Free speech hate speech

Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, May 13th, 2011 - 49 comments
Categories: human rights, racism, racism - Tags: ,

The free speech / hate speech boundary is always a difficult call. I’m glad to live in a country that tries to err on the side of the former. Even so, this shit really rankles:

Anti-Chinese leaflets spark fear and anger

A far-right Christchurch group has been condemned for circulating flyers in Auckland claiming an “Asian invasion” is taking place.

The group, which calls itself the Right Wing Resistance, has distributed “Stop the Asian Invasion” leaflets in suburbs with high Asian populations, including Pakuranga, Howick and Northcote.

Police are concerned that the campaign could lead to “racially motivated violence”, says police Asian liaison officer Raymond Wong.

The group is headed by former National Front leader Kyle Chapman. It started the campaign in Christchurch last year.

What if it escalates and someone gets hurt?

Call for calm after Asians vent anger online over racist leaflets

A senior Chinese community leader is calling for calm as emotions run deep over race-attack pamphlets and plans by a far-right Christchurch group for an anti-Asian rally. …

Thousands of Chinese have taken their anger to the allegations online, and some have suggested that it is time to strike back. Many local ethnic newspapers have also published the anti-Asian campaign as headline news.

As for the argument that migrants are taking jobs (continued from above):

The Department of Labour says new migrants contribute $1.9 billion to the economy every year, and tourists and international students a further $2.9 billion in foreign exchange. …

The Immigration Service says if immigration stopped, by 2021 New Zealand’s population would drop by 9.6 per cent, GDP would fall by 11.3 per cent, available labour would drop 10.9 per cent and the export sector would decline 12.9 per cent.

Time for the “Right Wing Resistance” to be laughed out of existence.

49 comments on “Free speech hate speech ”

  1. Lanthanide 1

    When questioned, Chapman repeatedly says that “membership numbers are not important”. In other words, it’s only a very small group, probably 30-40 people.
     
    At the same time, he says that he’s dropping leaflets so as to increase membership.
     
    Either membership matters, or it doesn’t.

    • lprent 1.1

      If they do a rally in Auckland, then I’m sure that I can help to organize a substantial heckle crew to exercise their free speech.

      I’d suggest that the placards and commentary should concentrate on the RWR’s self-evident lacks and ask what they are trying to compensate for.

  2. todd 2

    I put their numbers at five… Strangely Cameron Slater agrees.

    • terryg 2.1

      its a bit of a misnomer to call them “far right” – the corect term is White Supremacists, aka Neo Nazis. they deny it in public, but their regalia is replete with nazi symbolism, and they link to the Aryan Brotherhood, the KKK and other bastions of extremely inbred fuckwits. They might be white, but are as far from supreme as it is possible to get.

      Cameron Slater is a RWNJ. Thats like comparing someone with parking fines to a serial killer.

      Aside: I wonder how many of his idiot brigade even have jobs, let alone the sorts of qualifications asian Immigrants require to gain entry to NZ. I’ll leave filling in the blanks as an exercise for the astute reader.

      • todd 2.1.1

        Likewise it’s wrong to call it free speech, when there’s a definite cost to their public display of racism.

  3. Oleolebiscuitbarrell 3

    “Time for the “Right Wing Resistance” to be laughed out of existence.”

    Which is kind of why we err on the side of free speech.

  4. Here, have some political hate speech (from 2004): http://imgur.com/y1vb6

  5. Draco T Bastard 5

    The Immigration Service says if immigration stopped, by 2021 New Zealand’s population would drop by 9.6 per cent, GDP would fall by 11.3 per cent, available labour would drop 10.9 per cent and the export sector would decline 12.9 per cent.

    Considering real physical limitations this is bad how?

  6. terryg 6

    dui bu qi, zhongguo xinxilanren.

    Kyle Chapman (ye ta de pengyoumen) zongshi shuo de fei hua.

    mei banfa….. tamen mei you nao.

    duoshi xinxilanren xiang tamen tai ben dan ren.

    danshi tamen bu hui zhuzui

    (duibuqi, wode zhongwen xie de bu hao – wo man man xue)

    Sorry, Chinese New Zealanders.

    Kyle Chapman (and his mates) always talk shit. cant be helped – they are brainless.

    most kiwis think they are extremely stupid.

    but they are unable to shut up.

    (sorry about my bad mandarin, I’m slowly learning)

  7. joe90 7

    To deny the losers any traffic here’s the google cache of their site.

    • Lanthanide 7.1

      Bandwidth costs them money. If they’re on a free account, they could blow their bandwidth and get the site disabled. If they pay, they could go over their limit and be charged excess. So it’d be better to link directly to their site – at the cost of giving them a hit/publicity, though.

  8. Of the $1.9 billion mentioned by Dr. Coleman in his speech yesterday roughly $0.5 billion came through investment and $1.4 billion of that was contributed by skilled workers carefully selected for their rare skills and allowed in to NZ to fill skill shortages.

    This is an important source of income for local NZ businesses because these newcomers buy cars, furniture and loads of other stuff to set up their new home. They are healthy, police checked and cost little by way of services.

    Coleman says immigration is important for our economy. Of course with so many skilled kiwis leaving for Australia it’s also important to bring in a controlled number of young families to counter an ageing workforce.

    So why have numbers been cut?

    Quotas for permanent residence have been fixed since 2000/01, but in Jan 2009 Dr. Coleman quietly cut the number of applications accepted from skilled workers by 30%. So far there have been 20% less residency applications approved for skilled workers through this year compared to the same period last year.

    That translates to a loss of around $935 million through the first three quarters of the immigration year that hasn’t gone straight into local businesses employing New Zealanders. These drops are not because of a lack of interest in New Zealand which I can assure you has been high.

    So, over a billion dollars we didn’t get and increasing skill shortages affecting NZ businesses and services (which will be that much harder to fill when Australia creates half a million jobs as promised).

    Now interest in New Zealand immigration is starting to fall as migrants realise risks in moving here have significantly increased (get sick, pregnant or ask to renew your visa and you’ll find out), while reasons for coming here have fallen (wages, employment security, clean and green country). Many globally mobile workers who were interested in NZ are instead asking about Australia.

    Is this good immigration policy?

    Mike
    move2nz.com

    • Draco T Bastard 8.1

      You’re obviously in need of an education so here you go.

      • So educate me by addressing the points and evidence raised.

        • Colonial Viper 8.1.1.1

          This is an important source of income for local NZ businesses because these newcomers buy cars, furniture and loads of other stuff to set up their new home. They are healthy, police checked and cost little by way of services.

          Trying to produce economic growth by finding new, imported consumers, is helpful to some degree, but at the end of the day its not what NZ needs. Which is the creation of new high employment, high pay industries.

          Further, you never addressed how long these skilled workers actually stay in NZ.

          For a good proportion of them, long enough to get their NZ citizenship and then move to Australia to collect 30-40% higher pay, I’d wager.

          We can’t even keep our own professionals in this country.

          Let me put it another way – in your world, ordinary people in NZ get rich by making this country a haven for international multimillionaires.

          Doesn’t happen, hasn’t happened, won’t happen. In any country that I know of (except maybe Monaco and Switzerland).

          • Mike - move2nz 8.1.1.1.1

            New Zealand’s population is ageing and like most 1st world countries has a negative birth rate. I agree that creating new high-paid industries is vital, but what would happen over time if migration was stopped?

            New Zealanders would still leave for Australia and other pastures new because of the opportunities. People tend to vote with their feet if they can (i.e. semi-skilled and skilled people do) and numbers heading offshore are already at record numbers.

            Do you agree that a natural result would be a reduction over time of working people, skill levels and internal customers for business?

            Do you agree that there would likewise be an increased burden on the remaining gradually reducing number of active workers to support the ageing population, infrastructure and services?

            I believe that this would create a time bomb where at some point down the track New Zealand would cease to be viable in it’s current state unless some major change was introduced such as forcing a higher birth-rate or blocking requests to leave.

            Careful management of immigration could stop this and ensure New Zealand grows. 

            How long people stay depends on what New Zealand needs them for. The current system works on skill shortages. Some skills we only need for a short while, some we need permanently. By carefully working out which is which (and applying very high standards for health, language, qualifications etc.) NZ gets the best of both worlds.

            But this system has been broken by the current Minister. Immigration no longer uses the skill shortage lists (one for temporary, one for permanent) and instead is using the WINZ database against all applications.

            Retention
            Keeping hold of our professionals and those we attract from overseas is vital. I actually spent three years of my life creating, funding and running a free migrant ‘walk-in’ centre in Christchurch aimed at raising rates of retention and integration. It was wildly successful outperforming government ideas by 17:1 and costing a fraction.

            When I invited the Minister to visit he said it was ‘not necessary’. When I invited the Associate Minister she said ‘thank you for your concerns’.

            That centre, helping 7,000 families a year, was forced to close in 2009 after I criticised immigration policy on TV3 news.

            In my world
            No, you’re wrong. In my world people who love New Zealand, want to live and work here, want to invest everything they have and bring up their children here get to help enrich this country. They pay taxes, buy NZ made items and help grow NZ business with their skills, expertise and overseas contacts. This creates jobs for New Zealanders, adds to an environment where wages can grow and we can increase retention of our own talented young.

            I disagree with the Minister’s fixation on investors – most of the profits head offshore anyway and the numbers are falling despite his best efforts. Profits from migration should stay in NZ.

            Instead I concentrate on people who value what NZ is and has. People who aspire to being New Zealanders (rather than just living here or using it as a stepping stone), love the culture, people and add value to our economy.

            Let me know what you think about these comments.

            • millsy 8.1.1.1.1.1

              Mike, I am not anti immigration, but the fact is, that over the past 20 years, governments and employers have chosen to put the interest of immirgants over the interests of New Zealanders

              1) businesses have been employing immigrants instead of training and upskilling our own people, and also employing migrant labour to keep wages down.

              2) Educational instiutions have put the needs of international students ahead of domestic students.

              Opening the immigration floodgates have kept wages down, and forced up house prices and accomodation costs, and also helped to drive down wages and conditions in the workplace. Instead of training our young people, we are just hiring immigrant labour and letting then rot on the dole, or in low wage jobs, and it is also the reason why the ‘dumb’ kids are being quitely pushed out of our schools to make them look good for international students.

              It is because of the unwillingness by all major parties (except NZ First) to confront these realities, that wanna-be Nazis like Chapman are gaining ground.

              • Hi Millsy,

                Thanks for your comments. What I was saying is why immigration is important for New Zealand.

                It is vital that immigration is managed properly to better New Zealand. NZ workers should come foremost and I was very dis-heartened to see the apprenticeships cut, adult education cut and pressure placed on universities and students.

                Sadly over the past two years the information being given to prospective migrants is so muddled and incorrect that many people who should not have come here have been encouraged to while the people we really need have had bureaucratic barriers lumped in their way.

                What you must understand is that immigration is a useful tool in the box but does not operate in isolation. It must be used in conjunction with and beside sensible policies which create opportunities to upskill New Zealanders and give them a reason to stay.

                Many of the issues you are talking about are not caused by immigration policy but by other issues.

                For example, if there is a case where employers are undercutting local labour with foreign workers this is an employment issue and a decision by an NZ business. Immigration can be used alongside this to fend people off we don’t need, but this will only work with effective protection for employees such as minimum wages, unions, mediation etc.

                Media love negative migration stories and rarely print positive ones. If they do they rarely point out the person is a migrant. Don’t believe all you read.

                The same with education. If educational establishments are taking overseas students instead of local ones why is this? Is there a financial need where the schools are not being properly funded?

                Through effective management of the educational system local students can be protected, schools can be protected and a service can be given on top of this to foreign students as a way of enriching the education of our youth.

                Opening the immigration floodgates
                I often meet the perception that there is a flood of migrants coming into this country. Net migration is actually low – an average of 11,900 per year across the entire country between 1990 and 2009. The tests migrants have to meet are extremely high.

                Immigration has complete control over numbers which have actually been falling over the past two years. The drop in this year alone has cost NZ $935 million as I have pointed out.

                There is however certainly a difference between high skill and low skill temporary workers, but I have seen no proof that medium and high skilled migrant workers push down wages. Many have to take pay cuts to work here. For example, you may not realise that for a chef to get through immigration they need five years experience, two of those as a Sous Chef. These are highly skilled and highly paid.

                House prices have been shown to be more affected by returning kiwis than migrants.
                Confronting the problems
                There are serious problems around immigration, but carefully managed and implemented policy should fill skill shortages and train NZ workers, open opportunities for new business, introduce new practices and technologies and open new markets to NZ business.

                The reason I am posting about this is because of the poor management of immigration over the past decade and most especially the last two and half years.

                I lobbied Cunliffe and Cosgrove to put some of the $11 million migrant levy collected every year into retention of skilled workers attracted here because we were losing 24% of them needlessly. No one listened.

                Changes made in 2005 were a step in the right direction, but I have been trying to feed back the effect of policy changes – what is really happening at the ‘coal face’ to no avail. No one wants to listen.

                Once we agree that migration is necessary for New Zealand we need to get on with making it an effective and positive process in conjunction with other portfolios to better the position of the New Zealand people.

                Look forward to your comments.

  9. grumpy 9

    Why do the Auckland media constantly refer to this as a “Christchurch” group? I find that bloody insulting, typical Auckland holier than thou bullshit.
    How about “Act, an Auckland based political party”????

  10. Unfortunately, the old home town (mine) does have a depressing record in spawning groups of this kind, although thankfully, they’ve declined since the nadir of the seventies and early eighties. Even so, the Nationalist Workers Party/National Front/Right Wing Resistance is an annoying microscopic buttock blemish. However, they’re based on derivative overseas UK neofascist models. And ironically enough, their hate speech outbursts signify that they have neither the education or sophistication to behave in a more pragmatic or electorally viable manner, unlike the French Front National or British National Party.

    As a person of happily polyglot origins, fortunately I don’t meet their ghastly ‘purity’ criteria. Boohoo. It’s all that Indian immigrant and Ngai Tahu ancestry in my genes.

    [Craig – can you try posting test comments that vary your name, email address, website, and (if possible) IP address, to try and identify the factor that triggers our moderation on every comment you make? Use Open Mike, I’ll delete the tests later on. I’d like to fix it so you don’t get stuck in moderation every time. — r0b]

  11. However, the fact is that most white supremacists usually have criminal convictions for assault, dysfunctional upbringings, alcohol and drug problems and gravitated toward a subculture that reinforces their disturbed families of origin and violent responses to life’s problems. Hence, they feel the need to lash out at economically prosperous and yet ambiguously accepted ethnic communities ie New Zealanders of East Asian origin or descent. Fortunately, the rest of us come from mainstream multicultural Aotearoa/New Zealand.

  12. My email to Kyle

    Hi Kyle
    Good on ya, placing yourself up for attack yet again.
    BUT … always a but
    It is all immigration that should be stopped, including selling NZ to the USA etc, yeah bringing up the Asian invasion stuff presses buttons in the mind of the pig ignorant masses, but the real issue is that NZ is over populated now (and has been since 1800, when Maori started running out of food and had to eat each other)
    We see 100s of poms (etc) escaping GB and coming over here with their pounds, forcing home prices out of reach of the first home buyers etc, I know been going on for years.
    As I was saying back when the Foreshore and Seabed was being proposed, we needed to close the border and place machine gun posts at 100 meter spaces around our coast, give every Kiwi ‘out’ there 6 months notice then thats it, you are in or you are out.
    But then I want having children band, and any child born (after say 10 months from the ban starting), to be made a ward of the state, and the parents sterilized and made to support the child for 18 years, but without ever seeing it, that would make idiot breeders wake the fuck up)

    Robert

    • rosy 12.1

      *shakes head* and you wonder why you’re not taken seriously. So much disregard for people in such a little space.

      • terryg 12.1.1

        methinks ’tis a poe*

        *poe = piss take of idiotic position. good poes are almost indistinguishable from the real dickheads

    • Colonial Viper 12.2

      we needed to close the border and place machine gun posts at 100 meter spaces around our coast

      Overkill.

      An M249 LMG has an effective range close to 1km, for instance.

      I suggest that every 400m would be ample, as long as you had clear lines of fire.

      • Mac1 12.2.1

        Brilliant. Solves the unemployment problem. 15000 km of coastline at 1 machine gun per 400 metres times crew numbers times three shifts- quarter of a million, no sweat.

        Then there’s the guns, the uniforms, the admin, the infrastructure- pillboxes, searchlights, generators, barbed wire, minefields, notices for same………

        Plus access to each machine gun post would take care of John Key’s cycleway.

        End of poaching. End of illegal fishing, drug-running, smuggling, immigration.

        Fortress New Zealand. CV, you’re brilliant.

        • terryg 12.2.1.1

          can I also suggest adopting a modern form of cannibalism? we’ll have quite a bit of red meat going spare as a result of this, and we have all those useless eaters. So instead of benefits or food banks, we can provide food parcels…..Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease will inevitably result, leading to an exponential decrease in useless eaters.

  13. Samuel Hill 13

    We need immigration. Badly. We lack the skills required for economic revival. The Baby Boomers as a whole aren’t helping anyone. Many are too selfish to pass on their skills. Where are all the male teachers? Pathetic.

    • Carol 13.1

      We lack the skills required for economic revival. The Baby Boomers as a whole aren’t helping anyone. Many are too selfish to pass on their skills

      Eh?
      Signed: One of many babyboomer teachers, who has taught on vocational & academic courses.

    • Colonial Viper 13.2

      We need immigration. Badly. We lack the skills required for economic revival.

      The first choice of most skilled migrants is to get work in Australia. More jobs and better pay. Higher quality of managers and supervisors.

      If they come to NZ it’s commonly because they were rejected by Australia. We are their fall back choice.

      They come to NZ, get their citizenship here, and then use that to go to Australia.

      Serious. I mean, we can’t even keep our own people here.

      • Samuel Hill 13.2.1

        Thats very true CV. Thats why we have to invest in education. We need to tick up the biggest loan in world history. Let them come. Build our country. We should be a haven for new ideas. Let them do whatever they like, just don’t pollute us.

        Or will Australia just buy our country in 15 years?

        • Colonial Viper 13.2.1.1

          Cheaper to take it over by political subterfuge and buying out a few dozen key people.

          • Jim Nald 13.2.1.1.1

            Yup. By that stage, Ozzies can take almost all the talent and Kiwis can keep most of the trash.
            That’s when the country can rebrand as New Trashland Inc.

  14. Samuel Hill 14

    The Baby Boomers as WHOLE. As in, those who have run our country for the last 20 years. I don’t mean to make those who do a good job feel bad – I’m sure you do an excellent job, Carol.

    But I see too many of that age who simply enjoyed the fruits of the good times, and now in the bad times it is expected that the youth and the poor, who have already been dealt massive costs from economic de-regulation, will bear the burden of the costs again. There are many baby boomers who DO care and aren’t selfish. But there are those who sold our country down the drain. The ones who signed those laws. The ones who created a system where somebody like John Key is our example of success. We desire greed and ‘freedom’ over love and community. The West is dying.

    • Carol 14.1

      I understand you don’t mean all boomers, Samuel. But why single out boomers at all, when there are as many differences within generations as between them. Many of us boomers have agitated and voted most of our working lives for social justice, fair pay for a fair days work, a decent living income and living/working conditions for all…. education, healthcare etc.

      And there are many self-centred, apolitical, middleclass consumerists in all generations. Consider this: Brash and Roger Douglas are too old to be boomers; many who support neoliberal consumerist society are too young to be boomers eg: I’m pretty sure this includes National MP Chris Tremain who has Hollowman Lusk as a campaign manager (see Mallard on Red Alert today), Matthew Hooton, Whaleoil, David Farrah, Jamie Lee Ross etc. And I see many middleclass people of younger generations who are more interested in their latest shiny consumerist toys than thinking about politics or those struggling to make ends meet. Meanwhile there are also boomers from diverse ethnic groups who have struggled all their lives on low incomes.

      Why single out one generation at all, when the problem is people who actively support and/or benefit from the inequalities generated by free-market capitalism – adults across all generations at the expense of some other people from all generations?

      Yes Key, Clark, Goff etc are boomers, and they have/had much power….. but others will follow, some pollies trying to make a fairer society, while others (like JL Ross & C Tremain), will be working for the better off classes.

      • Carol 14.1.1

        Oh, and to get back on thread, I would think Kyle Chapman is too young to be a boomer too.

        But, yes, some skilled younger immigrants will probably have more to contribute positively to NZ society & economy than Chapman is doing.

      • Robert Atack 14.1.2

        Yeah it isn’t any particular group that is responsible, it is the system that has been handed down for last 2,000 years or so.
        It is kinda fuelled by the general dumb public’s apathy, no matter when they/we were born, Hitler used it, I’m sure the Romans used it, people just don’t see the writing on the wall until it is to late.
        We all think ‘it will never happen to us’ that is partly why we have so many road deaths etc.
        In the end we are just bacteria, and we behave exactly the same, we have grown our population until the test tube is full.
        We with computers are the elite now, we are at the top of the food chain, and like bacteria we don’t have a conscience, we just want more of our fair share, we don’t care about the 4 billion who don’t have computers, enough food to eat, or fresh water, we are right Jack.
        We are no smarter than Easter Island stone cavers.

        • Samuel Hill 14.1.2.1

          Ofcourse there are people from very differing demographs who uphold the capitalist consumer society and profit from it, I don’t deny that. Just as I agree there are many Baby Boomers who do the opposite.

          Maybe I shouldn’t say ‘Baby Boomer’.

          What I am suggesting, is that those born from 1935-1950 have overseen the growth of a system, which now lumps debt on the youth, whilst they themselves had so many governmental benefits in the past and in the future. By the time I am in my 60s there probably won’t even be a pension, yet I am taxed now at work to pay for the pensions of those 65+. Roger Douglas and Don Brash are close enough to the age of the group. They weren’t old enough to go to WW2, let alone remember it.

          It is people of this age that are running our country. Alan Gibbs, Henry Van der Heyden, Douglas Myers, Michael Fay, John Todd, Peter Cooper, John Spencer, The Goodfellow family.

          These are the people who profited from successive NZ government’s failures to invest in a diverse range of industries., and the there after de-regulation and privatization of public assets.

          It is time to change this system.

          • KJT 14.1.2.1.1

            As a boomer who has fought against this system for 35 years, and watched with despair as our assets were sold in the 80’s, Richardson gutted the country in the 90’s and successive governments had a competition to see how many jobs they could lose, wages for the skilled and productive go downhill while bludgers got megabucks and watched, mostly younger, people vote NACT in again i do not think you should say boomers.

            It is wrong to ascribe greed and stupidity to any particular generation. X and Y will benefit from assets the boomers have built up as well as having less competition for jobs and housing.

            It was the pre-boomer generation that voted themselves tax paid pensions and welfare for National party voters in the 70’s and the younger ones who vote tax cuts now having had no experience of the negative effects after 9 years of Labour.

            http://kjt-kt.blogspot.com/

            Now we see any speech against neo-Liberal madness ignored by the media while we continue to be raced headlong into disaster by mad ideologues and those who stand to gain by stripping NZ.

            The right wing do not believe in free speech. See what happens to any hard hitting, beyound token, letters you write to the newspaper.

          • Carol 14.1.2.1.2

            But we are a diverse lot. I have had some benefits from the NZ Government, but not as many as you might assume of boomers. And I am probably like many who have spent a high proportion of my adult life living overseas, consequently I have money in retirement funds in more than one country.

            I got free primary & secondary education, reasonably good healthcare etc. I did a teachers college course way back, because it would give me a grant (it wasn’t uni level then). Back then only a small proportion of people went to Uni (1-3%), and the vast majority were white men. They also could earn big money in their holidays at the freezing works – not so women. I was bonded to the education dept for 3 years or had to pay $600.00 to leave the country – a fair amount back then. After working for 2 of the years, I’d had enough from the repressive and unequal NZ society, paid back the $600.00 and headed overseas. By then I had started a BA parttime while working fulltime.

            I got various vocational & graduate qualifications in the UK, again studying parttime, mostly while working fulltime (a little bit of it parttime.) My employer paid most of my fees, but I paid for everything else. Earlier I had come back to NZ to finish my BA in one very heavy fulltime year. Student allowance didn’t quite pay my rent. The rest of my expenses I paid from my savings.

            When I came back to NZ I did a further graduate course, with student allowance sometimes – sometimes I earned too much for that, as I worked quite a bit. I also got a student loan for fees & again lived off my savings.

            Now I have paid back my student loan, and am earning, mostly part time. I get a small amount of retirement pension from the UK government, which I’m told will be deducted from my NZ entitlement, when I am of age.

            I wonder how many other boomers in NZ will be getting a high proportion of their pensions from overseas, rather than from NZ taxpayers or other NZ schemes. Kiwis have always lived a lot outside NZ. I also have a small amount of Aussie super in an Aussie fund – it was compulsory when I worked there.

            I don’t own a house – never have, and have lived very frugally most of my adult life.I have never voted for a right wing party, and have joined many leftwing poltical campaigns. Now it seems, boomers are becoming a scapegoat for all that is wrong poltically here. The problem with boomers is that there are a lot of us, but that was not anything we did. The problem is not any one generation, but those who have actively promoted and supported the whole neoliberal scam.

            Yes things are getting tougher for many young people – though not all. Those with wealthy parents and/or high paying jobs are pretty well-off.

  15. chris73 15

    I guess the real test if you believe in freedom of speech is when you can support and defend that which you find totally repugnant

    • I know what you mean, and yeah.

      But nah, you don’t have to support and defend that which you find repugnant, you just have to defend their right to be repugnant.

      You can quite legitimately counter protest, and call them out for their repugnance, and say “we don’t want this this sort of thing here, fuck off n@zi boy” etc. Coz all of that is just free speech as well.

      The ACLU in the states, for example, has defended the free speech rights of Naz1s to march down the street when councils have tried to ban them. They have also defended the free speech rights of Sean Hannity, and the privacy rights of Rush Limbaugh.

      So in the US context I’d say that ACLU are pretty solid defenders, the right wing? Not so much.

      • chris73 15.1.1

        Based on what?

        • Pascal's bookie 15.1.1.1

          Based on the fact that the left in the US generally supports the ACLU, the membership of the ACLU tends to be liberal left, the ACLU defends the rights of people that they not only disagree with, but the rights of people that attack the ACLU. eg, Limbaugh, Hannity, Naz1s.

          The ACLU gets attacked by the right in America as, variously, a commun1st front, anti-christian, anti-conservative and lord knows what all else.

  16. Adele 16

    Teenaa koutou Katoa

    Personally, I don’t mind the Kyle Chapman’s of this world. He is highly visible and naked to the eye.

    The people that I am concerned about are those that appear egalitarian but actually have a really fucked way of thinking too. But at least, Kyle Chapman speaks clearly to his prejudices.

    Which, at least, makes him an honest man.

    • terryg 16.1

      +1.

      and all that is really needed to debunk RWR is RWR themselves. the more they open their mouths, the stupider they look.

  17. Adele 17

    Teenaa koe, terryg

    Well, yes, absolutely.

  18. Craig 18

    Paul Spoonley really needs to write an update on his fascinating work on New Zealand’s microscopic neofascist sects from back in the eighties, I think.

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  • Can taxpayers be confident PIJF cash was spent wisely?
    Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    3 hours ago
  • EGU2024 – An intense week of joining sessions virtually
    Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
    5 hours ago
  • Submission on “Fast Track Approvals Bill”
    The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    6 hours ago
  • The Case for a Universal Family Benefit
    One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    7 hours ago
  • A who’s who of New Zealand’s dodgiest companies
    Submissions on National's corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law are due today (have you submitted?), and just hours before they close, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop has been forced to release the list of companies he invited to apply. I've spent the last hour going through it in an epic thread of bleats, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    9 hours ago
  • On Lee’s watch, Economic Development seems to be stuck on scoring points from promoting sporting e...
    Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    10 hours ago
  • New Zealand has never been closed for business
    1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    10 hours ago
  • Stop the panic – we’ve been here before
    Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’.  ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    13 hours ago
  • Melissa Lee and the media: ending the quest
    Chris Trotter writes –  MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    15 hours ago
  • The Hoon around the week to April 19
    TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    15 hours ago
  • The ‘Humpty Dumpty’ end result of dismantling our environmental protections
    Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    15 hours ago
  • Nicola's Salad Days.
    I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    16 hours ago
  • Study sees climate change baking in 19% lower global income by 2050
    TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    16 hours ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-April-2024
    It’s Friday again. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week on Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered at the government looking into a long tunnel for Wellington. On Wednesday we ran a post from Oscar Simms on some lessons from Texas. AT’s ...
    17 hours ago
  • Jack Vowles: Stop the panic – we’ve been here before
    New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’.  The data is from February this ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    19 hours ago
  • Clearing up confusion (or trying to)
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    20 hours ago
  • How to Retrieve Deleted Call Log iPhone Without Computer
    How to Retrieve Deleted Call Log on iPhone Without a Computer: A StepbyStep 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 thirdparty applications. So, lets dive in and recover those lost calls! 1. Check Recently Deleted Folder: Apple understands that accidental deletions happen. Thats 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. Heres 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. Heres how to restore from an iCloud backup: Go to Settings > General > Reset. Choose Erase All Content and Settings. Follow the onscreen 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 ThirdParty Apps (with Caution): ...
    22 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 ...
    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 ...
    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 ...
    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 ...
    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 ...
    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 ...
    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 ...
    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 ...
    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 ...
    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 ...
    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, ...
    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, ...
    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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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 ...
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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 ...
    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 ...
    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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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 ...
    3 days ago
  • Apposite Quotations.
    How Long Is Long Enough? Gaza under Israeli bombardment, July 2014. This posting is exclusive to 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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
    4 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 ...
    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 ...
    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
    5 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
    5 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 ...
    5 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

  • $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
    9 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
    11 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
    12 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
    13 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
    13 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
    13 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
    16 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
    1 day 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days ago
  • Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
    The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic Partnership
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government consults on extending coastal permits for ports
    RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Inflation coming down, but more work to do
    Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • School attendance restored as a priority in health advice
    Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sector
    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International Congress
    Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector.    "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Removing red tape to help early learners thrive
    The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tape
    Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationship
    Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister Lee
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.   Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • PMs Luxon and Lee deepen Singapore-NZ ties
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.  During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Antarctica New Zealand Board appointments
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner.  The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Finance Minister travels to Washington DC
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Pet bonds a win/win for renters and landlords
    The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Long Tunnel for SH1 Wellington being considered
    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 Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • New Zealand condemns Iranian strikes
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel.    “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says.    "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Huge interest in Government’s infrastructure plans
    Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Health Minister thanks outgoing Health New Zealand Chair
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board.   “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti.  “I have asked her to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Roads of National Significance planning underway
    The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Navigating an unstable global environment
    New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.   “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States.    “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • NZ welcomes Australian Governor-General
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Pseudoephedrine back on shelves for Winter
    Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • NZ and the US: an ever closer partnership
    New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Joint US and NZ declaration
    April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • NZ and US to undertake further practical Pacific cooperation
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research.   “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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