John Key planned our mass surveillance

Written By: - Date published: 8:07 am, September 15th, 2014 - 65 comments
Categories: Deep stuff, democracy under attack, john key, national, same old national - Tags: , ,

John Key gcsb

Anthony R0bins has already posted on this but the subject is that important it needs a few looks at it.

I am sure that all eyes will be on Kim Dotcom’s Auckland meeting tonight.

Glen Greenwald’s arrival in New Zealand and the disclosures he has already made have added extra spice to what has already been an out of control election campaign. If it gets any stranger it should be tested for the consumption of hallucinogens.

John Key has slipped into abusive mode. Calling Greenwald, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter a “henchman” and implying that his opinions can be bought demeans the office of the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Unfortunately it reflects Key’s view of humanity.  Anyone thinking that scientific opinions can be bought and sold must have a terribly dark view of humanity.

John Key during the weekend came out swinging and said that although a “business case” had been prepared by the GCSB for the mass surveillance of New Zealanders he had, after quite some time, put a hold on it.  The phrase “business case” is interesting.  Putting a monetary value on the violation of our rights of privacy shows how dollar centric this Government is.

Andrea Vance has set out a helpful timeline.  In November 2011 two New Zealand corporations were subject to a cyber attack.  Rumours are that one of them was Fonterra and that the attacks originated from China.  The response of the Government was to contemplate the mass surveillance of New Zealanders.  But you have to wonder why.  As said by Danyl McLaughlan “[h]arvesting meta-data about phone calls or web traffic of New Zealand citizens does absolutely nothing to stop Chinese hackers targeting Fonterra or MFAT. It’s a bit like your local police officer saying ‘I think someone is trying to break into your house so I’m gonna drill peepholes in the walls of your bathroom and bedroom’.”  The phrase “never let a good crisis pass you by” springs to mind.

Key says that he put a stop to it.  But here is the jaw dropping feature about the work.  It was started in early 2012 and Key only told the GCSB to put a hold on it in March 2013.  According to his version it is clear he changed his mind presumably only after the controversies surrounding the GCSB came to light.

Key has promised to declassify and release GCSB documents that he says will back him up.  It makes you wonder why the documents were classified in the first place as well as why they should be declassified for political purposes.  And why at the time we were not told about this most intrusive of projects.

It may be that the documents will back Key up.  But I have always wondered about the 5 eyes network.  What is to stop the mass collection of data being analysed by an agency free of the legal restraints that existed at the time in New Zealand and then handing the results over to local agencies?

As I type this Guyon Espiner is asking Key these very questions.  And Key is sounding very evasive.  He does not think that it was in the public interest to let us know that the Government was considering our mass surveillance.  Let me repeat that, he does not think that it was in the public interest to let us know that the Government was considering our mass surveillance.

And how can you reconcile this with Key’s August 2013 statement that he would resign if the GCSB conducted mass surveillance.  Unless he was going to implement the proposed change and then resign you have to conclude that this is the most disingenuous of statements.

Key is hoping to bamboozle and befuddle his way through this.  He is relying on the use of arcane language and weirdly drafted law to get by and to pretend that everything is not what it seems and that it is just too confusing anyway.

Greenwald has responded by pointing out that plans were well advanced.  He has documents stating that phase 1 of the GCSB’s plans (accessing the Southern Cross cable) had been achieved and phase 2 (metadata probes) was under way.

It may be that Key is right and Greenwald is wrong.  But even on Key’s version the Government planned on our mass surveillance for twelve months and Key and the Cabinet knew about it and we were not told.

A final word Glenn Greenwald from his book “No place to hide”:

The U.S. government, in conspiracy with client states, chiefest among them the Five Eyes—the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—have inflicted upon the world a system of secret, pervasive surveillance from which there is no refuge. They protect their domestic systems from the oversight of citizenry through classification and lies, and shield themselves from outrage in the event of leaks by overemphasizing limited protections they choose to grant the governed.…

Tonight should be very interesting.

65 comments on “John Key planned our mass surveillance ”

  1. r0b 1

    Indeed – sorry about the overlap post (folks this blog is a very loosely organised collective!). Plenty here to write about, you have taken a much broader view…

  2. vto 2

    So according to the honesty morals of Key, it is ok to say nobody is being subjected to mass surveillance when you know that mass surveillance is being planned and implemented.

    Lie

    Agreed mickysavage, Key has no moral compass. He is all at sea with a shallow draining tide

  3. Dont worry. Be happy 3

    Yes Key came out swinging alright. Labelling Greenwald a “little henchman”. Anyone else think that the Prime Minister of this country was reaching for “fairy” “faggot” or “poofter” and had to settle for “little” and rely on the dog whistle?

    • Lanthanide 3.1

      No. The sorts of people who would hear this purported dog whistle are the sorts of people who are very unlikely to know anything about Glenn Greenwald in the first place, hence why Key is trying to suggest he’s in Dotcom’s pocket, when actually he’s an internationally renowned and respected journalist.

      Not sure why you’re bringing it up yourself, except as a dog whistle?

      • Tracey 3.1.1

        PLus 1

        Key got in first to besmirch Greenwald to those who do not know that he has won a Pultizer prize for Journalism, just as many dont know Hager is recognised internationally as an investigative journalist.

    • Tom Gould 3.2

      Dog whistle, dissembling, time-shifting, reconstructing, diversion, name-calling, every trick in the book. But that’s been his MO for 8 years now, and still the brain dead MSM chooks can’t keep up. Take a quick look at the front page banner headline of the Press today, the print edition: “Key: don’t believe them”. Fair, balanced and accurate? Yeah, right. The public only know what the media tell them, and they tell them that Key is trustworthy and honest, and should get another term. Saturday is just a formality.

  4. vto 4

    I find it astounding that when Key was asked whether we were being mass spied, and he was in the middle of planning and implementing mass spying, he said “no”.

    That is just outright deceit and dishonesty.

    Key is a disgrace.

  5. exit lane 5

    The issue of mass surveillance is huge. But there is a danger all the attention will focus on this one issue when in fact John Key’s credibility on the GCSB and fitness to be PM is under attack on multiple fronts. Greenwald is likely to demolish Key’s credibility on many other issues than just mass surveillance. Will the media be up to the task to call Key to account across all these issues.

    Some of these equally vital issues are examined here…
    http://goo.gl/afpzPL

    • mickysavage 5.1

      Thanks for the link. Dennis has done some good work in the area and I agree that there are a number of different issues that are important. It is the difficulty with the subject. There are huge forces trying to increase surveillance in many different areas.

  6. One Anonymous Bloke 6

    Key had better resign so the mass surveillance can really kick in. Those awful lefties destroyed the most popular Prime Minister in the history of the universe, of course they must be monitored and punished.

  7. weka 7

    From Vance’s timeline,

    “March 2013 – Key tells the GCSB to put its business case into mass surveillance on hold”

    Is Key using the term ‘on hold’? So presumably he intended it to restart at some point. Over the next five months after he puts it on hold, the country has a huge debate about the GCSB bill, which is passed and the National govt (because let’s not pretend this is just Key) decides to not mention this little detail?

    I also find it beyond credible that so much work would have gone into setting up the scheme and then it just be abandoned indefinitely.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 7.1

      …all the while telling one another in private that all they needed to start it up was the new bill.

      I want to know where the physical hardware is connected to the Southern Cross cable, and by whom. Something for the police to attend to in the first hundred hours.

      • weka 7.1.1

        Does the bill make mass surveillance (of NZers) legal?

        In the Herald article where Key says he will resign, he also says the GCSB wouldn’t be doing mass surveillance because that would be illegal. Maybe that’s what he will present as his out.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 7.1.1.1

          Here’s what the Law Society says about it.

          PS: the word Key used was “wholesale”.

        • Tracey 7.1.1.2

          Jane kelsey may have written something on it, am looking now.

          Bear in mind one of the “safety” mechanisms built in is that a warrant needs to be signed by the PM… John Key would never act against our interests…

          “Ryall went on to address questions around the interception of metadata, claiming “Metadata cannot be separate — there is no way for [the GCSB] to get metadata and not communications without a warrant. … They cannot access metadata without a warrant because it’s not separated from communication [in the definition in the bill].””

          “”This bill changes the GCSB from being a foreign intelligence agency to a mixed foreign and domestic intelligence agency. … It is inconsistent with the rights of freedom of expression and the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.” Law Society

        • Tracey 7.1.1.3

          Weka

          I dont know if you read manning’s interview with Paul Buccahan back during the debat eon this

          “As proposed, the proposed amendments to the 2003 GCSB Act and 2004 TICS Act have these concerns at their core, but are over reaching in the scope and extent of the GCSB’s ability to spy domestically because they propose to engage in mass cyber trawling without specific cause and make compulsory before the fact that telecommunications firms provide backdoor access to their source and encryption codes, again without specific cause or threat. They also expand the extent of warrantless domestic espionage.

          Selwyn Manning.SELWYN MANNING: Do you believe the legislation is being driven by the interests of the United States of America, by New Zealand’s national security interests, or a mix of both?

          Paul-BuchananDR PAUL BUCHANAN: It is a mixture of both. There are legitimate reasons to tighten cyber security in New Zealand, but the legislation also brings the GCSB and TICS Acts closer in line with relevant US and UK signals intelligence legislation. The problem is that New Zealand’s threat environment is very different than that of the US or UK, so the alignment of legislation is an over-reach in the New Zealand case (for example, New Zealand has much less to fear from an Islamist terrorist attack that the US or UK for a variety of reasons, yet the proposed changes to 2003 Act are justified in part on preventing such attacks on New Zealand soil or against New Zealand interests even though by their own account neither the SIS or GCSB see such threats as likely or imminent). New Zealand’s culture of privacy is also dissimilar to those of the US and UK, which have far more pervasive mass surveillance systems in public places and domestic cultures of violence and criminality that far exceed those of New Zealand.

          Selwyn Manning.SELWYN MANNING: What are the consequences of this legislation from an applied or operative viewpoint (for example, are NZ’s intelligence capabilities able to be deployed on a scope permitted within this legislation), and, also, what is the likely impact on New Zealanders, permanent residents and recent immigrants (from a civil liberties point of view)?

          Paul-BuchananDR PAUL BUCHANAN: With the help of its Echelon partners, the GCSB and New Zealand intelligence community will be able to more effectively engage its expanded signals intelligence role and strengthen its cyber espionage and counter-espionage capability. However, the impact on New Zealand residents and citizens will include among other things the sharing of their meta-data within the 5 Eyes network, and the warrantless surveillance of those classified as foreign persons or entities. The latter encompass foreign-based private firms, NGOs, IGOs, political organizations (such as transnational refugee organizations or parties in exile), labor confederations, sports groups as well as diplomatic missions. “Foreign entities” also include New Zealand citizens and residents who work for such organizations, who could be spied upon without a warrant in their work environment or in a work-related capacity (such as using their lap- or desk tops to do work at home).

          – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/08/18/special-feature-for-china-is-the-gcsb-bill-one-insult-too-many/#sthash.pclz1OUX.dpuf

      • Murray Olsen 7.1.2

        I doubt if anything is directly connected to the cable that you could notice by swimming along it, for example. Because of the interconnectedness of the internet, I think it could be done from any powerful enough computer that was connected to the net. Or maybe more likely, connected to whatever computer legally sits at the end of the cable. Mind you, I’m just guessing here.

        • weka 7.1.2.1

          Bit of background here on how other cables are tapped, including reference the to submarine that Snowden talked about last night). Nice bit of historical context of cable tapping the Russians in the 70s too.

          In 2005, the Associated Press reported that a submarine called the USS Jimmy Carter had been repurposed to carry crews of technicians to the bottom of the sea so they could tap fiber optic lines. The easiest place to get into the cables is at the regeneration points — spots where their signals are amplified and pushed forward on their long, circuitous journeys. “At these spots, the fiber optics can be more easily tapped, because they are no longer bundled together, rather laid out individually,” Deutsche Welle reported.

          But such aquatic endeavors may no longer even be necessary. The cables make landfall at coastal stations in various countries, where their data is sent on to domestic networks, and it’s easier to tap them on land than underwater. Britain is, geographically, in an ideal position to access to cables as they emerge from the Atlantic, so the cooperation between the NSA and GCHQ has been key. Beyond that partnership, there are the other members of the “Five Eyes” — the Australians, the New Zealanders, and the Canadians — that also collaborate with the U.S., Snowden said.

          http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/the-creepy-long-standing-practice-of-undersea-cable-tapping/277855/

    • Tracey 7.2

      is it possible that once the Act became law he took it off hold?

      • yeshe 7.2.1

        Possibly. But I am thinking the NSA hold all the cards here, and we are but fodder.

        Key has refused to answer if NSA funds GCSB all or in part. ( wtf?)

        But to my knowledge, and pse correct me, I have not heard him asked if the NSA have their own independent office in Wellington, either inside or outside of GCSB.

        Greenwald or Amsterdam in the wonderful Laila Harre interview yesterday suggested it is even possible Key is such a puppet to his masters that he doesn’t actually know the whole truth of what has gone on.

        Monty Python could not have written this.

        • Tracey 7.2.1.1

          Are you suggesting that the NSA have the means now to mass/wholesale collect our metadata but by not having the GCSB do it directly key is seen to be telling the truth?

          • yeshe 7.2.1.1.1

            Yes. I took that possibility from the interview Laila did; it’s not implausible to me.

            Though Key would have been involved somehow especially in seeing the new laws up and running, not really having any idea what was actually going on. And those new laws for sure had NSA input into them, no question.

            The comment on Laila’s programme really got me wondering … ‘cos when all is said and done, Key is a bit player. He is our major player, but to the ‘others’, he is an expendable pawn. ( And to us too, of course, but that’s another post!)

            ( Going out now til mid arvo .. interested in your thoughts later)

            • Tracey 7.2.1.1.1.1

              So your suggestion is the Key is kind of to the US what Slater is to key? A means to an end?

              It is clear, to me anyway, that Key has moved us monumentally intot he pocket of the USA. The thawing of relations under his stewardship has not led to one jot of trade advantage or other advantage to NZ…. so why?

              • That would be theorizing and that would mean that there may have been people conspiring to reach a goal. And we know that our governments don’t do that. However, when I asked writer and journalist G Edward Griffin what would happen if we voted John Key in. He said “he will sell your country to his rich mates and throw in his mother with the deal.
                When I asked him could he have been groomed to do this? He said: “It has happened before.”

                I was called that crazy conspiracy theorist when I wrote about this two months before he was elected. I hope this helps.

              • yeshe

                @Tracey — not 100% sure of your analogy, but certainly Key is the means to an end. He is to thawing the relationship what sunshine is to snow.

                And as you point out, there has been not a jot of benefit to NZ … I propose there was never intended to be. Treason I call it. Let’s see now what comes out.

                And thx travellerev and Ann; thought provoking isn’t it ?.

        • Anne 7.2.1.2

          But to my knowledge, and pse correct me, I have not heard him asked if the NSA have their own independent office in Wellington, either inside or outside of GCSB.

          @yeshe
          I’m pretty sure they would have an NSA operative/operatives inside the GCSB who work alongside the GCSB staff. I read somewhere that GCSB staff are transferred to NSA on a regular basis presumably for extra training.

          I have no quarrel with that arrangement in the normal course of events. All the western intelligence agencies spend time with one another which is probably a good thing. It ensures they are all on the same wavelength so to speak.

          The difficulty arises when they start mass-surveilling innocent people… simply because they can. And then manipulate the public mind (easy enough to do it would seem) by creating sometimes fictitious terrorist threats or grossly exaggerating a potential threat to justify the “wholesale” surveillance. This is the real crime!

          • Olwyn 7.2.1.2.1

            I would also have issues with spying on nations with whom we are ostensibly friends, for the benefit of the US corporations. Co-operation ought not to mean slavishly disregarding both moral constraints and our relationships with other countries.

            • Anne 7.2.1.2.1.1

              +1

              It’s obvious that this “spying on friendly nations for the benefit of corporatised America” is something that began under John Key’s watch. He is first and foremost a part of that regime, and I often wonder what part they played in ‘assisting’ John Key into the prime-ministerial role for that particular purpose.

              • Tracey

                Yeah it is fascinating that he would be surprised if there was proof of us spying on China but not of us spying on allies…

                It’s like the media don’t blink, they just nod

              • yeshe

                Anne .. and you have just won first prize !

              • Murray Olsen

                Why is it obvious, Anne? Hager showed us ages ago that the intelligence agencies, or at least elements within them, make up their own rules. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they were working for Washington as far back as the Lange government, if not earlier. I suspect the only difference now is that the PM is aware of it and supports it.

                • Anne

                  You may well be right Murray Olsen but I don’t believe for one moment that the specific nature of today’s surveillance – which is in reality more to do with economic considerations than anything else – became such a prominent aspect of NZ’s intelligence gathering until John Key arrived on the scene. With the support and connivance of the NSA, he lifted the game into a whole new era of surveillance activity and ensured his chosen man, Fletcher was there to implement it. Indeed, I recall a news story a few years back which seemed to suggest the NSA had financed the upgrading process.

  8. Heather 8

    Agree with all that has been said, Key has resorted to name calling, this is a typical end resort stuff, when people have nothing else, they can offer.
    The interesting thing we have noted is how alone Key is on this one, he has none of his cronies at his side – where is his good mate Stephen Joyce? Bill Englis distanced himself some time ago – but where is everyone else?

    • karol 8.1

      Peter Dunne is even distancing himself from Key on this.

      • Tracey 8.1.1

        IMO Peter Dunne has no credibility on this issue. He was a willing seller to a willing buyer… he also labelled Dirty Politics “muckraking” refusing to read it but happy to pass judgment.

        Looks like Mr Dunne again only gets passionate about something which affects Mr Dunne personally… but he is even then still for sale.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 8.2

      Depends: the ratfuckers are lashing out and threatening everyone in sight, the rest are grieving.

      Just a guess.

    • weka 8.3

      “The interesting thing we have noted is how alone Key is on this one, he has none of his cronies at his side – where is his good mate Stephen Joyce? Bill Englis distanced himself some time ago – but where is everyone else?”

      And yet there was a cabinet paper on the ‘proposal’. Key’s not alone in terms of responsibility or culpability. Which to my mind means we’re looking at not just the potential of the PM resigning, but the whole government.

  9. Tracey 9

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9070452/GCSB-Prime-Minister-John-Keys-speech

    If you want to read the PM’s speech on the introduction of the third reading of the Bill.

  10. Tracey 10

    Perhaps a journalist could ask this follow up question when Key says

    GCSB is not doing wholesale surveillance on the Nzers…

    “Prime Minister, when are they scheduled to start it?”

  11. karol 11

    Gordon Campbell’s analysis of Key’s responses to Greenwald is excellent.

    This:

    Remember the Key who claimed to be unaware of what on earth the GCSB was up to – trust him, he knew nothing, nothing about the joint Police/FBI/GCSB operation being mounted on Kim Dotcom’s home until virtually the day it happened? All gone. Now we are being expected to regard him as the eagle-eyed monitor who crisply intercepted the GCSB’s proposed new modus operandi and knocked them back when they presumed to step over the line. He’s onto it, except when he isn’t. So, which John Key has been running the GCSB – the one who doesn’t know and can’t be held accountable for what it does, or the one who micro-manages its every intention?
    […]
    It may seem (marginally) plausible that Key should suddenly backtrack on a GCSB programme that he would surely have known about since its inception. Yet could he also in the process, significantly abridge a surveillance system seen as integral to the Five Eyes arrangement ? Logically, that seems highly unlikely. We like to think that we punch above our weight, but outpunching the NSA and unilaterally pulling the plug on a system that has been endorsed by our Five Eyes partners – such that they then wouldn’t be able to implement the system as a whole ? This would be the security intelligence version of withdrawing from the ANZUS pact. Key’s explanation simply doesn’t make sense.

    • Tracey 11.1

      It beggars belief that some still trust him. The safeguard between us and warranted mass surveillance is…

      JOHN KEY….

      “But Mr Key was unable to tell reporters later whether the United States National Security Agency collected wholesale information on New Zealanders for its purposes.

      “I don’t know,” he said.”

      ..

      “Mr Key also said the GCSB did not get other countries to collect information on New Zealanders to circumvent New Zealand law.

      Asked whether the NSA collected wholesale information on New Zealanders for their own purposes, he said: “I don’t have the answer to that – I don’t know.”

      So there you have it, as Gordon Campbell says, we have nothing to worry about provided we trust

      JOHN KEY

      • seeker 11.1.1

        “It beggars belief that some still trust him. The safeguard between us and warranted mass surveillance is…

        JOHN KEY…. ”

        Spot on Tracey as indeed Gordon Campbell via Karol. Thus I will post video evidence yet again of john key’s mo of
        untruthfulness:

        PM John Key grilled on Fletcher’s GCSB appointment
        http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics-videos/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503464&gal_cid=1503464&gallery_id=131968

        Key says Rennie put forward Fletcher’s name @ 40 secs but changes his story @1.46 in, and Very Unusually was actually queried on it by a journalist @ 1.55 and repeats truth or lie @2.05mins. Only video I’ve seen and still able to access that shows him lying.

        (have to give back computer now, have posted as many times as poss.)

    • Kevin Welsh 11.2

      I bet he could recount in great detail, every golf round he has played with Obama though…

  12. Hami Shearlie 12

    Anyone hear what Sir Bruce Ferguson had to say about the collection of metadata by the GCSB when he was in charge? I missed it on Morning Report.

  13. 100% Pure NZ 13

    Front-Running
    CFH UFB
    Co-Location
    Palantir

    Link: https://www.palantir.com/careers/OpenPosDetail?id=a0m80000003mUYHAA2

  14. Peter Revell 14

    The Police

    Every breath you take
    Every move you make
    Every bond you break
    Every step you take
    I’ll be watching you

    Every single day
    Every word you say
    Every game you play
    Every night you stay
    I’ll be watching you

    Is this a STING

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    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    14 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    16 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
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