Very uninformed person makes very uninformed career choice, then argues teachers don't want/need extra pay:
When I became a secondary school teacher, I had a fairy tale idea of what this career would look like. I pictured bright-eyed, eager students who wanted to learn.
I envisioned school holidays would be paid vacations that I could waste away at my leisure.
I thought, like the other jobs that I had held, that staff meetings would happen once a month, if that.
I thought parents would appreciate us. I thought society would respect us.
…
I got into this job because I want to make a difference. I want to help teens get a brilliant education so they could go out and take on the world. I want the best for all of them.
Monday night had Jessica M-M on TV1 saying we needed to get to know Luxon better following on from that night's polling. Last night Shane Reti was practically pleading with those watching to get to know him better because he is the greatest. Luxon has been Opposition leader long enough now for people to have made up their minds. What more do we need to know about him that we don't already know. He has had plenty of air time and screen time and Jessica M-M particularly is very supportive of him and is slightly caustic when she talks about the PM in my opinion.
Shane Reti's comments were absolutely vomitous. He mentioned twice that we needs to see more of Luxon's "parts", twice about Luxon needing to "reveal" more of himself, and a running theme of Reti's close proximity (between, behind, after hours) to Luxon.
Mr Reti presents as a classic “potato” style Māori with an obsequious manner, raised Mormon, he has an ingrained social conservatism as his voting record shows.
When I briefly lived in Whangārei, a Kainga Ora build of 37 public houses and apartments was approved in middle class Maunu suburb, Reti immediately took the side of the pākehā property owners not wanting state houses in their midst rather than supporting working class people in desperate need of accomodation.
I was bemused by the Nat's desperately pleading with us to like their leader. If after all this time and all of Luxon's gaffes and backtracks they think Luxon is suddenly going to become inspirational they are clearly living in fantasy land. Time for them to admit allowing JK to anoint Luxon was a huge mistake and draw a 'leader' out of the hat and then providd some coherent policy.
Labour strategists must be right chuffed with National at the moment. Against the cost of living crisis, national disasters and covid related inflation they lead in the the polls. As the cray-cray influence of the Fox News GOP right infects more and more right wingers so their political vehicles become more and more unelectable.
This isn't much of a problem in the USA where the far right has limitless resources, a full on media propaganda arm and has captured the judicial system to enable a whole raft of voter suppression and gerrymandering measures that means they don't have to worry as much about being popular enough to be elected in a fair election. But elsewhere, this style of politics has made the right unelectable.
Let's be honest – Labour is running a small target policy and on being the grown up in the room against an out of touch opposition ideologically marooned in the worst excesses of 1990s neoliberalism and full of Evangelicals intent on culture war politics. The trouble is the evidence is growing that this makes the right politically irrelevant in any sort of fair election. From Biden's victory, to the US midterms, to Albanese's win in Australia to the upcoming rout of the UK Tories the public are tiring of the infantile political distractions of Plutocrat populists. For all the horse race enthusiasm of the pundit class, that is the facts that matter.
Dr Sereana Naepi, a lecturer in social sciences at University of Auckland, said: “At best Te Pūkenga doesn't have separate email lists for academic and professional staff, at worst their CEO and the wider leadership team hasn’t read the Education and Training Act 2020.”
The "information" that staff are public servants and are not allowed to have (public) political opinions is dubious.
Yes well I think the separate lists is more the correct happening.(Cockup rather than conspiracy)
Even then most of the academics I know would look at these style guides as they usually give the best advice in not offending people unintentionally.
Unless offending is part of the game in your academic work, you mostly want to get your message/research read by as many as possible.
As well many academics are asked for things like literature reviews, extended analyses on papers of relevance to a Govt Dept and many of these paid works do abide by standards set by the employing agency. Many contracts do include the expected style and any deviation is simply not paid for and it is a waste of money.
Having a style guide isn't controlled speech, nor Orwellian. Lots of organisations have style guides. If you want to make the argument that there is something Orwellian about this particular style, can you please make an actual argument?
which makes sense when you don't know the sex or gender, or marital status, of the person being referred to. It's not akin to replacing the word woman with people who menstruate.
The terms spouse or partner have been 'around since Adam was a cowboy' as they say. Mid 1980s? Just like using Ms/Mr.
I don't have a problem with a style guide, most PS agencies have them and in the olden days we used to have a publication called
The PS Style Guide that covered all sorts of things such as
use of the Oxford comma
indenting and when you use it…….
etc
etc
This was very useful when drafting things like Gazette Notices, Orders in Council
Every Govt Dept that I ever worked in supplemented this with a department/agency specific style guide. I guess you could grab anyone of these and have a media beat-up on it.
colours and sizes of dept'l logos
salutations
when to use the shortened version of long dept'l names
If this is a Govt agency then the employees are Public Servants or belong in the State Sector and Codes of Conduct apply covering being impartial.
My understanding, having employed 'academics' in a Dept is that the usual PS Code of Conduct applies except when they are discussing their specialty so you would not expect an historian employed by Ministry of Culture or Treaty Unit to suddenly come out and comment on fluoridating water or Three Waters using their qualification in the history of Magna Carta to give these views credence.
Not being up on the pay arrangements, are all employees of tertiary orgs now employed by Te Pukenga including all academics ie tutors, profs etc?
What a beat up fuelled by ignorant journos aided and abetted by disgruntled and ignorant (on this issue) academics.
Aimed at public servants whose rules of employment prevent them from defending themselves and so presenting an easy target for bullies.
Also special attention is paid to being correct on Maori matters. The Crown is the other Treaty partner.
These agencies are crown agencies so surely out of all the people employed in the Govt sector ie for the other Treaty partner then we have an expectation that these matters will be addressed/standardised.
And again this is not new.
In a land dept prior to 1987 we had the equivalent of Maori Language style guides. I had several papers checked by both Pakeha & Maori academics and then by one of a group of eminent Maori who had an interest in what we were doing before it was presented to a UN agency audience, also in 1986/87.
It sort of does control speech, you'll quickly find that if you don't use the preferred language your opportunities quickly evaporate in the organization, will also be brought up in performance reviews etc.
I'm going to guess you're not objecting to the punctuation and grammar guide. Which bits are a problem exactly. That when writing official documents they want the organisation to be called by its name instead of the megapoly?
But why wouldn't you want your language, your tool, along with your brain, to be the best and most effective both for you and for your employer?
Do surgeons moan & groan because 'people' ask them to to sterilise their tools or use the most up to date ones. Do they moan at hospitlas that employ them who have these expectations?
So why shouldn't a person using their language tools for an employer not be guided by the employer as to the standards they expect?
As well most Style Guides are guides only, usually circulated for comment etc and if you did not take the chance to comment or indicate on a letter by letter basis why it may not be correct why do you moan when it is commented upon.
If it is still being commented on by the time a performance appraisal time comes about then you may not have shown that you have learned.
If you are writing for a Minister, for a cabinet paper, policy papers there are ways of doing this just as Drs, when writing scripts have to write them in certain ways otherwise they don't get filled.
I don't find this very convincing I am sorry Cricklewood.
Or are you saying that employers have taken issues with possible racism, sexism, ageism etc in speech in the workplace?
.
I did have a couple of staff that I had to ‘counsel’ about this. In the end we came to an agreement that he would act as if the Depts stds were a cloak that he put on as he stepped out of the lift on the way to work and left on throughout the working day. Mainly racism and sexism. The racism part, funnily enough, disappeared when he married someone who was Maori. The sexism never did.
A quote from the article I posted above. "words they should and should not use"
The row over academic freedom at Te Pūkenga – the country’s largest tertiary provider – has rumbled on after it emerged staff have been issued with a list of words they should and should not use.
“Staff were told they should not refer to the organisation as a “megapolytech” or say “merge” – even though those terms describe how it was formed. “We always refer to ourselves as Te Pūkenga.”
The guide discourages gendered language, for example: “We also use: spouse or partner – not husband, wife”.
how dare my employer tell me how to refer to my husband…….
They're not talking about personal communications, the style guide is for writing official documents so that there is consistency across the organisation. See Shanreagh's explanation above. No-one is taking away your ability to call your husband husband.
I have far more of a problem with this from the Stuff piece,
Last week Te Pūkenga staff were told they are “public servants” and must separate their personal views from their professional roles.
I only have a problem if it is not correct that they are public servants.
PS are bound by a Code of Conduct. this does in effect separate their personal & political views from their professional roles
Of course this does not stop you putting the best views forward to any policy based on your skills, research & life experiences within your workplace. Your brains are your tools and they are expected to be used! This is why diversity in workplaces is so important. In giving voice to views. policies, procedures we need to have a different experiences and views working with us.
If you want to engage in politics most PS are quite careful about doing anything that calls into question their impartiality, thus leading to their suitability for continued employment being called into question and losing their jobs. There are many ways to express your concern within the departmental setting and even whistle blowing mechanisms, contact with any Inspectorate doing their jobs etc.
When I was a PS I was never a member of a political party and neither were most of those I worked with. Of course we had our views and we voted, but we tried not to bring them to work.
If we were doing something that could put us in the spotlight then it was no problem to clear this and give a head's up to our employers.
“The very purpose of the protections for academic freedom in the legislation is to recognise the unique role of such institutions as spaces for stimulating debate, including on matters of controversy, provided this is informed by quality research and analysis,” said Jane Kelsey, professor emeritus at the Faculty of Law at University of Auckland.
“It may be that staff of Te Pūkenga central organisation are subject to those guidelines, but not the academics.”
Weka, I was going to follow up with Ani O'Brien but it is futile, from past experience.
Sometimes I cannot get over how sheltered and naive people like her are, have they never worked for an agency where there is a concern for correct writing & image.
This applies even to most large private sector employers who are very concerned about who & how people get to speak for them.
I’m probably blocked anyway as a couple of us tried to put a different view and were subsequently blocked……
The merged polytech is a publicly funded organisation. I think tax payers who pay for this have a right to push back on this change of the use of language
Also this change of language has nothing to do with the imparting of knowledge and skills that the polytech is set up to do. Its ideological
I do see the problem with that, very much so but some times my energy for trying to advise/comment on such sterile ground as her over blown comments just is not there.
Hmmmmm we will be having a big back log then…..I came across the PS style guide in the 1970s and Dept'l style guides in the 1980s……so they have been around a while….
What exactly is the objection to treating people with respect and courtesy and observing Te Tiriti?
Some of the guides have standards about accessibility of language, not dumbing down, but freeing the letters from jargon and other bits that are just 'noise' to a person trying to understand things.
Look & feel across all communications ie making sure the logo is the correct colour, the comms are clearly set out, there are no spelling mistakes etc that you are respectful are not hard concepts to grasp.
It has everything to do with the 'imparting of knowledge'.
People see themselves 'reflected back' in the contacts they have with an organisation. If an organisation only wants to 'see' salutations that are Mr or Mrs or pairings such as husband and wife then it is hard for people who don't fit those categories to 'see' themselves. Many of us fought for the right to use Ms as we did not feel we should have to reveal our matrimonial status with every letter we wrote. This was when Miss was sort of used as a spinsterish demeaning way and Mrs often meant you were going to get pregnant and leave
We (royal we should I say most public servants) want people to feel included and if this means we take care with our salutations, we don't weaponise the way the organisation was founded, we carefully use any Maori words (we represent the treaty partner, the Crown, remember.
I cannot really see what the objection is, no story really as style guides have been around for decades.
tsmythfielder channeling Tucker look how that's working with Tucker you must feel like a very proud boy promoting your Strawman!
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[stop harassing this (or any) commenter. This is a pattern of behaviour from you. Next time I see it, expect a ban, building on your previous bans, and bearing in mind we are handing out bans until well after the election because we want to up the debate culture here and discourage this kind of SM-esque response – weka]
After the recent flood damage and yet another BBB (Big-Budget Blowout – as time rolls on, they are default by their inevitability) it seems certain that some things must go off the wish list.
Short-term thinking and ‘fixes’ tend to win the day, in local and national politics, and one day the can will have grown to a concrete-filled barrel that can no longer be kicked down the road.
I was looking at party health policies last night, due to ongoing personal experience with people not being treated or not being able to afford treatment in our health system – plus many similar stories in the news. As expected, the Greens seem to be the only ones with an unambiguous policy of actual free health care. Unfortunately the policy is delivered cluelessly, with this being the first strategic priority:
1.1 Reconfigure our health system towards recognising and acting on oppressive and intersecting biases (e.g. racism, sexism, ableism, fatphobia, ageism, queerphobia, transphobia) and the knowledge and skills required to work with affected communities, such as Deaf and disabled people.
And only three points further down do we get:
3.5-6 Provide universal, free and accessible diagnosis, treatment and management for all illnesses and injuries — including fully-funded public provision of dental care, general practitioner clinics, ambulance and emergency services, aged care, palliative care, and mental health services.
The first point means little to a lot of people and is confusing or alienating to people not up with the latest progressive buzzwords. I don't have a problem with the intent of point 1 – but why not swap the points around and put "FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL" as the first point? Of course free health care will benefit all the groups identified in 1 as well.
Not-for-profit health care for all; would prefer public, but don't care too much if the health care service provider is public or private, as long as extracting profit isn't its reason for being, and access to health services is based on need, not ability to pay.
Canada’s health care system is built on the principle that access to care should be based on need, not ability to pay. A well-designed, adequately funded, single-payer system can provide high-quality, efficient, equitable care to restore that reality.
Our publicly-funded health care system is certainly facing challenges. But the solutions lie in strengthening our public health care system, not weakening it.
…
There is little evidence that private for-profit investor-owned corporations can provide better quality care or reduce costs. In fact, there are many examples to the contrary.
In 2012, the richest tenth of New Zealanders paid 47% of all income tax, but that’s hardly surprising given they earned 34% of all the income.
It’s also better to look at what proportion of their income people pay in tax, rather than just the amounts, so as to avoid simply saying that the rich pay the most tax because they earn the largest incomes.
with several extras it appears that the top 10% already pay near 50% of Income tax.
The mistake of thinking IRD-declared income is the same thing as wealth!
In that item they conflate "wealth" with "IRD-declared income".
The issue is, really rich people don't have much declared income – their increase in wealth either comes from lightly-taxed sources that do not appear as IRD income (e.g. most capital gains) or they structure their affairs to avoid needing to declare income (offshore havens etc). 42% of "high wealth individuals" (people or families with more than $50m) in New Zealand have effective income tax rates below 10%.
It is perverse that the source of income that can only be accessed by those who already have wealth – capital gains – is the one we tax lightly and argue over whether it should be taxed at all!
If you have income under $31k pa you can apply for a Community Services card, which greatly (like 60% or so) cuts GP and private emergency clinic fees. This is a significant subsidy that increases afforability for poorer people.
I see that the greens and labour are Totally consumed by climate change and what needs to be done immediately ahead of everything else. Or was that to say anything that sounds good and will get them re elected, pity action is telling us all what they really think, and now to have a pm who doesn’t think this is important, humanity and the planets survival above everything else, you could say the defines a climate skeptic 🤨 https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/08/jacinda-ardern-climate-change-is-my-generation-s-nuclear-free-moment.amp.html
So the condition of the world is NOT an issue – Amazing how many on the left now are deniers that climate change is an issue worth making sacrifices for ??
Perhaps you too along with our current PM should wear a tin foil hat out in public.
He's disappointed with the lack of consultation and with Hipkins' focus on the cost of living crisis over climate crisis.
"It's clear that the Prime Minister is very keen to win the election and he's prepared to do just about whatever it takes to do that." _ Great comment from someone that potentially in a few months time you will have to come crawling to form a government- Pity Hipkins has lost credibility and has little integrity, the guy is a total political animal and will do anything to survive even lie to NZ.
It's useful to note the issues which are raised by those who come here from time to time for this purpose, to eviscerate the left/Labour.
The old, label them as either single issue ideologues, or insincere politicians tactic.
Some on the left would have preferred an original focus on moving from vehicles to PT (the half fares) and e bikes (away from car transport).
There is obviously Labour's realisation that many working class cannot afford to buy cars atm (rent/cost of living or rising mortgage cost) – which speaks to the suspension of petrol taxation.
It's a real world moment. And no the modernisation of our car market is not dependent on financial inducements at taxpayer expense.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said calling the commissioner to discuss the prosecution, and refusing to apologise for that, was “an error of judgement”. He accepted Nash’s resignation as police minister.
Nash will continue to serve in his other roles.
"Staurt Nash" eh. At least that error is easily fixed. Ah well, he brought it on himself.
It's the PM's call – Nashie's been reasonably popular in the Napier electorate, so he might come back – might even rise to lead the party. It's been known to happen.
You missed the point. He still holds other portfolios (Minister for Economic Development, Forestry, and Oceans & Fisheries). If Chippy was as strong a leader as you suggest then he should have removed ALL his Ministerial warrants.
As I suggest? Really Gosman – that's a bit strong. It is the PM's call, isn't it?
Chippie's an experienced politician – an electorate MP for 14+ years cf. Luxo's two-and-a-bit. Lux weathered last year's Uffindell storm well, I'll give him that.
It isn't because he is too right wing but because he breached the Cabinet manual and the one involving political interfering in the Police Commissioners role.
That is correct, but ignores the glaring irony that the opposition are constantly demanding that the PM and Ministers interfere in the Police Commissioner's role, from crime to cyclones to protests at Parliament.
Chris "I would pick up the phone" Luxon would presumably NOT pick up the phone after all, like Nash picked up the phone. Good to know.
I suspect the public would have very little interest in the story anyway.
It's one of those times when the opposition and media get very excited ("Cabinet manual!") and are later surprised when it has no effect whatsoever on public opinion. They really do live in their own world.
(If the wider public think about the story at all, they are going to be far less "outraged" by Nash, and far more that a guy commits a serious gun crime and gets off scot-free … ).
Why? As Hipkins pointed out, while Nash had the discussion, the outcome of the legal decision was not what he advocated. Hipkins put forward that this shows our system of judicial independence was maintained. Seems fair to me. And at the time he was not Minister for Police.
The US is a wacky place. They have Marjorie Taylor Greene as an elected representative. Most Republicans believe the Presidency was stolen from Trump. Apparently some are totally opposed to abortion because it's killing and all killing is wrong, but they agree with capital punishment.
I've seen pleas that school kids should have see-through bags so any guns in them can be spotted. Another school story indicating the state of what has been called the 'most advanced country in the history of the world. Bullet proof whiteboards in class.
"Two special education classrooms at West Elementary School are currently piloting the technology, developed by KT Security Solutions, which essentially turns a classroom whiteboard into a pop-out, standalone, bulletproof storm shelter."
Gain of function research was suspended by POTUS Obama in 2014.
When it resumed in 2017 some were concerned
Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said he is concerned the framework does not include a clear process for analysing the risks and benefits of such experiments.
“Does the benefit of this outweigh the risk and how do we determine that?”
At this time the debate was whether research should be limited to diseases/viruses that had never infected humans.
In his letter, Daszak claimed that the experiments carried out by WIV would not count as “gain of function” because the bat coronaviruses involved had never infected humans.
This is the argument used by Fauci when he denied funding gain of function research at Wuhan.
No laboratory in the world held a virus close enough to Covid-19 that it could be manipulated to create the pandemic strain, the British zoologist whose company funded Wuhan researchers has said.
Peter Daszak, the president of EcoHealth Alliance, was responding to claims that scientists had dismissed the lab leak theory because they did not want to stop doing dangerous “gain of function” experiments to increase the infectivity of viruses.
The following is an interview with him at a December 2019 conference in Singapore
He mentions after 26 minutes – that they had a lot of bat coronaviruses they were adding spike proteins to so as to manipulate the virus. The spike proteins would make any such virus more dangerous (and as we know the mRNA designed vaccines focused on identification of the spike protein).
The SARS 2 coronavirus is about 97% similar to some in the Wuhan lab research.
Daszak said: “There’s really no way RaTG13 could have anything to do with SARS-CoV-2 – the spike protein and the backbone sequence of the virus are too genetically distinct to make it possible that this virus could have rapidly evolved into SARS-CoV-2 or be manipulated genetically to become SARS-CoV-2.”
However it is not that simple. Those involved were aware of the the possibility of making consensus sequences where viruses were 95% similar.
In a leaked grant proposal made by EcoHealth Alliance and WIV in 2018, researchers had proposed synthesising viral genomes to make a consensus sequence based on viruses that were 95% identical to each other.
The proposal, which was rejected by US military research agency DARPA because it “could have put local communities at risk” also proposed the insertion of human-specific furin cleavage sites into Sars like coronaviruses – which could have made them very infectious for humans.
Dr Monali Rahalkar, a Scientist in Microbiology at the Agharkar Research institute in India said the changes would have been possible with the viruses available.
“A consensus sequence can be created if they have similar viruses or using other bioinformatics tools,” she said.
Of course he had to resign because he broke the rules, but only the press gallery and headline-hungry opposition will care.
Luxon's lucky he has Covid and is isolating, otherwise he'd be flannelling when asked the obvious question: this sentence OK by you? (And unlike a Minister, he'd be free to answer it … but he wouldn't want to).
From accounts I have read it was essentially a private conversation between Nash and Coster who apparently are personal as well as professional acquaintances. It happened two years ago and it suddenly pops up in the media.
Foul play? Where’s Soper in all of this?
Having said the above, Nash has a reputation for impulsive behaviour. It isn't the first time he has been in trouble.
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Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
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 New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
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Very uninformed person makes very uninformed career choice, then argues teachers don't want/need extra pay:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/131492676/im-a-teacher-please-dont-pay-me-more
Nostalgia.
A right wing teacher colleague of mine had an idea.
Give teachers much needed PD about teaching students with ASD, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia etc etc. Then pay us more for having that PD/qualification.
Not such a bad idea.
Monday night had Jessica M-M on TV1 saying we needed to get to know Luxon better following on from that night's polling. Last night Shane Reti was practically pleading with those watching to get to know him better because he is the greatest. Luxon has been Opposition leader long enough now for people to have made up their minds. What more do we need to know about him that we don't already know. He has had plenty of air time and screen time and Jessica M-M particularly is very supportive of him and is slightly caustic when she talks about the PM in my opinion.
Shane Reti's comments were absolutely vomitous. He mentioned twice that we needs to see more of Luxon's "parts", twice about Luxon needing to "reveal" more of himself, and a running theme of Reti's close proximity (between, behind, after hours) to Luxon.
Something of a Smithers
Mr Reti presents as a classic “potato” style Māori with an obsequious manner, raised Mormon, he has an ingrained social conservatism as his voting record shows.
When I briefly lived in Whangārei, a Kainga Ora build of 37 public houses and apartments was approved in middle class Maunu suburb, Reti immediately took the side of the pākehā property owners not wanting state houses in their midst rather than supporting working class people in desperate need of accomodation.
National MPs defend Luxon over falling popularity: 'I see the man that you don't see' https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/485945/national-mps-defend-luxon-over-falling-popularity-i-see-the-man-that-you-don-t-see
(Just posting the source, RNZ)
I was bemused by the Nat's desperately pleading with us to like their leader. If after all this time and all of Luxon's gaffes and backtracks they think Luxon is suddenly going to become inspirational they are clearly living in fantasy land. Time for them to admit allowing JK to anoint Luxon was a huge mistake and draw a 'leader' out of the hat and then providd some coherent policy.
Labour strategists must be right chuffed with National at the moment. Against the cost of living crisis, national disasters and covid related inflation they lead in the the polls. As the cray-cray influence of the Fox News GOP right infects more and more right wingers so their political vehicles become more and more unelectable.
This isn't much of a problem in the USA where the far right has limitless resources, a full on media propaganda arm and has captured the judicial system to enable a whole raft of voter suppression and gerrymandering measures that means they don't have to worry as much about being popular enough to be elected in a fair election. But elsewhere, this style of politics has made the right unelectable.
Let's be honest – Labour is running a small target policy and on being the grown up in the room against an out of touch opposition ideologically marooned in the worst excesses of 1990s neoliberalism and full of Evangelicals intent on culture war politics. The trouble is the evidence is growing that this makes the right politically irrelevant in any sort of fair election. From Biden's victory, to the US midterms, to Albanese's win in Australia to the upcoming rout of the UK Tories the public are tiring of the infantile political distractions of Plutocrat populists. For all the horse race enthusiasm of the pundit class, that is the facts that matter.
Anyone else noting that Google is playing a captcha cop game on VPN use?
Google does that to me occasionally too – and I'm not using a VPN
latest round of culture wars bollocks (bollocks on both sides)
https://twitter.com/wekatweets/status/1635751860555632642
Pithy response award to
The "information" that staff are public servants and are not allowed to have (public) political opinions is dubious.
Yes well I think the separate lists is more the correct happening.(Cockup rather than conspiracy)
Even then most of the academics I know would look at these style guides as they usually give the best advice in not offending people unintentionally.
Unless offending is part of the game in your academic work, you mostly want to get your message/research read by as many as possible.
As well many academics are asked for things like literature reviews, extended analyses on papers of relevance to a Govt Dept and many of these paid works do abide by standards set by the employing agency. Many contracts do include the expected style and any deviation is simply not paid for and it is a waste of money.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/131490591/te-pkenga-tells-academics-not-to-say-words-like-staff-students-or-treaty-of-waitangi
Arhh, yes controlling speech. George Orwell foreshadowed it in 1984.
It is worse than bonkers. And of course it relates to the workings of gender ideology where it is people who menstruate etc.
Remind me again how much the Polytech merger has cost? And this is what it has bought us
Having a style guide isn't controlled speech, nor Orwellian. Lots of organisations have style guides. If you want to make the argument that there is something Orwellian about this particular style, can you please make an actual argument?
How does it relate to gender ideology?
Presumably the advice to use the gender neutral terms spouse or partner.
which makes sense when you don't know the sex or gender, or marital status, of the person being referred to. It's not akin to replacing the word woman with people who menstruate.
The terms spouse or partner have been 'around since Adam was a cowboy' as they say. Mid 1980s? Just like using Ms/Mr.
I don't have a problem with a style guide, most PS agencies have them and in the olden days we used to have a publication called
The PS Style Guide that covered all sorts of things such as
This was very useful when drafting things like Gazette Notices, Orders in Council
Every Govt Dept that I ever worked in supplemented this with a department/agency specific style guide. I guess you could grab anyone of these and have a media beat-up on it.
colours and sizes of dept'l logos
salutations
when to use the shortened version of long dept'l names
use of both dept'l names etc etc.
(Australian but we had one similar) https://www.ops.gov.ie/app/uploads/2019/09/Plain-English-Style-Guide-for-the-Public-Service-2.pdf
https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/assets/DirectoryFile/New-Zealand-Government-Identity-Technical-Style-Guide.pdf
then there are the special guides for writing for an audience who gets info on line
https://www.digital.govt.nz/standards-and-guidance/design-and-ux/content-design-guidance/writing-style/
then we have specialist writing and style guides for writing for Ministers etc
https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/writing-ministers-and-cabinet
If this is a Govt agency then the employees are Public Servants or belong in the State Sector and Codes of Conduct apply covering being impartial.
My understanding, having employed 'academics' in a Dept is that the usual PS Code of Conduct applies except when they are discussing their specialty so you would not expect an historian employed by Ministry of Culture or Treaty Unit to suddenly come out and comment on fluoridating water or Three Waters using their qualification in the history of Magna Carta to give these views credence.
Not being up on the pay arrangements, are all employees of tertiary orgs now employed by Te Pukenga including all academics ie tutors, profs etc?
What a beat up fuelled by ignorant journos aided and abetted by disgruntled and ignorant (on this issue) academics.
Aimed at public servants whose rules of employment prevent them from defending themselves and so presenting an easy target for bullies.
Also special attention is paid to being correct on Maori matters. The Crown is the other Treaty partner.
These agencies are crown agencies so surely out of all the people employed in the Govt sector ie for the other Treaty partner then we have an expectation that these matters will be addressed/standardised.
And again this is not new.
In a land dept prior to 1987 we had the equivalent of Maori Language style guides. I had several papers checked by both Pakeha & Maori academics and then by one of a group of eminent Maori who had an interest in what we were doing before it was presented to a UN agency audience, also in 1986/87.
It sort of does control speech, you'll quickly find that if you don't use the preferred language your opportunities quickly evaporate in the organization, will also be brought up in performance reviews etc.
100% Cricklewood
I'm going to guess you're not objecting to the punctuation and grammar guide. Which bits are a problem exactly. That when writing official documents they want the organisation to be called by its name instead of the megapoly?
But why wouldn't you want your language, your tool, along with your brain, to be the best and most effective both for you and for your employer?
Do surgeons moan & groan because 'people' ask them to to sterilise their tools or use the most up to date ones. Do they moan at hospitlas that employ them who have these expectations?
So why shouldn't a person using their language tools for an employer not be guided by the employer as to the standards they expect?
As well most Style Guides are guides only, usually circulated for comment etc and if you did not take the chance to comment or indicate on a letter by letter basis why it may not be correct why do you moan when it is commented upon.
If it is still being commented on by the time a performance appraisal time comes about then you may not have shown that you have learned.
If you are writing for a Minister, for a cabinet paper, policy papers there are ways of doing this just as Drs, when writing scripts have to write them in certain ways otherwise they don't get filled.
I don't find this very convincing I am sorry Cricklewood.
Or are you saying that employers have taken issues with possible racism, sexism, ageism etc in speech in the workplace?
.
I did have a couple of staff that I had to ‘counsel’ about this. In the end we came to an agreement that he would act as if the Depts stds were a cloak that he put on as he stepped out of the lift on the way to work and left on throughout the working day. Mainly racism and sexism. The racism part, funnily enough, disappeared when he married someone who was Maori. The sexism never did.
A quote from the article I posted above. "words they should and should not use"
The row over academic freedom at Te Pūkenga – the country’s largest tertiary provider – has rumbled on after it emerged staff have been issued with a list of words they should and should not use.
“Staff were told they should not refer to the organisation as a “megapolytech” or say “merge” – even though those terms describe how it was formed. “We always refer to ourselves as Te Pūkenga.”
The guide discourages gendered language, for example: “We also use: spouse or partner – not husband, wife”.
how dare my employer tell me how to refer to my husband…….
They're not talking about personal communications, the style guide is for writing official documents so that there is consistency across the organisation. See Shanreagh's explanation above. No-one is taking away your ability to call your husband husband.
I have far more of a problem with this from the Stuff piece,
I only have a problem if it is not correct that they are public servants.
PS are bound by a Code of Conduct. this does in effect separate their personal & political views from their professional roles
Of course this does not stop you putting the best views forward to any policy based on your skills, research & life experiences within your workplace. Your brains are your tools and they are expected to be used! This is why diversity in workplaces is so important. In giving voice to views. policies, procedures we need to have a different experiences and views working with us.
If you want to engage in politics most PS are quite careful about doing anything that calls into question their impartiality, thus leading to their suitability for continued employment being called into question and losing their jobs. There are many ways to express your concern within the departmental setting and even whistle blowing mechanisms, contact with any Inspectorate doing their jobs etc.
When I was a PS I was never a member of a political party and neither were most of those I worked with. Of course we had our views and we voted, but we tried not to bring them to work.
If we were doing something that could put us in the spotlight then it was no problem to clear this and give a head's up to our employers.
if you work in a university or polytech you have to be able to speak freely. That's part of the role of academia.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/131490591/te-pkenga-tells-academics-not-to-say-words-like-staff-students-or-treaty-of-waitangi
I'm pleased this is coming up because if the GI stuff goes like the UK having academic freedom established will help.
It is not academic freedom it is a style guide.
Weka, I was going to follow up with Ani O'Brien but it is futile, from past experience.
Sometimes I cannot get over how sheltered and naive people like her are, have they never worked for an agency where there is a concern for correct writing & image.
This applies even to most large private sector employers who are very concerned about who & how people get to speak for them.
I’m probably blocked anyway as a couple of us tried to put a different view and were subsequently blocked……
The merged polytech is a publicly funded organisation. I think tax payers who pay for this have a right to push back on this change of the use of language
Also this change of language has nothing to do with the imparting of knowledge and skills that the polytech is set up to do. Its ideological
yes, but Ani has a large follower count and she lied by calling it a ban. Can you not see the problem with that?
I do see the problem with that, very much so but some times my energy for trying to advise/comment on such sterile ground as her over blown comments just is not there.
my comment was to anker.
Hmmmmm we will be having a big back log then…..I came across the PS style guide in the 1970s and Dept'l style guides in the 1980s……so they have been around a while….
What exactly is the objection to treating people with respect and courtesy and observing Te Tiriti?
Some of the guides have standards about accessibility of language, not dumbing down, but freeing the letters from jargon and other bits that are just 'noise' to a person trying to understand things.
Look & feel across all communications ie making sure the logo is the correct colour, the comms are clearly set out, there are no spelling mistakes etc that you are respectful are not hard concepts to grasp.
It has everything to do with the 'imparting of knowledge'.
People see themselves 'reflected back' in the contacts they have with an organisation. If an organisation only wants to 'see' salutations that are Mr or Mrs or pairings such as husband and wife then it is hard for people who don't fit those categories to 'see' themselves. Many of us fought for the right to use Ms as we did not feel we should have to reveal our matrimonial status with every letter we wrote. This was when Miss was sort of used as a spinsterish demeaning way and Mrs often meant you were going to get pregnant and leave
We (royal we should I say most public servants) want people to feel included and if this means we take care with our salutations, we don't weaponise the way the organisation was founded, we carefully use any Maori words (we represent the treaty partner, the Crown, remember.
I cannot really see what the objection is, no story really as style guides have been around for decades.
Good overall analysis of where we are at regarding Climate Change and its effect on our rain intensities – and is easy for anyone to read:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/485990/niwa-scientist-in-no-doubt-climate-change-behind-cyclone-gabrielle-s-intensity
Though it concerns me anyone is even suggesting obliquely there is still doubt among the informed that CC is real.
tsmythfielder channeling Tucker look how that's working with Tucker you must feel like a very proud boy promoting your Strawman!
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[stop harassing this (or any) commenter. This is a pattern of behaviour from you. Next time I see it, expect a ban, building on your previous bans, and bearing in mind we are handing out bans until well after the election because we want to up the debate culture here and discourage this kind of SM-esque response – weka]
mod note. Please let me know that you have read and understood.
sorry couldn't help myself
Aucklanders have something to think about, but not for too long – the consultation window is for a defined period only.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/131493305/alternative-to-auckland-councils-grim-budget-doesnt-gut-services
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/new-auckland/chloe-comes-out-swinging-at-auckland-council-budget-cuts
After the recent flood damage and yet another BBB (Big-Budget Blowout – as time rolls on, they are default by their inevitability) it seems certain that some things must go off the wish list.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/131499344/billion-dollar-blowout-aucklands-city-rail-link-to-cost-55b
Short-term thinking and ‘fixes’ tend to win the day, in local and national politics, and one day the can will have grown to a concrete-filled barrel that can no longer be kicked down the road.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/comment/dont-sell-auckland-airport-shares
I was looking at party health policies last night, due to ongoing personal experience with people not being treated or not being able to afford treatment in our health system – plus many similar stories in the news. As expected, the Greens seem to be the only ones with an unambiguous policy of actual free health care. Unfortunately the policy is delivered cluelessly, with this being the first strategic priority:
And only three points further down do we get:
The first point means little to a lot of people and is confusing or alienating to people not up with the latest progressive buzzwords. I don't have a problem with the intent of point 1 – but why not swap the points around and put "FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL" as the first point? Of course free health care will benefit all the groups identified in 1 as well.
Surely Tax Payer funded health care for all.
For if it is free for ALL … exactly who pays for it as someone MUST inevitably
Not-for-profit health care for all; would prefer public, but don't care too much if the health care service provider is public or private, as long as extracting profit isn't its reason for being, and access to health services is based on need, not ability to pay.
Looking at you, Coleman.
Free at point of delivery, obviously paid through tax and other state revenue.
Exactly who should pay? Mainly those with the most – in particular the top 10% who have over 50% of the wealth.
"User Pays" = "Poor Can't Use"
I can only find this 2012 study:
https://www.inequality.org.nz/understand/rich-really-pay-tax/
with several extras it appears that the top 10% already pay near 50% of Income tax.
There is this link in there too:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300238241/more-than-40-of-millionaires-paying-tax-rates-lower-than-the-lowest-earners-government-data-reveals
The mistake of thinking IRD-declared income is the same thing as wealth!
In that item they conflate "wealth" with "IRD-declared income".
The issue is, really rich people don't have much declared income – their increase in wealth either comes from lightly-taxed sources that do not appear as IRD income (e.g. most capital gains) or they structure their affairs to avoid needing to declare income (offshore havens etc). 42% of "high wealth individuals" (people or families with more than $50m) in New Zealand have effective income tax rates below 10%.
We don't know how much tax the rich in NZ actually pay (NZ has 'virtually no idea' rate of tax paid by wealthiest) but indications are it is very low. Confirming that income tax brackets are a red herring, two-thirds of the very rich in NZ have no income in the top tax bracket whatsoever.
It is perverse that the source of income that can only be accessed by those who already have wealth – capital gains – is the one we tax lightly and argue over whether it should be taxed at all!
If you have income under $31k pa you can apply for a Community Services card, which greatly (like 60% or so) cuts GP and private emergency clinic fees. This is a significant subsidy that increases afforability for poorer people.
Or we could call it what it is – "single payer health care for all"
I see that the greens and labour are Totally consumed by climate change and what needs to be done immediately ahead of everything else. Or was that to say anything that sounds good and will get them re elected, pity action is telling us all what they really think, and now to have a pm who doesn’t think this is important, humanity and the planets survival above everything else, you could say the defines a climate skeptic 🤨
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/08/jacinda-ardern-climate-change-is-my-generation-s-nuclear-free-moment.amp.html
Would you like to re-write your 'hate on anything connected to Labour' comment so we know what you are talking about – together with suitable links?
Banging on about something Jacinda Ardern (who has left the parliamentary arena) said six years ago is no longer a relevant link.
So the condition of the world is NOT an issue – Amazing how many on the left now are deniers that climate change is an issue worth making sacrifices for ??
Perhaps you too along with our current PM should wear a tin foil hat out in public.
You're the one with tin foil hat on your head!
Shaw said it's "very disappointing".
He's disappointed with the lack of consultation and with Hipkins' focus on the cost of living crisis over climate crisis.
"It's clear that the Prime Minister is very keen to win the election and he's prepared to do just about whatever it takes to do that." _ Great comment from someone that potentially in a few months time you will have to come crawling to form a government- Pity Hipkins has lost credibility and has little integrity, the guy is a total political animal and will do anything to survive even lie to NZ.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/03/election-2023-red-green-friction-heats-up-as-james-shaw-says-chris-hipkins-prepared-to-do-just-about-whatever-to-win.html
Given you won’t vote for the Greens
either because of their wealth tax and or their environment first approach
or MP
either because of the indigenous rights co-governance (consultative) or Tiriti advocacy or their support for delivery MHA
or Labour
either because of their mortgage interest tax deductability or their coalition partners
what is your point?
Everyone knows Greens will support Labour on confidence and supply for nothing if the alternative is National or NACT.
It's useful to note the issues which are raised by those who come here from time to time for this purpose, to eviscerate
the left/Labour.The old, label them as either single issue ideologues, or insincere politicians tactic.
Some on the left would have preferred an original focus on moving from vehicles to PT (the half fares) and e bikes (away from car transport).
There is obviously Labour's realisation that many working class cannot afford to buy cars atm (rent/cost of living or rising mortgage cost) – which speaks to the suspension of petrol taxation.
It's a real world moment. And no the modernisation of our car market is not dependent on financial inducements at taxpayer expense.
Stuart Nash has officially resigned after initially stating he had no reason to do so.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131505006/stuart-nash-resigns-as-police-minister-after-encouraging-police-commissioner-to-appeal-a-ruling
He looks very foolish now. He should have just refused to speak to journalists prior to his decision to resign.
"Staurt Nash" eh. At least that error is easily fixed. Ah well, he brought it on himself.
If Chippy wants to be consistent with past breaches of this rule he should be sacked from all portfolios not just Police.
It's the PM's call – Nashie's been reasonably popular in the Napier electorate, so he might come back – might even rise to lead the party. It's been known to happen.
You missed the point. He still holds other portfolios (Minister for Economic Development, Forestry, and Oceans & Fisheries). If Chippy was as strong a leader as you suggest then he should have removed ALL his Ministerial warrants.
Quite a few people will be wanting Tourism taking off him too over his stupid freedom camping ban legislation.
As I suggest? Really Gosman – that's a bit strong. It is the PM's call, isn't it?
Chippie's an experienced politician – an electorate MP for 14+ years cf. Luxo's two-and-a-bit. Lux weathered last year's Uffindell storm well, I'll give him that.
What it does show is a very decisive PM who will not allow distractions to get in the way, unlike the floundering isolating LOTO.
Except Nash should not be a Minister of anything.
Many on this site have, in the past, said Nash is too Right for the Labour Party so perhaps your opinion is right.
It isn't because he is too right wing but because he breached the Cabinet manual and the one involving political interfering in the Police Commissioners role.
That is correct, but ignores the glaring irony that the opposition are constantly demanding that the PM and Ministers interfere in the Police Commissioner's role, from crime to cyclones to protests at Parliament.
Chris "I would pick up the phone" Luxon would presumably NOT pick up the phone after all, like Nash picked up the phone. Good to know.
That's a very good point, but will be lost on the public.
I suspect the public would have very little interest in the story anyway.
It's one of those times when the opposition and media get very excited ("Cabinet manual!") and are later surprised when it has no effect whatsoever on public opinion. They really do live in their own world.
(If the wider public think about the story at all, they are going to be far less "outraged" by Nash, and far more that a guy commits a serious gun crime and gets off scot-free … ).
Why? As Hipkins pointed out, while Nash had the discussion, the outcome of the legal decision was not what he advocated. Hipkins put forward that this shows our system of judicial independence was maintained. Seems fair to me. And at the time he was not Minister for Police.
The US is a wacky place. They have Marjorie Taylor Greene as an elected representative. Most Republicans believe the Presidency was stolen from Trump. Apparently some are totally opposed to abortion because it's killing and all killing is wrong, but they agree with capital punishment.
I've seen pleas that school kids should have see-through bags so any guns in them can be spotted. Another school story indicating the state of what has been called the 'most advanced country in the history of the world. Bullet proof whiteboards in class.
"Two special education classrooms at West Elementary School are currently piloting the technology, developed by KT Security Solutions, which essentially turns a classroom whiteboard into a pop-out, standalone, bulletproof storm shelter."
https://www.al.com/educationlab/2023/03/two-alabama-classrooms-now-have-60000-whiteboards-that-turn-into-gun-storm-shelters.html?outputType=amp
Tremain's racist (and reality-free) cartoons are still being hosted here. Inexplicable, please stop.
Agree with this. We did raise this before.
I don't think the Point of Order blog is worth having to suffer these racist, vitriolic and clearly personal cartoons for.
Readers can go directly to the blog off their own devices and put themselves down to get updates. We don't need to have a direct link here, do we?
Please………
Gain of function research was suspended by POTUS Obama in 2014.
When it resumed in 2017 some were concerned
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-pathogens-funding-idINKBN1ED2FL
At this time the debate was whether research should be limited to diseases/viruses that had never infected humans.
This is the argument used by Fauci when he denied funding gain of function research at Wuhan.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/300830407/no-lab-had-virus-similar-enough-to-covid-to-spark-pandemic-zoologist-says
The following is an interview with him at a December 2019 conference in Singapore
He mentions after 26 minutes – that they had a lot of bat coronaviruses they were adding spike proteins to so as to manipulate the virus. The spike proteins would make any such virus more dangerous (and as we know the mRNA designed vaccines focused on identification of the spike protein).
The SARS 2 coronavirus is about 97% similar to some in the Wuhan lab research.
However it is not that simple. Those involved were aware of the the possibility of making consensus sequences where viruses were 95% similar.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/300830407/no-lab-had-virus-similar-enough-to-covid-to-spark-pandemic-zoologist-says
Tough break Nash you were on point.
It speaks to National being soft on illegal gun possession, if none of them said anything similar.
The funny thing is Nash is unlikely to lose votes for venting to the police commissioner over a soft sentence amongst the voters of Napier.
Exactly. Public outrage: none.
Of course he had to resign because he broke the rules, but only the press gallery and headline-hungry opposition will care.
Luxon's lucky he has Covid and is isolating, otherwise he'd be flannelling when asked the obvious question: this sentence OK by you? (And unlike a Minister, he'd be free to answer it … but he wouldn't want to).
So how did the media get to hear about it?
From accounts I have read it was essentially a private conversation between Nash and Coster who apparently are personal as well as professional acquaintances. It happened two years ago and it suddenly pops up in the media.
Foul play? Where’s Soper in all of this?
Having said the above, Nash has a reputation for impulsive behaviour. It isn't the first time he has been in trouble.
Ki te aha whano
https://youtu.be/fKopy74weus