Boots Theory: Creepy behaviour from David Farrar

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, September 27th, 2014 - 78 comments
Categories: David Farrar, tertiary education, welfare - Tags: , , , , , , ,

This post by Stephanie Rodgers originally appeared at Boots Theory. You can follow Stephanie on Twitter.

It wasn’t at all surprising to me that David Farrar is scathing of students who have to seek hardship grants to pay their bills, categorising them as bludgers who “say yes to free cash“. Nor that he believes that every journalist who reports on the cost of living should demand “a detailed break down of income and expenditure, so readers can judge for themselves the situation”.

(David Farrar isn’t a journalist, so he’s not bound by such ethical considerations – or he might have considered linking to the actual UCOL policy on hardship grants which makes it clear it is definitely not just “free cash”.)

It’s a typical rightwing attitude which reinforces the idea that lesser people – beneficiaries, students, parents – just aren’t allowed to have nice things. It assumes that survival is good enough – not being able to live a life with some dignity, nor understanding that human beings aren’t just automatons who you input fuel into to extract productivity.

What’s disturbing is this bit, where after completely misrepresenting an interviewees’ statements (she commented that she was speaking generally, not of her own situation; Farrar reforms this into wholesale journalistic inaccuracy):

I’ve had a look through the Facebook pages of Lauren and Karn. They both seem very cool friendly people, and in no way are they political activists for a cause. They seem very typical students. I would note however that contrary to the perception in the article of starving students (and I am not blaming them, but the story) they seem to have pretty good social lives judging by the photos, and references to Big Day Out etc.

We’ve seen this before, of course, with Paula Bennett unashamedly releasing the personal details of beneficiaries who criticised her ill-judged, mean-spirited decision to cut the Training Incentive Allowance. And there have been many similar cases of people having sick leave cut because they looked happy in a couple of Facebook photos.

It’s a really nasty intimidation tactic – silencing people by threatening to embarrass them publicly, undermining their experiences by attacking their credibility. If you’re not dressed like a Dickensian urchin covered in chimney-dust, the argument goes, you can’t really be struggling to pay bills week-to-week.

David Farrar is saying no more and no less than this: if you do have political leanings, your argument would be invalid (he pretends to be generous in pointing out that they don’t); if you do have a social life, you must be lying when you say some students are trying to get by with $2 a day to spend on food sometimes. And don’t even think about attending the Big Day Out in February if you might be short of cash in September or you deserve to go hungry, you horrid, reprehensible bludgers.

It’s par for the course for our government and its bloggers, and it needs to be named for what it is: unacceptable bullying.

Edited to add: a few responses on Twitter which highlight that this is repeated behaviour from Farrar, and why it’s irresponsible for him to expose young women to the lecherous creepiness of his commentariat (which he keeps promising to clean up).

78 comments on “Boots Theory: Creepy behaviour from David Farrar ”

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  1. Tom Gould 1
    27 September 2014 at 10:19 am

    How long will it take for this latest Tory dog whistle to appear in the Herald and on Newstalk ZB? When it comes to the media, the owners tend to get what they pay for.

    • Mark 1.1
      27 September 2014 at 11:01 am

      Have to say I am have been stunned that the ZB network continues to use Cameron Slater as a commentator on politics. Slater has come out of the Dirty politics saga without a shred of credibility.

  2. Yoyo 2
    27 September 2014 at 10:22 am

    Does anyone have any idea what this post is about? Hard to understand the comparison with Paula B. I just don’t get it.

    • Bill 2.1
      27 September 2014 at 10:38 am

      Smearing and/or embarrassing people to shut down debate on the issues they have raised. That was just from a cursory read. Christ! If you’re being genuine, I really despair on peoples’ ability to comprehend anything in print beyond ‘Dick played with Nip’.

      • adam 2.1.1
        27 September 2014 at 8:44 pm

        It’s because the written word is dying as a means of communication Bill. It is this massive decline in our ability to communicate issues and ideas, is just one of many ways, which has enabled the corporatocracy to walk into power. And also why people like Farrar can write any nasty piece they like. Who is going to pull him up – really who?

        I mean if I saw him I’d kick him in the nuts and break my non-violence vowel – No I won’t as he really is not worth breaking that vowel, but I’d be tempted. Why? This man has put so many women lives in danger, he needs to live with the fear some man or some women, will kick him in the nuts. A little pain ,may make him human again – but some how, I doubt that.

        • Bill 2.1.1.1
          27 September 2014 at 11:40 pm

          Remember the days when people used to talk? Maybe even attend meetings comprised of people who had gathered for the sake of some common cause?

          Remember how ground shifted between you and another when there was the ability to engage in actual conversation before this stilted interweb bollox?

        • Elizabeth FOY 2.1.1.2
          28 September 2014 at 10:58 pm

          The written word may be dying – it just gets harder to take people seriously when they have a silent (or is it non-violence) A-E-I-O-U …. not that I have even been credited with great spelling – but I’ve also not taken a vow to be non-violent (its just I have been raised in a time when manners were more important than vowels)…LOL

  3. Disraeli Gladstone 3
    27 September 2014 at 10:32 am

    It was creepy behaviour from Farrar. But to compare it with what Paula Bennett did really does a disservice to how unbelievably unethical Bennett acted when releasing private information for her own gain.

  4. quartz 4
    27 September 2014 at 10:37 am

    Farrar’s still up to his neck in dirty politics. Someone says something that contradicts his paymasters? He trawls through their facebook (or the research unit does) and uses it to have a crack at them.

    The lesson he is trying to teach people is don’t even tangentially criticise his masters or your personal/social life is fair game. As is the reputation of any journalist who carries a story his masters don’t like.

    The irony is when someone points out his dodgy behaviour he starts to cry about he’s the victim.

    He’d do well to remember that those who live by the sword die by the sword.

    • ghostwhowalksnz 4.1
      27 September 2014 at 11:04 am

      Farrar and the research unit are one and the same. Thats where he started for national, before he moved to parliament to work alongside Eade.
      Still connected to their ‘opposition research unit’ as this sort of story shows.

      Someone should dig out the council floorplans of his building where he works and look at the names on the wall in the lift lobby. Could there be a office area with no listed tenant but a ‘hive of activity’

  5. waikatosinger 5
    27 September 2014 at 11:02 am

    This is a bit over the top. You pick a minor nit with one of Farrar’s articles and work yourself into a frothing fit over it. Farrar actually seems like the sweet voice of reason by comparison.

    [lprent: You mean like Farrar does? Perhaps you should talk to him… ]

    • ghostwhowalksnz 5.1
      27 September 2014 at 11:27 am

      “…responses on Twitter which highlight that this is repeated behaviour from Farrar,”

      You can retract now or have you another ‘minor nit’ to raise ?

  6. ghostwhowalksnz 6
    27 September 2014 at 11:09 am

    As the ‘Princess party’ part of Hagers book showed, we know why Farrar is interested in poor struggling female students.

    The vile Jimmy Savile at least raised millions for charity for further his own leacherous ends.

    • Higherstandard 6.1
      27 September 2014 at 11:39 am

      Pretty vile smear.

      • ghostwhowalksnz 6.1.1
        27 September 2014 at 4:29 pm

        “..well i was going to say i have cleared the field for you, given you the most likely targets and will get them drunk for you”

        So they were considered ‘targets’, I dont think he was thinking of getting them enrolled to vote’

    • TheContrarian 6.2
      27 September 2014 at 6:51 pm

      Wow, putting Farrar up there with one of worlds most notorious sex offenders and pedophiles.

      You fucking awful derelict.

      • adam 6.2.1
        27 September 2014 at 8:51 pm

        So you’re OK with sex offenders TheContrarian? It’s OK to publish details of young women on line, or have parties and get them drunk, to do sex with them?

        And your calling ghostwhowalksnz the derelict – that’s a bit rich don’t you think – or are you just another one of those RWNJ women haters?

        • TheContrarian 6.2.1.1
          27 September 2014 at 9:25 pm

          “So you’re OK with sex offenders TheContrarian? It’s OK to publish details of young women on line, or have parties and get them drunk, to do sex with them? ”

          Not one fucking part of that statement is true. You’re calling Farrar a sex offender. That is a very serious claim and not something one just lays down lightly. When Farrar is charged with a sex offence then we’ll go down that route.

          And “to do sex with them?” What are you, 10 fucking years old?

          • adam 6.2.1.1.1
            29 September 2014 at 2:39 pm

            Yeap thought you were a women hater, thanks TheContrarian – just wanted to make sure.

            I didn’t call Farrar anything, I asked if you supported it – and by your response it appears so.

        • Psycho Milt 6.2.1.2
          27 September 2014 at 9:44 pm

          Dunno about you Adam, but when I were a lad we absolutely did think it was OK to have parties at which young women would (we hoped) get drunk enough to do sex with us. We were often disappointed at just how astonishingly drunk a young woman could get without finding herself wanting to do sex with us, but hope springs eternal in the human breast…

          • Murray Olsen 6.2.1.2.1
            28 September 2014 at 3:15 am

            Which governing party were you running these parties on behalf of, PM? We all did shit when we were young, except probably for Farrar and his mates, but we learned. When we grew up and participated in adult organisations, we did not carry on that behaviour.

          • adam 6.2.1.2.2
            29 September 2014 at 2:43 pm

            You really could not get laid without booze Psycho Milt? Wow, sorry for you – that is just sad. And, one of the lamest stories I’ve ever heard. I hope you grew up and became a real man.

  7. aerobubble 7
    27 September 2014 at 11:45 am

    the right is not just hooten, boag, farrer, slater, these commentors all are neo-liberals, they have the same values. And thats the problem. The right only lets one view of conservatism, revolutionary conservatism.

    The editors actively choose these people and deny the right the same disunity we see in the left. Its nothing less than state sanction censorship.

    • Sacha 7.1
      27 September 2014 at 6:20 pm

      Genuine conservatives don’t get a look-in. Must feel uncomfortable about at least some of the stuff we have heard about dirty politics. Where are their values at?

      • adam 7.1.1
        27 September 2014 at 8:52 pm

        I’m also pretty sure, most of the libertarians on the right – are feeling stab in the back right about now.

        • aerobubble 7.1.1.1
          29 September 2014 at 2:30 pm

          Weed party gets more votes than United future. Its a complete joke to have Dunne as a minister in every government, no matter what hue.

  8. Psycho Milt 8
    27 September 2014 at 11:57 am

    We’ve seen this before, of course, with Paula Bennett unashamedly releasing the personal details of beneficiaries who criticised her ill-judged, mean-spirited decision to cut the Training Incentive Allowance.

    And that certainly was pretty appalling. However, looking somebody up on Facebook is not “releasing personal details,” it’s “looking somebody up on Facebook.”

  9. infused 9
    27 September 2014 at 12:59 pm

    Well, I don’t buy that shit about being a student either. I was one from 2000-2003. I was denied the free allowance, whatever that was called, so could only pull $150 a week, which i had to pay back.

    I got a part time job at burger king, which paid fuck all.

    I lived in a flat with 5 other people. Was pretty grubby. There were some very poor weeks, but that was mostly due to me buying piss.

    Not once did I ever visit winz though. I don’t understand what’s so hard.

    It’s good going through a tough time like this imo, gives a lot of perspective later on in life.

    • Tom Gould 9.1
      27 September 2014 at 1:15 pm

      Ah, so poverty is character building? Interesting. What does extreme wealth do to the character, then?

      • Richies McClaw 9.1.1
        27 September 2014 at 1:51 pm

        Extreme wealth is the result of good character. People who are extremely wealthy are always nice people who worked hard to get where they are. There is not one single example of an extremely wealthy person having bad character.

        • SPC 9.1.1.1
          27 September 2014 at 3:56 pm

          I suppose you have little knowledge of the eugenics movement in the USA and its relationship to US support for the German regime in the 1930’s.

        • KJT 9.1.1.2
          28 September 2014 at 9:09 am

          “Wealthy people are all extremely hard working, entrepreneurs who got their wealth through effort and sacrifice”.

          That’s why you see so many on the Golf course. Very hard work, Golf!

          “Wealthy people are job creators who make new businesses and create employment”.

          In fact research has shown that less than 3% of the wealthy in the USA gained their wealth through entrepreneurship and even less invest in new businesses and job creating industries.
          Preferring instead to invest in existing assets, especially tax payer started ones, or join each other in bidding up the prices of financial instruments.

          Most inherited their wealth.

          Which is why capitalism needs redistribution, socialism, to work.

      • mac1 9.1.2
        27 September 2014 at 1:58 pm

        And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew Ch19.

        • Richies McClaw 9.1.2.1
          27 September 2014 at 2:08 pm

          Why are you citing a totalitarian communist?

          • mac1 9.1.2.1.1
            27 September 2014 at 3:03 pm

            Ah, the Left have all the good lines………………… and the good songs.

            • Richies McClaw 9.1.2.1.1.1
              27 September 2014 at 4:20 pm

              To be fair, the right have Ted Nugent….

              • lprent …
                27 September 2014 at 4:54 pm

                Braindead Headbanger (the two things are definitely interconnected).

                He did crap dumb music when I was young and it doesn’t seem like his limited intellectual abilities survived the experience.

                • Psycho Milt …
                  27 September 2014 at 9:48 pm

                  I recall an interview with Steve Jones in which he banged out a few fave Sex Pistols riffs and disclaimed any particular talent, saying that without the others it just sounded like fucking Ted Nugent. A wise oik, is Steve.

    • SPC 9.2
      27 September 2014 at 2:30 pm

      When you say you worked 2000-2003 and were paid little, you were right. The current government learnt how to be cheap with MW increases from the 1990-1999 government.

    • David H 9.3
      28 September 2014 at 1:21 am

      IN 2000-2003 the $150.00 was the living allowance. Your fees were paid and they gave you the living allowance and yes you have to pay it back. But in 2k3 jobs esp part time were easy to get,

      And if you went to WINZ they would laugh at you, or have you arrested for attempted benefit fraud. Because you were on a living allowance.

      And the so called free money, wasn’t free, you paid for it in your compulsory student fees!

      http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/statistical-report/statistical-report-2008/students/student-loans.html

      I know this is 2k8 but still pretty much unchanged from 2k3

      I did the Student thing in Dunedin best time ever

  10. Treetop 10
    27 September 2014 at 1:21 pm

    I’d like to know if Farrar thinks that a birthday gift of money or a stocking filler sould be used to buy food?

  11. Delia 11
    27 September 2014 at 2:22 pm

    How about we just ignore him and his bunch of merry followers and hopefully he will just go away.

  12. Del Griffith 12
    27 September 2014 at 2:47 pm

    Looking up someone on Facebook who decides to put themselves in the public eye is not creepy, particularly given that one of the women openly admitted on Facebook that the press blew the article all out of proportion a fact the author of this post chose to leave out.

    Some of you might do well do reflect on the election result and the mood of the nation at the moment. It appears that the “beneficiaries can do no wrong ” meme you are pushing is out of step and if someone expects the rest of us to give them a helping hand they should respect that there are limits to what they can expect of us.

    • Stephanie Rodgers 12.1
      27 September 2014 at 2:49 pm

      Students aren’t even beneficiaries, so … go away, astroturfer.

      • Del Griffith 12.1.1
        27 September 2014 at 3:31 pm

        I don’t know what an astroturfer is but if you want to avoid my points and argue semantics instead I think you learned nothing from last weekend.

        • Sacha 12.1.1.1
          27 September 2014 at 8:12 pm

          gosh, you’re awfully persistent

        • Psycho Milt 12.1.1.2
          27 September 2014 at 9:53 pm

          I don’t know what an astroturfer is…

          So, if I understand this correctly, ignorance is a point of pride with you, but you nevertheless hope to write persuasive comments on people’s blogs? That would require not merely ignorance, but stupidity, which is why the post author is doing you the courtesy of assuming you’re an astroturfer.

    • Tigger 12.2
      27 September 2014 at 2:57 pm

      Our nation’s mood has been twisted by creeps like Farrar so it’s not a reliable gauge.

      And Farrar is not an investigative journalist. He is a hired National Party apologist. So yep, it’s creepy.

      • Del Griffith 12.2.1
        27 September 2014 at 3:37 pm

        “Our nation’s mood has been twisted by creeps like Farrar so it’s not a reliable gauge.

        And Farrar is not an investigative journalist. He is a hired National Party apologist. So yep, it’s creepy”

        its a stretch to say the entire nation has been hoodwinked by the likes of Slater and Farrer, why hasn’t it been twisted by the likes of Bradbury and Mickey Savage? You would scoff at that kind of heavy handed remark if the election had gone the other way and someone claimed the countries collective mind had been twisted by [insert name of respected left wing blogger here] and I’m doing the same to you.
        Its odd that the left have been left behind to such a degree by social media when they are usually the first to embrace new ideas.

        Who said he was an investigative journalist? All he had to do was google the names and thats all he appears to have done.

        • SPC 12.2.1.1
          27 September 2014 at 3:42 pm

          You cannot have it both ways, say that there is a left wing as well as right wing presence in the social media and then that the left is being left behind by the right in this medium.

        • lprent 12.2.1.2
          27 September 2014 at 3:52 pm

          Social media is a two edged sword. You have to respect it or you get #dirtypolitics. We don’t do it so we don’t get a book written about us in the way that Slater / Farrar / Odgen / Hooton / Ed / Collins / Key / Williams etc have

          • Psycho Milt 12.2.1.2.1
            27 September 2014 at 10:00 pm

            We don’t do it so we don’t get a book written about us in the way that Slater / Farrar / Odgen / Hooton / Ed / Collins / Key / Williams etc have

            The currently-favoured right-wing view (depressingly iterated on my own blog) is that this merely demonstrates that no-one has hacked into your messaging accounts (yet), and were someone to do so, the vicious conspiracies thereby uncovered would make Slater et al look… well, that’s the funny thing – it would apparently make them look no worse than the vile smear campaigners of The Standard (a “nest of vipers” being a direct quote), which is an odd recommendation for a Slater enthusiast to make if you ask me.

            • lprent 12.2.1.2.1.1
              27 September 2014 at 11:21 pm

              Ha! We don’t do that kind of stuff. Definitely not the paid attacks on civilians. There is a bit of authors attacking their internal dislikes in the left parties. But it is outweighed by having a diversity of opinion as you can see now.

              This is a collective made up of everything from myself (and politically I am right of most of the party and MPs) to Mike Smith (who is a the classic beltway insider) to more radical greens and lefties (both old school and internet generations, party and non party (hi Karol)) with an anarchist on the side (hi Bill).

              Any attempt to coerce or manipulate them is liable to give cause a tearing of anyones body parts. I certainly don’t try it. We cooperate. We don’t have to like each others ideas.

              Over the last year, we have managed to get Labour to release stuff to us about the same time that they do to the journos most of the time. The Greens are more consistent at present via email. Good thing too as we seem to have lost their RSS feed again. All of them are still getting chastised by me periodically about not having the links to to the deeper information that we can inform opinion from. Press releases have about as much information in them as reading a dry turd.

              I’m testing mechanisms to disperse that internally to authors.

              That is about it. The rest of it tends to be from twitter, facebook, blogs, and other media. We argue our own impressions.

              Pretty much the same at the daily blog apart from Bombers line into the the IMP.

          • politikiwi 12.2.1.2.2
            27 September 2014 at 11:18 pm

            “We don’t do it so we don’t get a book written about us in the way that Slater / Farrar / Odgen / Hooton / Ed / Collins / Key / Williams etc have”

            I hope that’s not the only reason…!

        • Disraeli Gladstone 12.2.1.3
          27 September 2014 at 4:03 pm

          “its a stretch to say the entire nation has been hoodwinked by the likes of Slater and Farrer, why hasn’t it been twisted by the likes of Bradbury and Mickey Savage?”

          Because Bradbury is an idiot and couldn’t hoodwink a paper bag, quite frankly.

          • ghostwhowalksnz 12.2.1.3.1
            27 September 2014 at 6:13 pm

            Too dangerous to appear on The Panel ?

            But of course Princess Farrar gets invited to all the best parties

        • Huginn 12.2.1.4
          27 September 2014 at 4:03 pm

          The difference between Slater and Mickley Savage & Bradbury?

          Judith Collins Slater & Odgers Mark Hotchin ; The Russian Mafia; money laundering for organised crime

          Now stop being so naive

      • ghostwhowalksnz 12.2.2
        27 September 2014 at 4:23 pm

        yeah a 47 year old unmarried man trolls through facebook pages of young female students.

        Nothing to see here people !

  13. Lucy 13
    27 September 2014 at 3:57 pm

    I would have thought that the fact that he thinks its OK to go through someone’s facebook page while not their friend gives an indication of what type of mind set he has. Its nasty and stalky and definitely not journalism – equivalent to going through peoples rubbish bins in a previous time.
    When I was on my tech student association people could ask for help and each case was determined on need. Some gave money back when they were in a position to do so.
    Anyway student associations are not compulsory (thanks to this Government) so if you are a student who does not agree with hardship grants just don’t to join. But shut up when people who are more compassionate than you help!

    • ghostwhowalksnz 13.1
      27 September 2014 at 6:05 pm

      Farrar runs the Stasi operation for national- indexes of all the enemies no matter how insignificant.

      Filed, indexed, and stored in a database.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 13.1.1
        27 September 2014 at 6:08 pm

        Imagine the fun when all his bases are belong to us.

        • ghostwhowalksnz 13.1.1.1
          27 September 2014 at 6:17 pm

          A good location for rawshark to run his password cracker.

          After all its all in plain sight as Slater said. ( in reality he had to spend money to get computer gurus to read ‘the data’ as it was in backup format)

          • infused 13.1.1.1.1
            27 September 2014 at 6:57 pm

            No it wasn’t. It was sql data in zip format. Don’t need to pay anyone to read that.

            • ghostwhowalksnz 13.1.1.1.1.1
              28 September 2014 at 12:55 pm

              How do you know that. Plus Slater doesnt have software and in depth data skills to reverse engineer that.
              eg zip is easy only if it says .zip and sql data in its raw format could be anything ( and sometimes version number or ‘flavour’ counts)

              Rawshark files have Oily Orca discussing payment for work on labours data

  14. Murray Olsen 14
    28 September 2014 at 3:03 am

    From Kiwibog: “I’ve had a look through the Facebook pages of Lauren and Karn. They both seem very cool friendly people, and in no way are they political activists for a cause.”

    An excellent reason to keep your Facebook account private. I wouldn’t want Jimmy Saville looking at photos of my kids, not even someone who just thinks it’s funny to pretend to be him.

  15. Eliza 15
    29 September 2014 at 10:32 am

    He is a bit of a leech, I’m friends with a young Nat on Facebook, she’s 21 years old and very youthful looking. The other day she posted “Wind = 1. “Name retracted’s” skirt = 0. He replied almost straight away saying “God bless the wind :)”

  16. Dramaticus 16
    30 September 2014 at 1:39 pm

    David Farrar is a right wing opinionated twerp who is so far into John Key that he can even replace Keys mouth on national television, quite amazing to see that occur
    No matter what his credentials he is just another of these pseudos who has never had his mouth shut when a bit of fear in his direction may help ensure that that could happen
    He speaks with all the gaul of someone who has never really done anything to help his fellow man A classic waste of space
    Its time to go back to a real job if I can find one or maybe I could encourage Farrar to do the same

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    Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    19 hours ago

  • New HOP readers for future payment options
    Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    20 hours ago

  • 2024 Reading Summary: April (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 day ago

  • At a glance – Clearing up misconceptions regarding 'hide the decline'
    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
    1 day ago

  • Road photos
    Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Paula Bennett’s political appointment will challenge public confidence
    The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    1 day ago

  • NZDF is still hostile to oversight
    Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago

  • Winding Back The Hands Of History’s Clock.
    Holding On To The Present: The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 day ago

  • Sweet Moderation? What Christopher Luxon Could Learn From The Germans.
    Stuck In The Middle With You: As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 day ago

  • A clear warning
    The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago

  • Poll results and Waitangi Tribunal report go unmentioned on the Beehive website – where racing tru...
    Buzz  from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example.  This shows National down ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago

  • Listening To The Traffic.
    It Takes A Train To Cry: Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Comity Be Damned! The State’s Legislative Arm Is Flexing Its Constitutional Muscles.
    Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Ending The Quest.
    Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Will political polarisation intensify to the point where ‘normal’ government becomes impossible,...
    Chris Trotter writes –  New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Tuesday, April 30
    TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:30am on Tuesday, May 30:Scoop: NZ 'close to the tipping point' of measles epidemic, health experts warn NZ Herald Benjamin PlummerHealth: 'Absurd and totally unacceptable': Man has to wait a year for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the country
    Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Worst poll result for a new Government in MMP history
    Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Pinning down climate change's role in extreme weather
    This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Serving at Seymour's pleasure.
    Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Webworm LA Pop-Up
    Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago

  • “Feel good” school is out
    Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • 6 Months in, surely our Report Card is “Ignored all warnings: recommend dismissal ASAP”?
    Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy. Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    2 days ago

  • Bread, and how it gets buttered
    Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the country
    Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    2 days ago

  • Justice for Gaza?
    The New York Times reports that the International Criminal Court is about to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over their genocide in Gaza: Israeli officials increasingly believe that the International Criminal Court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials on ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • If there has been any fiddling with Pharmac’s funding, we can count on Paula to figure out the fis...
    Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • FastTrackWatch – The case for the Government’s Fast Track Bill
    Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Monday, April 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on Iran killing its rappers, and searching for the invisible Dr. Reti
    span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    3 days ago

  • Auckland Rail Electrification 10 years old
    Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    3 days ago

  • Coalition's dirge of austerity and uncertainty is driving the economy into a deeper recession
    Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Disability Funding or Tax Cuts.
    You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Of the Goodness of Tolkien’s Eru
    April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    3 days ago

  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #17
    A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • Pastor Who Abused People, Blames People
    Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago

  • Vic Uni shows how under threat free speech is
    The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Winston remembers Gettysburg.
    Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • 25
    She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8.  The universe was ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Fact Brief – Is Antarctica gaining land ice?
    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Policing protests.
    Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    5 days ago

  • Open letter to Hon Paul Goldsmith
    Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: FastTrackWatch – The Case for the Government’s Fast Track Bill
    Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 days ago

  • Luxon gets out his butcher’s knife – briefly
    Peter Dunne writes –  The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • More tax for less
    Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Real News vs Fake News.
    We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Another way to roll
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Share ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Simon Clark: The climate lies you'll hear this year
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Cutting the Public Service
    It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    5 days ago

  • Luxon’s demoted ministers might take comfort from the British politician who bounced back after th...
    Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious:  we live in a troubled ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • This is how I roll over
    1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • The Waitangi Tribunal is not “a roving Commission”…
    …it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisition   NOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes –  The High Court ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Is Oranga Tamariki guilty of neglect?
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same? Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Three Strikes saw lower reoffending
    David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Luxon’s ruthless show of strength is perfect for our angry era
    Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • 'Lacks attention to detail and is creating double-standards.'
    TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • One Night Only!
    Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago

  • What did Melissa Lee do?
    It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #17 2024
    Open access notables Ice acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment: In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • Maori Party (with “disgust”) draws attention to Chhour’s race after the High Court rules on Wa...
    Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago

  • Who’s Going Up The Media Mountain?
    Mr Bombastic: Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
    Bowalley Road
    7 days ago

  • “That's how I roll”
    It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago

  • “Comity” versus the rule of law
    In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Aotearoa: a live lab for failed Right-wing socio-economic zombie experiments once more…
    Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder. In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    1 week ago

  • Water is at the heart of farmers’ struggle to survive in Benin
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére Sosou Market gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • At a time of media turmoil, Melissa had nothing to proclaim as Minister – and now she has been dem...
    Buzz from the Beehive   Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • Minister acknowledges passing of Sir Robert Martin (KNZM)
    New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago

  • Speech to New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Parliament – Annual Lecture: Challenges ...
    Good evening –   Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago

  • Accelerating airport security lines
    From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago

  • Community hui to talk about kina barrens
    People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    18 hours ago

  • Kiwi exporters win as NZ-EU FTA enters into force
    Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    18 hours ago

  • Mining resurgence a welcome sign
    There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago

  • Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill passes first reading
    The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government to boost public EV charging network
    Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure.  The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Residential Property Managers Bill to not progress
    The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Independent review into disability support services
    The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Justice Minister updates UN on law & order plan
    Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Ending emergency housing motels in Rotorua
    The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Trade Minister travels to Riyadh, OECD, and Dubai
    Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Education priorities focused on lifting achievement
    Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • NZTA App first step towards digital driver licence
    The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say.  “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Supporting whānau out of emergency housing
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