Support Access Alliance presentation at Parliament
On September 4 the Access Alliance (of which DPA is a member organisation) will gather at Parliament to present Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni with a giant-sized version of a booklet full of stories from the disability community.
These are stories about access barriers which an Accessibility Act could help to remove. We are calling on Minister Sepuloni to listen to our stories and to prioritise accessibility legislation within this Parliamentary term.
The alliance has been working hard to make sure that your stories and your support for an Accessibility Act are reaching the decision-makers in Parliament. For over a year campaigners from the disability community have been busy meeting with their MPs, sharing their stories, and explaining why we need an accessibility law at the heart of a more inclusive Aotearoa. Others have been meeting with Ministers and starting to figure out how the Access Alliance can work together with our elected representatives to co-design this new law.
The presentation on September 4 is a chance to celebrate the progress we’ve made to date, but also a call for our Minister for Disability Issues to tell us how she will ensure that this law is prioritised within this term of Government.
Accessibility Legislation would ensure everyone benefits from an accessible NZ – it would be great to have lots of people at Parliament to show just how important we believe this is.
When: Tuesday 4 September, arrive at 11am – finished by 12pm
Where: Outdoors on Parliament Lawn, by the Seddon Statue – enter from Molesworth St
The event will be NZSL interpreted and the spot where we are gathering is wheelchair-accessible. Please email Áine Kelly-Costello at akelly-costello@blindfoundation.org.nz if you will be driving and need a Mobility carpark as Parliament Security have advised that these are limited.
Even if you can’t be there on the day, please click here to add your name to the booklet to support prioritising accessibility legislation. The same form will also ask you to RSVP if you can make it.
The presentation will be streamed live on the Access Matters Facebook page from 11:30am.
Every now and then, Don of the Deadbrains slips up and accidentally dishes out advice worth acting on. In one of his recent sprays of shitter-twitter he said “Study the late Joseph McCarthy”. You should. You really should, in order to understand who and what is the new McCarthy and the new McCarthyism. This Politico piece summarises it.
Interesting indeed. So the link, Roy Cohn: “he died from AIDS as a man who denied to the end that he was gay”. Populism being the cultural relevance, that tertiary part of the political terrain that the binary left/right frame can’t explain.
From the viewpoint of trying to work towards a more inclusive accepting society, it always bothers me that Cohn’s sexuality and public denial of it always takes a prominent place in pieces about Cohn. Yet it’s crucial to the understanding the power of othering, understanding Cohn’s use of othering, and I’ll guess his fear of it being applied to him.
Rachel Stewart continued.
“Anything to say @BeefLambNZ about feedlots, and how we’ve suddenly turned into America? You knew. Why didn’t everybody else?“
And Jonathan Maze added.
“Unbelievable, I had no idea this awful kind of “farming” was happening in NZ..”
Retail brand is Wakanui Beef – this is the About page:
Wakanui:
Grass-fed and Grain-finished Beef
The Wakanui story begins on pristine, New Zealand pastures and ends on your plate with unrivalled succulence, flavour and melt-in-the-mouth texture.
After grazing free range on lush, green pastures for 18 months, only the best cattle are hand selected to be grain finished for approximately 75 days at Five Star Beef, under wide Wakanui skies, refreshed by breezes straight off the Pacific Ocean.
With a crystal clear artesian water supply and Mid Canterbury grown GMO-free wheat, barley and maize silage, this unique combination of nature and nurture creates truly premium beef.
Aged for a minimum of 21 days, Wakanui’s unparallelled flavour, distinctive marbling and fine texture will delight your palate.
What’s more, we’ve mastered the ability to deliver this mouth watering beef consistently all year round.
The marketing and reality seem slightly divorced from each other, maybe?
Stockists to avoid (or not) I’ve made a copy in case some businesses unexpectedly disappear – especially the restaurants: http://www.wakanuibeef.co.nz/stockists
What do the cows say? Bet no one has even asked them:
“If you knew that the whole raison d’etre of your existence was to be barbecued by James, rate your happiness on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is ‘delirious with joy’ and 1 is ‘a bit miffed'”.
Last night I searched for an audio link to put up here of the Federated Farmers reply to the accusation of bad farming but RNZ only had the one about SAFE.
I put up the link to the page which had an onsite link but thought it interesting that this large and important body (Fed Farmers) wasn’did not have full audio coverage.
This is very much a knee jerk reaction, these cattle are having their needs met, warm and dry, not knee deep in mud, correct nutrition adequate vitamins and minerals as opposed to grass fed animals, not being fed toxic members of the cabbage family.
Worm free without having to be drenched.
Effluent collected and composted not leeching into aquifers.
What will be next horses in stables dogs in kennels.
Are you conditioned by looking after others in confined conditions? Perhaps it has blunted your sensivities Psych Nurse. These animals would be safe and happy in a fenced paddock, no need to keep them confined and standing disconsolately waiting for something to eat besides mud porridge, with dainty blades of grass occasionally.
Peter Dunne on MPs pay: set it at the start of a parliamentary term, to remain at that level until the next term. Damn good idea. He told the AM show that the current level is about right. Retired, he can afford to be honest about that…
Retired from the position of leader of a party with a caucus of one, with a significantly enhanced pay package from that “leadership” position.
But yeah, he’s right. Set what it’s going to be pre-election and fix it for the term. Preferably also tie it to a measure of pay relevant to the population as a whole, such as some multiple of the 25th percentile income.
Govt will be revising the way the remuneration authority does its thing apparently, so your suggestion may get taken up. I agree it ought to be related to some kind of indicator of the average income (agnostic on how to do that).
True. Entitlements are residue of empire & patriarchy, best eliminated. Can’t expect women to take a political stand on this. Too subtle. Female politicians probably enjoy the perks of office as much as males.
I was hoping to flush out a bunch of female deniers to liven up the day. Reckon it’ll work? If I’d just framed it as a privileged institutional thing, people would get bored to death.
That women haven’t been targeting the residual patriarchy for removal. Last time I pointed that out onsite here it was in relation to the judiciary & got total denial in response (mostly via evasion of the point).
Anyone who has spent most of their life watching the progressive trend toward liberation of the human spirit in general, and the feminist project as in integral part of that, is keenly aware of the part of the establishment that has yet to be rectified.
So I’ve spent years expecting feminists to get the job done. Don’t get complacent due to perception of victory when it’s mostly done. If they can see the glass ceiling, how come they can’t see the most entrenched parts of the patriarchy??
Have enjoyed all your contributions so far, Dennis, but it does appear to me that this time you picked out only feminist MPs when criticising a fault applying to all MPs.
Seems to me a perception thing, In Vino. Media reports of women pointing out the glass ceiling effect have been a continual stream in recent years, and I haven’t noticed any of those interviewed ask for male help to rectify the problem.
Their confidence that the feminist project can succeed via the solidarity of women is not misplaced, imo. Sharing that confidence, I’ve wondered why they don’t also target other manifestations of the residual patriarchy. Of course men ought to help co-create the equity required.
No. Just my way of alerting all to the prolonged perpetuation of the ancient privilege system integral to democracy. It was good to see feminism breach the ramparts back in the day, but I kinda get the impression that there’s a `job done’ syndrome at play. Delusion, not reality.
Oh for goodness sake! You show no understanding of the breadth and depth of feminist thought, politics and activism.
If they can see the glass ceiling, how come they can’t see the most entrenched parts of the patriarchy??
Citations needed of such a reduction of the state of feminism to be in the least bit credible. Who is this “they”? You write as if feminists are a collective, hive mind focusing on one symptom of patriarchy. That may be true of liberal/capitalist feminists as favoured by the mainstream, corporate media.
But feminism is wide ranging. There have been many theorists, like bell hooks, Sheila Rowbottham, and many more who examined the deep-rooted and all-pervasive nature of patriarchy.
And many activists have been informed by their work – in campaigning against sexual and domestic violence (very successful from setting up refuges and putting the issue on the agenda), to feminists working within unions for low paid and precarious workers, to the African American women who first coined the term “intersectionality” to explain the complex nature of their oppression, to women working to change the nature of western political and other institutions.
Back to the point: lack of feminist political action to eliminate the entrenched privilege-based residual patriarchy. Why this lack? The problem will persist until the solution is applied…
I’m not into being distracted from the point I’m making – it’s too important to allow that. Others may find such digressions informative, I understand that. Just not me.
Back to the point: lack of feminist political action to eliminate the entrenched privilege-based residual patriarchy. Why this lack? The problem will persist until the solution is applied…
The only point you’re making is one disparaging liberal feminists for being liberal feminists in a liberal environment, while denying that any other strand of feminism exists.
You’re saying that the politics of MPs, who obviously accept the political environment they operate within to varying degrees, are the only possible or imaginable politics people can have.
It’s you who says it is lacking. That doesn’t make it so. If you’ve got your head in the sand, and only take the surface of corporate media as your main source, I can’t help you.
For a start: there’s Sue Bradford who has been fighting patriarchy and capitalism from within many campaigns for decades.
There’s Elizabeth Warren – famous for “she persisted” as a feminist rallying cry- and go read Ad’s post on her today.
There’s Metiria Turei who go crucified by our mainstream media, and those from within the entrenched capitalist-patriarchal system.
If you can’t help with the enormous task of tackling patriarchy, throwing stones from the shadows does nothing to shed light on the situation.
I’m helping by specifying the entrenched part of the problem, in the hope that the governmental review of the MPs remuneration body will not allow it to persist.
Everything else you mention here is irrelevant to that. Privilege-based perks must be eliminated. MPs have no valid basis for retaining them.
So mps travelling around the country on parliamentary business shouldn’t have travel costs provided, and the fact those travel costs are still provided is the fault of feminist inaction?
They get so much money they can fund their travel costs & still be wealthy. It would incentivise them to restrict travel to only that which is necessary. Same as the rest of us.
So you are saying that “the women” – cause feminism – should refuse the perks the men have enjoyed ever since, cause feminism?
Really?
So you are saying your wife should get paid less then her male counterpart cause feminism?
How about you write a concerned letter to all the men, – current and retired – that enjoy benefits that they are entitled to for nothing more then sitting in parliament getting done fuck all – Bill English, Peter Fucking Dunne, The Hologram Syemor, No Bridges Simon, Nick Smith, Shane Jones, etc – to rescind their perks for the better of the country and while you are at it, ask them to forgo pay increases until every worker in NZ is at the very least on a minimum wage.
Do not ask the women to forgo what men take for granted.
No, I’m not saying any of that. I’m advocating for the removal of the privilege-based part of parliamentary democracy. The status quo provides those perks due to tradition, which derives from the patriarchy. It ought to be a job like any other. Do you really believe parliamentarians are a caste above us?
Dear, they are a caste above us.
As are the overpaid bobbleheads in the media – print, radio, TV.
The overpaid cops, the overpaid lawyers, overpaid Winz workers, ACC Case workers etc etc etc. In short anyone who can affect your life without a care and a thought. .
Even the white people in this country are in a caste above brown people.
Men are in a caste above women and children.
To repeat:
It is not the womens job to clean up after men, it is not the womens job to refuse a perk, a pay, a benefit that men would never refuse just to satisfy your need for purity.
It is the womens job to look after themselves, create happiness and a fulfilled life after their own desires, not bound by obsolete ideas of yesteryears or the needs of lazy men.
True. So all those women in parliament who do, how do you feel about their reluctance to admit that they are colluding with paternalism by not opposing the privileges granted them by the residual patriarchy?
I’m not blaming them for enjoying the baubles of office. They’re being pragmatic in accepting what the system provides. However, along with current enjoyment of the perks, why not organise collectively to eliminate them?
Parliamentary representation ought to be a job like any other. I don’t see any merit in continuance of a privilege ranking system. Other hierarchies have been eliminated in the past 20 or 30 years (corporations, mostly). Time for that to happen in governance.
Dude, I’m concerned that you are creating a debate out of gender. Something I won’t buy into.
If you want to talk about MP’s collectively, then am happy to engage. But I’m not into gender division in this instance because it totally misses the point and is not needed.
Bullshit. And I’m not here to build up any sort of capital. Sexism is your subjective impression – nothing to do with me. Collusion exists and operates tacitly. It will continue to operate until folks become aware of it. To solve this problem, one must first point it out. Shooting the messenger is just another form of denial.
Not just that. The whole point of operating as a social catalyst is to energise consciousness-raising towards the collaborative solving of the target problem. Whatever rhetorical devices are used in the process, the trick is to get the process happening. Human nature to get distracted onto the personalities involved, but eventually people realise it’s better to play the ball than the man.
When everyone does so, the game of politics deepens into collective problem-solving. Some players may remain frivolous (distracted by irrelevancies) but group psychodynamics gell most of them into a task force. Can take years, but someone has to do it (to actualise the progressive agenda, actions replacing words).
Thanks for ignoring decades and of collective and widespread feminist effort, and, on the basis of no real research, coming here to tell feminists what we have been doing wrong.
Lol sure – you thought you were in control but your ‘authority’ is in your own head – on here you have what you say. And you said it didn’t you? Collusion is your term and your issue – look in the mirror fella.
I have no control or authority on this issue, Marty. I’m puzzled as to why you think I do. Those two things are elements of the privilege-based part of parliamentary democracy that I’m advocating the removal of!
The collusion problem is tacit. All who support the status quo have that collusion operating in the unconscious part of their psyche. To solve the problem, first they must be made aware of it.
Okay I’ll leave it. I think the way you raised this issue was inflammatory and provocative – I felt sad and let down by you for doing that. Just so unnecessary to raise any issue by offending groups of people especially groups marginalisd by the system you get advantage from just by being male – it actually nuliffies any point being made. Surprised that you seem surprised by this – you have strong experience – probably made it worse imo.
I understand. People react on a feelings basis to the written word and sometimes the reactions baffle me but I realise that different generational perspectives drive this stuff. Plus the personal histories of other commentators creating a subjective stance too.
Dennis
You may be partly right but once you underrate the effort that women have put in to improve their position then the irritation grows.
It has been a hard slog and that should not be forgotten even if more could have been done at some stage or another. It’s better to remember there are plenty of other issues that are waiting.
Ok, In Vino, why not consider how you would feel if, after supporting women’s liberation your entire adult life, someone called you a misogynist. Why would you decide it appropriate to allow them to get away with misrepresenting you??
Dennis
I know just how to answer that one and drop myself in it.
You are talking about women and who can understand them, you just have to love them.
And of course there is a unisex fit to that argument; turn it round and it applies to men. There just has to be a limit to the foibles and faults that each gender will put up with, so there will be further opportunities to write another chapter of Arms and the Woman.
I don’t know all the past history, Dennis. It just seems to me that you provoked all this by singling out feminists at the start, when your question should have applied to all beneficiaries or bludgers or whatever we like to call them – regarding parliamentary perks.
Consider: the active substance in 1080 is produced by some plants as a natural defence against grazing animals, and breaks down in soil due to a variety of naturally occurring organisms.
Consider also: my property and neighbouring properties are heavily affected by kauri dieback, yet 1080 has not been used in the area within the past several decades, if ever.
Isnt most 1080 distributed in ‘bait traps’ , and only a few areas is it spread by airdrops by helicopter ?
How does it affect roots when its not spread over the forest floor. of course possums are responsible for their own tree diebacks
Dunno what the breakdown is between bait traps and aerial dropping, or if the different application methods have different effects on the forest floor.
But my folks’ farm has a decent-size bush block with kauri and no evidence of die-back, and there’s been plenty of 1080 poison in bait stations around that bush block over the last three decades.
So that’s two points of anecdata, my place with lots of dieback and no 1080, and my folks with lots of 1080 and no dieback.
Hey, maybe 1080 is actually a good prophylactic for kauri against dieback, so we should just chuck tons of it around willy-nilly all through kauri forests to protect the kauri. /sarc
1080 mimics the poisons produced by some plant species, it is deadly to animals, and birds are less affected, though their low body mass means they die anyway.
Strictly speaking phytophthora is not a fungus. Its cell walls are made of different materials than fungus cell walls. It’s possibly called a water mould because on a macro scale it looks and acts like a fungus.
Fungal disease is a fair description of its effects, and gives some idea of what treatment might be required. It is likely susceptible to heavy metal poisoning of the sort created by Bordeaux mixture, though that is a temporary solution, and silver compounds are vastly more mycotoxic. More promising long term solutions lie in competitive or inoculating fungal treatments.
As I understand it, the treatment being trialled to try to slow* the disease (and I’ve applied to the kauri at my place) is borrowed from the avocado industry for managing their phytophtora problems. I’m not aware of it being used for fungal problems, but that’s way outside my expertise, so my lack of awareness doesn’t mean anything. The treatment is injecting a phosphite solution into the trunk using spring-loaded syringes.
* It’s not a cure. At best using this treatment will buy time until an actual cure is found.
The concentration of 1080 in each pellet has reduced over recent decades and so has the amount of pellets per hectare. So I think we would have seen an obvious problem much earlier if there was a link.
Also like Andre says, there are going to be quite a few areas with dieback that have never been anywhere near 1080. In the scheme of things I think it is only used on something like 2% of DOC land.
Flag-worshipping, saluting, camouflage gear on the sidelines, jets flying over the stadium: Why don’t sports organizations just ban these goons altogether?
“The dire prospect that opens, therefore, is that America is going to become a mega-banana republic where the army will have more and more importance in Americans’ lives… [D]emocracy is the special condition – a condition we will be called upon to defend in the coming years. That will be enormously difficult because the combination of the corporation, the military, and the complete investiture of the flag with mass spectator sports has set up a pre-fascistic atmosphere in America already.”
What would they do without Bread and Circuses. it worked since the times of the Roman. Also i find it funny that those that have never served, have managed to dodge the draft not once but several times are often the loudest patriots.
The last refuge of the scoundrel is patriotism.
And also the machine needs to recruit its Kanonenfutter, how else to feed the bank accounts if no one wants to do the dying?
Very true, Sabine. I note that we are following this dishonorable practice in N.Z.—one Willie Apiata was featured visiting the All Blacks’ dressing rooms during the last RWC.
“His character, Cassius “Cash” Green, a low-level telemarketer, learns that, in order to succeed at work, he has to put on a white voice. This does not mean a nasal affectation, along the lines of that corny old nerdy-voice stereotype that mid-level black comedians do. It means putting into your voice an embrace of the ease that white privilege brings. It means sounding as if you’re entitled to the good life. It means feeling calm way down in your soul. It means never having to be afraid someone will call the police on you just because you’re breathing.”
This seems awesome – What do current resident dunner commenters think? As a mosgiel/dunners boy I love strong community iniatives from the south. I hope this is all that.
“After almost five years of planning, work is set to start soon on Dunedin’s first co-housing project.
Run by Urban Cohousing Otepoti Ltd, it will provide more than 60 residents with shared spaces and 22 units.”
‘The South African government has begun the process of seizing land from white farmers.
Local newspaper City Press reports two game farms in the northern province of Limpopo are the first to be targeted for unilateral seizure after negotiations with the owners to purchase the properties stalled.’
Can’t see how this will end up anyway different to Zimbabwe
“A businessman who liquidated his company after being fined almost $430,000 for exploitation has become personally liable for the $120,000 outstanding.
The Employment Relations Authority joined Jujhar Singh to his previous company, Binde Enterprises, after a Labour Inspectorate investigation found the company owed 75 workers on a vegetable farm in the Bombay Hills nearly $210,000 in wages.”
They’re finally cracking down after years of doing SFA (even when they get evidence and witnesses handed to them on a plate).
I’d suggest Jujhar Singh spend a little more time at the temple reacquainting himself with a few values.
It’s good to see a more victims prepared to come forward in the knowledge that something might actually be done.
A friend took a trip and commented that the organisers said to stand near the buffet table while there was a pre-eats welcome or the food would be gone before getting to the table. This was the case, and it brought to mind how those
very fast and thorough clearers made their money. It could be imagined that they grabbed all they could from some industry they controlled.
The aristos said let them eat cake; the nouveau riche think, what the heck I’ll take all I want and if others miss out, hard luck.
If I was the existing leader of a ruling political party and I didn’t have the primary support of 35 out of 83 of my followers, then I’d be very concerned. This ballot reconfirmed his leadership- it wasn’t a new ballot with new contenders. One of the contenders was the incumbent. Turnbull did declare the leadership vacant but 42% preferring another candidate is a sign of a large internal dissatisfaction. 58% of his party MPs supported him. Less than 6 out of ten.
Then the loser doesn’t pledge his loyalty having lost- he resigns from cabinet, rather than work with Turnbull, or was it to avoid the risk of sacking by a wrathful Turnbull?
My take is that Turnbull is spooked by current polling. The other dork thought it was a good time to strike but got proved wrong. Labour will win an Oz election held in both short & medium term, eh? So the dork will wait & strike again when Turnbull gets defeated. Is there a better contender who could defeat the dork?
Even the Greens in Australia have serious infighting that would be unthinkable for the Greens in NZ.
The point is, all politics in Australia is highly personal, where its me me me.
Im just surprised some here get caught up in all the hype and what it means when they should see it all in context.
Yes Dutton is doing exactly what his mentor Abbott did; skive off to the back bench and engage in a guerrilla war with Turnbull.
No-one is happy with the state of Australian politics at the moment; in the past decade all three of the major parties have sustained damage over illegal immigration and climate change. It’s taken a rough toll on everyone, even the Greens have taken a few dents.
Business leaders are pretty pissed off with the lack of clear policy, and overhearing two conversations this afternoon (if either can be considered representative) many ordinary voters are discomforted by the lack of any credible visible leadership.
And after their last performance in power, no-one here should crowing about the prospect of the ALP forming a government … the underlying tensions have not gone away.
No many thought not having the support of your caucus colleges was an issue here during the cunners comedy hour I think Cunliffe would have been estatic with those percentages
Not many thought not having the support of your caucus colleges was an issue here during the cunners comedy hour I think Cunliffe would have been estatic with those percentages
Fifty years ago Russia and their Warsaw Pact allies put a stop to the Prague Spring reforms that included giving citizens the opportunity of self determination, free travel, ending censorship of the press, and political surveillance by the secret police.
A crude and ignorant bully, this blustering ex-copper was firmly put in his place one day by fellow Panelist Gordon Campbell. Sadly, few others have been brave enough to take him on….
Possibly the best compendium of Bell-esqueries ever made….
Dismal Panel Guests is a compilation of the worst guests to appear on RNZ National’s light chat show over the last thirteen or so years. It is compiled by Hector Stoop for Daisycutter Sports, Inc.
Not a bad idea (for starters)
Maybe bring them back when senior management / CEOs actually start performing (or not), instead of running Ministries and Departments like their own little feifdoms.
Can anyone think of a Ministry or Department that’s actually been run well over the past decade?
Most public servants work in spite of their senior management masters rather than because of them.
In the Newshub story on this in tonight’s news, Hipkins was asked if he thought departmental CEO salaries were okay. His reply: “They’re being paid what they’re being paid.” Such brilliance sets an extremely high bar for other government ministers to measure up to, let alone the poor CEOs. The rocket science industry will be dead keen to recruit him asap.
Dennis, I think you should be careful about using rocket scientists as a benchmark for brilliance. What happens if we are inflicted with the presence of a rocket scientist who is clearly stupid?
The default exemplar for “clever” used to be “brain surgeon”. But then Dr Ben Carson came along. He was one of the dimmest of the dim bulbs that ran, or more accurately sleepwalked, for the 2016 Republican nomination. He was allegedly, you may remember, a brain surgeon.
Hipkins might be fucking up bigtime, but if Ben Carson is any yardstick, he probably would be good enough to be a brain surgeon, if not a rocket scientist.
I think Peter Sellers actually played that part quite straight.
When I see people from Trump’s cabinet of grotesques on the television occasionally, Dr. Strangelove appears by comparison comfortingly sane and rational.
Jenny, that report is written by the notorious Danny Gold, who files stories from Jerusalem about “contested” neighborhoods. He is dodgy, and if you were smart, you would have nothing to do with his work.
Sobering statement from the herald on socialism when it goes wrong and the money runs out
“Venezuela was once among Latin America’s most prosperous nations, holding the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but a recent fall in oil prices accompanied by corruption and mismanagement under two decades of socialist rule have left the economy in a historic economic and political crisis.”
OK Ed … I spent much of the first six months of this year working alongside some colleagues from Colombia. (A really interesting and deeply underrated Latin nation.). Their response to anything to do with Venezuela was quite different from the torpor you affect.
Soviet Russia, Maoist China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Albania, Cuba, and now Venezuela … there is always an excuse for the humiliating, catastrophic failure. ‘It wasn’t proper communism’, ‘ the leaders were corrupt’, ‘ the reactionary pigs sabotaged us’, ‘the capitalist running dogs …’ and on and on.
Always the same bloodless denial of anything wrong with the fundamental idea of unconstrained marxism.
Colombia has it’s own problems. If you imagine I’m ignorant of them, then you were not with me at the plant I was at last year, pock-marked by rebel bullets and guarded by armed platoons 24 hrs per day. But there is way more to the country than drug lords, death squads and gross inequality. Like most developing nations it’s changing for the better, and while it’s patchy and messy as always … it’s not the place it was even a decade ago.
Unlike Venezuela which from the conversations I had with one man, whose home is not too far from the border, what’s happening is not pretty. Yes I’m sure black propaganda exists; but not in a vacuum. When you hear first hand stories from people affected it’s not so easy to dismiss them with ‘zzzz’s.
Great, RedLogix. You seem to be a serious and astute judge of the situation.
I do disagree, though, with your statement: “I’m sure black propaganda exists; but not in a vacuum.” As we have seen with the baseless, fantastical attacks against Jeremy Corbyn, black propaganda is often a tissue of lies, with no link to reality.
If Corbyn got his hand on the levers of power in the Uk for 20 years it to would mirror Venezuela. Note the herald just sums up the impact of socialist and Marxist economics and societies over the last 100 years History tells you that as does redlogix highlights May I suggest your additional reading is just to find something to deny the obvious and support your fragile beliefs in a totally discredited ideaology
Tough my friend, i suggest you need to read more widely and far more critically You appear to read only what satisfies an extremely lop sided view of reality
I disagree Bewildered. Corbyn is not a marxist revolutionary; in a historic context he’s pretty much a middle of the road post-war leftie. While the Overton window shunted right-wards during the 80’s and 90’s, Corbyn wedged firmly in his rather moderate 70’s political space.
Fair enough maybe Venezuela is a stretch but 1970s Britain was not to flash, it led to the rise of Thatcher that managed to turn the uk fortunes around
‘The United States was the first country to recognize the independence of the nascent republic, sending the U.S. Navy to prevent Colombia from retaking the territory during the first days of the new Republic. In exchange for its role in defending the Republic, and for constructing the canal, the U.S. was granted a perpetual lease on the land around the canal, known as the Panama Canal Zone, which was later returned to Panama under the terms of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties.’-wiki
As I said before, you’re an idiot. The Herald is the LAST publication anyone with an I.Q. above room temperature, never mind a conscience, would trust. It’s been delinquent for many generations….
Published in 1942, John Gunther’s Inside Latin America described Venezuela fifteen years into the oil boom. Because of the obstructionism and feudal social systems of the landed classes, the land-owners had refused to modernise production methods, preferring cheap and plentiful labour, and when the poor fled the countryside to work in and around the oil-fields, domestic production collapsed.
Consequently, Caracas had the highest cost of living in the world with food prices typically 20-30 times higher than in the US because most food, along with almost every other sort of goods, was imported, heavily taxed, and levied with tariffs to prop up the local agricultural sector.
And despite the astronomical oil revenues earned by the ruling classes since the twenties, Venezuela at the time had no industrial base.
That scenario is indeed typical of almost all Latin American countries in the post-war era, extremes of inequality, ossified hierarchies and entrenched oligarchs. Often propped up by a malign dominance of US interest in the region. All this is understood.
But does anyone try to justify the horrors of Stalinist Russia by pointing to the feudal backwardness of Czarist Russia?
RedLogix, there is no comparison between Stalinist Russia and democratic Venezuela. For any person to suggest there was a comparison would put that person into the realm of such intellectual luminaries and conspiracy theorists as Leighton Smith and Alex Jones.
Comparison’s are never exact; yet certain patterns do emerge. Venezuela is probably a good example of what happens when entrenched inequality outstays the capacity of the dispossessed to tolerate it, and the reaction instead of evolving incrementally, kicks over the existing order with poor regard to what does and does not work.
Whether revolutions are triggered by force or ballot box isn’t really germane to the outcome. The historic context is different so I don’t imagine Venezuela will descend into the nightmare of the gulags, although the risk isn’t non-zero. The fact is the country we’re talking about has not seen it’s ‘democratic socialist revolution’ usher in a new era of prosperity and contentment.
What will most likely happen is that after a period of turmoil lasting perhaps a decade or so, and if they manage to retain some form of democratic accountability , they’ll move toward more moderate political settings.
The Venezuelan government is democratic. It’s been under sustained assault from Colombia and the United States, aided and abetted by the implacable Venezuelan extreme right wing oligarchies, for almost two decades now. There was a coup against the democratic government in 2002; it was reversed after massive civil protests made it impossible for the U.S. backed plotters to operate.
Venezuela does not operate death squads; the Colombian government did and probably still does. There is no way whatsoever that you could suggest the possibility of democratic Venezuela “descending into the nightmare of the gulags.” I’m interested, by the way, that you did not choose a more relevant example for political repression—like the United States gulag of torture and disappearance sites, starting in occupied Cuba and extending all round the globe.
It’s consistent with what I heard first hand from a person living close to the story. It’s not credible or helpful to persist in denying basic facts on the ground … the plain matter is the country is in a deep crisis.
Certainly there will be external regional players, hostile to what is happening. No quibble. But the left does itself no justice when it forever blames everyone and everything else for it’s repeated failures.
I hesitate to link to anything because I just know you’ll reflexively dismiss anything and everything as ‘black propaganda’
I do not do that “reflexively.” That suggests something automatic and mindless, as opposed to arriving at a conclusion from having studied the matter seriously. You use “reflexively” like Jim Mora uses the word “virtuous”—as a denigration and belittlement.
Contrary to your attempt to render my viewpoint into something cartoonish and easily dismissed, I do not pretend that the Venezuelan government is a paragon of virtue, or even moderately well run. From the time of Chavez, the government has made some terrible decisions, choosing to grandstand with stunts such as supplying free fuel to the poor in certain parts of the United States in order to show up the Bush administration. I am also very angry at their loutish attacks on “bourgeois” culture, including Venezuela’s world-renowned El Sistema. Such actions are similar to Castro’s monstrous attacks on Cuba’s world renowned architects in the 1960s for no other reason than they were “bourgeios.”
So your suggestion that I “reflexively dismiss anything and everything as ‘black propaganda'” is baseless, as well as insulting.
It’s not credible or helpful to persist in denying basic facts on the ground … the plain matter is the country is in a deep crisis.
Indeed it is. You’re stating the obvious, and implying that I do not recognize that fact.
Certainly there will be external regional players…
That’s an anodyne and determinedly benign spin on the bloody insurrection that is being openly aided and abetted by the United States and its most brutal accomplice, Colombia.
It’s instructive to contrast your condemnation of democratic Venezuela with your positive, optimistic tone towards its internationally condemned terrorist neighbour, which you insist is “Like most developing nations …. changing for the better, and while it’s patchy and messy as always … it’s not the place it was even a decade ago.” (in 19.1.2.1.1)
I don’t think even silly old Sir Geoffrey Palmer, that dupe of Alvaro Uribe, would be so dishonest as to describe South America’s most repressive state in those terms.
In one of the clearest clues yet about Washington’s latest meddling in the politics of Latin America, CIA director Mike Pompeo said he was “hopeful that there can be a transition in Venezuela and we the CIA is doing its best to understand the dynamic there”
Defaulted on debt, and reset currency to petro-commodity, hinged to a crypto-blockchain. Sounds good. Hope the Green Investment Bank are following how to do all this. Could Turkey be next? They are taking up crypto-fast, and have recovered all their gold reserves back from the US, earlier this year…
Asia Argento seems to be in serious trouble now,
but let’s bear in mind that she has also done some very good things.
I, and many others, have criticized the #MeToo divas for “forgetting” to speak out in support of the heroic Palestinian girl Ahed Tamimi. But some of those women have indeed spoken out. One of them was Asia Argento….
Shite critisim from you morrissy would be a badge of honour for most people and confirmation they are probably on the write track, hence your feedback on Venezuela is appreciated 😊
Good evening Newshub can you see it we are talking about reforming our justice system and what do you not the gangs start playing up is this hard for some person’s who are against our justice reforms. Who’s view on maori is that we are savages they are out there and it’s not very hard for these red neck to pull off this attempted interference of our justice systems reforms.
And now Duncan you are blowing up the whole issue you are just being played with. The WHOLE of Papatuanuku is watching our Justice systems reforms there is a documentary crew from America filming this all the under privilege native people are watching Aoteraroa why because maori are not the only tangata whenua to be pushed into hardship locked up dieing on the streets and treated as second class people .
Who Australia America Canada Hawaii and there are many other nation’s who’s native cultures are in dire straight’s . So Aoteraroa will lead the Papatuanuku once again to the correct path of treating native people all people the same as the majority European cultures. Did you see that reality Duncan the other topic’s we have lead the world with Wahine vote Nuclear Free many more .
Ka kite ano P.S look like Loyd is trimming down
The Am Show The giant squid we caught one when I was fishing it was huge we no more about the Marama than Tangaroa’s beautiful creatures that’s a fact.
The government is being fiscally responsible in freezing mp pay’s and the high payed public servants this goverment is not going to —– on the mokopunas future’s buy loading them with Dept throwing them in jail or poisoning there enviroment .
Ka kite ano P.S got to go and work my favorite charity
The sandflys have been swarming with there actor’s since I exposed there bad behavior at the hospital .
You see its quite easy to read there body langue as I am looking for these people all the time I know that when ever I go out they are inplay how if a person walks past you they will scan you to see if you are a threat or not if they don’t look at me they no me need I say more and if you flip them the bird to a stranger they will give it back 10 fold .
I have been reading there body language since gisborne man started his personal vendetta 18 years ago I last seen him with Richard Prebble in the computa repair shop last year
One day I was walking past a group of sandfly’s contracted actors how do I spot them well they were talking about Ngati Porou historical issues and what do I know we are in Te Arawa whenua they should be talking about Te Arawa issues I can not even find many books on Ngati Porou Book’s in the Rotorua library.
When I walked back past this group I spoke loud enough so they could hear I said they were muppets with no morels you should have seen they duck for cover muppet puppets .
And to day they get one of there contracted lairs in Kamart to try a play with my daugther how do I not this person is a contracted liar because I know its history and I know that the sandfly shine there shiny badge and will let people off charges give them thosands of dollars get them jobs they do what ever it takes to get ——-on Eco Maori and its all false .
They don’t care just so long as the shut up that savage Eco Maori who’s action are letting every body know how flawed the New Zealand Justice is Ana to kai .
Back up your contracted lies come and arrested me and I will preform Rua Moko in the court house all over your lies and watch your ass burn on the hot coals of the court house Ka kite ano p.s the positive thing to Eco Maori is they are leaving a lot people alone because they are busy playing marball’s with them selves trying to frame Me
Good Evening The Crowd Goes Wild James & Mulls I did not realize that the NRL are having Wahine tangata whenua League team ka pai .
James you got that accent down to a T.
Yes Tiger I ignored my elder’s who were letting me know about the aches and pain’s one get’s when you get long in the tooth.
Mulls I thought you were going to kiss the shield.
Ka kite ano P.S my challenges to obtain my birth right continues meanest kayaking I have ever seen
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 ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
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 ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The 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. ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
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 ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
By Robin Martin, RNZ News reporter A New Zealand local authority, Whanganui District Council, has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemnation of all acts of violence and terror against civilians on both sides of the conflict and the immediate return of hostages. It comes as ...
Asia Pacific Report The Aotearoa chapter of the Women’s International league for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has appealed to the New Zealand government to call out Israel over the “cruel and barbaric use of force” in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. The league’s open letter was sent to Prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will invest $566 million over a decade on data, maps and other tools to promote exploration and development in Australia’s resources industry. The project will fund “the first comprehensive map of what’s ...
Asia Pacific Report Following an open letter by Auckland University academics speaking out in support of their students’ right to protest against the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, a group of academics at Otago University have today also called on New Zealand academic institutions to “repair colonial violence” and end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Ryan Tauss/ Unsplash, CC BY Two male students have been expelled from a Melbourne private school for their involvement in a list ranking female students. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year – and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. That’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the government’s legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ground Picture/Shutterstock The anti-cancer drug abemaciclib (also known as Vernezio) has this month been added to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat certain ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic McAfee, Postdoctoral researcher, marine ecology, University of Adelaide Robbie Porter, OzFish Unlimited Around Australia, hundreds of people are coming together to help a once-prized, but decimated and largely forgotten marine ecosystem. They’re busy restoring Australia’s native oyster and mussel reefs. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology Austin Human/Unsplash How does Earth stop meteors from hitting Earth and hurting people? –Asher, 6 years 11 months, New South Wales Alright, let’s embark on a meteor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rory Mulcahy, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of the Sunshine Coast Professional sports organisations regularly promote and develop initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion. While sport has the power to change attitudes by sparking conversations about political issues and social ...
Comment: The weekly Monday post-Cabinet press conference is a useful forum for observing Christopher Luxon and how he is developing into the job of Prime Minister. He attempts to convey the impression of a man of action, speaking fast, delivering memorised National Party strategies in a connect-the-slogans kind of way, ...
Double votes, missing ballot boxes, tired tech and stressed staff: how tick-tallying went astray at last year’s election. Cast your mind back to November 2023, that bleary-eyed post-election period duringwhichwewaited, andwaited, for a coalition deal to be hammered out. A distraction from the hotel-hopping of our ...
International audiences are starting to discover what New Zealand already knew about After the Party.When After the Party aired in New Zealand last year, the response was fast and furious. In his preview for Rec Room, Duncan Greive said it was a “gritty, wrenching and highly confronting” series. By ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shahram Akbarzadeh, Convenor of the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF), and Acting Director the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University Iran’s leadership has been a direct beneficiary of the months-long war in Gaza. With every missile that Israel fires ...
Claire Mabey reviews the haunting and sexy debut novel from Sinéad Gleeson, who is about to touch down in Aotearoa for a string of live events.When Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson was in Aotearoa in 2018 with her spectacular collection of essays, Constellations, she told me she was working on ...
PNG Post-Courier Bougainville Affairs Minister Manasseh Makiba has described the Post-Courier’s front page story yesterday regarding a meeting between Bougainville and national government leaders as “sensationalised” and without substance. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (AGB) had warned it might use “other avenues to gain its independence” should the PNG government “continue ...
Where some saw the worst press conference given by the government to date, Anna Rawhiti-Connell recognised girl maths game.Nicola Willis, recently exasperated by comparisons to Ruth Richardson, said she was “a bit sick of being compared with every female finance minister that’s ever been out there.”Some think that’s ...
The March results are reported against forecasts based on the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2023 (HYEFU 2023), published on 20 December 2023 and the results for the same period for the previous year. ...
Jamie Arbuckle, the district councillor who became an MP but decided to keep getting paid for both roles, will instead donate one salary to charity. ...
Adding gender to the Human Rights Act would simply make the implicit explicit. So why is it so controversial? Paul Thistoll explain. At present, Aotearoa’s 1993 Human Rights Act (HRA) includes sex, marital status, religious belief, ethical belief (meaning a lack of religious belief), colour, race, ethnicity or national origin, ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, an 18-year-old who’s studying and working in hospo shares their approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Transmasc Age: 18 Ethnicity: Pākehā/Māori Role: Student, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Kelsey, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Resources Minister Shane Jones has reportedly asked officials for advice on whether oil and gas companies could be offered “bonds” as compensation if drilling rights offered by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Gleeson, Associate Professor of Law, Macquarie University Shutterstock The Albanese government is weighing up the costs of delivering an election promise to protect religious people from discrimination in Commonwealth law. Such protections were relatively uncontroversial when included in state anti-discrimination ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yen Ying Lim, Associate Professor, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio Dementia is often described as “the long goodbye”. Although the person is still alive, dementia slowly and irreversibly chips away at their memories and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judy Bush, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne Adam Calaitzis/Shutterstock I met with a friend for a walk beside Merri Creek, in inner Melbourne. She had lived in the area for a few years, and as we walked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Throsby, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Macquarie University Arts companies and individual artists in Australia are supported by government arts agencies, philanthropists, industry bodies, private donors and patrons. However, it is frequently overlooked that a major source of support for the arts ...
Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa, a new incorporated society dedicated to ending harmful drug policies, officially launched today, seeks a new fit-for-purpose drug law for Aotearoa New Zealand, rooted in science, experience and evidence. ...
The Corrections Minister admits he "muddied the water" after he and the Prime Minister repeatedly provided incorrect information about a $1.9 billion prison spend-up. ...
It took a post-post-cabinet statement to confirm that 810 new beds will be built at Waikeria, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Lili Tokaduadua was only 15 when she left her family in Fiji to pursue her netball dream in New Zealand. She’d been playing the sport for 10 years and was offered a netball scholarship at Auckland’s Howick College. Now, in her first year out of high school, the 19-year-old defender ...
The beloved local grocers lost a legal challenge to stop a new cycleway outside their store. Joel MacManus reports. In the annals of New Zealand legal history, there are a few brave people who have dared to stand up to the powers that be, no matter how bleak the odds ...
How what we produce and what we eat connects us to the world beyond our shores, visualised. Walking around a supermarket or vege shop, it might be obvious that everything on the shelves came from somewhere. But you might ...
A $1.8b funding boost for Pharmac still won’t enable it to buy more drugs, raising questions about the Government’s approach to the agency The post Can Pharmac do more with the same pot of money? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Professor Jemma Geoghegan, of the University of Otago, Otakou Whakaihu Waka, co-leads a Te Niwha project aimed at understanding how and where avian influenza could affect Aotearoa New Zealand, as the highly infectious H5N1 virus spreads globally. The virus has now spread to all continents except Oceania and was recently ...
Thirty years on from Rwanda’s genocide, is guilt over the atrocities is blinding the world to the true nature of its current leadership? The post The repressive underside of Rwanda’s regime appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: Last week, important recommendations for our criminal justice system were made by the international community. Every five years, each member of the United Nations has its human rights practices reviewed. This rolling event – the Universal Periodic Review – is the culmination of a government reporting on its human ...
Highly pathogenic avian influenza – H5N1, or bird flu – has been flying around the world since the late 1990s. New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands are so far free of it, but now it’s been discovered in mainland Antarctica and scientists say it’s only a matter of time ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 7 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The following interview with auto electrician and former caver Stu Berendt, 68, of Charleston on the West Coast, came about because he was part of the caving team that found the rare and amazing fossil remains of the giant Haast eagle, the subject of one of the year’s best books, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Stokan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County If you live in one of the most economically deprived neighborhoods in your city, you might think the government is directing a smaller share of public funds to your community. ...
Wansolwara The news media’s crucial role in climate change and environment journalism was the focus of The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme 2024 World Press Freedom Day celebrations. The European Union Ambassador to the Pacific, Barbara Plinkert, and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna were the chief ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Adams, Professor of Corporate Law & Academic Director of UNE Sydney campus, University of New England Last August, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against Qantas. The consumer watchdog accused the airline of selling thousands of tickets ...
This episode of A View From Afar was recorded LIVE on May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, May 5, 2024 at 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Taylor, Assistant Professor, Bond University Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures At the crux of the critical response to Luca Guadagnino’s new movie Challengers is one word: “sexy”. The film charts a love triangle between three up-and-coming tennis players: Tashi (Zendaya), ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Stewart, Professor of Public Policy, ADFA Canberra, UNSW Sydney For years, First Nations people have been telling governments they want to be listened to. In particular, they want more ownership of the programs and services that are supposed to help them. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Why do trees have bark? Julien, age 6, Melbourne. This is a great question, Julien. We are so familiar with bark on trees, that most of us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Nasser, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of Technology Sydney PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important ligament in the knee. It runs from the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia) and helps stabilise ...
Call to action – disabled need basic access!!
https://www.accessalliance.org.nz/add_your_name_to_support_our_stories
Support Access Alliance presentation at Parliament
On September 4 the Access Alliance (of which DPA is a member organisation) will gather at Parliament to present Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni with a giant-sized version of a booklet full of stories from the disability community.
These are stories about access barriers which an Accessibility Act could help to remove. We are calling on Minister Sepuloni to listen to our stories and to prioritise accessibility legislation within this Parliamentary term.
The alliance has been working hard to make sure that your stories and your support for an Accessibility Act are reaching the decision-makers in Parliament. For over a year campaigners from the disability community have been busy meeting with their MPs, sharing their stories, and explaining why we need an accessibility law at the heart of a more inclusive Aotearoa. Others have been meeting with Ministers and starting to figure out how the Access Alliance can work together with our elected representatives to co-design this new law.
The presentation on September 4 is a chance to celebrate the progress we’ve made to date, but also a call for our Minister for Disability Issues to tell us how she will ensure that this law is prioritised within this term of Government.
Accessibility Legislation would ensure everyone benefits from an accessible NZ – it would be great to have lots of people at Parliament to show just how important we believe this is.
When: Tuesday 4 September, arrive at 11am – finished by 12pm
Where: Outdoors on Parliament Lawn, by the Seddon Statue – enter from Molesworth St
The event will be NZSL interpreted and the spot where we are gathering is wheelchair-accessible. Please email Áine Kelly-Costello at akelly-costello@blindfoundation.org.nz if you will be driving and need a Mobility carpark as Parliament Security have advised that these are limited.
Even if you can’t be there on the day, please click here to add your name to the booklet to support prioritising accessibility legislation. The same form will also ask you to RSVP if you can make it.
The presentation will be streamed live on the Access Matters Facebook page from 11:30am.
Let me guess, Garth McVicar didn’t get an invite to Andrew Little’s justice reform summit…
Of course not. He is perhaps the most disgusting person in the country….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/noelle-mccarthy-swallowed-vomit-for-15.html
Every now and then, Don of the Deadbrains slips up and accidentally dishes out advice worth acting on. In one of his recent sprays of shitter-twitter he said “Study the late Joseph McCarthy”. You should. You really should, in order to understand who and what is the new McCarthy and the new McCarthyism. This Politico piece summarises it.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/19/trump-mcarthyism-joe-mccarthy-219373
Interesting indeed. So the link, Roy Cohn: “he died from AIDS as a man who denied to the end that he was gay”. Populism being the cultural relevance, that tertiary part of the political terrain that the binary left/right frame can’t explain.
From the viewpoint of trying to work towards a more inclusive accepting society, it always bothers me that Cohn’s sexuality and public denial of it always takes a prominent place in pieces about Cohn. Yet it’s crucial to the understanding the power of othering, understanding Cohn’s use of othering, and I’ll guess his fear of it being applied to him.
Feedlots.
It’s a conversation New Zealand needs to have.
How much cruelty do we accept as a society?
Is profit our country ‘s only priority?
Checkpoint highlighted the issue.
Rachel Stewart continued.
“Anything to say @BeefLambNZ about feedlots, and how we’ve suddenly turned into America? You knew. Why didn’t everybody else?“
And Jonathan Maze added.
“Unbelievable, I had no idea this awful kind of “farming” was happening in NZ..”
Don’t panic, go organic.
Retail brand is Wakanui Beef – this is the About page:
The marketing and reality seem slightly divorced from each other, maybe?
Stockists to avoid (or not) I’ve made a copy in case some businesses unexpectedly disappear – especially the restaurants:
http://www.wakanuibeef.co.nz/stockists
Meh – I grow my own beef anyway – it taste better and my cows have a happy life right up to the end.
So you say.
What do the cows say? Bet no one has even asked them:
“If you knew that the whole raison d’etre of your existence was to be barbecued by James, rate your happiness on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is ‘delirious with joy’ and 1 is ‘a bit miffed'”.
They dont think beyond the current day.
Your views are classic anthropomorphism
What about Montaigne and his cat?
At least he was basing the question on direct observational evidence.
Yes good point. There’s nothing to suggest that the cows think they are farming James
Exclusive covert video from one of James’ barbecues where one of the cows weighs in on that very topic.
https://youtu.be/bAF35dekiAY
is it better to exist and be barbecued, or to never exist at all?
Wow! That reminds me of being in love…
Have you written or emailed all the stockists of this meat yet? Or are you all mouth and no trousers.
Marty – should I refer you to 3.2.1 on yesterday’s Daily Report? If you are addressing Ed, he did it there, with another list further down.
All good. Ed says he cares but he wants others to do the work. Shows he doesn’t care at all.
Funny, they never covered this on Country Calendar…
All the animals live happy ever after on Country Calendar… not even a stock truck in sight
Last night I searched for an audio link to put up here of the Federated Farmers reply to the accusation of bad farming but RNZ only had the one about SAFE.
I put up the link to the page which had an onsite link but thought it interesting that this large and important body (Fed Farmers) wasn’did not have full audio coverage.
This is very much a knee jerk reaction, these cattle are having their needs met, warm and dry, not knee deep in mud, correct nutrition adequate vitamins and minerals as opposed to grass fed animals, not being fed toxic members of the cabbage family.
Worm free without having to be drenched.
Effluent collected and composted not leeching into aquifers.
What will be next horses in stables dogs in kennels.
Of course
Are you conditioned by looking after others in confined conditions? Perhaps it has blunted your sensivities Psych Nurse. These animals would be safe and happy in a fenced paddock, no need to keep them confined and standing disconsolately waiting for something to eat besides mud porridge, with dainty blades of grass occasionally.
Peter Dunne on MPs pay: set it at the start of a parliamentary term, to remain at that level until the next term. Damn good idea. He told the AM show that the current level is about right. Retired, he can afford to be honest about that…
Retired from the position of leader of a party with a caucus of one, with a significantly enhanced pay package from that “leadership” position.
But yeah, he’s right. Set what it’s going to be pre-election and fix it for the term. Preferably also tie it to a measure of pay relevant to the population as a whole, such as some multiple of the 25th percentile income.
Govt will be revising the way the remuneration authority does its thing apparently, so your suggestion may get taken up. I agree it ought to be related to some kind of indicator of the average income (agnostic on how to do that).
What we pay [them] is what they get.
But it’s not quite that simple, is it?
https://www.parliament.nz/en/mps-and-electorates/pay-and-entitlements/
True. Entitlements are residue of empire & patriarchy, best eliminated. Can’t expect women to take a political stand on this. Too subtle. Female politicians probably enjoy the perks of office as much as males.
Can’t expect women to take a political stand on this. Too subtle.
I think your misogyny is hanging out again.
I was hoping to flush out a bunch of female deniers to liven up the day. Reckon it’ll work? If I’d just framed it as a privileged institutional thing, people would get bored to death.
Oh, “female deniers”. What are they denying again?
Chocolate.
That women haven’t been targeting the residual patriarchy for removal. Last time I pointed that out onsite here it was in relation to the judiciary & got total denial in response (mostly via evasion of the point).
women haven’t been targeting the residual patriarchy for removal.
Oh my god, you mean that the men get the goodies and not the women?
Incredible though it may seem, I mean what I say. I don’t mind if that seems so old-fashioned that it contravenes postmodern conformity.
I really don’t know what you think you are saying. It looks to me like you just put a dig in against women because women.
And i have no idea what might mean by “postmodern conformity”?
Anyone who has spent most of their life watching the progressive trend toward liberation of the human spirit in general, and the feminist project as in integral part of that, is keenly aware of the part of the establishment that has yet to be rectified.
So I’ve spent years expecting feminists to get the job done. Don’t get complacent due to perception of victory when it’s mostly done. If they can see the glass ceiling, how come they can’t see the most entrenched parts of the patriarchy??
Right, so men got the perks for a long time before women got access to them so it is up to women to get rid of them. As i said:
It looks to me like you just put a dig in against women because women.
Your words betray your mindset dennis. Not cool your misogyny, not cool at all. You should have a long look in the mirror imo.
Have enjoyed all your contributions so far, Dennis, but it does appear to me that this time you picked out only feminist MPs when criticising a fault applying to all MPs.
Dennis I don’t think feminists or any females want to see through the glass ceiling the most entrenched parts of the patriarchy.
Actually.
Seems to me a perception thing, In Vino. Media reports of women pointing out the glass ceiling effect have been a continual stream in recent years, and I haven’t noticed any of those interviewed ask for male help to rectify the problem.
Their confidence that the feminist project can succeed via the solidarity of women is not misplaced, imo. Sharing that confidence, I’ve wondered why they don’t also target other manifestations of the residual patriarchy. Of course men ought to help co-create the equity required.
Any reason you could think of that ‘female’ polititians should enjoy the perks of the office less then that the ‘males’?
No. Just my way of alerting all to the prolonged perpetuation of the ancient privilege system integral to democracy. It was good to see feminism breach the ramparts back in the day, but I kinda get the impression that there’s a `job done’ syndrome at play. Delusion, not reality.
Oh for goodness sake! You show no understanding of the breadth and depth of feminist thought, politics and activism.
If they can see the glass ceiling, how come they can’t see the most entrenched parts of the patriarchy??
Citations needed of such a reduction of the state of feminism to be in the least bit credible. Who is this “they”? You write as if feminists are a collective, hive mind focusing on one symptom of patriarchy. That may be true of liberal/capitalist feminists as favoured by the mainstream, corporate media.
But feminism is wide ranging. There have been many theorists, like bell hooks, Sheila Rowbottham, and many more who examined the deep-rooted and all-pervasive nature of patriarchy.
And many activists have been informed by their work – in campaigning against sexual and domestic violence (very successful from setting up refuges and putting the issue on the agenda), to feminists working within unions for low paid and precarious workers, to the African American women who first coined the term “intersectionality” to explain the complex nature of their oppression, to women working to change the nature of western political and other institutions.
Back to the point: lack of feminist political action to eliminate the entrenched privilege-based residual patriarchy. Why this lack? The problem will persist until the solution is applied…
Maybe you could begin by differentiating between different feminist schools of thought. (Liberal, anarcho etc)
Would you say that there has been no political action to eliminate privilege based residual patriarchy by men?
And if you wouldn’t say that, then why say it in relation to women? Do you honestly believe that the sum total of feminism is liberal feminism?
I’m not into being distracted from the point I’m making – it’s too important to allow that. Others may find such digressions informative, I understand that. Just not me.
Read and learn – just some of the ways women have organised to change the system, since way back – and still get largely ignored by the MSM.
https://www.thecut.com/2018/03/the-uprising-of-women-in-red-states-is-just-beginning.html
You haven’t got a point to get distracted from. And you haven’t even tried to establish one.
Does that mean you haven’t read 5 & 5.1.1??
You just said:
Back to the point: lack of feminist political action to eliminate the entrenched privilege-based residual patriarchy. Why this lack? The problem will persist until the solution is applied…
The only point you’re making is one disparaging liberal feminists for being liberal feminists in a liberal environment, while denying that any other strand of feminism exists.
You’re saying that the politics of MPs, who obviously accept the political environment they operate within to varying degrees, are the only possible or imaginable politics people can have.
No, Bill. Those assertions of yours are your ways of applying your personal spin to what I wrote. Nothing to do with me.
It’s you who says it is lacking. That doesn’t make it so. If you’ve got your head in the sand, and only take the surface of corporate media as your main source, I can’t help you.
For a start: there’s Sue Bradford who has been fighting patriarchy and capitalism from within many campaigns for decades.
There’s Elizabeth Warren – famous for “she persisted” as a feminist rallying cry- and go read Ad’s post on her today.
There’s Metiria Turei who go crucified by our mainstream media, and those from within the entrenched capitalist-patriarchal system.
If you can’t help with the enormous task of tackling patriarchy, throwing stones from the shadows does nothing to shed light on the situation.
I’m helping by specifying the entrenched part of the problem, in the hope that the governmental review of the MPs remuneration body will not allow it to persist.
Everything else you mention here is irrelevant to that. Privilege-based perks must be eliminated. MPs have no valid basis for retaining them.
So mps travelling around the country on parliamentary business shouldn’t have travel costs provided, and the fact those travel costs are still provided is the fault of feminist inaction?
They get so much money they can fund their travel costs & still be wealthy. It would incentivise them to restrict travel to only that which is necessary. Same as the rest of us.
I get my travel paid for when I have to travel for work. I even get meals reimbursed.
I guess I’m just another tool of the patriarchy
Gosh, who would have known? Hope it doesn’t cause a personality crisis or switch of identity politics… 😁
What you’re arguing for is that rural MPs should be paid less than the MP for wellington central, who can walk everywhere or take the cable car.
So you are saying that “the women” – cause feminism – should refuse the perks the men have enjoyed ever since, cause feminism?
Really?
So you are saying your wife should get paid less then her male counterpart cause feminism?
How about you write a concerned letter to all the men, – current and retired – that enjoy benefits that they are entitled to for nothing more then sitting in parliament getting done fuck all – Bill English, Peter Fucking Dunne, The Hologram Syemor, No Bridges Simon, Nick Smith, Shane Jones, etc – to rescind their perks for the better of the country and while you are at it, ask them to forgo pay increases until every worker in NZ is at the very least on a minimum wage.
Do not ask the women to forgo what men take for granted.
No, I’m not saying any of that. I’m advocating for the removal of the privilege-based part of parliamentary democracy. The status quo provides those perks due to tradition, which derives from the patriarchy. It ought to be a job like any other. Do you really believe parliamentarians are a caste above us?
Dear, they are a caste above us.
As are the overpaid bobbleheads in the media – print, radio, TV.
The overpaid cops, the overpaid lawyers, overpaid Winz workers, ACC Case workers etc etc etc. In short anyone who can affect your life without a care and a thought. .
Even the white people in this country are in a caste above brown people.
Men are in a caste above women and children.
To repeat:
It is not the womens job to clean up after men, it is not the womens job to refuse a perk, a pay, a benefit that men would never refuse just to satisfy your need for purity.
It is the womens job to look after themselves, create happiness and a fulfilled life after their own desires, not bound by obsolete ideas of yesteryears or the needs of lazy men.
I think i am starting to get your point:
1. Power and privilege today has its roots in power and privilege in the fast
2. Patriarchy is an aspect of past power and privilege
3. Feminists, them fight the patriarchy so it is their job to fight to get rid of MP perks.
I guess then that the only solution, if we are to make progress on anything, is to get the whole of the left to identify as feminist.
Wtf Dennis?
I’d say there are two types of people, those who take advantage of any and all perks, and those that don’t.
True. So all those women in parliament who do, how do you feel about their reluctance to admit that they are colluding with paternalism by not opposing the privileges granted them by the residual patriarchy?
I’m not blaming them for enjoying the baubles of office. They’re being pragmatic in accepting what the system provides. However, along with current enjoyment of the perks, why not organise collectively to eliminate them?
Parliamentary representation ought to be a job like any other. I don’t see any merit in continuance of a privilege ranking system. Other hierarchies have been eliminated in the past 20 or 30 years (corporations, mostly). Time for that to happen in governance.
Dude, I’m concerned that you are creating a debate out of gender. Something I won’t buy into.
If you want to talk about MP’s collectively, then am happy to engage. But I’m not into gender division in this instance because it totally misses the point and is not needed.
You’re acting like some belittling Victorian man who blames everyone else for your mistakes. Unpleasant.
Bro, are you implying that men are incapable of changing the system?
Way to piss off everyone.
I would say that ‘feminists’ have enough work tackling gender inequality.
I expect feminist-supporting men to collaborate in eliminating the entrenched privilege system. The gender red herring doesn’t apply.
Colluding? Wtf – you are losing all the commenter capital youve built up. Just another old pale sexist wanker. Go away.
Bullshit. And I’m not here to build up any sort of capital. Sexism is your subjective impression – nothing to do with me. Collusion exists and operates tacitly. It will continue to operate until folks become aware of it. To solve this problem, one must first point it out. Shooting the messenger is just another form of denial.
Dennis, you made it very clear that you were just looking for attention….
“I was hoping to flush out a bunch of female deniers to liven up the day. Reckon it’ll work?”
Not just that. The whole point of operating as a social catalyst is to energise consciousness-raising towards the collaborative solving of the target problem. Whatever rhetorical devices are used in the process, the trick is to get the process happening. Human nature to get distracted onto the personalities involved, but eventually people realise it’s better to play the ball than the man.
When everyone does so, the game of politics deepens into collective problem-solving. Some players may remain frivolous (distracted by irrelevancies) but group psychodynamics gell most of them into a task force. Can take years, but someone has to do it (to actualise the progressive agenda, actions replacing words).
Whatever. You really need to stop digging.
Thanks for ignoring decades and of collective and widespread feminist effort, and, on the basis of no real research, coming here to tell feminists what we have been doing wrong.
We are SOOOO grateful.
Lol sure – you thought you were in control but your ‘authority’ is in your own head – on here you have what you say. And you said it didn’t you? Collusion is your term and your issue – look in the mirror fella.
I have no control or authority on this issue, Marty. I’m puzzled as to why you think I do. Those two things are elements of the privilege-based part of parliamentary democracy that I’m advocating the removal of!
The collusion problem is tacit. All who support the status quo have that collusion operating in the unconscious part of their psyche. To solve the problem, first they must be made aware of it.
Okay I’ll leave it. I think the way you raised this issue was inflammatory and provocative – I felt sad and let down by you for doing that. Just so unnecessary to raise any issue by offending groups of people especially groups marginalisd by the system you get advantage from just by being male – it actually nuliffies any point being made. Surprised that you seem surprised by this – you have strong experience – probably made it worse imo.
I understand. People react on a feelings basis to the written word and sometimes the reactions baffle me but I realise that different generational perspectives drive this stuff. Plus the personal histories of other commentators creating a subjective stance too.
Nah ya don’t get to hide behind your generation status. A misogynist is a misogynist in any generation.
So you come here to call people inaccurate names, eh? You get off on that delusional behaviour?
Careful, Dennis. Such punctilious nit-picking and persistence set my troll-alert bells ringing.
Dennis
You may be partly right but once you underrate the effort that women have put in to improve their position then the irritation grows.
It has been a hard slog and that should not be forgotten even if more could have been done at some stage or another. It’s better to remember there are plenty of other issues that are waiting.
Ok, In Vino, why not consider how you would feel if, after supporting women’s liberation your entire adult life, someone called you a misogynist. Why would you decide it appropriate to allow them to get away with misrepresenting you??
Dennis
I know just how to answer that one and drop myself in it.
You are talking about women and who can understand them, you just have to love them.
And of course there is a unisex fit to that argument; turn it round and it applies to men. There just has to be a limit to the foibles and faults that each gender will put up with, so there will be further opportunities to write another chapter of Arms and the Woman.
While looking up the term this essay showed up so I’ll put it up to keep restive fighters occupied.
(http://www.bopsecrets.org/PS/women.htm
I don’t know all the past history, Dennis. It just seems to me that you provoked all this by singling out feminists at the start, when your question should have applied to all beneficiaries or bludgers or whatever we like to call them – regarding parliamentary perks.
Made synthetic cannabis legal in NZ ?
Dunne’s greatest achievement ?
Revolution and the Third World: Exploring the Radical Ideas of Anti-Imperialist Economist Samir Amin
1080 I am guessing there may be a link with Kauri Dieback and 1080 IMHO ?
1080 may be damaging the kauri roots which opens up a site for phytopthora to enter the tree via the feeder roots ?
You got any evidence beyond your guessing?
Consider: the active substance in 1080 is produced by some plants as a natural defence against grazing animals, and breaks down in soil due to a variety of naturally occurring organisms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_fluoroacetate
Consider also: my property and neighbouring properties are heavily affected by kauri dieback, yet 1080 has not been used in the area within the past several decades, if ever.
Isnt most 1080 distributed in ‘bait traps’ , and only a few areas is it spread by airdrops by helicopter ?
How does it affect roots when its not spread over the forest floor. of course possums are responsible for their own tree diebacks
Dunno what the breakdown is between bait traps and aerial dropping, or if the different application methods have different effects on the forest floor.
But my folks’ farm has a decent-size bush block with kauri and no evidence of die-back, and there’s been plenty of 1080 poison in bait stations around that bush block over the last three decades.
So that’s two points of anecdata, my place with lots of dieback and no 1080, and my folks with lots of 1080 and no dieback.
Hey, maybe 1080 is actually a good prophylactic for kauri against dieback, so we should just chuck tons of it around willy-nilly all through kauri forests to protect the kauri. /sarc
Probably not.
1080 mimics the poisons produced by some plant species, it is deadly to animals, and birds are less affected, though their low body mass means they die anyway.
Kauri dieback is a fungal disease, as was the cabbage tree dieoff. https://www.kauridieback.co.nz/science-and-research/understanding-the-disease/
It could create imbalances in soil fauna – but there are other causes as or more likely.
Strictly speaking phytophthora is not a fungus. Its cell walls are made of different materials than fungus cell walls. It’s possibly called a water mould because on a macro scale it looks and acts like a fungus.
Fungal disease is a fair description of its effects, and gives some idea of what treatment might be required. It is likely susceptible to heavy metal poisoning of the sort created by Bordeaux mixture, though that is a temporary solution, and silver compounds are vastly more mycotoxic. More promising long term solutions lie in competitive or inoculating fungal treatments.
As I understand it, the treatment being trialled to try to slow* the disease (and I’ve applied to the kauri at my place) is borrowed from the avocado industry for managing their phytophtora problems. I’m not aware of it being used for fungal problems, but that’s way outside my expertise, so my lack of awareness doesn’t mean anything. The treatment is injecting a phosphite solution into the trunk using spring-loaded syringes.
* It’s not a cure. At best using this treatment will buy time until an actual cure is found.
No shit Einstein ?
Where did you study microbiology, you are FOS ?
What are you full of Ngungukai?
The concentration of 1080 in each pellet has reduced over recent decades and so has the amount of pellets per hectare. So I think we would have seen an obvious problem much earlier if there was a link.
Also like Andre says, there are going to be quite a few areas with dieback that have never been anywhere near 1080. In the scheme of things I think it is only used on something like 2% of DOC land.
Flag-worshipping, saluting, camouflage gear on the sidelines, jets flying over the stadium: Why don’t sports organizations just ban these goons altogether?
“The dire prospect that opens, therefore, is that America is going to become a mega-banana republic where the army will have more and more importance in Americans’ lives… [D]emocracy is the special condition – a condition we will be called upon to defend in the coming years. That will be enormously difficult because the combination of the corporation, the military, and the complete investiture of the flag with mass spectator sports has set up a pre-fascistic atmosphere in America already.”
—-Norman Mailer, 2003
http://inthesetimes.com/article/21393/sports-military-patriotism-corporate-war-baseball-football-hockey
Bread and Circus.
What would they do without Bread and Circuses. it worked since the times of the Roman. Also i find it funny that those that have never served, have managed to dodge the draft not once but several times are often the loudest patriots.
The last refuge of the scoundrel is patriotism.
And also the machine needs to recruit its Kanonenfutter, how else to feed the bank accounts if no one wants to do the dying?
Very true, Sabine. I note that we are following this dishonorable practice in N.Z.—one Willie Apiata was featured visiting the All Blacks’ dressing rooms during the last RWC.
Gotta admit though f16 jets flying low and in formation is pretty cool
Sounds good.
“His character, Cassius “Cash” Green, a low-level telemarketer, learns that, in order to succeed at work, he has to put on a white voice. This does not mean a nasal affectation, along the lines of that corny old nerdy-voice stereotype that mid-level black comedians do. It means putting into your voice an embrace of the ease that white privilege brings. It means sounding as if you’re entitled to the good life. It means feeling calm way down in your soul. It means never having to be afraid someone will call the police on you just because you’re breathing.”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/aug/19/sorry-to-bother-you-is-this-the-most-anti-capitalist-film-ever
This seems awesome – What do current resident dunner commenters think? As a mosgiel/dunners boy I love strong community iniatives from the south. I hope this is all that.
“After almost five years of planning, work is set to start soon on Dunedin’s first co-housing project.
Run by Urban Cohousing Otepoti Ltd, it will provide more than 60 residents with shared spaces and 22 units.”
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/survey-precedes-co-housing-project
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12110366
‘The South African government has begun the process of seizing land from white farmers.
Local newspaper City Press reports two game farms in the northern province of Limpopo are the first to be targeted for unilateral seizure after negotiations with the owners to purchase the properties stalled.’
Can’t see how this will end up anyway different to Zimbabwe
White refugees turning up with their feet broken with iron bars yet? Still a long way short of Mugabe.
I’m pretty sure its not a race any country wants to win
https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/young-boy-forced-to-watch-mums-repeated-violent-sexual-assault-in-south-africa-farm-attack/news-story/09785cd0d06c221eab6b6c6115057a7a
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5534449/South-Africas-white-farmers-likely-killed-police.html
Hundreds of years of oppression do not lend themselves to good or stable governance.
Only a sick mind and heartless soul would view as such But hey freedom of speech and at least you show your true colours
Good. These scum need cleaned out.
“A businessman who liquidated his company after being fined almost $430,000 for exploitation has become personally liable for the $120,000 outstanding.
The Employment Relations Authority joined Jujhar Singh to his previous company, Binde Enterprises, after a Labour Inspectorate investigation found the company owed 75 workers on a vegetable farm in the Bombay Hills nearly $210,000 in wages.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/106432489/businessman-who-exploited-migrant-workers-must-pay-120k-after-liquidation
agree!
They’re finally cracking down after years of doing SFA (even when they get evidence and witnesses handed to them on a plate).
I’d suggest Jujhar Singh spend a little more time at the temple reacquainting himself with a few values.
It’s good to see a more victims prepared to come forward in the knowledge that something might actually be done.
A friend took a trip and commented that the organisers said to stand near the buffet table while there was a pre-eats welcome or the food would be gone before getting to the table. This was the case, and it brought to mind how those
very fast and thorough clearers made their money. It could be imagined that they grabbed all they could from some industry they controlled.
The aristos said let them eat cake; the nouveau riche think, what the heck I’ll take all I want and if others miss out, hard luck.
Yayyyyyyy!!!!!
Dutton has resigned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not even close: “Malcolm Turnbull wins the leadership – 48 to 35”
Really ???
Yes Turnbull won the leadership – AND Dutton has resigned from Cabinet.
Mr Dutton has now resigned as Home Affairs and Immigration Minister after losing the challenge and will move to the backbench.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/364564/malcolm-turnbull-wins-leadership-challenge
His resignation as Immigration Minister is well worth celebrating.
You really have lost the plot today, DF – in more ways than one.
Nope, I’m right on track! Job needs doing. People flying off the handle in all directions ain’t my problem. 😁
Very astute DF
The media love the hype but its a reasonable victory for Turnbull. So theres internal dissatisfaction…its Australia… thats nothing new.
If I was the existing leader of a ruling political party and I didn’t have the primary support of 35 out of 83 of my followers, then I’d be very concerned. This ballot reconfirmed his leadership- it wasn’t a new ballot with new contenders. One of the contenders was the incumbent. Turnbull did declare the leadership vacant but 42% preferring another candidate is a sign of a large internal dissatisfaction. 58% of his party MPs supported him. Less than 6 out of ten.
Then the loser doesn’t pledge his loyalty having lost- he resigns from cabinet, rather than work with Turnbull, or was it to avoid the risk of sacking by a wrathful Turnbull?
Neither looks good after this stoush.
My take is that Turnbull is spooked by current polling. The other dork thought it was a good time to strike but got proved wrong. Labour will win an Oz election held in both short & medium term, eh? So the dork will wait & strike again when Turnbull gets defeated. Is there a better contender who could defeat the dork?
Even the Greens in Australia have serious infighting that would be unthinkable for the Greens in NZ.
The point is, all politics in Australia is highly personal, where its me me me.
Im just surprised some here get caught up in all the hype and what it means when they should see it all in context.
Yes Dutton is doing exactly what his mentor Abbott did; skive off to the back bench and engage in a guerrilla war with Turnbull.
No-one is happy with the state of Australian politics at the moment; in the past decade all three of the major parties have sustained damage over illegal immigration and climate change. It’s taken a rough toll on everyone, even the Greens have taken a few dents.
Business leaders are pretty pissed off with the lack of clear policy, and overhearing two conversations this afternoon (if either can be considered representative) many ordinary voters are discomforted by the lack of any credible visible leadership.
And after their last performance in power, no-one here should crowing about the prospect of the ALP forming a government … the underlying tensions have not gone away.
No many thought not having the support of your caucus colleges was an issue here during the cunners comedy hour I think Cunliffe would have been estatic with those percentages
Not many thought not having the support of your caucus colleges was an issue here during the cunners comedy hour I think Cunliffe would have been estatic with those percentages
Turnbull’s only chance now is to damn the torpedoes and deal resolutely with his caucus rebels.
Fifty years ago Russia and their Warsaw Pact allies put a stop to the Prague Spring reforms that included giving citizens the opportunity of self determination, free travel, ending censorship of the press, and political surveillance by the secret police.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlEHJdkXcAAb9ZF.jpg
In case you haven’t thought about Donald Trump for a few hours just a runthrough of an old Philomena Cunk cover on it.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4vuUfnTEkg
Dismal Panel Guests
No. 1: GRAHAM BELL
A crude and ignorant bully, this blustering ex-copper was firmly put in his place one day by fellow Panelist Gordon Campbell. Sadly, few others have been brave enough to take him on….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24052011/#comment-333681
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24022012/#comment-440319
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10082012/#comment-505179
http://thestandard.org.nz/three-more-kiwi-deaths-in-afghanistan/#comment-510753
Possibly the best compendium of Bell-esqueries ever made….
Dismal Panel Guests is a compilation of the worst guests to appear on RNZ National’s light chat show over the last thirteen or so years. It is compiled by Hector Stoop for Daisycutter Sports, Inc.
Please include Stephen Franks
He most certainly is in the series, Ed. I might include the threatening email he sent me as well.
Oops….posted on yesterday’s OM in error.
I’d be interested to hear what others think:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/364586/public-service-performance-bonuses-scrapped
Not a bad idea (for starters)
Maybe bring them back when senior management / CEOs actually start performing (or not), instead of running Ministries and Departments like their own little feifdoms.
Can anyone think of a Ministry or Department that’s actually been run well over the past decade?
Most public servants work in spite of their senior management masters rather than because of them.
In the Newshub story on this in tonight’s news, Hipkins was asked if he thought departmental CEO salaries were okay. His reply: “They’re being paid what they’re being paid.” Such brilliance sets an extremely high bar for other government ministers to measure up to, let alone the poor CEOs. The rocket science industry will be dead keen to recruit him asap.
Dennis, I think you should be careful about using rocket scientists as a benchmark for brilliance. What happens if we are inflicted with the presence of a rocket scientist who is clearly stupid?
The default exemplar for “clever” used to be “brain surgeon”. But then Dr Ben Carson came along. He was one of the dimmest of the dim bulbs that ran, or more accurately sleepwalked, for the 2016 Republican nomination. He was allegedly, you may remember, a brain surgeon.
Hipkins might be fucking up bigtime, but if Ben Carson is any yardstick, he probably would be good enough to be a brain surgeon, if not a rocket scientist.
🙂 Hypothetical, stupid rocket scientists, but did bring to mind the brilliant portrayal of Werner Von Braun by Peter Sellers in Dr Strangelove!
I think Peter Sellers actually played that part quite straight.
When I see people from Trump’s cabinet of grotesques on the television occasionally, Dr. Strangelove appears by comparison comfortingly sane and rational.
Is your government killing you?
We have an app for that
Jenny, that report is written by the notorious Danny Gold, who files stories from Jerusalem about “contested” neighborhoods. He is dodgy, and if you were smart, you would have nothing to do with his work.
Sobering statement from the herald on socialism when it goes wrong and the money runs out
“Venezuela was once among Latin America’s most prosperous nations, holding the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but a recent fall in oil prices accompanied by corruption and mismanagement under two decades of socialist rule have left the economy in a historic economic and political crisis.”
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
A lot of z Ed dear but still not as many Zs as the zero on the Venezuelan Currency Now go have a chicken sandwich and chill
OK Ed … I spent much of the first six months of this year working alongside some colleagues from Colombia. (A really interesting and deeply underrated Latin nation.). Their response to anything to do with Venezuela was quite different from the torpor you affect.
Soviet Russia, Maoist China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Albania, Cuba, and now Venezuela … there is always an excuse for the humiliating, catastrophic failure. ‘It wasn’t proper communism’, ‘ the leaders were corrupt’, ‘ the reactionary pigs sabotaged us’, ‘the capitalist running dogs …’ and on and on.
Always the same bloodless denial of anything wrong with the fundamental idea of unconstrained marxism.
Did any of your Colombian “colleagues” support the death squads employed by Senor Uribe? What’s that? All of them did?
Colombia has it’s own problems. If you imagine I’m ignorant of them, then you were not with me at the plant I was at last year, pock-marked by rebel bullets and guarded by armed platoons 24 hrs per day. But there is way more to the country than drug lords, death squads and gross inequality. Like most developing nations it’s changing for the better, and while it’s patchy and messy as always … it’s not the place it was even a decade ago.
Unlike Venezuela which from the conversations I had with one man, whose home is not too far from the border, what’s happening is not pretty. Yes I’m sure black propaganda exists; but not in a vacuum. When you hear first hand stories from people affected it’s not so easy to dismiss them with ‘zzzz’s.
Great, RedLogix. You seem to be a serious and astute judge of the situation.
I do disagree, though, with your statement: “I’m sure black propaganda exists; but not in a vacuum.” As we have seen with the baseless, fantastical attacks against Jeremy Corbyn, black propaganda is often a tissue of lies, with no link to reality.
If Corbyn got his hand on the levers of power in the Uk for 20 years it to would mirror Venezuela. Note the herald just sums up the impact of socialist and Marxist economics and societies over the last 100 years History tells you that as does redlogix highlights May I suggest your additional reading is just to find something to deny the obvious and support your fragile beliefs in a totally discredited ideaology
As I suspected, you are ignorant, and defiant in your ignorance. Don’t suggest anything about my reading; you haven’t a clue.
Tough my friend, i suggest you need to read more widely and far more critically You appear to read only what satisfies an extremely lop sided view of reality
I disagree Bewildered. Corbyn is not a marxist revolutionary; in a historic context he’s pretty much a middle of the road post-war leftie. While the Overton window shunted right-wards during the 80’s and 90’s, Corbyn wedged firmly in his rather moderate 70’s political space.
Fair enough maybe Venezuela is a stretch but 1970s Britain was not to flash, it led to the rise of Thatcher that managed to turn the uk fortunes around
‘The United States was the first country to recognize the independence of the nascent republic, sending the U.S. Navy to prevent Colombia from retaking the territory during the first days of the new Republic. In exchange for its role in defending the Republic, and for constructing the canal, the U.S. was granted a perpetual lease on the land around the canal, known as the Panama Canal Zone, which was later returned to Panama under the terms of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties.’-wiki
and Torrijos was killed of course.
Thanks for that, my friend!
Idiot. You need to actually do some serious reading, and stop rehashing black propaganda.
Na I think the herald sums it up quite nicely
As I said before, you’re an idiot. The Herald is the LAST publication anyone with an I.Q. above room temperature, never mind a conscience, would trust. It’s been delinquent for many generations….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/four-days-before-kristallnacht-herald.html
Historic my arse.
Published in 1942, John Gunther’s Inside Latin America described Venezuela fifteen years into the oil boom. Because of the obstructionism and feudal social systems of the landed classes, the land-owners had refused to modernise production methods, preferring cheap and plentiful labour, and when the poor fled the countryside to work in and around the oil-fields, domestic production collapsed.
Consequently, Caracas had the highest cost of living in the world with food prices typically 20-30 times higher than in the US because most food, along with almost every other sort of goods, was imported, heavily taxed, and levied with tariffs to prop up the local agricultural sector.
And despite the astronomical oil revenues earned by the ruling classes since the twenties, Venezuela at the time had no industrial base.
https://screenshots.firefox.com/TsknNr9tzpzIDYDy/trove.nla.gov.au
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/1860766?zoomLevel=1
Don’t waste any more time addressing him, Joe. You’re attempting to argue in good faith; that troll is not.
Thanks for those excellent links.
That scenario is indeed typical of almost all Latin American countries in the post-war era, extremes of inequality, ossified hierarchies and entrenched oligarchs. Often propped up by a malign dominance of US interest in the region. All this is understood.
But does anyone try to justify the horrors of Stalinist Russia by pointing to the feudal backwardness of Czarist Russia?
RedLogix, there is no comparison between Stalinist Russia and democratic Venezuela. For any person to suggest there was a comparison would put that person into the realm of such intellectual luminaries and conspiracy theorists as Leighton Smith and Alex Jones.
Comparison’s are never exact; yet certain patterns do emerge. Venezuela is probably a good example of what happens when entrenched inequality outstays the capacity of the dispossessed to tolerate it, and the reaction instead of evolving incrementally, kicks over the existing order with poor regard to what does and does not work.
Whether revolutions are triggered by force or ballot box isn’t really germane to the outcome. The historic context is different so I don’t imagine Venezuela will descend into the nightmare of the gulags, although the risk isn’t non-zero. The fact is the country we’re talking about has not seen it’s ‘democratic socialist revolution’ usher in a new era of prosperity and contentment.
What will most likely happen is that after a period of turmoil lasting perhaps a decade or so, and if they manage to retain some form of democratic accountability , they’ll move toward more moderate political settings.
The Venezuelan government is democratic. It’s been under sustained assault from Colombia and the United States, aided and abetted by the implacable Venezuelan extreme right wing oligarchies, for almost two decades now. There was a coup against the democratic government in 2002; it was reversed after massive civil protests made it impossible for the U.S. backed plotters to operate.
Venezuela does not operate death squads; the Colombian government did and probably still does. There is no way whatsoever that you could suggest the possibility of democratic Venezuela “descending into the nightmare of the gulags.” I’m interested, by the way, that you did not choose a more relevant example for political repression—like the United States gulag of torture and disappearance sites, starting in occupied Cuba and extending all round the globe.
They did, and more recently, the Operación de Liberación del Pueblo has been accused of doing Maduro’s dirty work.
https://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k2/americas10.html
https://warisboring.com/cops-in-skull-masks-carry-out-state-terror-in-venezuela/
I hesitate to link to anything because I just know you’ll reflexively dismiss anything and everything as ‘black propaganda’ … but here goes:
https://www.aljazeera.com/topics/country/venezuela.html
It’s consistent with what I heard first hand from a person living close to the story. It’s not credible or helpful to persist in denying basic facts on the ground … the plain matter is the country is in a deep crisis.
Certainly there will be external regional players, hostile to what is happening. No quibble. But the left does itself no justice when it forever blames everyone and everything else for it’s repeated failures.
I hesitate to link to anything because I just know you’ll reflexively dismiss anything and everything as ‘black propaganda’
I do not do that “reflexively.” That suggests something automatic and mindless, as opposed to arriving at a conclusion from having studied the matter seriously. You use “reflexively” like Jim Mora uses the word “virtuous”—as a denigration and belittlement.
Contrary to your attempt to render my viewpoint into something cartoonish and easily dismissed, I do not pretend that the Venezuelan government is a paragon of virtue, or even moderately well run. From the time of Chavez, the government has made some terrible decisions, choosing to grandstand with stunts such as supplying free fuel to the poor in certain parts of the United States in order to show up the Bush administration. I am also very angry at their loutish attacks on “bourgeois” culture, including Venezuela’s world-renowned El Sistema. Such actions are similar to Castro’s monstrous attacks on Cuba’s world renowned architects in the 1960s for no other reason than they were “bourgeios.”
So your suggestion that I “reflexively dismiss anything and everything as ‘black propaganda'” is baseless, as well as insulting.
It’s not credible or helpful to persist in denying basic facts on the ground … the plain matter is the country is in a deep crisis.
Indeed it is. You’re stating the obvious, and implying that I do not recognize that fact.
Certainly there will be external regional players…
That’s an anodyne and determinedly benign spin on the bloody insurrection that is being openly aided and abetted by the United States and its most brutal accomplice, Colombia.
It’s instructive to contrast your condemnation of democratic Venezuela with your positive, optimistic tone towards its internationally condemned terrorist neighbour, which you insist is “Like most developing nations …. changing for the better, and while it’s patchy and messy as always … it’s not the place it was even a decade ago.” (in 19.1.2.1.1)
I don’t think even silly old Sir Geoffrey Palmer, that dupe of Alvaro Uribe, would be so dishonest as to describe South America’s most repressive state in those terms.
You make a number of fair points there and I accept them in good faith.
My point is simple, the left has a terrible record at successful socialist revolutions. And it’s not always someone else’s fault.
Fair comment, my friend!
In one of the clearest clues yet about Washington’s latest meddling in the politics of Latin America, CIA director Mike Pompeo said he was “hopeful that there can be a transition in Venezuela and we the CIA is doing its best to understand the dynamic there”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/cia-venezuela-crisis-government-mike-pompeo-helping-install-new-remarks-a7859771.html
Consider the sanctions as part and parcel of the ‘war’ against V…
Defaulted on debt, and reset currency to petro-commodity, hinged to a crypto-blockchain. Sounds good. Hope the Green Investment Bank are following how to do all this. Could Turkey be next? They are taking up crypto-fast, and have recovered all their gold reserves back from the US, earlier this year…
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-08-19/venezuela-chaos-after-maduro-announces-massive-95-devaluation-new-fx-rate-tied
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-08-20/lira-collapses-turks-are-piling-cryptocurrency
https://www.globalresearch.ca/gold-leaving-us-vaults-signs-of-upcoming-currency-war-and-armed-conflict-turkey-repatriates-its-gold/5651111
Asia Argento seems to be in serious trouble now,
but let’s bear in mind that she has also done some very good things.
I, and many others, have criticized the #MeToo divas for “forgetting” to speak out in support of the heroic Palestinian girl Ahed Tamimi. But some of those women have indeed spoken out. One of them was Asia Argento….
https://twitter.com/asiaargento/status/949772023865233408?lang=en
Shite critisim from you morrissy would be a badge of honour for most people and confirmation they are probably on the write track, hence your feedback on Venezuela is appreciated 😊
You’re an idiot. Go and call a talkback station—that’s your level.
Good evening Newshub can you see it we are talking about reforming our justice system and what do you not the gangs start playing up is this hard for some person’s who are against our justice reforms. Who’s view on maori is that we are savages they are out there and it’s not very hard for these red neck to pull off this attempted interference of our justice systems reforms.
And now Duncan you are blowing up the whole issue you are just being played with. The WHOLE of Papatuanuku is watching our Justice systems reforms there is a documentary crew from America filming this all the under privilege native people are watching Aoteraroa why because maori are not the only tangata whenua to be pushed into hardship locked up dieing on the streets and treated as second class people .
Who Australia America Canada Hawaii and there are many other nation’s who’s native cultures are in dire straight’s . So Aoteraroa will lead the Papatuanuku once again to the correct path of treating native people all people the same as the majority European cultures. Did you see that reality Duncan the other topic’s we have lead the world with Wahine vote Nuclear Free many more .
Ka kite ano P.S look like Loyd is trimming down
The Am Show The giant squid we caught one when I was fishing it was huge we no more about the Marama than Tangaroa’s beautiful creatures that’s a fact.
The government is being fiscally responsible in freezing mp pay’s and the high payed public servants this goverment is not going to —– on the mokopunas future’s buy loading them with Dept throwing them in jail or poisoning there enviroment .
Ka kite ano P.S got to go and work my favorite charity
The sandflys have been swarming with there actor’s since I exposed there bad behavior at the hospital .
You see its quite easy to read there body langue as I am looking for these people all the time I know that when ever I go out they are inplay how if a person walks past you they will scan you to see if you are a threat or not if they don’t look at me they no me need I say more and if you flip them the bird to a stranger they will give it back 10 fold .
I have been reading there body language since gisborne man started his personal vendetta 18 years ago I last seen him with Richard Prebble in the computa repair shop last year
One day I was walking past a group of sandfly’s contracted actors how do I spot them well they were talking about Ngati Porou historical issues and what do I know we are in Te Arawa whenua they should be talking about Te Arawa issues I can not even find many books on Ngati Porou Book’s in the Rotorua library.
When I walked back past this group I spoke loud enough so they could hear I said they were muppets with no morels you should have seen they duck for cover muppet puppets .
And to day they get one of there contracted lairs in Kamart to try a play with my daugther how do I not this person is a contracted liar because I know its history and I know that the sandfly shine there shiny badge and will let people off charges give them thosands of dollars get them jobs they do what ever it takes to get ——-on Eco Maori and its all false .
They don’t care just so long as the shut up that savage Eco Maori who’s action are letting every body know how flawed the New Zealand Justice is Ana to kai .
Back up your contracted lies come and arrested me and I will preform Rua Moko in the court house all over your lies and watch your ass burn on the hot coals of the court house Ka kite ano p.s the positive thing to Eco Maori is they are leaving a lot people alone because they are busy playing marball’s with them selves trying to frame Me
Eco Maori send’s condolence’s to Gregg Boyded Family he was a cool Kiwi and will be missed
Good Evening The Crowd Goes Wild James & Mulls I did not realize that the NRL are having Wahine tangata whenua League team ka pai .
James you got that accent down to a T.
Yes Tiger I ignored my elder’s who were letting me know about the aches and pain’s one get’s when you get long in the tooth.
Mulls I thought you were going to kiss the shield.
Ka kite ano P.S my challenges to obtain my birth right continues meanest kayaking I have ever seen