and defy a tick box test.

        So Parata, testing kids to determine funding is superficial and nonsensical. What each learns is idiosyncratic, joyful and defies testing unless you thin the tests down to some simplistic pointless exercise.

    • savenz 2.2
      5 October 2015 at 4:38 pm

      +100 Ianmac

    • savenz 2.3
      5 October 2015 at 4:42 pm

      More disgusting news to make an already horrible day with the TPPA secret magic beans deal being potentially signed and now more attacks on our vulnerable kids by the another disgusting Nat, Hekia.

      Getting closer to the Natz ‘final solution’ for the poor and pretty much everyone apart from the cronies and 1% that own all the wealth.

    • JanM 2.4
      5 October 2015 at 4:51 pm

      And exactly what do you think happens here, ianmac? Have you ever read the NZ ece curriculum ‘Te Whariki’? It has been the envy of the world for years.
      Of course, it has been undermined to a degree with the enthusiastic take-up of daycares as cash cows, so there is a ‘charter school’ element in there. Nevertheless, the good centres, and Kindergarten Association kindergartens in particular, follow this curriculum with skill and understanding, on the whole.
      The curriculum for primary and secondary had been changed just prior to this government and to a significant extent it was based on ‘Te Whariki’, but it was almost totally undermined in short order by a failure to offer professional development so teachers knew what they were doing, and the introduction of the ghastly and counter-intuitive National Standards. After all, the Right do not want a genuinely well educated population (apart from accountants and HR wallahs) because, horrifyingly, they might be able to think for themselves 🙁

  3. Psycho Milt 3
    5 October 2015 at 9:40 am

    On Thursday, Parata did the U-turn of all U-turns and told a room packed full of teachers that student achievement would “absolutely” be a factor in a review of the school funding system.

    Coming from most people, this wouldn’t be a contentious statement, because (uh, duh-uh) the biggest factor in pupil achievement is socio-economic status of the pupil’s family, so targeting student achievement would have to mean targeting poverty, whether via decile-based funding or some other approach. Coming from a Nat cabinet minister though, it means the usual plan to steal from the poor and give to the rich.

    • Puddleglum 3.1
      5 October 2015 at 11:21 am

      Good point Psycho Milt.

      I imagine that the funding formula won’t be ‘If children aren’t achieving well, provide more funding and resources’, it will be ‘If children are achieving well, provide more funding and resources’.

      After all, you wouldn’t want to ‘incentivise failure’ would you?

      • Psycho Milt 3.1.1
        5 October 2015 at 4:17 pm

        That will be their argument – the current decile system “incentivises failure,” because look, we give the most money to schools whose kids are doing badly. The money should therefore be redirected from these “failing” schools to “successful” ones where the kids are doing well. It’s an argument that gets rehearsed in Kiwiblog comments threads every time DPF does a blog post on charter schools. I won’t be at all surprised to hear it coming from a Nat cabinet minister’s lips.

  4. lurgee 4
    5 October 2015 at 10:48 am

    Hurrah! More selection of students likely to maintain results! More weeding out of ‘problematic’ students and sending them downstream to preserve a school’s good results! More credit cram courses do maximise results! More meaningless standards to increase ‘achievement’! More teaching to the test! Less encouraging of exploration and risk taking and thinking and learning from mistakes! Less focus on the means and more focus on the ends! More regurgitation off pre-taught answers and uncritical identification of text book, rote learned facts! Less understanding! Less critical thinking! More paperwork! More assessment! More marking! More stress on teachers and students! More product, less people!

  5. Melb 5
    5 October 2015 at 11:01 am

    Mickey, your summary on the front page doesn’t match up with the original (non-opinion) article.

    “Hekia Parata has announced that student achievement and not need caused by poverty will be a central part of any future funding system.”

    vs

    “We’re very much at the beginning of this process so no decisions at all have been made as to which variables and in what way they’ll be used but will student achievement and learning be one of them? Absolutely.”

    Parata has announced that this would be one of the variables in a review. She hasn’t said it would be a central part of funding changes. It’s quite the misrepresentation from Jo Moir.

    And further on, where do you get “Cutting funding for the poorest schools” from? To assert that is further misrepresentation, when it is only at the beginning of a review. Funding on achievement could easily be a mechanism to provide greater assistance to schools that are struggling.

      • Melb 5.1.1
        5 October 2015 at 11:40 am

        A school union jumps the gun in order to criticise the Government. Shock, horror.

        “‘It is counter-productive to withdraw funding from the very schools that require more support because they have a higher rate of disadvantaged and challenged learners,’ she said.”

        Yet gives no details of what funding is being withdrawn. Because they’ve just fired off a press release of rhetoric before any actual details have been discussed.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 5.1.1.1
          5 October 2015 at 3:40 pm

          “discussed”

          How did you arrive at the delusion that there’ll be a discussion? It’s embarrassing.

    • Kelly-Ned 5.2
      6 October 2015 at 11:11 am

      Simple.
      Natz are following the American patterns largely.
      There they take from the poor/low achieving and give heaps to the wealthy schools thereby reinforcing the inequities.
      There is no reason to suspect that this won;t be the pattern followed here.

  6. red-blooded 6
    5 October 2015 at 12:16 pm

    Melb:
    1) The NZ Principals’ Federation is not a “school union”. It’s absolutely separate from the PPTA (Post Primary Teachers’ Association) and in fact competes and often disagrees with the Secondary Principals’ Association (which is part of the PPTA).
    2) Actually, school unions quite often agree with or promote issues which are educationally beneficial but which might be seen as competing with the vested interests of teachers and principals. The PPTA supports NCEA, for example, and this has hugely increased teachers’ workloads. The Principals’ Association has been commenting today and saying that we should rationalise our provision of schools, with more closures of small schools. This would help widen the curriculum and increase the depth of specialist teacher expertise for students who are currently at very small schools, while also cutting down on costs for things like maintenance and building redevelopment.

    And, by the way, if a group which represents specialists in the field is ‘firing off” a press release it’s because they know more than you or I what IS being discussed and they are making an effort to contribute to the conversation and forewarn people who may also want a way to contribute.

    “Results-based” funding is a self-reinforcing cycle. Decile-based funding is by no means perfect (it’s a pretty rough measure of community need), but it has been refined over the years and could continue to be refined.

    Parata may be the Minister, but she has no particular expertise in education and should not be allowed to go rogue.

    • Melb 6.1
      5 October 2015 at 2:14 pm

      “The New Zealand Principals’ Federation represents more than 2,300 principals from the education sector.

      The Federation, which was first established in 1982, provides support and a professional voice for members throughout New Zealand, also information and professional resources, legal support and advice as well as a number of publications and a helpline.

      Our fifteen strong executive, work hard on behalf of members in a number of areas.

      These include representation on reference groups pertaining to education as well as regular meetings with the Minister of Education, the Secretary for Education and the CEO of the Education Review Office and lobbying where appropriate.”

      It’s a union for school principals, or, a school union. Like the PPTA are a school union for secondary teachers and the NZEI are a school union for primary teachers and ECE staff.

      I used the phrase “fired off” because it’s clearly been written up and released without any concrete information about what a new funding system will entail, because those decisions are still a long way off. If they don’t have any info to back up the claims then it’s simple scaremongering.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 6.1.1
        5 October 2015 at 2:26 pm

        What blithering idiocy. If the fuckwit doesn’t want people to comment on her witless gobshite she shouldn’t run her mouth the way she does.

        As for your complete ignorance of the consequences of the vandalism she’s proposing, I note that few share it.

        • Melb 6.1.1.1
          5 October 2015 at 10:39 pm

          Well that was well-thought out and factual. I would really hope the school system has improved from the time you went through it.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 6.1.1.1.1
            5 October 2015 at 10:58 pm

            You’re the one with the comprehension fail.

            The negative consequences of National Party education policy have been evident in the UK and USA for years. You’re either pretending ignorance of that, which makes you a low-life, or you haven’t a clue, which makes you irrelevant.

            Either you’re blithering out of bad faith and malice (that’s my pick) or you can’t be bothered doing any fact checking. Either way your opinions are toxic.

      • Kelly-Ned 6.1.2
        6 October 2015 at 11:22 am

        NZPF is NOT a union. It is a voluntary association of primary school principals. It does not negotiate with employers.
        As for lacking detail about any possible funding based upon student achievement there are only two options – both proven failed overseas.
        You either punish low achievement (which is well proven to be connected with poverty/impoverished upbringing) by taking funding from them OR you take money from high achieving schools to use in the support of low achieving schools.
        The former further disadvantages the the under-achievers whilst the latter dis-incentivises (if that’s a word) higher achievement. Therefore neither can ever have a positive effect on overall student outcomes.

  7. Sabine 7
    5 October 2015 at 12:49 pm

    Well, the less the future unemployed know the better. Imagine they could read, write and do Math, they could not only complain in writing but do so eloquently and they could help Winz to get their benefits calculations right. That of course can’t be.

    But most importantly, 1 million people in NZ voted for it. So there. Its all good.

  8. greywarshark 8
    5 October 2015 at 1:42 pm

    Military academies are what we need. Shape up or take a 10 km run with a backpack filled with bricks. Some of the top men in the USA went to military academies from say age 9, some earlier.

    The use of education as a carrot and a necessary exercise to an adult life with a bit of work is a way to bind people to the tax sucking-coffers of the state, You have to have education – it’s good for you and for the country’s progress and development statistics. But you have to pay for it, even if not learning anything that will be useful for a job with a living wage and hours. You may have all the skills needed but because employment results from the whim and vagaries of business people who have the brains and instincts of a group of jackals, you may always remain a bonded person to the state. You will struggle with an unpaid debt for education which has not been of value to you and for which there is no positive cost:benefit ratio. But that’s Alice in Wonderland life for you. Suck it up.

    http://societyandspace.com/reviews/reviews-archive/dienst-richard-2011-the-bonds-of-debt/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_bondage

    I seem to remember CNNs previous owner Ted Turner had a father with rigid rules for punishment, and when he failed his own standards he asked his son to give him a few strokes with a blunt instrument. It’s that strict, no-nonsense approach that is needed to turn out obedient keen men and women as portrayed in the post ww2 book The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson about the people who were the ground troops for a post-war conformist, even fascist state.

    The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) – Wikipedia
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_Gray_Flannel_Suit
    The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, by Sloan Wilson, is a 1955 novel about the American search for purpose in a world dominated by business. Tom and Betsy …
    Gregory Peck tells about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfrqYr58st0

    Tom Rath and his post-war corporate peers are more than just “suits;” they are
    the types described in William Whyte’s Organization Men,
    Organization Men, by definition, are not the workers, nor are they the white-collar people in the usual, clerk sense of the word. These people work only for The Organization. The ones I am talking about belong to it as well. They are the ones of our middle class who have left home, spiritually as well as physically, to take the vows of organization life, and it is they who are the mind and soul of our great self- perpetuating institutions.

    They are in effect the mechanism of the corporation, and spend their careers trying to
    move up the elevator into a corner office with a nice view of the city. Although Tom
    chafes against the organizations that he works for, finding himself dissatisfied as a cog
    within the clockwork of the corporation, he struggles to break free. His career may not
    be ideal, but since he was a young man, he had not been given the choice to seek another profession. Immediately after the war, his grandmother pushed him into working for upward mobility would bring him to the United Broadcasting Corporation.

    When interviewed for his job at the United Broadcasting, Tom cynically ruminates about applying for another position as an Organization Man:

    The most significant fact about me is that I detest the United Broadcasting
    Corporation, with all its soap operas, commercials, and yammering
    studio audiences, and the only reason I’m willing to spend my life in such
    a ridiculous enterprise is that I want to buy a more expensive house with
    a better brand of gin.
    http://www.lvc.edu/vhr/2013/articles/kelley%20final.pdf

    • Crashcart 8.2
      5 October 2015 at 3:29 pm

      I kind of hope you are a little tounge in cheek regarding the military schools. Don’t get me wrong. Military based schools are excellent for people who are able to work in that culture. I am in the military. However there are people who definately don’t fit in to a military context and when you try and force them into that sort of regimented system it does not turn out well.

      • greywarshark 8.2.1
        5 October 2015 at 9:17 pm

        That’s a very restrained answer from you Crashcart considering your experience.
        I believe that a military school should be for after a teenager has had a general education with a wide and rich education. I don’t believe children should be sent to boarding schools at an early age unless there is no alternative.

        So it is just not military schools that bother me, it is the lack of a wide and deep education. I think our present one is not all that good. The emphasis on obedience and military strategy and using threat or cunning to solve problems might be given precedence at military schools instead of that wide education. I also like philosphy, and problem solving as a way of encouraging thinking and brainwork, not learning to tick boxes as in National Standards. Education needs to be more than learning how to gain ascendancy. Better is how to use argument, discussion, listening and countering and understanding and trying for agreement all with the aim of not having armed confrontation.

        In law there were trained mediators being used a few years ago, but they can’t be used as much as should be because I never hear about them now.
        edited

  9. Draco T Bastard 9
    5 October 2015 at 1:48 pm

    It’s not just Parata that has gone rogue but National because we know that she would not have made such a blunt statement if she didn’t have the full support of the cabinet. They’re acting fully against the evidence solely to boost profit for their donors. That profit will come at the expense of all other taxpayers.

  10. repateet 10
    5 October 2015 at 3:40 pm

    Hekia Parata has not ‘gone rogue’ in a sense of suddenly having done something out-of-left field stupid or outrageous. She has continued on her steady and consistent path.

    When a MInister of Education decides that funding of schools is to be based on outcomes (using the reports from the PPTA conference as real), she proves her ideological approach overrides any intelligence and common sense.

    Quite simply Hekia Parata is a cretin, intellectually bereft and visits treason upon our children, present and future.

  11. feijoa 11
    5 October 2015 at 4:42 pm

    It’s all part of the plan to have a robotic unquestioning population ready to work for the 1%

  12. AmaKiwi 12
    5 October 2015 at 6:35 pm

    What organization or company would be stupid enough to put someone in charge of a department they have ZERO expertise in?

    Yet that is a fundamental principle of our system of government.

    Julie Anne Genter knows more about transportation than all the other MPs put together, but she sits on the sidelines while the morons screw things up.

    Ministers of education who have no university degree (Ann Tolly).
    Health ministers with no medical experience (not Coleman, but others).
    An obese Defence Minister while Ron Marks (SAS, retired) sits on the sidelines.
    An attorney general who has no law degree (Margaret Wilson).

    Our system is self destructing. Changing parties will NOT solve the problems. We need a 21st century form of government based on expertise, not ideology.

  13. Macro 13
    5 October 2015 at 7:38 pm

    Born in Gisborne, Wilson received her secondary education at St Dominic’s College, Northcote. She graduated LLB (honours) from the University of Auckland. She has worked as a lawyer, a Professor of Law and Dean at the University of Waikato,

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Wilson
    you might like to retract some of your previous comment.

  14. millsy 14
    5 October 2015 at 10:59 pm

    Parata and the government clearly have an agenda to incease private provision of education and education services. Even to the point of outsourcing the classic kiwi school caretaker.

    It helps of course, that the fact that she is the first Maori woman education minister is repeatedly used as a stick to beat her opponents, and National is getting very effective at it.

  15. millsy 15
    5 October 2015 at 11:01 pm

    And funding schools according to academic acheivement is pretty much asking for trouble. Especially in a deregulated schools environment like ours.

    You’ll have kids being shifted sideways to make the figures look good.

  16. humPrac 16
    6 October 2015 at 12:05 am

    Am I the only one who noticed her wearing a Star Trek uniform. Where is she going? Mars?

  18. ropata 18
    6 October 2015 at 6:15 am

    neglected schools are a sign of a society with no future.
    thank-you to all the teachers who have stood strong against tolley and parata’s attacks.
    kia kaha.

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    How to Retrieve Deleted Call Log on iPhone Without a Computer: A Step–by–Step Guide Losing your iPhone call history can be frustrating, especially when you need to find a specific number or recall an important conversation. But before you panic, know that there are ways to retrieve deleted call logs on your iPhone, even without a computer. This guide will explore various methods, ranging from simple checks to utilizing iCloud backups and third–party applications. So, let‘s dive in and recover those lost calls! 1. Check Recently Deleted Folder: Apple understands that accidental deletions happen. That‘s why they introduced the “Recently Deleted“ folder for various apps, including the Phone app. This folder acts as a safety net, storing deleted call logs for up to 30 days before permanently erasing them. Here‘s how to check it: Open the Phone app on your iPhone. Tap on the “Recents“ tab at the bottom. Scroll to the top and tap on “Edit“. Select “Show Recently Deleted“. Browse the list to find the call logs you want to recover. Tap on the desired call log and choose “Recover“ to restore it to your call history. 2. Restore from iCloud Backup: If you regularly back up your iPhone to iCloud, you might be able to retrieve your deleted call log from a previous backup. However, keep in mind that this process will restore your entire phone to the state it was in at the time of the backup, potentially erasing any data added since then. Here‘s how to restore from an iCloud backup: Go to Settings > General > Reset. Choose “Erase All Content and Settings“. Follow the on–screen instructions. Your iPhone will restart and show the initial setup screen. Choose “Restore from iCloud Backup“ during the setup process. Select the relevant backup that contains your deleted call log. Wait for the restoration process to complete. 3. Explore Third–Party Apps (with Caution): ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    17 hours ago

  • How to Factory Reset iPhone without Computer: A Comprehensive Guide to Restoring your Device
    Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • How to Call Someone on a Computer: A Guide to Voice and Video Communication in the Digital Age
    Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #16 2024
    Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications: Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 day ago

  • Where on a Computer is the Operating System Generally Stored? Delving into the Digital Home of your ...
    The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • How Many Watts Does a Laptop Use? Understanding Power Consumption and Efficiency
    Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • How to Screen Record on a Dell Laptop A Guide to Capturing Your Screen with Ease
    Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • How Much Does it Cost to Fix a Laptop Screen? Navigating Repair Options and Costs
    A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • How Long Do Gaming Laptops Last? Demystifying Lifespan and Maximizing Longevity
    Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Climate Change: Turning the tide
    The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago

  • How to Unlock Your Computer A Comprehensive Guide to Regaining Access
    Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Faxing from Your Computer A Modern Guide to Sending Documents Digitally
    While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Protecting Your Home Computer A Guide to Cyber Awareness
    In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Server-Based Computing Powering the Modern Digital Landscape
    In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Vroom vroom go the big red trucks
    The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • Jones finds $410,000 to help the government muscle in on a spat project
    Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago

  • Again, hate crimes are not necessarily terrorism.
    Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    1 day ago

  • Despair – construction consenting edition
    Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • Coalition promises – will the Govt keep the commitment to keep Kiwis equal before the law?
    Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • An impermanent public service is a guarantee of very little else but failure
    Chris Trotter writes –  The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • What happens after the war – Mariupol
    Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
    Open ParachuteBy Ken
    1 day ago

  • Babies and benefits – no good news
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three.  ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • Should the RBNZ be looking through climate inflation?
    Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago

  • Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links
    The top six news links I’ve seen elsewhere in the last 24 hours, as of 9:16 am on Thursday, April 18 are:Housing: Tauranga residents living in boats, vans RNZ Checkpoint Louise TernouthHousing: Waikato councillor says wastewater plant issues could hold up Sleepyhead building a massive company town Waikato Times Stephen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the public sector carnage, and misogyny as terrorism
    It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    2 days ago

  • Meeting the Master Baiters
    Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago

  • How extreme was the Earth's temperature in 2023
    This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blog In 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Backbone, revisited
    The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Ministers are not above the law
    Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • What’s the outfit you can hear going down the gurgler? Probably it’s David Parker’s Oceans Sec...
    Buzz from the Beehive Point  of Order first heard of the Oceans Secretariat in June 2021, when David Parker (remember him?) announced a multi-agency approach to protecting New Zealand’s marine ecosystems and fisheries. Parker (holding the Environment, and Oceans and Fisheries portfolios) broke the news at the annual Forest & ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Bryce Edwards writes  – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Matt Doocey doubles down on trans “healthcare”
    Citizen Science writes –  Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • A TikTok Prime Minister.
    One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Texas Lessons
    This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    3 days ago

  • Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links at 6:06 am
    The top six news links I’ve seen elsewhere in the last 24 hours as of 6:06 am on Wednesday, April 17 are:Must read: Secrecy shrouds which projects might be fast-tracked RNZ Farah HancockScoop: Revealed: Luxon has seven staffers working on social media content - partly paid for by taxpayer Newshub ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Fighting poverty on the holiday highway
    Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago

  • Bernard's six-stack of substacks at 6:26 pm
    Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • At a glance – Is the science settled?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • Apposite Quotations.
    How Long Is Long Enough? Gaza under Israeli bombardment, July 2014. This posting is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
    Bowalley Road
    3 days ago

  • What’s a life worth now?
    You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Howling at the Moon
    Karl du Fresne writes –  There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Newshub is Dead.
    I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Seymour is chuffed about cutting early-learning red tape – but we hear, too, that Jones has loose...
    Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • Was Hawkesby entirely wrong?
    David Farrar  writes –  The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • PRC shadow looms as the Solomons head for election
    PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time. A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: Criminal ecocide
    We are in the middle of a climate crisis. Last year was (again) the hottest year on record. NOAA has just announced another global coral bleaching event. Floods are threatening UK food security. So naturally, Shane Jones wants to make it easier to mine coal: Resources Minister Shane Jones ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Is saving one minute of a politician's time worth nearly $1 billion?
    Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Long Tunnel or Long Con?
    Yesterday it was revealed that Transport Minister had asked Waka Kotahi to look at the options for a long tunnel through Wellington. State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    4 days ago

  • Smoke And Mirrors.
    You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • What is Mexico doing about climate change?
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • State of humanity, 2024
    2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Govt’s Wellington tunnel vision aims to ease the way to the airport (but zealous promoters of cycl...
    Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • The case for cultural connectedness
    A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Useful context on public sector job cuts
    David Farrar writes –    The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated.   While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell On When Racism Comes Disguised As Anti-racism
    Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    4 days ago

  • Govt ignored economic analysis of smokefree reversal
    Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • True Blue.
    True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Who is running New Zealand’s foreign policy?
    While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #15
    A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 7, 2024 thru Sat, April 13, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week is about adults in the room setting terms and conditions of ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • $41m to support clean energy in South East Asia
    New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago

  • Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder list
    The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago

  • Judicial appointments announced
    Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago

  • Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in Singapore
    Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa.  The summit is co-hosted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago

  • Value of stopbank project proven during cyclone
    A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago

  • Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visit
    Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul.    “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago

  • Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac Day
    Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago

  • Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.  The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago

  • Government commits $20m to Westport flood protection
    The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Taupō takes pole position
    The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Cost of living support for low-income homeowners
    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners.  “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government backing mussel spat project
    The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government focused on getting people into work
    Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Clean energy key driver to reducing emissions
    The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
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