For 13 years, five iwi members and five Crown members have got together every two months to make decisions about how to improve the health and wellbeing of the polluted river. Everything's done by consensus – there's no voting. And if meetings take a bit longer while the 10 representatives nut out points of difference and come to a joint decision, the quality of what's decided is the better for it, Penter says.
That's different from a more traditional board, or the way councils work.
"The way that our decisions are made is by the merits of the argument; it's not about rushing into a show of hands, and 'oh, it's 6-6, or 7-7, I'm the chair, I'm going to use my casting vote, and let's move to the next item on the agenda'.
"With co-governance, we have to pause and work through issues a bit further than perhaps we might have. And invariably, that results in better decisions, because they are far more weighted, far more considered."
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At Auckland's Western Springs College – Ngā Puna o Waiōrea, a co-governed school, principal Ivan Davis and tumuaki Pa Chris Selwyn find it hard to square the rhetoric around Three Waters with their own reality.
They believe the long-running co-governance model has been critical in the success of the school, in particular in lifting the performance of Māori students.
"[The anti-co-governance rhetoric] saddens me, if I'm being honest, because of knowing what can be achieved through co-governance," Selwyn says.
"It saddens me when people just go, 'It's not the norm, it's not going to work. Get rid of it'. Well, we're showing how it can work on a day-to-day managerial and at a governance level as well."
Well, co-governance is not working in Tuhoe country, Tuhoe is even against Tuhoe.
Three Waters for example, isn't in my opinion about co-governance, its about Maori control and veto using a number of cultural mechanism that cannot be assailed using rational argument or thought.
Quote:
''An individual or a number of individuals will be required to have expertise in the exercise of kaitiakitanga, tikanga & mātauranga Māori relating to delivering water services.''
And now this. Maori want more… and have sent a warning to the government of consequences should they not be listened to. Maoridom call it ''putting your pou in the ground.'' I do feel sorry for MP Kieran McAnulty. He's between a rock and a hard place. I can't see him getting out of this situation unscathed.
Minister McAnulty has emerged from the Coast seemingly without a scratch:
Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty and Department of Internal Affairs officials met with the mayors of Buller, Grey and Westland and the councils' chief executives last week, to hear their concerns over the proposed water reforms.
The book we all should read. The story of the Tavistock "gender identity" clinic and a medical scandal.
"By 2020-21, the clinic accounted for a quarter of the trust’s income.
But this isn’t to say that ideology wasn’t also in the air. Another of Barnes’s interviewees is Dr Kirsty Entwistle, an experienced clinical psychologist. When she got a job at Gids’ Leeds outpost, she told her new colleagues she didn’t have a gender identity. “I’m just female,” she said. This, she was informed, was transphobic. Barnes is rightly reluctant to ascribe the Gids culture primarily to ideology, but nevertheless, many of the clinicians she interviewed used the same word to describe it: mad.
And who can blame them? After more than 370 pages, I began to feel half mad myself. At times, the world Barnes describes, with its genitalia fashioned from colons and its fierce culture of omertà, feels like some dystopian novel. But it isn’t, of course. It really happened, and she has worked bravely and unstintingly to expose it. This is what journalism is for."
Because an idea can be taken to absurd lengths, does not invalidate the idea itself. Road safety is a good idea, making all cars travel at 5km/h is bonkers.
We should not under-estimate the incredible good luck centrist liberalism has struck with the continual lurch further and further to the right of their conservative opponents in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and here in New Zealand. Despite the near universal rejection of their agenda, the right insists on making itself less and less attractive to median voters.
Your one sentence roblogic, encapsulates 39 years of our political history!–the neo liberal Parliamentary consensus as some call it–where whichever MMP arrangement prevails, monetarist legislation, contracting out custom & practice and penetration of public infrastructure by private capital is rolled over.
If everyone (apart from AK Central) vote for the Labour electorate MP and either the Greens or TPM we may even expand the size of parliament with overhang seats for the Labour electorate MPs. Party vote for policy, electorate vote for representation.
On that subject, this PSM will struggle to vote Green this time round.
Marama Davidson's outburst, post Posie Protest, has revealed more than would be desirable.
I thought I would sleep on it before responding. In the hope that she may walk back or explain her thinking but according to RNZ's noon news, Greens have released sexual assault data concerning white males. Not a mention of DV, prison muster stats, gangs etc.
You're free to priortise whatever issues you like but that it comes at the expense of meaningful climate action is unfortunate for us all and the planet.
A good analogy for voting is that it is a bus route; no party or politician represents all that we might want, however it is important the direction they are headed; the bus might not take you to the doorstep of your final destination but every kilometre the bus takes you in the direction you want gets you closer to the destination you seek. Catching the other bus in the other direction takes you further from your goal.
Most violence is committed by men. And a man's capacity for violence is not magically removed when he identifies as some other gender.
There is lots of evidence. Trans Crimes UK does their stats. This Never Happens does a wider range including our Toko Shane (Ashley) Winter in Paremoremo prision for the sadistic torture and murder of a young woman. – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1722756661380462
In response to questions 38 and 39 Prof Freedman referenced “a well-known Swedish study” to imply that patterns of criminality are the same amongst trans women as they are amongst cis (non-trans) men. In her response to Q40 she alleged there were “Swedish studies” (plural). Additionally, Prof Stock referred to “male patterns” when talking about criminal behaviour in her answer to Q26.
I understand the “Swedish study” to be a single 2011 article published by Cecilia Dhejne and colleagues, in which the authors reported on mortality, suicidality, psychiatric care and conviction rates among individuals who transitioned in Sweden between 1973 and 2003. This study is widely but inaccurately cited by anti-trans groups on social media as evidence that trans women retain “male patterns” of criminality, an error repeated by Profs Freedman and Stock. Dhejne herself rejected this interpretation explicitly in an interview with Cristan Williams of TransAdvocate in November 20152 . I attach the full relevant extract in Appendix B. A key point she makes is the study is “certainly not saying that we found that trans women were a rape risk” to cis women.
There is certainly some evidence when it comes to the prison population and those who commit sex crimes.
"If identifying as a women did reduce the propensity to commit sex crime to female levels we would have expected to see just 3 or 4 of transwomen in prison with sex crime convictions. Instead we see up to 76."
In response to Q29, Prof Stock claimed that trans people and their supporters had flooded the UK Government’s 2018 GRA consultation process, and that “Whoever has to analyse that data at some point, if anyone does, will also have to work out how many of those responses were genuine responses from individuals writing their thoughts out and how many were using this system, gaming the system [to] skew the data”.
The existence and impact of various campaigns to encourage people to respond to the consultation was in fact explicitly factored into the analysis of the consultation report published by the Government Equality Office in September 2020. One has to question why trans people should be criticised for responding to a consultation about a change in the law that directly affects them.
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One group which did provide pre-determined answers was anti-trans campaign group Fair Play for Women. According to the Government Equality Office, this group provided a simple web-based form which allowed people to enter an email address, then would automatically submit pre-written answers to the consultation, without providing information on the background or context to the questions, or an opportunity for users to provide their own answers. Approximately 18,000 people took advantage of this.13 Therefore, contrary to the assertions made by Prof Stock, distortions appeared to come from anti-trans campaigns, rather than organisations or individuals who advocate for trans equality (see also Appendix D).
I am not voting for Greens in any way shape or from from now on, after 3 elections. Their support for the No Debate concept has brought concern to many women.
The new local Lab candidate was one of the screamers outside the SUFW meeting in Wellington on the No Debate issue. So I will have to find another candidate I like.
Labour will need big moves on climate change, women's issues before I vote for them.
Actually at the moment I'd like Labour to get a close run to take down the tightness & arrogance that I find so unappealing. They have put so many good policies on the back burner that I find things a bit sterile. I guess that will change.
I also think it is good to share power to debate about which policies to take forward from coalition partners, noting that no one party has all the answers or the best policies
I think Sir Peter Gluckman's commentary in relation to subjects like CC and what needs to be taught in schools, plus the lack of social cohesion as witnessed this past weekend is well worth a listen. It might be a once over lightly of complex issues but that is all most people want to assimilate:
I totally agree with you Anne that transgender people have rights and should have rights to live however they want without harassment.
But then I also think , for eg, that lesbians have rights to their own women only lesbian workshops, dating sites and conferences without being harassed by shouting crowds and death threats(kill a Terf " being a common placard outside these places.)Or told they should welcome penises into their bodies because otherwise they are sexual racists?
Do you believe it is wrong for lesbians to be only sexually interested in female bodies and minds?
And I would have been interested in hearing the women who intended to speak at the rotunda explaining how they are impacted by self ID for example.
Yelling and shouting and uttering threats of violence does not constitute free speech in my opinion.The protestors would have been better to counter Kelly Minshull with their own arguments and speeches.
We had years of "no Debate" and "there is no conflict". Now we are having the debate, and there are plenty of examples of conflict between the sex based rights and protections that women have fought for over decades, and the sudden demands of today's "Rights Activists" for their complete removal.
We are moving into the "both sides" phase of the debate. However, it is a crock.
Adopting the ‘both sides’ argument implies that the two perspectives have an equal claim to consideration. For example, the scientific evidence that climate change is real is overwhelming, so should we be giving equal time to conspiracy theorists who want us to believe that it’s all a left-wing lie designed to destroy the oil business? Whenever anybody dares to mention evolution, should we be obliged to endure an equal period of religious fundamentalists telling us how man (sic) was created, fully formed, on the sixth day?
There is not a single shred of scientific evidence that gender identity even exists, let alone a means of detecting what it might be in any particular person at any particular time. And yet this impossibly vague notion is superseding sex – the body of scientific evidence for which is huge and incontrovertible – in prescribing everything about how we live, up to and including our laws.
There is no common ground. The two positions are mutually exclusive. There is sex, or there is gender identity. There is science, or there is gender woo.
That the woo-woo is regressive and deeply homophobic and misogynistic only makes it worse. So enough of the ‘both sides need to hear each other out’, it’s time to pick one.
I don't really know what gender identity is, it sounds like a concept as much as anything.
But I do have a felt sense of myself as a woman. As far as I can tell, this arises out of my female body, and some of it is physical but not all of it. We are creatures with minds and emotions too.
It's like people saying there's no such thing as a spiritual experience, but they can still watch a sunset, feel moved (what is that they are experiencing?), or feel a connection with something bigger than themselves.
It's possible that there are women who have an experience of themselves as a woman, but for whatever reason instead of evoking something positive, it makes them feel ashamed or hateful towards themselves. To me this is something that can be healed in most women, and we are just very very bad at helping them do this. Getting worse at doing this. For all the body and sex positivity rhetoric, I don't see much in the way of practical and ongoing support for women around being female, and certainly the push to change society so that women can naturally feel comfortable in their own skin has stalled.
Fuck neoliberalism and its need for disembodied slaves.
That is it – we treat software problems as if they were hardware problems. There have always been people with various sort of bodily dysmorphia. Anorexia is one of them, the feeling that your left leg is inhabited by demons is another. Many of these come from childhood trauma and some are symptoms of other forms of mental illness.
In children you have the classic "if I was a boy, he would not do that to me" or "if I was a girl my Daddy would love me and not call me a faggot and a sissy because I like nice things and I don't like rugby or fishing."
So called "gender identity" seems to be just about which set of sexist stereotypes you most identify with.
So called "gender identity" seems to be just about which set of sexist stereotypes you most identify with.
Or don't identify with.
I think the whole tumblr effect and adopting GI is about the stereotypes, whereas GD is more about girls and women being desperate to escape the patriarchy.
Well, the mTf bunch certainly adopt a very stereotypical alter ego of what they think a woman should be. At a "business lesbian" group I used to belong to – in a room of 50, 49 were wearing comfortable, ordinary women's clothing, admittedly with an emphasis on dress pants and boots! The remaining 1 – with a short tight skirt, black stockings, high heels, frilly blouse and lots of lipstick was the "transbian".
so we went from lets abandon stereotypes because they harm women, to women can wear what they want, to shut up you're not allowed to criticise stereotypes, that's transphobic.
Will do sorry about that was using phone this morning and was getting double posts and formatting not working etc. Although the username / email address differences are to do with me needing glasses to see shit on my phone these days.. <sigh> getting old…
So called "gender identity" or what those who fully believe in such a thing are really saying when they come up with their new nonsense gender along with their special pronouns seems to me is summed up as per this quote I heard or read somewhere.
For those who still think women are getting upset and being transphobic in speaking up (or at least trying to speak up) about the threat to women's sex based safe spaces from gender self ID laws etc, here is another example that shows this sort of thing is not a myth, it is happening all over the western world and women have a right to demand action.
My apologies if this case has already been posted about..
This man has been convicted of threatening to rape his own mother. He also attacked a social worker ripping out clumps of her hair and tearing off her eyelid. He also has a previous conviction for actually raping his own mother along with his father.
As you can see, he is a nasty piece of work and clearly represents a threat and danger to women (probably to men too by the sounds of him)
Thanks to gender self ID laws he has decided that he now identifies as a women. He is being sent to serve his time at a WOMEN'S prison..
This is a classic example of one the factors surrounding the attempted erosion of women's sex based rights that people are talking about. They are not being transphobic, they are saying men shouldn't be allowed in these spaces.
Further, even if it was transphobic, I don't care. I have 3 females in my immediate family as well as many other female relatives, friends and colleagues. Theirs and all other women's physical safety and right to feel safe and to have female only safe spaces are far more important than someone's hurt feelings. In my opinion anyone who thinks otherwise obviously doesn't give a shit about women
It does make you wonder what the hell is going through politicians heads when they write and enact this sort of legislation. Surely part of the process of writing legislation must be to thoroughly investigate and take into account any downstream effects that may or may not occur as a result?? Are they really all that thick?? Is this part of some sinister bigger agenda?? Or are they just scared of the loud minorities pushing this BS??
By the way, I haven't met a man yet who doesn't think exactly the same way as me on this issue. Interestingly I have spoken with two transgender friends (both M2F and real TG's, not just men dressing up as women) and they also think exactly the same. So any men commenting on here supporting the TRA's from Saturdays chaos, do you believe it's ok for this man to be sent to a women's prison? If so on what basis do you justify that position?
I have never come across womens rights advocates picketing , yelling, screaming or punching anyone at a trans rights rally
How is it ok for trans rights activists to do all that and shut down womens rights rallies?
And will our media be brought to account for continually upping the ante and falsely calling Minshull a nazi and an anti trans campaigner.
Which was bound to bring out a crowd seething with anger and hatred
The Platform NZ has just put up a three episode review of the event. (Haven't watched it but remain disappointed that it doesn't appear as if any of our other broadcasters are going to do so.)
Usual burble until 12:24 when he takes the first caller.
One thing I don't agree with is when some women as per one of the callers in the interview saying they want to be able to speak about these issues that concern women without men present and that it has nothing to do with men.
I have to push back on that. Firstly, this is a public issue where government policy and legislation , etc is involved so nobody should be excluded, But more importantly, all men have mothers and a large proportion of them have wives, daughters, girlfriends, sisters, etc,etc,etc. If my wife or daughter or sister or mother or any woman I am close too has a serious issue or problem which affects her negatively then it affects me negatively, just not in the same way.
So I think men should be able to attend a public event such as Let Women Speak if they want to. (In this case to listen not to speak). This is the sort of issue where there is huge strength and political clout in women and men showing unity.
But I also believe that women have the right to hold women only events if they wish to, obviously a public park is not the right place for such events.
"One thing I don't agree with is when some women as per one of the callers in the interview saying they want to be able to speak about these issues that concern women without men present and that it has nothing to do with men."
I understand what you are saying, but I didn't take it as not wanting men to attend open public events. I thought she was saying that she – personally – would find it more comfortable to speak her mind in an environment that was only women.
If my interpretation is right, then I support her with that. And any other person that wants to create a gathering of their own to discuss common interests.
However, that is definitely not the kaupapa of the #LetWomenSpeak events. The only sexed criteria there is that women are prioritised for access to the microphone, and if all the women who want to speak have done so, and there is available time – men can then step forward and give their views.
Both my partner and my daughter were there on Saturday. He said that the experience was intense and the intimidation of the attendees was intentional and directed towards the older women, not himself. So, if some women want to meet together without men to discuss these issues, then let them. They can do so in comfort and add their efforts to others that are concerned about the same things.
As an acknowledgement of all the men who do inform themselves and do understand what concerns women have – here's Graham Linehan on last Sunday in Hyde Park, being invited to speak after all the women have finished at the monthly #LetWomenSpeak event:
Thinking further I guess maybe somewhere in my mind I'm thinking that I keep seeing / hearing the word 'men' a lot within this issue and is pretty much always in a negative sense (rightly so in my opinion) but am sure most people of course understand that usually 'men' in this context means a tiny minority of men.
I guess I'm wanting to reinforce the fact (fact in my opinion) that the vast majority of men are fully supportive of women's sex based rights and are absolutely appalled at the (mostly) male violence towards women that was perpetrated at this event.
Bravo too Francesca. I did read in an overseas twitter page that calling nontrans rights believers Nazis is a fundamental part of the trans rights campaign.
I read several tweets by Chloe Swarbrick who called people terfs and other stupid words also trans anti women words. I did tweet back that there was no need to call people names but of course it won't change a thing.
To say I find it juvenile would be an understatement. It reminds me of the nah, nah ne nah nah, tongue out an d fingers waggling behind the ears that went around our primary school at age about 7. It was promptly dealt to by the parents.
We have indeed contributed to the global debate about transgender rights – but only by showcasing how intolerant this group is, and how violently they react to ideas that challenge the perceived orthodoxy in our South Pacific hermit kingdom. It has cast a spotlight not only on the violent undertones that exist within parts of the transgender movement; but also on New Zealand’s own appalling record of violence, particularly with regard to domestic violence.
Let’s not kid ourselves. Yes, there is free speech in New Zealand, but there is very little robust debate about difficult or controversial topics. Discussion is routinely closed down by slurs, stigmatizing language and official complaints. Local media often avoids politically or socially sensitive topics.
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Ask Dawkins or Keen about free speech in New Zealand. Ask them how intellectually curious we are. Now, thanks to an unruly mob in Albert Park, many millions of people around the globe have seen how tolerant New Zealand is when it comes to engaging in public discussion.
The fact of our inability to manage this trans issue, the COVID mandate protest, the co-governance and MM debates in a civil, constructive manner is heading us directly down the path to hell. So far the large majority have not felt directly impacted by what they see as largely arcane, marginal debates, but sooner or later our luck will run out and it is hard to see it ending well.
This comment is not the place to explore at length why, but this is a real moment in our history, not a footnote. People who have grown up with no-one who will say no to them have no internal boundaries. And we are far too blind to malign external influences assiduously exploiting this.
The police loitered by the perimeter of the park, staring at their boots or their phones as the chaos unfolded meters away from them. But then again their job was not to keep the two groups apart, or keep the peace. They weren’t going to interfere with the mob justice that was being meted out in the park. Instead, they were no more than taxi-drivers, waiting for Keen to force her way out of the angry crowd and onto Princes Street where the police obliged with a lift to her hotel and then the airport.
New Zealand’s governing parties and media could not have been more closely aligned with the thugs. Reminiscent, in fact, of Mussolini’s Italy.
It was shocking to watch and images of those fifteen minutes have now been viewed many millions of times and have been commented on by international media and personalities with audiences many times the population of New Zealand.
The description of deliberate police inaction is repeated in many personal accounts, including from my partner and daughter who attended.
Did someone political in the UK determine the same policing practice in London the same weekend 15 minutes – the monthly LWS event in Hyde Park (the counter-protest surrounding them and no effort to keep them apart.
The issues appears to be common practice to allow counter-protesters to shout down/use noise.
The issues appears to be common practice to allow counter-protesters to shout down/use noise.
It is not clear if you approve of this tactic. I do not. It may not be a quiet tactic, but it effectively silences your target. A thugs veto if you wish.
Moreover it seems to have gone a fair bit further than this .. like 'let the mob intimidate the nasty woman and then provide a ride to the airport.' I suspect every activist group in NZ will have quietly observed these events, and will be drawing a range of conclusions.
It's not a problem, if it’s the old fashioned political meeting heckling or a Hyde Park corner passer by making comments. It is, if its organised to silence and of larger size and allowed to kettle a smaller group.
The Melbourne police used horses to separate groups (easy in a street setting, not so easy in Albert Park).
They tried separation via barriers, but once they went down and the speakers were surrounded on the rotunda and silenced by the noise – the problem became one of safe departure.
Of course National wanted Chelsea Manning banned from New Zealand.
I watched an interview with Toby Young of the Free Speech Union (on the same Sunday edition of GB News's Free Speech Nation that is mentioned in this thread.
They did some research of a large number of police stations in the UK by way of freedom of information requests and the findings were quite shocking.
In Summary they found that police training in gender, diversity, equity and inclusion is fully ingrained in police training and seems to be the main concern and takes up by far the largest part of police training. Whereas training around the laws on free speech and associated issues is either non existent or simply one line on a page.
Dame Anne Salmond on the cosiness of Ministers with the industries they are supposed to oversee and the greenwashing and environmental harm it causes:
Over the past few weeks, New Zealanders have been exposed to shocking images of local landscapes ravaged by forestry sediment and slash during Cyclone Gabrielle, from Tairāwhiti to Hawke’s Bay.
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At the same time, investigative journalists have begun to explore the story of how this has been allowed to happen, in the face of scientific reports over the past 20 years predicting this kind of damage, and the successful prosecutions of forestry companies which include scathing court judgments about their practices.
Neither politicians nor officials can plead innocence or ignorance in this matter. International forestry companies are among the largest landowners in New Zealand; and as Guyon Espiner has recently shown, they routinely employ lobbyists and lawyers to persuade ministers and officials to serve their interests, rather than those of the electorate – in the design of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), for instance, and the National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry (NES (PF)).
The tone of texts and emails between ministers and lobbyists is telling. ‘Hi mate,’ writes a minister to a forestry lobbyist who is pleading with him not to exclude pine plantations from the ‘Permanent Forest’ category of the ETS. Sure enough, soon afterwards a declared policy preference for restricting this category to native forests is overturned, and pine plantations are included, a decision ratified by [the Labour] Cabinet. They should all be ashamed.
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What needs to happen now? Let’s hope the inquiry into forestry slash and land use in Tairāwhiti has integrity. It needs to listen to local people, look at local landscapes and serve local interests, not those of the forestry corporations. Likewise, the current reviews of the ETS by Treasury and the NES (PF) must not be captured by the forestry industry.
Rather than parroting words put into their mouths by forestry lobbyists, our politicians need to serve local communities and defend them from the kinds of ravages and losses they have suffered in Cyclone Gabrielle. Otherwise, they deserve to be voted out of office.
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It's not just the quality of our democracy that’s at stake, but the future of our children and grandchildren. In tackling climate change, the biodiversity crisis and the degradation of waterways and the ocean, we need to take action that will make a real difference to the state of the planet, not to the balance sheets of global corporations.
In the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Bola I made my way (a whole other story) to a backcountry farm run by some friends that was in the absolute bullseye of the devastation. I got to see with my own eyes the patterns of destruction; put simply the steeper land in grass only was usually wiped out. Pine plantations provided only marginal protection, and that still in sound native forest did best.
Nothing was immune to damage; the land is far too unstable and steep and will always erode. But it was obvious to my eye – and I have spent enough time in the NZ backcountry both tramping and working with geologists, to have some idea of what I am looking at – that mass replanting in pine forests on steep land was not going to work. But that is what they went ahead and did anyway.
And as the industry now reluctantly acknowledges, these plantations are too steep to economically manage or harvest. The low grade timber they tend to produce, full of knots and twists is not of high value, making the economics even worse. As a result the harvesters tend to only extract the best logs, leaving behind a large fraction of 'slash'. It isn't even economic to pulp it.
The core problem here is that the local people are deeply conflicted; forestry has provided the only reliable income for these remote communities for years; and just shutting down the industry will cause another kind of devastation.
I would propose the optimum path forward for the East Coast is a balanced combination of state funded native forest restoration and slash clean-up, a timber industry that slims down to planting high value species on only suitable land that is economic to manage, and a pivot to understanding how to best develop their immense cultural capital.
The region has plenty of largely unsuspected potential to become a model of sophisticated land management and cultural regeneration. But too much has been squandered on low quality exploitation for decades. If this Commission is to deliver a worthwhile result, it has a big task ahead of it.
"I would propose the optimum path forward for the East Coast is a balanced combination of state funded native forest restoration and slash clean-up, a timber industry that slims down to planting high value species on only suitable land that is economic to manage, and a pivot to understanding how to best develop their immense cultural capital. "
All sounds good…except high value logs tend to take generations to reach milling size….meanwhile the calls for employment (or the call to reduce population decline) will continue.
As always the issue of time rears it's inconvenient head.
I agree – which is why any Commission will need to take the broadest view possible. The slash is just one symptom of a far more complex problem with no easy solutions.
I should have added that I wish the Commission good fortune. The East Coast is a region of NZ I have hapu connection with, and many strong memories. It is a special place that deserves better.
Although the East Coast is probably more neglected than most it is a problem that faces the whole country…e.g. Canterbury has similar issues to address with dairying…and the straw that is international tourism is not a solution.
So far as trans rights are concerned, should trans people who have trasitioned towards being female be entitled to be treated as female in all respects if they pass the gender equivalent of the Turing test? That is, biological females can't tell that they weren't originally female?
That would seem a sensible position to me, because, if biological females can't tell the difference, then they probably don't have a reason to feel concerned?
That will cut out about 98% of those "transitioning towards female". And these days any restriction is condemned as "gatekeeping". Gender ideology says that you are what you say you are the second you say it. No arguement is permitted, no critical thought is allowed.
Also, females are very good at perceiving the sex of someone – even from a distance. It is a survival mechanism and is needed now as much as it ever was.
Also, females are very good at perceiving the sex of someone – even from a distance. It is a survival mechanism and is needed now as much as it ever was.
Yes, my wife seems to be almost telepathic at times lol.
Gender ideology says that you are what you say you are the second you say it.
This is a major problem that I don't see can be worked around.
So, applying that logic, a male who decides he wants to perve at female bodies can just proclaim himself to be female and therefore enter the female changing sheds. Am I correct in that logic?
I had a thought today (ha), it might be a bit hardline but I propose it would go a long way with women if men who wish to be female (and vice versa women who wish to be male) in good faith should be required to be all in. Fully commit to surgical gender reassignment and hormone therapy. Controversial – definitely, but worth a ponder.
I think this is what the previous ability to change birth certificates said. You had to have living as the opp sex for X years and have a Dr/JP verify this. If you transitioned you had to complete it.
For some reason this was deemed to be ????? something unfriendly, No Debate came along. It initially posited was that waltzing up with bit of cash and biro to a BDM office could see you come out with a new certificate saying you were a woman.
NZ has changed this slightly so that you can partially transition, get a JP to sign a declaration. I am not sure how reversible partial chemical transition is. NZ has also linked to the concept of safe spaces for women.
I will link to a very post on TS about this process by Weka? Visubversa?
“Davidson, who is the minister in charge of sexual and family violence prevention and Green Party co-leader, was filmed saying “I am the violence minister and I know who causes violence in the world, it is white cis men” after attending a trans rights protest in Auckland.”
Yes Robert this is the point that many, including me, have been trying to say all weekend, mainly to NZ tweeters, the overseas ones seem to get the connection between what happened on Saturday and high levels of domestic violence.
The fact that the protest happened, that the violence erupted is directly related to the fact that NZ has very high rates of domestic violence. Violence has many causes but chief among them is the inability to talk to achieve a meeting point/consensus or to use effective strategies to defuse tensions – withdraw, let other speak for you etc etc..
We still have macho type posturing, we glorify a sport that still has high levels of roughness (I won't call it violence but rough handling)
So on Saturday we had people spoiling for a fight because no-one had said 'hey stop that'. And they needed to have been saying it at least since No debate came into the lexicon.
So the violence against people and property that we saw on Saturday bears out the statistics that we have high levels of violence in domestic situations. If we cannot manage our domestic situations we have little to give to a society that says we value letting people be or having no violence here. We are working against type.
The stats only say one thing as you say, Marama Davidson using them is a bunch of crock. She clearly is not able to scale up or down mentally as to what an inability to deal with violence at home might mean when we leave to go to the outside world.
Treat it as an exercise in basic reading comprehension maybe? Why did Chris Hipkin's say she could better explain what she actually meant, with reference to the Stuff article.
After those comments and the celebration of using violence to shut down debate, the lack of fucks about poverty, housing, mental health and health in general apart from hiring more bureaucrats rather than increasing capacity and increasing scary authoritarian streak on free speech and debate and an obsession on putting people into boxes rather than focusing on economic and housing. inequality
The left is no longer heading in a direction I'm comfortable with…. It's heart breaking to see but I'm not revolutionary, I'm a reformist I care about poverty, the left don't, the one good thing about true conservatism is there is no such thing as radical conservative
I think a few terms in opposition and being shunned for abandoning economic justice for social justice is what the left needs.
Fuck the lot of them, the right will hurt me economically but we never had any of this shit under the previous govt and I'm beyond sick of seeing the left act like fucking thugs and justifying the racism of low expectations, homophobia, misogyny and doing fuck all on housing, health and poverty.
Im staying home. I imagine turn out for this election will be the lowest we've ever had there's no good options.
I do want a change of govt though and as a person whose spent his entire life hating the right… Fucking heart breaking but this lot need to go. Nutters.
I will never bring myself to vote tory or act of NZf, I'd rather chop of my arms and legs than vote tory.
Welcome to the ocean of the politically unmoored. You are not alone on this turbulent sea.
I frequently pondered the question of whether to vote or not, but I keep coming back to the sacrifice made by our fathers and grandfathers – and now in Ukraine – so that we might have the privilege of voting.
In this light I cannot in good conscience stay home.
Agree! I am despairing. I’m finding that I want to listen to dour ACT members on their opinions on this so called rally at the weekend when I’d normally turn the radio off if they were on. I’d rather my ears bled than give them 5 minutes of my time notmally. And even then I find they haven’t gone far enough and are skirting the edges – being politicians I guess. Sigh. Let’s get on with the important stuff or else there will be survival issues facing humans and it won’t matter a bit what’s between our legs.
I loathe & detest the word 'cis'. It is a made up word that describes a person from a trans perspective whose gender matches their born sex.
It is a made up word by the minority trans community to describe the wider community in relation to them, and that community is the majority. To not buy in to the language does not mean we lack compassion or won't work for them to have a fair go.
I don't know enough about the LGB people to know if they use it but suffice to say that my older lesbian friends do not. They use male/female.
So when I heard Marama Davidson let forth with her 'cis' this or that I knew we no longer had someone who thought independently on the issue. She is captured in other words.
So I may be incorrect or left out some important bits and please tell me if I have. No one needs to know these things they are of little relevance.
If we need to distinguish then what is the matter with male/female and other adjectives if we need them.
She f’d up and should be accountable, she’s a politician ffs, she’s meant to be a diplomat. Imagine if Ardern had said that. I know that the greens will always be a minority party, I used to hope they wouldn’t be, but if they are in govt they would be making decisions for all, even cis white males, not just minority groups. If she did have a brain fart because of the accident shouldn’t her team have taken her for medical attention? She seemed pretty cognisant in that video. Also are claims that it was one of Tamaki’s cohort rhetoric or is it true – are the police following up on this hit and run? Had she stepped out onto the road in the heat of the moment without looking properly? There seem to be a lot of unfounded accusations being thrown around. It’s all conjecture at best.
New Zealand's anti-nuclear legislation was enacted in the depths of the cold war. Those opposed to it have been trying to water down and gnaw away at the edges of our nuclear free policy ever since. As the world heads to toward another cold war, nuclear rhetoric, bluster and nuclear proliferation has picked up pace again, even reaching to this corner of the globe.
With Australia getting tooled up with nuclear submarines – It was inevitable that the pressure would come on us to rejoin the nuclear club.
Newsable: Does our anti-nuclear approach need a rethink?
Behind the pressure to accept nuclear power will be the pressure to accept Australian, (and US), nuclear powered submarines into our waters and harbours.
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
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Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
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In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
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The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
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Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
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Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
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Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
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Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
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Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
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The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
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Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
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A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
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The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
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The terror of co-governance, and the reality:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018882992/co-governance-at-the-coalface
Refreshing reality versus prejudice and ignorance. Western Springs win. Thanks Arkie.
Well, co-governance is not working in Tuhoe country, Tuhoe is even against Tuhoe.
Three Waters for example, isn't in my opinion about co-governance, its about Maori control and veto using a number of cultural mechanism that cannot be assailed using rational argument or thought.
Quote:
''An individual or a number of individuals will be required to have expertise in the exercise of kaitiakitanga, tikanga & mātauranga Māori relating to delivering water services.''
https://www.democracyaction.org.nz/planned_three_waters_entities_governance_undemocratic
And now this. Maori want more… and have sent a warning to the government of consequences should they not be listened to. Maoridom call it ''putting your pou in the ground.'' I do feel sorry for MP Kieran McAnulty. He's between a rock and a hard place. I can't see him getting out of this situation unscathed.
Auckland- Friday- 24/3/23-1700-@13.50.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-demand/week-on-demand/
Minister McAnulty has emerged from the Coast seemingly without a scratch:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/486783/west-coast-mayors-have-heartening-conversation-over-water-reform-fears
very good.
The book we all should read. The story of the Tavistock "gender identity" clinic and a medical scandal.
"By 2020-21, the clinic accounted for a quarter of the trust’s income.
But this isn’t to say that ideology wasn’t also in the air. Another of Barnes’s interviewees is Dr Kirsty Entwistle, an experienced clinical psychologist. When she got a job at Gids’ Leeds outpost, she told her new colleagues she didn’t have a gender identity. “I’m just female,” she said. This, she was informed, was transphobic. Barnes is rightly reluctant to ascribe the Gids culture primarily to ideology, but nevertheless, many of the clinicians she interviewed used the same word to describe it: mad.
And who can blame them? After more than 370 pages, I began to feel half mad myself. At times, the world Barnes describes, with its genitalia fashioned from colons and its fierce culture of omertà, feels like some dystopian novel. But it isn’t, of course. It really happened, and she has worked bravely and unstintingly to expose it. This is what journalism is for."
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/19/time-to-think-by-hannah-barnes-review-what-went-wrong-at-gids?fbclid=IwAR2m2PVrBWGZ16qR_7HsDUQGN0kCOMWUUGaysRdqFt9sS3dP4epwurfPXI8
Because an idea can be taken to absurd lengths, does not invalidate the idea itself. Road safety is a good idea, making all cars travel at 5km/h is bonkers.
We should not under-estimate the incredible good luck centrist liberalism has struck with the continual lurch further and further to the right of their conservative opponents in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and here in New Zealand. Despite the near universal rejection of their agenda, the right insists on making itself less and less attractive to median voters.
https://twitter.com/David_Cormack/status/1640076280258519041?cxt=HHwWgoDTlf-r3MItAAAA
This tilts National further to Luxon's evangalistic right. Let us pray, unless we are atheists in which case let us clap loudly.
Don't worry, it seems that as soon as a candidate (of any party) makes it into parliament they are whipped into being a good little neoliberal.
Your one sentence roblogic, encapsulates 39 years of our political history!–the neo liberal Parliamentary consensus as some call it–where whichever MMP arrangement prevails, monetarist legislation, contracting out custom & practice and penetration of public infrastructure by private capital is rolled over.
Yeah, we should definitely punish Labour and the Greens by electing more National MPs like Greg Fleming … that'll teach them! [/sarc].
It's good of National to remind us who they are.
[unlinked quote removed]
No Right Turn, Wednesday, 22 March.
Quite right – we need to send the sort of message to Labour even they'll be able to understand – vote Green or TPM!
This election must be a Climate Election!
Yep, Party vote Green or TPM, prob Lab Electorate (Willow Jean Prime) though to try and keep the Natzos out in Northland.
Yes, I've party voted Green for 3 elections, and Labour voted in my ChCh Central electorate.
A bit hard for me to make a change to 'send a message to Labour!' Unless I vote TPM.
If everyone (apart from AK Central) vote for the Labour electorate MP and either the Greens or TPM we may even expand the size of parliament with overhang seats for the Labour electorate MPs. Party vote for policy, electorate vote for representation.
On that subject, this PSM will struggle to vote Green this time round.
Marama Davidson's outburst, post Posie Protest, has revealed more than would be desirable.
I thought I would sleep on it before responding. In the hope that she may walk back or explain her thinking but according to RNZ's noon news, Greens have released sexual assault data concerning white males. Not a mention of DV, prison muster stats, gangs etc.
From my point if view, it's Turei 2.0.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2303/S00208/minister-davidson-must-resign-after-violence-comments.htm
Edit, I am interested in yr view of her comments arkie, but certainly don’t feel obliged.
You're free to priortise whatever issues you like but that it comes at the expense of meaningful climate action is unfortunate for us all and the planet.
As one who is keen on change on the climate front, it is disappointing politically, to hear this sort of crap.
Think it, believe it, just keep it under your hat.
A good analogy for voting is that it is a bus route; no party or politician represents all that we might want, however it is important the direction they are headed; the bus might not take you to the doorstep of your final destination but every kilometre the bus takes you in the direction you want gets you closer to the destination you seek. Catching the other bus in the other direction takes you further from your goal.
Cheers for engaging.
I think I will wait for a bus who's driver doesn't insult me.
Then you will make no progress on your journey, it is unfortunate, but it is your choice.
So much for the "white cisgender" nonsense.
Most violence is committed by men. And a man's capacity for violence is not magically removed when he identifies as some other gender.
There is lots of evidence. Trans Crimes UK does their stats. This Never Happens does a wider range including our Toko Shane (Ashley) Winter in Paremoremo prision for the sadistic torture and murder of a young woman. – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1722756661380462
https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/21023/pdf/
There is certainly some evidence when it comes to the prison population and those who commit sex crimes.
"If identifying as a women did reduce the propensity to commit sex crime to female levels we would have expected to see just 3 or 4 of transwomen in prison with sex crime convictions. Instead we see up to 76."
https://fairplayforwomen.com/transgender-male-criminality-sex-offences/
https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/21023/pdf/
I was under the impression, from the Dunedin Longitudinal Study that males and females were within cooee of each other in respects to violence.
I am not voting for Greens in any way shape or from from now on, after 3 elections. Their support for the No Debate concept has brought concern to many women.
The new local Lab candidate was one of the screamers outside the SUFW meeting in Wellington on the No Debate issue. So I will have to find another candidate I like.
Labour will need big moves on climate change, women's issues before I vote for them.
Actually at the moment I'd like Labour to get a close run to take down the tightness & arrogance that I find so unappealing. They have put so many good policies on the back burner that I find things a bit sterile. I guess that will change.
I also think it is good to share power to debate about which policies to take forward from coalition partners, noting that no one party has all the answers or the best policies
I've removed the quote. If you quote, you have to link. Every single time. We need the context and it needs to be easily available.
I thought I had done sufficient by posting the source and date of posting.
But supplying a link is no bother:
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2023/03/climate-change-more-labour-foot-dragging.html
please remember for next time.
I think Sir Peter Gluckman's commentary in relation to subjects like CC and what needs to be taught in schools, plus the lack of social cohesion as witnessed this past weekend is well worth a listen. It might be a once over lightly of complex issues but that is all most people want to assimilate:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/03/posie-parker-rally-sir-peter-gluckman-warns-new-zealand-s-social-cohesion-at-risk-people-need-to-accept-transgender-people-have-rights.html
I totally agree with you Anne that transgender people have rights and should have rights to live however they want without harassment.
But then I also think , for eg, that lesbians have rights to their own women only lesbian workshops, dating sites and conferences without being harassed by shouting crowds and death threats(kill a Terf " being a common placard outside these places.)Or told they should welcome penises into their bodies because otherwise they are sexual racists?
Do you believe it is wrong for lesbians to be only sexually interested in female bodies and minds?
And I would have been interested in hearing the women who intended to speak at the rotunda explaining how they are impacted by self ID for example.
Yelling and shouting and uttering threats of violence does not constitute free speech in my opinion.The protestors would have been better to counter Kelly Minshull with their own arguments and speeches.
Not just threats, pretty clear case of assault here. Hopefully someone can embed for me. https://twitter.com/l1ber_te/status/1639917380569821185
Just copy and past the tweet URL in a line of its own. You don't have to use the tags in the editor, the site embed automatically
https://twitter.com/l1ber_te/status/1639917380569821185
We had years of "no Debate" and "there is no conflict". Now we are having the debate, and there are plenty of examples of conflict between the sex based rights and protections that women have fought for over decades, and the sudden demands of today's "Rights Activists" for their complete removal.
We are moving into the "both sides" phase of the debate. However, it is a crock.
Adopting the ‘both sides’ argument implies that the two perspectives have an equal claim to consideration. For example, the scientific evidence that climate change is real is overwhelming, so should we be giving equal time to conspiracy theorists who want us to believe that it’s all a left-wing lie designed to destroy the oil business? Whenever anybody dares to mention evolution, should we be obliged to endure an equal period of religious fundamentalists telling us how man (sic) was created, fully formed, on the sixth day?
There is not a single shred of scientific evidence that gender identity even exists, let alone a means of detecting what it might be in any particular person at any particular time. And yet this impossibly vague notion is superseding sex – the body of scientific evidence for which is huge and incontrovertible – in prescribing everything about how we live, up to and including our laws.
There is no common ground. The two positions are mutually exclusive. There is sex, or there is gender identity. There is science, or there is gender woo.
That the woo-woo is regressive and deeply homophobic and misogynistic only makes it worse. So enough of the ‘both sides need to hear each other out’, it’s time to pick one.
I don't really know what gender identity is, it sounds like a concept as much as anything.
But I do have a felt sense of myself as a woman. As far as I can tell, this arises out of my female body, and some of it is physical but not all of it. We are creatures with minds and emotions too.
It's like people saying there's no such thing as a spiritual experience, but they can still watch a sunset, feel moved (what is that they are experiencing?), or feel a connection with something bigger than themselves.
It's possible that there are women who have an experience of themselves as a woman, but for whatever reason instead of evoking something positive, it makes them feel ashamed or hateful towards themselves. To me this is something that can be healed in most women, and we are just very very bad at helping them do this. Getting worse at doing this. For all the body and sex positivity rhetoric, I don't see much in the way of practical and ongoing support for women around being female, and certainly the push to change society so that women can naturally feel comfortable in their own skin has stalled.
Fuck neoliberalism and its need for disembodied slaves.
That is it – we treat software problems as if they were hardware problems. There have always been people with various sort of bodily dysmorphia. Anorexia is one of them, the feeling that your left leg is inhabited by demons is another. Many of these come from childhood trauma and some are symptoms of other forms of mental illness.
In children you have the classic "if I was a boy, he would not do that to me" or "if I was a girl my Daddy would love me and not call me a faggot and a sissy because I like nice things and I don't like rugby or fishing."
So called "gender identity" seems to be just about which set of sexist stereotypes you most identify with.
Or don't identify with.
I think the whole tumblr effect and adopting GI is about the stereotypes, whereas GD is more about girls and women being desperate to escape the patriarchy.
Well, the mTf bunch certainly adopt a very stereotypical alter ego of what they think a woman should be. At a "business lesbian" group I used to belong to – in a room of 50, 49 were wearing comfortable, ordinary women's clothing, admittedly with an emphasis on dress pants and boots! The remaining 1 – with a short tight skirt, black stockings, high heels, frilly blouse and lots of lipstick was the "transbian".
so we went from lets abandon stereotypes because they harm women, to women can wear what they want, to shut up you're not allowed to criticise stereotypes, that's transphobic.
.it seems to me that so called 'gender identity: is more about "Look at me, look at me, look at me!!"
Can't remember where I heard that but seems accurate
[From now on, please stick to one username + one e-mail address, thanks – Incognito]
Mod note
Will do sorry about that was using phone this morning and was getting double posts and formatting not working etc. Although the username / email address differences are to do with me needing glasses to see shit on my phone these days.. <sigh> getting old…
So called "gender identity" or what those who fully believe in such a thing are really saying when they come up with their new nonsense gender along with their special pronouns seems to me is summed up as per this quote I heard or read somewhere.
"Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!"
Well said Visubversa.
For those who still think women are getting upset and being transphobic in speaking up (or at least trying to speak up) about the threat to women's sex based safe spaces from gender self ID laws etc, here is another example that shows this sort of thing is not a myth, it is happening all over the western world and women have a right to demand action.
My apologies if this case has already been posted about..
This man has been convicted of threatening to rape his own mother. He also attacked a social worker ripping out clumps of her hair and tearing off her eyelid. He also has a previous conviction for actually raping his own mother along with his father.
As you can see, he is a nasty piece of work and clearly represents a threat and danger to women (probably to men too by the sounds of him)
Thanks to gender self ID laws he has decided that he now identifies as a women. He is being sent to serve his time at a WOMEN'S prison..
This is a classic example of one the factors surrounding the attempted erosion of women's sex based rights that people are talking about. They are not being transphobic, they are saying men shouldn't be allowed in these spaces.
Further, even if it was transphobic, I don't care. I have 3 females in my immediate family as well as many other female relatives, friends and colleagues. Theirs and all other women's physical safety and right to feel safe and to have female only safe spaces are far more important than someone's hurt feelings. In my opinion anyone who thinks otherwise obviously doesn't give a shit about women
It does make you wonder what the hell is going through politicians heads when they write and enact this sort of legislation. Surely part of the process of writing legislation must be to thoroughly investigate and take into account any downstream effects that may or may not occur as a result?? Are they really all that thick?? Is this part of some sinister bigger agenda?? Or are they just scared of the loud minorities pushing this BS??
By the way, I haven't met a man yet who doesn't think exactly the same way as me on this issue. Interestingly I have spoken with two transgender friends (both M2F and real TG's, not just men dressing up as women) and they also think exactly the same. So any men commenting on here supporting the TRA's from Saturdays chaos, do you believe it's ok for this man to be sent to a women's prison? If so on what basis do you justify that position?
I have never come across womens rights advocates picketing , yelling, screaming or punching anyone at a trans rights rally
How is it ok for trans rights activists to do all that and shut down womens rights rallies?
And will our media be brought to account for continually upping the ante and falsely calling Minshull a nazi and an anti trans campaigner.
Which was bound to bring out a crowd seething with anger and hatred
The Platform NZ has just put up a three episode review of the event. (Haven't watched it but remain disappointed that it doesn't appear as if any of our other broadcasters are going to do so.)
Usual burble until 12:24 when he takes the first caller.
https://youtu.be/JMVGYCyZ1sk
https://youtu.be/id36-purKMI
https://youtu.be/0NJ5D5rLklc
One thing I don't agree with is when some women as per one of the callers in the interview saying they want to be able to speak about these issues that concern women without men present and that it has nothing to do with men.
I have to push back on that. Firstly, this is a public issue where government policy and legislation , etc is involved so nobody should be excluded, But more importantly, all men have mothers and a large proportion of them have wives, daughters, girlfriends, sisters, etc,etc,etc. If my wife or daughter or sister or mother or any woman I am close too has a serious issue or problem which affects her negatively then it affects me negatively, just not in the same way.
So I think men should be able to attend a public event such as Let Women Speak if they want to. (In this case to listen not to speak). This is the sort of issue where there is huge strength and political clout in women and men showing unity.
But I also believe that women have the right to hold women only events if they wish to, obviously a public park is not the right place for such events.
"One thing I don't agree with is when some women as per one of the callers in the interview saying they want to be able to speak about these issues that concern women without men present and that it has nothing to do with men."
I understand what you are saying, but I didn't take it as not wanting men to attend open public events. I thought she was saying that she – personally – would find it more comfortable to speak her mind in an environment that was only women.
If my interpretation is right, then I support her with that. And any other person that wants to create a gathering of their own to discuss common interests.
However, that is definitely not the kaupapa of the #LetWomenSpeak events. The only sexed criteria there is that women are prioritised for access to the microphone, and if all the women who want to speak have done so, and there is available time – men can then step forward and give their views.
Both my partner and my daughter were there on Saturday. He said that the experience was intense and the intimidation of the attendees was intentional and directed towards the older women, not himself. So, if some women want to meet together without men to discuss these issues, then let them. They can do so in comfort and add their efforts to others that are concerned about the same things.
As an acknowledgement of all the men who do inform themselves and do understand what concerns women have – here's Graham Linehan on last Sunday in Hyde Park, being invited to speak after all the women have finished at the monthly #LetWomenSpeak event:
https://twitter.com/_K_F_P_/status/1639997505797488648?s=20
Totally agree with everything you've stated here.
Thinking further I guess maybe somewhere in my mind I'm thinking that I keep seeing / hearing the word 'men' a lot within this issue and is pretty much always in a negative sense (rightly so in my opinion) but am sure most people of course understand that usually 'men' in this context means a tiny minority of men.
I guess I'm wanting to reinforce the fact (fact in my opinion) that the vast majority of men are fully supportive of women's sex based rights and are absolutely appalled at the (mostly) male violence towards women that was perpetrated at this event.
Bravo too Francesca. I did read in an overseas twitter page that calling nontrans rights believers Nazis is a fundamental part of the trans rights campaign.
I read several tweets by Chloe Swarbrick who called people terfs and other stupid words also trans anti women words. I did tweet back that there was no need to call people names but of course it won't change a thing.
To say I find it juvenile would be an understatement. It reminds me of the nah, nah ne nah nah, tongue out an d fingers waggling behind the ears that went around our primary school at age about 7. It was promptly dealt to by the parents.
To think that these are educated people. Sad.
It is my sense someone political made the decision to not provide police presence. The UK based GBNews nails the KJK event:
I agree.
(Just a note, suspicion that the reference @6:27 is a fake account.
I watched the rest and I can't see any other questionable references.)
Another excellent essay this morning:
The fact of our inability to manage this trans issue, the COVID mandate protest, the co-governance and MM debates in a civil, constructive manner is heading us directly down the path to hell. So far the large majority have not felt directly impacted by what they see as largely arcane, marginal debates, but sooner or later our luck will run out and it is hard to see it ending well.
This comment is not the place to explore at length why, but this is a real moment in our history, not a footnote. People who have grown up with no-one who will say no to them have no internal boundaries. And we are far too blind to malign external influences assiduously exploiting this.
Good article, thanks:
The description of deliberate police inaction is repeated in many personal accounts, including from my partner and daughter who attended.
I'm listening to some of the silenced women speaking on The Platform that I posted above, and they are reiterating this.
Did someone political in the UK determine the same policing practice in London the same weekend 15 minutes – the monthly LWS event in Hyde Park (the counter-protest surrounding them and no effort to keep them apart.
The issues appears to be common practice to allow counter-protesters to shout down/use noise.
It is not clear if you approve of this tactic. I do not. It may not be a quiet tactic, but it effectively silences your target. A thugs veto if you wish.
Moreover it seems to have gone a fair bit further than this .. like 'let the mob intimidate the nasty woman and then provide a ride to the airport.' I suspect every activist group in NZ will have quietly observed these events, and will be drawing a range of conclusions.
It's not a problem, if it’s the old fashioned political meeting heckling or a Hyde Park corner passer by making comments. It is, if its organised to silence and of larger size and allowed to kettle a smaller group.
The Melbourne police used horses to separate groups (easy in a street setting, not so easy in Albert Park).
They tried separation via barriers, but once they went down and the speakers were surrounded on the rotunda and silenced by the noise – the problem became one of safe departure.
Of course National wanted Chelsea Manning banned from New Zealand.
I watched an interview with Toby Young of the Free Speech Union (on the same Sunday edition of GB News's Free Speech Nation that is mentioned in this thread.
They did some research of a large number of police stations in the UK by way of freedom of information requests and the findings were quite shocking.
In Summary they found that police training in gender, diversity, equity and inclusion is fully ingrained in police training and seems to be the main concern and takes up by far the largest part of police training. Whereas training around the laws on free speech and associated issues is either non existent or simply one line on a page.
Dame Anne Salmond on the cosiness of Ministers with the industries they are supposed to oversee and the greenwashing and environmental harm it causes:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/greenwashing-and-the-forestry-industry-in-nz
In the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Bola I made my way (a whole other story) to a backcountry farm run by some friends that was in the absolute bullseye of the devastation. I got to see with my own eyes the patterns of destruction; put simply the steeper land in grass only was usually wiped out. Pine plantations provided only marginal protection, and that still in sound native forest did best.
Nothing was immune to damage; the land is far too unstable and steep and will always erode. But it was obvious to my eye – and I have spent enough time in the NZ backcountry both tramping and working with geologists, to have some idea of what I am looking at – that mass replanting in pine forests on steep land was not going to work. But that is what they went ahead and did anyway.
And as the industry now reluctantly acknowledges, these plantations are too steep to economically manage or harvest. The low grade timber they tend to produce, full of knots and twists is not of high value, making the economics even worse. As a result the harvesters tend to only extract the best logs, leaving behind a large fraction of 'slash'. It isn't even economic to pulp it.
The core problem here is that the local people are deeply conflicted; forestry has provided the only reliable income for these remote communities for years; and just shutting down the industry will cause another kind of devastation.
I would propose the optimum path forward for the East Coast is a balanced combination of state funded native forest restoration and slash clean-up, a timber industry that slims down to planting high value species on only suitable land that is economic to manage, and a pivot to understanding how to best develop their immense cultural capital.
The region has plenty of largely unsuspected potential to become a model of sophisticated land management and cultural regeneration. But too much has been squandered on low quality exploitation for decades. If this Commission is to deliver a worthwhile result, it has a big task ahead of it.
"I would propose the optimum path forward for the East Coast is a balanced combination of state funded native forest restoration and slash clean-up, a timber industry that slims down to planting high value species on only suitable land that is economic to manage, and a pivot to understanding how to best develop their immense cultural capital. "
Yes.
All sounds good…except high value logs tend to take generations to reach milling size….meanwhile the calls for employment (or the call to reduce population decline) will continue.
As always the issue of time rears it's inconvenient head.
I agree – which is why any Commission will need to take the broadest view possible. The slash is just one symptom of a far more complex problem with no easy solutions.
I should have added that I wish the Commission good fortune. The East Coast is a region of NZ I have hapu connection with, and many strong memories. It is a special place that deserves better.
Although the East Coast is probably more neglected than most it is a problem that faces the whole country…e.g. Canterbury has similar issues to address with dairying…and the straw that is international tourism is not a solution.
Difficult decisions ahead
So far as trans rights are concerned, should trans people who have trasitioned towards being female be entitled to be treated as female in all respects if they pass the gender equivalent of the Turing test? That is, biological females can't tell that they weren't originally female?
That would seem a sensible position to me, because, if biological females can't tell the difference, then they probably don't have a reason to feel concerned?
That will cut out about 98% of those "transitioning towards female". And these days any restriction is condemned as "gatekeeping". Gender ideology says that you are what you say you are the second you say it. No arguement is permitted, no critical thought is allowed.
Also, females are very good at perceiving the sex of someone – even from a distance. It is a survival mechanism and is needed now as much as it ever was.
Yes, my wife seems to be almost telepathic at times lol.
This is a major problem that I don't see can be worked around.
So, applying that logic, a male who decides he wants to perve at female bodies can just proclaim himself to be female and therefore enter the female changing sheds. Am I correct in that logic?
I had a thought today (ha), it might be a bit hardline but I propose it would go a long way with women if men who wish to be female (and vice versa women who wish to be male) in good faith should be required to be all in. Fully commit to surgical gender reassignment and hormone therapy. Controversial – definitely, but worth a ponder.
I think this is what the previous ability to change birth certificates said. You had to have living as the opp sex for X years and have a Dr/JP verify this. If you transitioned you had to complete it.
For some reason this was deemed to be ????? something unfriendly, No Debate came along. It initially posited was that waltzing up with bit of cash and biro to a BDM office could see you come out with a new certificate saying you were a woman.
NZ has changed this slightly so that you can partially transition, get a JP to sign a declaration. I am not sure how reversible partial chemical transition is. NZ has also linked to the concept of safe spaces for women.
I will link to a very post on TS about this process by Weka? Visubversa?
Fuck off, as father of a daughter I don't want any fucking cocks in female only spaces, end of story, any one who thinks it's OK is criminally insane.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131609306/marama-davidson-should-have-made-clear-violence-against-women-is-in-every-community
“Davidson, who is the minister in charge of sexual and family violence prevention and Green Party co-leader, was filmed saying “I am the violence minister and I know who causes violence in the world, it is white cis men” after attending a trans rights protest in Auckland.”
How is she wrong?
Disclaimer, I am an old white cis male.
Facts and figures here on Kiwiblog if you can hold your nose and take a peak lol.
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2023/03/i_am_the_prevention_violence_minister_and_i_know_who_causes_violence_in_the_world_and_its_white_cis_men.html
Taking a broader look at violence. How many wars have been started by women?
None?
Faulkland Islands?
Do Prime Ministers start wars? Or are they the agents representing the warmongers?
In the UK, yes, yes they certainly do.
Rubbish facts. Who causes violence?
Those who act violently and are prosecuted for it, don't necessarily cause it.
Yes Robert this is the point that many, including me, have been trying to say all weekend, mainly to NZ tweeters, the overseas ones seem to get the connection between what happened on Saturday and high levels of domestic violence.
The fact that the protest happened, that the violence erupted is directly related to the fact that NZ has very high rates of domestic violence. Violence has many causes but chief among them is the inability to talk to achieve a meeting point/consensus or to use effective strategies to defuse tensions – withdraw, let other speak for you etc etc..
We still have macho type posturing, we glorify a sport that still has high levels of roughness (I won't call it violence but rough handling)
So on Saturday we had people spoiling for a fight because no-one had said 'hey stop that'. And they needed to have been saying it at least since No debate came into the lexicon.
So the violence against people and property that we saw on Saturday bears out the statistics that we have high levels of violence in domestic situations. If we cannot manage our domestic situations we have little to give to a society that says we value letting people be or having no violence here. We are working against type.
The stats only say one thing as you say, Marama Davidson using them is a bunch of crock. She clearly is not able to scale up or down mentally as to what an inability to deal with violence at home might mean when we leave to go to the outside world.
Taliban? India? Saudi Arabia? Iran?
Treat it as an exercise in basic reading comprehension maybe? Why did Chris Hipkin's say she could better explain what she actually meant, with reference to the Stuff article.
After those comments and the celebration of using violence to shut down debate, the lack of fucks about poverty, housing, mental health and health in general apart from hiring more bureaucrats rather than increasing capacity and increasing scary authoritarian streak on free speech and debate and an obsession on putting people into boxes rather than focusing on economic and housing. inequality
The left is no longer heading in a direction I'm comfortable with…. It's heart breaking to see but I'm not revolutionary, I'm a reformist I care about poverty, the left don't, the one good thing about true conservatism is there is no such thing as radical conservative
I think a few terms in opposition and being shunned for abandoning economic justice for social justice is what the left needs.
Fuck the lot of them, the right will hurt me economically but we never had any of this shit under the previous govt and I'm beyond sick of seeing the left act like fucking thugs and justifying the racism of low expectations, homophobia, misogyny and doing fuck all on housing, health and poverty.
Im staying home. I imagine turn out for this election will be the lowest we've ever had there's no good options.
I do want a change of govt though and as a person whose spent his entire life hating the right… Fucking heart breaking but this lot need to go. Nutters.
I will never bring myself to vote tory or act of NZf, I'd rather chop of my arms and legs than vote tory.
Welcome to the ocean of the politically unmoored. You are not alone on this turbulent sea.
I frequently pondered the question of whether to vote or not, but I keep coming back to the sacrifice made by our fathers and grandfathers – and now in Ukraine – so that we might have the privilege of voting.
In this light I cannot in good conscience stay home.
Agree! I am despairing. I’m finding that I want to listen to dour ACT members on their opinions on this so called rally at the weekend when I’d normally turn the radio off if they were on. I’d rather my ears bled than give them 5 minutes of my time notmally. And even then I find they haven’t gone far enough and are skirting the edges – being politicians I guess. Sigh. Let’s get on with the important stuff or else there will be survival issues facing humans and it won’t matter a bit what’s between our legs.
I loathe & detest the word 'cis'. It is a made up word that describes a person from a trans perspective whose gender matches their born sex.
It is a made up word by the minority trans community to describe the wider community in relation to them, and that community is the majority. To not buy in to the language does not mean we lack compassion or won't work for them to have a fair go.
I don't know enough about the LGB people to know if they use it but suffice to say that my older lesbian friends do not. They use male/female.
So when I heard Marama Davidson let forth with her 'cis' this or that I knew we no longer had someone who thought independently on the issue. She is captured in other words.
So I may be incorrect or left out some important bits and please tell me if I have. No one needs to know these things they are of little relevance.
If we need to distinguish then what is the matter with male/female and other adjectives if we need them.
Just musings.
She f’d up and should be accountable, she’s a politician ffs, she’s meant to be a diplomat. Imagine if Ardern had said that. I know that the greens will always be a minority party, I used to hope they wouldn’t be, but if they are in govt they would be making decisions for all, even cis white males, not just minority groups. If she did have a brain fart because of the accident shouldn’t her team have taken her for medical attention? She seemed pretty cognisant in that video. Also are claims that it was one of Tamaki’s cohort rhetoric or is it true – are the police following up on this hit and run? Had she stepped out onto the road in the heat of the moment without looking properly? There seem to be a lot of unfounded accusations being thrown around. It’s all conjecture at best.
All politics is pressure.
New Zealand's anti-nuclear legislation was enacted in the depths of the cold war. Those opposed to it have been trying to water down and gnaw away at the edges of our nuclear free policy ever since. As the world heads to toward another cold war, nuclear rhetoric, bluster and nuclear proliferation has picked up pace again, even reaching to this corner of the globe.
With Australia getting tooled up with nuclear submarines – It was inevitable that the pressure would come on us to rejoin the nuclear club.
Um. No.
Sure, everyone else may be doing it, but that doesn't make it any less insane.
Behind the pressure to accept nuclear power will be the pressure to accept Australian, (and US), nuclear powered submarines into our waters and harbours.