“Obviously, not everyone agrees that a Mass Extinction Event is under way. The ongoing, rampant denial is based on at least four factors: 1) contemporary people are generally ignorant about science; 2) these people are not particularly bright; 3) people lie to themselves and others to enhance their own comfort; and 4) vertebrate animals tend to receive more attention than other species in discussions about the ongoing loss of biodiversity.
“We are in the midst of an insect apocalypse that has been widely reported for the last few years. Insects and other small, seemingly insignificant species are critically important for our continued wellbeing and survival. It is the smallest of organisms that pollinate plants, filter water, break down biomass into soil, and generally make our lives worth living. If you think tiny organisms don’t matter to your health and happiness, just try upsetting the balance of bacteria in your stomach. You can get back to me when you’re done sitting on a toilet.
“We are in trouble. We are in real trouble. Earth has been in the midst of a Mass Extinction Event for at least 30 years.”
Beautiful quote from a spokesperson in the PM's office to a reporter seeking to question about a misogynistic altered photo.
"The Prime Minister’s office declined to comment when approached by Stuff. A spokesman added that it was the perpetrators of misogyny that should be questioned, not the victim."
And questioned severely. The maximum penalty is a $200,000 fine for a company.
There have been many women down the years who can attest to the accuracy of negative reactions mac1. Victims are left to feel they are in some way responsible for the harassment they have experienced.
In my case it was obscene phone calls and hoaxes with sexual connotations. On one occasion my home was broken into and a lurid message scrawled on a bathroom cabinet door. It also included false claims about me to authoritative persons. The perpetrators (two of them as it turned out) were never approached by those to whom I reported the incidents including the police. I didn’t know their identities at the time but for certain reasons an investigation would have uncovered them quickly.
It is wrong that this type of activity is not taken as seriously as other forms of criminal behaviour. It can have such an impact on a person's life as has been elsewhere described by the City Councillor, Sara Templeton.
Yes, Anker. Told a man I walk with about this issue. He had to have it explained to him why it was misogyny. Earlier, I listened to some anti-Māori story telling and got told that Māori would have used slaves to dig the eel canals by an American of otherwise great sensibility.
I wonder why first the topic came up as we looked down on the site of the first Polynesian settlement in Aotearoa, and why people immediately the brought in the cruel side of Māori culture as they did today.
Is it a way of justifying old colonial attitudes- "They did it, too"?
Interestingly I diverted the discussion onto stories of how our pakeha ancestors got here and when, and why. They knew the stories of the ships, their names, where and when they landed, even why they came. And they were doubting stories of canoes bringing crops and growing materials that gave legitimacy to the Māori who were telling their stories to them.
These were otherwise reasonable men, some conservatives, some Greenies but we have some way to go in our discourse as this discussion, held over coffee on a site that was a replica of a stone age Henge, showed.
Three Waters, co-governance, Te Tiriti, will occupy some pretty ugly ground to be worked over…….
Misogyny, racism, bigotry in all its form have a common roots in ignorance, fear and power-seeking greed.
Look for the same causes in reactions to the new issues of our times- pandemics and global warming.
Yes Tony, I am alarmed at the lack of flying insects. Bees have been notable by their absence.
Cockroaches and ants still abound round our pongas, but there are few moths round lights at night.
Spraying for years, mowing all grass, planting geometric spiky plants, doing away with cottage gardens and fruit trees, fences instead of hedges, the world of concrete and bitumen is damaging life.
When will these lunatics be charged with conspiring to kidnap and murder their imagined enemies?
Surely discussing and then compiling a list of those they intend to kidnap and murder is enough.
On a Tuesday afternoon last month, around two dozen people joined a Zoom meeting to decide whether to sentence the New Zealand Government to death.
This group, calling itself a “grand jury”, was led by Australian woman Sandra Crack, who has claimed to be the “chief sheriff” of Australia.
A day earlier, the group had ruled that the Government was no longer legitimate, and agreed that all laws passed since 1987 were fraudulent and thus void. Now, they would be the arbiters of justice in New Zealand.
[…]
For more than five hours, the group discussed the supposed crimes that had been committed. Among those on the Zoom call were John Ansell, the former National party ad-man, and Jamie Mansfield – who uses the pseudonym Jae Ratana – who was involved in setting up the occupation at Parliament.
[…]
One by one, the jury voted to adopt the death penalty for these crimes.
Have you even read the link in joe90’s comment or did you simply fail to switch on your brain and register the words and message? 15 March was less than 3 weeks ago and you’ve already conveniently wiped it from your memory, it seems. Has it occurred to you that you might be an enabler?
Assuming the zoom meeting is reported accurately, the agreement of several people (zoom participants) to damage another (the people they "judged") via an unlawful act (the legal validity of their "summonses" and "executions"to be determined by an actual court, of course).
Might be that the same people talking about the zoom meeting have a recording of that zoom meeting, in which case the evidence of the conspiracy will be the recording of the conspiracy.
Good point joe – this crowd has been around in various forms for decades, but as the globalisation unravels and the level of threat and anxiety builds they will gain adherents. Expect more of this.
There is of course a lesson in this for all of us. The moment you are thinking that your cause is so important that it justifies chaos, murder, or even war in order to achieve it's ends – then you have stepped over the boundary.
Beats the hell out of me that there are so many people who can look at Ardern, Baker, Bloomfield, Wiles etc and think "These obvious bad-faith actors are lying to me" but see egregious proven grifters like the organisers of camp Covid and think "These people are clearly trustworthy fellow citizens, I should give them some money."
Having spotted this story to , it all seemed to read like a McPhail & Gadsby satire…all it needed was a ex-mayor in a rusty stepside truck who sold speed on the side. Unfortunately this is the reality of conspiracy nutters cyber fucked on Qanon & the like
I'm writing a post for Climate Action Mondays, this one on slow fashion. If anyone is aware of government actions, progressive party policies, or NZ NGO/community activities, please let me know.
The environmental problems created by textile industry wastewater are due to increased oxygen demand, high color, and large amount of suspended solids. Wastewater of textile unit contains many pollutants, like inorganic compounds, dye waste, color residues, catalytic chemicals, and cleaning solvents (USEPA 1997).
I am getting the bag concept from the Yellow bird spread around the people I work with making quilts.
You tube on washing synthetics
Belladonna's idea of mending is right on point. If we celebrate the mending our clothes can go a bit/lot further.
There are groups setting up mending times/place eg Sustainability Trust
Freecycle can help recycle textiles
Trademe has a lively fabric sales section
I was asked to demonstrate how to turn a man's shirt collar the other day.
Timebank here in Welly often has requests for mending.
But the big textile users with waste are the curtain makers. They want to recycle, at least the ones I was in contact with but the amounts are huge and much bigger than a couple of individuals can do.
I did a huge assessment of 44 bags of textiles including old clothes and after while, when I was recycling them I started cutting off the 'Made in NZ' labels with the idea of doing a little research on who they were and what happened to them.
waste textiles used to be used in flooring underlay, cushions would be stuffed with painstakingly cut up cotton or wools scraps. Nowdays this work is looked on as almost slave labour. The alternative is to buy a ragging machine, mega bucks.
Consumer confidence correlates well with voting opinion,which in NZ is the lowest since 2008.The effects will arise in the Local elections as Both mayors and Councillors become unemployed.
Adding costs on a weak ideological basis ie that does not improve efficiency (productivity) is both wasteful and unsustainable in a regime of Peak Money.
Interesting article on the work that Mallard is doing to change the culture of parliament – specifically (though not entirely) around MPs – who have previously been untouchable.
Zachistka (Russian: зачистка, lit. clearing operation) is an unofficial Russian military term for "building (room-to-room) clearing operations" (battle drill) featuring armed patrols and house-to-house searches. The term is mostly associated with, but not exclusive to, the "insurgency phase" of the Second Chechen War following the reinstatement of Russian peacekeeping operations in Chechnya. Several zachistka operations became notorious for their accused or confirmed human rights violations by Russian forces, including ethnic cleansing and pillaging, and the term zachistka is used in English exclusively to refer to these violations, particularly in Chechnya.[1]
Housing investors and Tax breaks,seems to be a ubiquitous recipe for housing inflation.
Why did landlords buy so many more houses in 2021? There are a lot of reasons, including the rise of short-term rentals which has taken thousands of houses out of the Phoenix housing supply and put them into the Phoenix lodging supply.
One national, long-term, systemic cause is that real estate investors get huge tax breaks that live-in owners don't get. Landlords naturally buy a lot more houses because of those tax breaks.
Those government incentives also make real estate booms (and busts) a lot larger than they would be if the government didn’t, essentially, pay landlords to buy single-family houses.
The credit expansion also needed to go somewhere (equities being well overpriced) so Fundmanagers like Blackrock started investing in residential housing (they also had an in on where companies would expand production sites early)
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons Farmers who can’t sleep, worrying they’ll lose everything amid increasing drought. Youth struggling with depression over a future that feels hopeless. Indigenous people grief-stricken over devastated ecosystems. For all these people and more, climate change is taking a clear toll ...
New Zealand’s relationship with China is becoming harder to define, and with that comes a worry that a deteriorating political relationship could spill over into the economic relationship. It is about more than whether New Zealand will join Pillar Two of Aukus, though the Chinese Ambassador, more or less, suggested ...
Been hoping we would see something like this from Sir Geoffrey Palmer. This is excellent.The present Bill goes further than the National Development Act 1979 in stripping away procedures designed to ensure that environmental issues are properly considered. The 1979 approach was not acceptable then and this present approach is ...
He’s Got The Moxie: Only Willie Jackson possesses the credentials to meld together a new Labour message that is, at one and the same moment, staunchly working-class, union-friendly, and which speaks to the hundreds-of-thousands of urban Māori untethered to the neo-tribal capitalist elites of the Iwi Leaders Forum.IT’S ONE OF THE ...
Tree-huggers may well accuse the Government of giving them the fingers, after Energy Minister Simeon Brown announced new measures to protect powerlines from trees, rather than measures to protect trees from powerlines. It can be no coincidence, surely, that this has been announced at the same as Fisheries Minister Shane Jones ...
Willie Jackson will participate in the prestigious Oxford Union debate on Thursday, following in David Lange’s footsteps. Coincidentally, Jackson has also followed Lange’s footsteps by living in his old home in South Auckland. And like Lange, Jackson might be the sort of loud-mouth scrapper who could take over the Labour ...
Barrister Gary Judd KC’s complaint to the Regulatory Review Committee has sparked a fierce debate about the place of tikanga Māori – or Māori customs, values and spiritual beliefs – in the law.Judd opposes the New Zealand Council of Legal Education’s plans to make teaching tikanga compulsory in the legal curriculum.AUT ...
Alwyn Poole writes – In New Zealand we have approximately 460 high schools. The gaps between the schools that produce the best results for students and those at the other end of the spectrum are enormous.In terms of the data for their leavers, the top 30 schools have ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be ...
Brian Eastonwrites – The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am ...
The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed Gantz out into the open. ...
On Thursday 17 May, the Mayoral Proposal for Auckland’s Long Term Plan 2024-2034 was passed by Auckland Council, 20 to 1. It is set to be formally adopted by the Governing Body at its June 27th meeting. The entire process took 8 hours, with the vast majority of that time ...
Pakanga o muaTukua, ka ngaroPuritia taku ringaNgaro ana te ara ki pae rauThere's a battle aheadMany battles are lostBut you'll never see the end of the roadWhile you're travelling with meLate yesterday morning I headed to Wynyard Quarter to see Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick give their pre-budget State of ...
Maybe the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister expected the worst, so they mounted a stout defence of the Budget tax cuts to their party faithful at a party conference over the weekend. In turn, they were greeted with applause, which, though it may have been less than wildly enthusiastic, ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 12, 2024 thru Sat, May 18, 2024. Story of the week “The legislation I signed today [will] keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and ...
TL;DR: Here’s six links that stood out to me in the last day in Aotearoa’s political economy to 6:06am on Sunday, May 19:Aotearoa-NZ is the seventh worst in the OECD’s homelessness rankings, just behind the United States and just ahead of Australia. BlackRock thinks rate hikes actually worsen inflation because ...
Halfway up a historic tower in York, we are neither up nor down. At the top you will have views of a city steeped in antiquity, made and remade by Romans, Normans, Vikings, Tescos. Below, you will find a retired minister happy to tell you all about this most astonishing ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Does breathing contribute to CO2 ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: KiwiRail’s seemingly endless requests for more money is damning. At one point, KiwiRail assured Robertson when he was the Finance Minister that the worst-case scenario would be an extra $300 million before requesting $1.2 billion a few months later. Not what most people ...
No one knows what it's likeTo be the bad manTo be the sad manBehind blue eyesNo one knows what it's likeTo be hatedTo be fatedTo telling only liesHave you ever wondered what life must be like for Mike Hosking? Seeing things in black and white through blue tinted specs? In ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two week’s editions.Share More Than A FeildingBike bling, London Read more ...
Hi,I think we all made it through another week — congratulations. I’ve been digesting the new Arab Strap record, which is astonishing. In other news, I’m going to be doing a Webworm popup in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday July 13. I’ll bring a bunch of merch, and some other ...
The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am going to explore the Bill from the perspective of its proponents with their ...
New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be shooting the proposal in the foot. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Associate Education Minister David Seymour is urging the PostPrimary Teachers Association to put learning ahead of ideology. He wants the union leaders to call off their teachers meetings around the country where they hope to muster the strength to undo the government’s plans to establish several ...
What are police for? "Fighting crime" is the obvious answer. If there's a burglary, they should show up and investigate. Ditto if there's a murder or sexual assault. Speeding or drunk or dangerous driving is a crime, so obviously they should respond to that. And obviously, they should respond to ...
Michael Reddell writes – I got curious yesterday about how the Australia/New Zealand real exchange rate had changed over the last decade, and so dug out the data on the changes in the two countries’ CPIs. Over the 10 years from March 2014 to March 2024, New Zealand’s ...
Graham Adams writes that 20 years after the land march, judges are quietly awarding a swathe of coastal rights to iwi. Early this month, an hour-long documentary was released by TVNZ to mark the 20th anniversary of the land-rights march to oppose Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act. The account ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has passed an unpleasant milestone: she has now been absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year. Tana is on full pay while she is suspended, and will benefit from a ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is no coincidence that two Labour should-have-been MPs are making the most noise about public sector cuts. As assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons has been at the forefront of revealing where the next round of state sector job ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a ...
This is one of the (extra) weekly columns on music or movies. Plenty of solid analyses of Possession exist online and most of them – inevitably – contain spoilers. This column is more in the way of a first-timer’s aid to getting your initial bearings. You don’t need to have ...
I am painting in oil, a portrait of a manWho has taken all the heart aches,And all the pain he can stand.I am using all the colors of blue,I have here on my stand.I am painting in oil, a portrait of a man.This has been an interesting week for me. ...
Helen Clark joins the Hoon as a special guest talking whether Aotearoa should join Aukus II, and her views on the fast track legislation and how Luxon and the new Government are performing. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts ...
With an election due in less than nine months, Britain’s embattled PM, Rishi Sunak, gave a useful speech earlier this week. He made a substantial case for his government, perhaps as compelling as is possible in the current environment. Quite an achievement. His overall theme was security, first pulling ...
Open access notablesPublicly expressed climate scepticism is greatest in regions with high CO2 emissions, Pearson et al., Climatic Change:We analysed a recently released corpus of climate-related tweets to examine the macro-level factors associated with public declarations of climate change scepticism. Analyses of over 2 million geo-located tweets in the U.S. showed that climate ...
You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the “Brahmins’” emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
“Members of Parliament don’t work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPs’ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. That’s when they began to be treated like employees – public servants – whose diaries had ...
It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUS’s “Pillar 2” – or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HE’S FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
Henry Ergas writes – When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading → ...
David Farrar writes – Newstalk ZB report: The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?” Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red ...
Muriel Newman writes – Former US President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” The fight for ...
Why Courts should have said Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Karen Chhour Gary Judd writes – In the High Court, Justice Isacs declined to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal to compel Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, to appear before it to be ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The number of voices raising concerns about the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill is rapidly growing. This is especially apparent now that Parliament’s select committee is listening to submissions from the public to evaluate the proposed legislation. Twenty-seven thousand submissions have been made to Parliament ...
An average of 166 New Zealand citizens left the country every day during the March quarter, up 54% from a year ago.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and housing market is sinking into a longer recession through the winter after a slump in business and consumer confidence in ...
The government has made it abundantly clear they’re addicted to the smell of new asphalt. On Tuesday they introduced a new term to the country’s roading lexicon, the Roads of Regional Significance (RoRS), a little brother for the Roads of National (Party) Significance (RoNS). Driving ahead with Roads of Regional ...
School is outAnd I walk the empty hallwaysI walk aloneAlone as alwaysThere's so many lucky penniesLying on the floorBut where the hell are all the lucky peopleI can't see them any moreYesterday morning, I’d just sent out my newsletter on Tama Potaka, and I was struggling to make the coffee. ...
Hi,I wanted to check in and ask how you’re doing.This is perhaps a selfish act, of attempting to find others feeling a similar way to me — that is to say, a little hopeless at the moment.Misery loves company, that sort of deal.Some context.I wish I could say I got ...
I have hitherto been fairly quiet on the new season of Rings of Power, on the basis that the underwhelming first season did not exactly build excitement – and the rumours were fairly daft. The only real thing of substance to come out has been that they have re-cast Adar ...
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 ...
“The thing is,” Chris Luxon says, leaning forward to make his point, “this has always been my thing.”“This goes all the way back to the first multinational I worked for. I was saying exactly the same thing back then. The name of our business needs to be more clear; people ...
Buzz from the Beehive It’s been a momentous few days for Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision which blocked a summons order from the Waitangi Tribunal for her. And today she has announced the Government is putting children first by introducing to ...
In 2014 former Australian army lawyer David McBride leaked classified military documents about Australian war crimes to the ABC. Dubbed "The Afghan Files", the documents led to an explosive report on Australian war crimes, the disbanding of an entire SAS unit, and multiple ongoing prosecutions. The journalist who wrote the ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick used this year's State of the Planet to call on the Government to prioritise people and planet as the delivery of the Budget approaches. A full transcript of their speeches can be found below. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. “Pharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
Tēnā koutou katoa. Da jia hao. Good morning everyone. Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran O’Sullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
Opinion: As an indication of the eye-watering sums involved for the mega-prison plans announced two weeks ago by Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell, consider that $932 million has already been spent on a separate facility due to open at Waikeria next year – that’s about $1.5 million for each of the ...
Opinion: People with certain types of health conditions are more likely than others to have their symptoms dismissed, minimised or disbelieved. These conditions are diagnosed based on the patient self-report of symptoms, where there is no definitive diagnostic test that can prove the existence of disease or demonstrate structural or ...
The intensity of it, ironically, can feel like bullying. Social media activism is reaching something of a peak with the war in Gaza, using the hashtag Blockout2024. It started at this year’s MetGala when influencer and model Haley Kalil was caught on video muttering ‘let them eat cake’ – suddenly ...
It’s 2011 and I am 43 years old. My partner, Christine, and I got together when I was 36. We had been friends for about 10 years before that. One of the first things I asked Christine was whether she wanted to have kids. I had just come out of ...
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New Caledonia’s Tontouta International Airport remains closed, and Air New Zealand’s next scheduled flight is on Saturday — although it is not ruling out adding extra services. Air NZ’s Captain David Morgan said on Monday evening flights would only resume when they were assured of the security of the airport ...
Asia Pacific Report As Israel drives the Palestinians deeper into another Nakba in Gaza with its assault on Rafah, the Palestine Youth Aotearoa (PYA) and solidarity supporters in Aotearoa New Zealand tonight commemorated the original Nakba — “the Catastrophe” — of 1948. The 1948 Nakba . . . more than ...
Young people on the streets in New Caledonia are saying they will “never give up” pushing back against France’s hold on the Pacific territory, a Kanak journalist in Nouméa says. Pro-independence Radio Djiido’s Andre Qaeze told RNZ Pacific young people had said that “Paris must respect us” and what had ...
This episode of A View from Afar podcast was recorded live from 12:45pm May 20, 2024 (NZST). Political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning examine: The United States and how the world is engaging with it geopolitically.Specifically, Paul and Selwyn analyse what has changed in this regard in ...
Analysis - Power is not being abused, but it is not being well managed either. New Zealand democracy, unique and currently brittle, should be handled with greater care, Alexander Gillespie writes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University Forest Conservation Victoria, CC BY-NC-ND Victoria’s native forest logging industry ended on January 1 this year. The news was met with jubilation from conservationists. But did logging really ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University Rose Marinelli/ShutterstockThis article is part two of The Conversation’s “Business Basics” series where we ask leading experts to discuss key concepts in business, economics and finance. How governments should manage their budgets, and how ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole George, Associate Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Queensland On Sunday afternoon, Australian citizens who have been trapped in New Caledonia were called to a meeting at one of the large hotels in the capital, Noumea. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Soong, Senior Lecturer and Socio-cultural researcher, UniSA Education Futures, University of South Australia International students have come under fire from both sides of federal politics in the past week. The Albanese government introduced legislation to parliament last Thursday to put ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jake Renzella, Lecturer, Director of Studies (Computer Science), UNSW Sydney An example of shrimp Jesus.Shutterstock AI Generator If you search “shrimp Jesus” on Facebook, you might encounter dozens of images of artificial intelligence (AI) generated crustaceans meshed in various forms with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua McLeod, Lecturer in Sport Management, Deakin University Being a sport administrator comes with many perks, so it’s no surprise many want to stay in their positions as long as possible. Recently, a trend has emerged whereby leaders in sport are seeking ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Joyisjoyful/Shutterstock If you buy your olive oil in bulk, you’ve likely been in for a shock in recent weeks. Major supermarkets have been selling olive oil for up to ...
A conversation with artist and home cook Prairie Hatchard-McGill, aka @cacioeprairie. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. A few weeks ago, I spotted Prairie strolling down Ponsonby Road at sunset, a bunch of celery tucked under her arm. She was too far away for me ...
The Haka Challenge invites anyone to learn and record the Ka Mate haka as performed by the All Blacks, to show their support for "the South Pacific's greatest truth teller". ...
At the Christchurch rally in support of Palestine, he started his hunger strike and vowed to continue until the government stops supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. ...
With Nouméa reeling as mainly young, politically active Kanak people take to the streets and protest, a spirit that has been dormant since the 1980s has awoken. Tāmaki Makaurau-based Kanak Joseph Xulué provides some context.As reports continue to emphasise the fires burning through the streets of Nouméa (the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Newspoll, conducted after the May 14 budget from a sample of over 1,200 people, gave Labor a 52–48% lead over ...
A New Zealander studying at the University of New Caledonia says students have been taught to use fire extinguishers as firefighters are unlikely to come help if there is an emergency. It comes as days of unrest followed a controversial proposed constitutional amendment which would allow more French residents of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Getty Images There have been so many submissions on the government’s proposed Fast-track Approvals Bill – 27,000 written, with 2,900 wanting to appear before the select committee in person – that a ballot ...
The LIVE Recording of A View from Afar podcast will begin today at 12:45pm May 20, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, 8:30pm (USEST). Today, political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning will examine: The United States and how the world is engaging with it geopolitically.Specifically, we will ...
After falling victim to a scam over the phone, Russell Brown spent the day with One NZ’s cyber defence and fraud prevention teams to see the work they do to stop millions of scam attempts every year.The only windows in the Cyber Defence Centre at One NZ’s Auckland headquarters ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marika Sosnowski, Postdoctoral research fellow, The University of Melbourne Ever since armed conflict has existed, ceasefires have been thought of as a bridge between war and peace. Consequently, their success has been measured by their ability to stop violence between warring parties ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antonia Shand, Research Fellow, Obstetrician, University of Sydney Backgroundy/Shutterstock Oral retinoids are a type of medicine used to treat severe acne. They’re sold under the brand name Roaccutane, among others. While oral retinoids are very effective, they can have harmful effects ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Renwick, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand This month the federal government announced a plan to ban live sheep exports, set to come into effect from May 1 2028. The announcement coincided with the release of a highly ...
Another technical answer: ‘no one really knows.’ It smells like hot fat and fish. You hug the warm bundle of newspaper, translucent with grease, swaddling it like a newborn babe. Behind the counter is a small child doing her homework, and the grumpiest Chinese lady in the world. Above you, ...
New Zealanders are being called on to give Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones “the finger” in a cheeky new campaign that aims to dramatically boost marine protection in Aotearoa. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nic Rawlence, Senior Lecturer in Ancient DNA, University of Otago Auckland Island merganser. Artistic reconstruction by J. G. Keulemans from Bullers Birds of New Zealand (1888)Bullers Birds of New Zealand, Author provided Ask a bird lover if they have heard of ...
Leaders from three of the biggest political parties addressed party faithful over the weekend, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A weekend ...
Kia ora, welcome to Windbag, The Spinoff’s new Wellington issues column, written by me, Joel MacManus. In this first edition, I take a closer look at the first half of Tory Whanau’s term as mayor. If you want to understand Wellington’s local political landscape, you need to start in 2013 ...
A taonga going under the hammer at an Auckland auction house tonight is expected to fetch thousands. But concerns have been raised about its unclear provenance – and about the law that’s meant to protect it. Eda Tang reports. When Tamatea* received the huia feather they bought from a licensed ...
“It might feel like the country is slogging it up the hill at the moment,” Finance Minister Nicola Willis tells party faithful in Palmerston North on Sunday, “But we’re gonna get to the top of the hill, and it’s downhill on the other side. And the reason it’s downhill is ...
One issue that all the leaders of the coalition Government have agreed on is the expansion of the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme. Established in 2007, the scheme allows workers from participating Pacific countries to come to New Zealand to take up roles on a short-term basis. For the government, it’s ...
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The last person anyone expected to see at last week’s Ockham national book awards was Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He was made to feel as welcome as a plague. He was mocked, and challenged. But good on him for coming. His presence gave the awards an edge, a tension, which ...
Sir Geoffrey Palmer, author of the seminal book Unbridled Power challenging Muldoon-era decision-making,says the Fast-Track Approvals Bill is a bigger threat to constitutional government The post A fast track to environmental degradation appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Uncertainty is an overwhelming theme for two seabed mining projects aiming to use the Government’s controversial fast-track regime The post Seabed miners: What we know and what we don’t appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s the 38th birthday present Jo Aleh never expected to receive. Last Monday, Aleh and her sailing partner, Molly Meech, flew home to Auckland from Marseille, where they’d been training for their Paris Olympics campaign in the 49erFX. Within a couple of hours of touching down, they were out on ...
NC La Première television reports on the clearing of barricades after a week of protests and rioting in the capital Nouméa. Video: NC 1ère TVBy Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk With New Caledonia about to enter its second week of deadly riots, French authorities have mounted ...
Asia Pacific Report Pacific civil society and solidarity groups today stepped up their pressure on the French government, accusing it of a “heavy-handed” crackdown on indigenous Kanak protest in New Caledonia, comparing it to Indonesian security forces crushing West Papuan dissent. A state of emergency was declared last week, at ...
On May 18, the Taiwanese community in Christchurch came together for the "Health for All, Taiwan Can Help" march, urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to grant Taiwan participation. ...
Thoughts on a Sunday morning:
“Obviously, not everyone agrees that a Mass Extinction Event is under way. The ongoing, rampant denial is based on at least four factors: 1) contemporary people are generally ignorant about science; 2) these people are not particularly bright; 3) people lie to themselves and others to enhance their own comfort; and 4) vertebrate animals tend to receive more attention than other species in discussions about the ongoing loss of biodiversity.
“We are in the midst of an insect apocalypse that has been widely reported for the last few years. Insects and other small, seemingly insignificant species are critically important for our continued wellbeing and survival. It is the smallest of organisms that pollinate plants, filter water, break down biomass into soil, and generally make our lives worth living. If you think tiny organisms don’t matter to your health and happiness, just try upsetting the balance of bacteria in your stomach. You can get back to me when you’re done sitting on a toilet.
“We are in trouble. We are in real trouble. Earth has been in the midst of a Mass Extinction Event for at least 30 years.”
From Guy McPherson – Nature Bats Last.
Beautiful quote from a spokesperson in the PM's office to a reporter seeking to question about a misogynistic altered photo.
"The Prime Minister’s office declined to comment when approached by Stuff. A spokesman added that it was the perpetrators of misogyny that should be questioned, not the victim."
And questioned severely. The maximum penalty is a $200,000 fine for a company.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300556615/police-receive-complaint-about-doctored-photo-of-pm-used-to-promote-strip-club?
There have been many women down the years who can attest to the accuracy of negative reactions mac1. Victims are left to feel they are in some way responsible for the harassment they have experienced.
In my case it was obscene phone calls and hoaxes with sexual connotations. On one occasion my home was broken into and a lurid message scrawled on a bathroom cabinet door. It also included false claims about me to authoritative persons. The perpetrators (two of them as it turned out) were never approached by those to whom I reported the incidents including the police. I didn’t know their identities at the time but for certain reasons an investigation would have uncovered them quickly.
It is wrong that this type of activity is not taken as seriously as other forms of criminal behaviour. It can have such an impact on a person's life as has been elsewhere described by the City Councillor, Sara Templeton.
Disgusting mysogyny. But that is what I would expect of a business that objectifies women.
Its brutal to see how women are the target of so much vitriol and hate
Yes, Anker. Told a man I walk with about this issue. He had to have it explained to him why it was misogyny. Earlier, I listened to some anti-Māori story telling and got told that Māori would have used slaves to dig the eel canals by an American of otherwise great sensibility.
I wonder why first the topic came up as we looked down on the site of the first Polynesian settlement in Aotearoa, and why people immediately the brought in the cruel side of Māori culture as they did today.
Is it a way of justifying old colonial attitudes- "They did it, too"?
Interestingly I diverted the discussion onto stories of how our pakeha ancestors got here and when, and why. They knew the stories of the ships, their names, where and when they landed, even why they came. And they were doubting stories of canoes bringing crops and growing materials that gave legitimacy to the Māori who were telling their stories to them.
These were otherwise reasonable men, some conservatives, some Greenies but we have some way to go in our discourse as this discussion, held over coffee on a site that was a replica of a stone age Henge, showed.
Three Waters, co-governance, Te Tiriti, will occupy some pretty ugly ground to be worked over…….
Misogyny, racism, bigotry in all its form have a common roots in ignorance, fear and power-seeking greed.
Look for the same causes in reactions to the new issues of our times- pandemics and global warming.
Yes Tony, I am alarmed at the lack of flying insects. Bees have been notable by their absence.
Cockroaches and ants still abound round our pongas, but there are few moths round lights at night.
Spraying for years, mowing all grass, planting geometric spiky plants, doing away with cottage gardens and fruit trees, fences instead of hedges, the world of concrete and bitumen is damaging life.
Proliferation of neonicotinoids is what I fear
Smokefree 2025
Yes, unfortunately, I rather think we'll make it!
When will these lunatics be charged with conspiring to kidnap and murder their imagined enemies?
Surely discussing and then compiling a list of those they intend to kidnap and murder is enough.
On a Tuesday afternoon last month, around two dozen people joined a Zoom meeting to decide whether to sentence the New Zealand Government to death.
This group, calling itself a “grand jury”, was led by Australian woman Sandra Crack, who has claimed to be the “chief sheriff” of Australia.
A day earlier, the group had ruled that the Government was no longer legitimate, and agreed that all laws passed since 1987 were fraudulent and thus void. Now, they would be the arbiters of justice in New Zealand.
[…]
For more than five hours, the group discussed the supposed crimes that had been committed. Among those on the Zoom call were John Ansell, the former National party ad-man, and Jamie Mansfield – who uses the pseudonym Jae Ratana – who was involved in setting up the occupation at Parliament.
[…]
One by one, the jury voted to adopt the death penalty for these crimes.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300555020/the-selfproclaimed-sheriffs-who-want-to-arrest-the-authorities
https://number8haywire.substack.com/p/sheriffs?s=r
The tragedy is that sovereignty movement folk do not realise they are larpers.
When will these lunatics be charged with conspiring
So, conspiracies are real? What makes this a conspiracy?
I imagine that police would require evidence before any charges could be laid.
Publicise a conspiracy to import a banned substance and find out whether or not the popo require evidence before any charges could be laid.
Who let the monkeys out this morning?
Have you even read the link in joe90’s comment or did you simply fail to switch on your brain and register the words and message? 15 March was less than 3 weeks ago and you’ve already conveniently wiped it from your memory, it seems. Has it occurred to you that you might be an enabler?
Have you even read the link in joe90’s comment
I read the link before joe90 posted it. 🙂
To repeat: police usually need evidence before they can bring charges. These prosecution guidelines may be helpful.
https://www.crownlaw.govt.nz/publications/prosecution-guidelines/
Pretty legal, innocent until proven guilty, nothing to see here …
You are an enabler and you cannot even use ignorance as an excuse.
Unless you’re the Police Officer in charge, of course …
many are
Assuming the zoom meeting is reported accurately, the agreement of several people (zoom participants) to damage another (the people they "judged") via an unlawful act (the legal validity of their "summonses" and "executions"to be determined by an actual court, of course).
Might be that the same people talking about the zoom meeting have a recording of that zoom meeting, in which case the evidence of the conspiracy will be the recording of the conspiracy.
Happy to help.
Good point joe – this crowd has been around in various forms for decades, but as the globalisation unravels and the level of threat and anxiety builds they will gain adherents. Expect more of this.
There is of course a lesson in this for all of us. The moment you are thinking that your cause is so important that it justifies chaos, murder, or even war in order to achieve it's ends – then you have stepped over the boundary.
I presume Jae Ratana is the same one who had publicity last week.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/464328/protest-donations-went-into-bank-account-of-man-with-history-of-unpaid-debt
Yup. And ain't it funny how lots of these folk all seem to have a sketchy AF backstory. The details of Kelvyn's are behind the Horrids pay wall.
But twitter to the rescue.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1492952304252698624.html
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/latest-edition/3278920/Mercenary-behind-gold-bid-in-Solomons
And in Kelvyn's own words;
https://www.solomontimes.com/news/in-his-own-words-kelvyn-speaks-out/4080
Beats the hell out of me that there are so many people who can look at Ardern, Baker, Bloomfield, Wiles etc and think "These obvious bad-faith actors are lying to me" but see egregious proven grifters like the organisers of camp Covid and think "These people are clearly trustworthy fellow citizens, I should give them some money."
100%
Having spotted this story to , it all seemed to read like a McPhail & Gadsby satire…all it needed was a ex-mayor in a rusty stepside truck who sold speed on the side. Unfortunately this is the reality of conspiracy nutters cyber fucked on Qanon & the like
I'm writing a post for Climate Action Mondays, this one on slow fashion. If anyone is aware of government actions, progressive party policies, or NZ NGO/community activities, please let me know.
Coincidentally, I've just signed up for a workshop on visible mending – at our local Community House.
https://www.facebook.com/highburyhousenz/events/
[Not what you were asking for, I know …. but coincidentally…]
this is totally what I am wanting, thank-you!
It's been around for a while – here's Judith Tizard knitting in Parliament
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mp-judith-tizard-makes-it-plain-she-will-knit-in-the-house/SF4GZVSOHOBXIS7JGT2U3ME7MM/
I was going to use these links about textile waste in reply to the Tuesday of this week's episode, and I guess its links to slow fashion
https://littleyellowbird.com/
(and see their end of life cotton recycling)
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/12-05-2021/theres-a-global-avalanche-of-used-clothing-and-nz-needs-to-do-more-to-save-it-from-landfill
https://www.textilereuse.com/
Then the wateretc consumed in making any textile
Waste water from textile industry
The environmental problems created by textile industry wastewater are due to increased oxygen demand, high color, and large amount of suspended solids. Wastewater of textile unit contains many pollutants, like inorganic compounds, dye waste, color residues, catalytic chemicals, and cleaning solvents (USEPA 1997).
A critical review of textile wastewater options
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-55423-5_6#:~:text=The%20environmental%20problems%20created%20by,cleaning%20solvents%20(USEPA%201997).
This article looks at the release of microplastic particles into our waste water every time we wash a piece of synthetic clothing
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43023-x
I am getting the bag concept from the Yellow bird spread around the people I work with making quilts.
You tube on washing synthetics
Belladonna's idea of mending is right on point. If we celebrate the mending our clothes can go a bit/lot further.
There are groups setting up mending times/place eg Sustainability Trust
Freecycle can help recycle textiles
Trademe has a lively fabric sales section
I was asked to demonstrate how to turn a man's shirt collar the other day.
Timebank here in Welly often has requests for mending.
But the big textile users with waste are the curtain makers. They want to recycle, at least the ones I was in contact with but the amounts are huge and much bigger than a couple of individuals can do.
https://sustaintrust.org.nz/our-recycling-programmes
I did a huge assessment of 44 bags of textiles including old clothes and after while, when I was recycling them I started cutting off the 'Made in NZ' labels with the idea of doing a little research on who they were and what happened to them.
waste textiles used to be used in flooring underlay, cushions would be stuffed with painstakingly cut up cotton or wools scraps. Nowdays this work is looked on as almost slave labour. The alternative is to buy a ragging machine, mega bucks.
https://www.onlineclothingstudy.com/2020/08/textile-recycling-mechanical-recycling.html
https://recyclinginternational.com/technology/textile-recycling-pioneers-weave-their-magic/28471/
One type of shredder…..we need to be able to sell/use the product.
Other countries are looking at it.
https://fashiontakesaction.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/FTA-A-Feasibility-Study-of-Textile-Recycling-in-Canada-EN-June-17-2021.pdf
Fast fashion grrrrr
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44968561
Basically it needs a push to make it 'sexy' to deal with textile waste at a high level.
Local Govt could be driving this a much more except they feel they have to make a buck all the time.
PS Old cotton curtains can be used as a weed suppressant. I peg (with windbreak pegs) them out over paper and cardboard after planting shrubs.
fantastic, thank-you!
I think using recycled fibres for concrete reinforcing has been explored and found to work: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950061815001099
'Fibrecrete' can be purchased in NZ now, but I am not sure of the fibres being used. Potential for a recycling opportunity here?
Whats really on peoples minds.
https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1508079380614066180
Consumer confidence correlates well with voting opinion,which in NZ is the lowest since 2008.The effects will arise in the Local elections as Both mayors and Councillors become unemployed.
Adding costs on a weak ideological basis ie that does not improve efficiency (productivity) is both wasteful and unsustainable in a regime of Peak Money.
https://tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/consumer-confidence
https://theconversation.com/cost-of-living-crisis-historical-evidence-suggests-voters-could-quickly-turn-against-tories-176633
Interesting article on the work that Mallard is doing to change the culture of parliament – specifically (though not entirely) around MPs – who have previously been untouchable.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/parliament-workplace-bullying-culture-review-mps-the-staff-you-cant-fire/6XHPXYTF6K527LDY3FIUABN26A/?c_id=1&objectid=12515297&ref=rss
Tankies, Putin humpers?
https://twitter.com/five15design/status/1510403906790387712
Zachistka
Zachistka (Russian: зачистка, lit. clearing operation) is an unofficial Russian military term for "building (room-to-room) clearing operations" (battle drill) featuring armed patrols and house-to-house searches. The term is mostly associated with, but not exclusive to, the "insurgency phase" of the Second Chechen War following the reinstatement of Russian peacekeeping operations in Chechnya. Several zachistka operations became notorious for their accused or confirmed human rights violations by Russian forces, including ethnic cleansing and pillaging, and the term zachistka is used in English exclusively to refer to these violations, particularly in Chechnya.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachistka
#Bucha
Housing investors and Tax breaks,seems to be a ubiquitous recipe for housing inflation.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwake/2022/04/01/the-real-reason-house-prices-are-skyrocketing-what-the-real-estate-industry-wont-tell-you/?sh=23c3bd335da4
That describes the incentives and symptoms rather than the cause (raison d'etre)….for that we can identify credit expansion.
The credit expansion also needed to go somewhere (equities being well overpriced) so Fundmanagers like Blackrock started investing in residential housing (they also had an in on where companies would expand production sites early)
Where the borrowing comes from is not important, rather the trajectory.
None of it would be accepted unless by design, and the functioning of the system depends on it….everything else is incidental.