Aaron Maté: Why Even Under Biden Russiagate Will NEVER Die
Of course this extends to New Zealand main stream media lead by RNZ, who have taken to parroting any old shit that comes their way with gusto….never ever once correcting or following up with new updates which spoil their narrative ( propaganda).
Just witness the shameful silence from all NZ media on the public destruction of Assange to really understand exactly how deeply embedded and complete manufacturing consent has entrenched itself into our media…..not even RNZ's Media Watch will even mention this one, so who's left to keep citizens informed?… .
Fake news and/or withheld news ( both as dangerous as each other) is real alright, but it originates from MSM just as much as it does from social and fringe media…but then I guess at the end of the day, everyone has their own ideology they are pushing, RNZ just as much as the next guy…still it’s sad to see it being so blatant.
Dead right adrian RNZ news is Pathetic and nine times out of ten sourced either from CNN or BBC which kinda explaines why no news about Assange !!.I think they do have reporters but perhaps no computers ?Personally i hate their whole business model with a few exceptions theyre supposed to be free to air but the station is run like any standard commercial one with every second accounted for WTF ??.Aarron Mate is a god send to cynical bastards like me and id reccomend anyone not familier with his work to check out his interview with his old man whos pretty cool in his own right also as a starter.
I don't really care either way as I'm not in to cannabis myself. We had the vote, and > 50% said "No" so IMO, we accept democracy and move on, even though it was close and it didn't have the outcome we wanted / expected.
But a draft bill doesn't mean much at all as it can change significantly going through the parliamentary process.
Seymour had the right process, take the proposal through Parliament, have it submitted on debated so it gets well publicised, and then take it to referendum if parliament hasn't got the fortitude to pass it outright.
It would have been interesting to see the outcome if both proposals had gone through the same process, either way. I suspect that Seymour's initial bill would have failed had it been put to referendum before it went through parliament too.
afaik the rationale for legalisation rather than decriminalisation for personal possession was because legalisation allowed for legal control over production, access to cannabis for disabled and unwell people who couldn't otherwise access it, way better health care and health promotion, and would drop the conviction rate for Māori who are over represented in charges due to systemic racism (lives destroyed).
There really is a big difference between legalisation and decriminalisation.
The yes and undecided vote was strong enough to warrant going for the full thing. It was always going to require education. I completely agree that covid has been a factor, negatively impacting on the Yes campaign's ability to do that educating.
The decriminalisation option was presented to Cabinet along with the chosen option.
It was immediately discounted on the ground there would remain an illicit supply.
The chosen option made it a choice option with a guaranteed legal supply rather than an addiction reduction health issue that had been the previous focus of the Greens and Drug Foundation.
Yes you've said that three times now so you can stop bleating. If it hadn't been for covid disrupting campaigning the thing probably would have passed.
a) I don't have to stop "bleating" about anything, especially when it is so obvious.
b) Blaming Covid for a dumb question is a cop out.
[When you repeat your own words often enough and start to be believe them it’s called ‘smoking your own dope’ and when you demonstrate that repeatedly in your comments it’s called ‘bleating’. None of your bleats addresses the points made by NOEL @ 3 and solkta @ 3.1.1. and it is just another of your reading fails here, which is becoming an issue. This is your warning – Incognito]
I think you are confusing not being obvious to you personally, while everyone else who was actually looking at polls before the actual question was published noticed it wouldn't win, if they went full legal.
[Really? What does the term “full legal” actually mean in this context? Sounds like a red herring to me. And what polls are you referring to? For your convenience: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_New_Zealand_cannabis_referendum#Polling. Should they have pulled the referendum when ‘the polls’ showed that it was “so obvious” that “it wouldn’t win”? Sounds like a thing Trump would do/say: stop the counting, I’ve won! Your comments are becoming more and more like tedious trolling – Incognito]
Polls were all over the place. "Full legal" would be available to all ages next to broccoli in the supermarket. There were many models to choose from. Decriminalisation can also mean any number of things. Until the question was formulated it could not be asked.
Forgive me for having a personal opinion on the daily open mike thread.
You have a history of being pretty much the only mod on here with a personal thing against my opinions, even on open mike, which I thought was a bit more open.
As you are the only one that seems to feel the need to give me warnings or bin me for a few comments you disagree with.
All good. It is your prerogative.
I apologise if anything I have said about weed offended you, while adding, I have not been offensive to anyone, said bad words, or even tried to be argumentative, besides saying my point of view. on what is supposed to be the open mike section.
If it helps I wont post anything to do with the topic after this.
Briefly, it is not personal, it is not about disagreeing with you, it is not about me being offended by you, and it is not about weed. All red herrings. If you cannot or won’t back your opinions with evidence and robust argument, for example and particularly when you assert “especially when it is so obvious”, you’re straying in moderation territory. You’ve been around here long enough to know how it works and your ‘response’ frankly is pathetic.
Other commenters disagree with you and you refuse to engage with them in good faith. Instead, you bleat.
You have not addressed even one point I made in my Moderation note just as you don’t address issues raised by other commenters unless it suits you. Maybe it is a reading/comprehension problem maybe it is that you don’t want to but these are hallmarks of a wannabe-troll.
You’re wasting Moderator time now and apologising for things that don’t matter is meaningless and irrelevant and even though it possibly shows that your intentions are not those of a wannabbe-troll, the impact is the same 🙁
If it helps I wont post anything to do with the topic after this.
I hope the answer to your question is self-evident.
Agree Alwyn. I am not sure what Covid had/s to do with the poll on Cannabis. Are we going to blame Covid on all sorts of unrelated issues?
The issue is a dead duck now.
The Govt has far more important issues to deal with than what is basically a lifestyle/leisure choice. You know things such as poverty, housing, energy costs undoing vestiges of neoliberalism such as employment contracts.
Policing has for many years(since the mid 80s to my knowledge) not concentrated on possession per se. It becomes an issue for Police when put together with issues such as burglary, growing for supply etc.
As long as medicinal cannabis is allowed to be grown, marketed and used more than is currently the case (price & supply) then I am happy to leave another vote for leisure activities for another day.
There was a national road trip campaign that was cancelled at time of the first lockdown that never went ahead. Effective campaigning on a complex issue requires complex discussions with voters, and these happen best face to face. Right wing groups opposed however just needed to break out all the old slogans and misinformation. Groups in favour had less money and the types of campaigning available suited those who had money.
"There was a national road trip campaign that was cancelled".
So? After all there was a National Party campaign launch that had to be cancelled because the Labour Government brought in a second lock-down that started just before the date of the launch.
The Labour Party had already had their launch when the lock-down was put in place.
Policing has for many years(since the mid 80s to my knowledge) not concentrated on possession per se. It becomes an issue for Police when put together with issues such as burglary, growing for supply etc.
Everybody who voted in the Referendum should have informed himself or herself about what they were voting on. There is/was plenty of good data and information out there for those who looked for it. There is/was also plenty of mis- and dis-information out there for those who wanted it, for whatever reason or agenda.
I cannot open many of these files. In any case I have obviously not explained myself. I am talking about an earlier stage than the decision to charge with an offence. Unless you have tables on the use of Police discretion then the tables will not show the concept I am talking about.
I am not saying there were no charges of possession. I am saying police often exercise a discretion on whether or not to charge and one of these involves possession of small amounts of cannabis for own use where this is the only thing the person could be charged with. If this were not the case then the Police could be knocking on the doors of many households on Saturday night to check dinner party guests or hosts.
Possession charges coming to Police notice often go hand in hand with other charges as disorderly conduct (ie smart alec comments, unruly gatherings etc) or driving offences. They might find that a search of a vehicle after someone has come to their attention with unruly conduct/possession of a stash on cannabis on their person that in fact they have cannabis for supply, holding instruments of burglary. So the suspicion of possession is not followed up but the more serious crimes are. Or possession is bundled up along with the more serious crimes.
So it also falls into the category usually of a ‘public’ crime and the usual stereotypes about policing people who spend large amounts of time in public as opposed to the dinner party example above.
In high number crime scenes ie where there is rioting or other militancy that could go either way violently it would be lacking in nous/discretion for Police to suddenly wade in to arrest people for possession, even though it may be evident that this is happening.
There is a police term called 'cuffing' that describes this to an extent. Though perhaps better described as 'potential' crimes than as 'reported' crimes as this happens after the crimes are committed but before someone is charged.
Cuffing: The under-recording of reported crimes, the term being derived from the magician’s art of making objects disappear up the sleeve or cuff (Young 1991) (wiki)
Police often will work against giving a discretion as in the much vaunted broken windows campaigns.
'The broken windows theory (wiki) is a criminological theory that states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behaviour, and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes.'
So in cases where people committing minor street crime might have been given a warning or a caution or nothing are followed up with the full weight of the law behind them.
I have academic quals in the field and have no reason to doubt the research/knowledge about the use of Police discretion generally, to go for the most serious crime/s in preference to more minor ones.
There is one sheet which shows imprisonment just for the charge of possession without and with other charges, which is interesting how much the former is going down.
Imprisonment just on possession of weed and no other crimes
2010 – 176
2020 – 16
Added it to their other charges
2010 – 717
2020 – 457
Think it is safe to say the cops are using discretion unless you have other violent charges to go with it
I have academic quals in the field and have no reason to doubt the research/knowledge about the use of Police discretion generally, to go for the most serious crime/s in preference to more minor ones.
Excellent, that makes you the most qualified of us to provide those “tables on the use of Police discretion” that you asked for in the first paragraph of your comment.
What Police concentrate on and how they use discretion are not quite the same thing, are they? As someone with academic qualifications you’d know to avoid ambiguity, don’t you?
Unfortunately, it becomes rather pointless to discuss this further with you, as you cannot seem to open a basic webpage of the Ministry of Justice nor an Excel file with very useful data!?
Perhaps you can elaborate on the broken window theory in the context of the disproportional charging and convicting of Māori and Pacific Peoples? There wouldn’t be systematic and institutional bias here, do you think? It was one of the arguments in favour of the failed Referendum, IIRC.
I couldn't open the spreadsheets in Open Office. I assume this is because they are XL documents and Microsoft deliberately make these only openable in the recent versions of their program. It really fucks me off when Crown agencies supply stuff in file formats that are not universal. They could simply save them as a CSV file to be universal.
My bad, I assumed, wrongly, it seems, that most people with a device can open these files.
The Excel file is a *.xlsx file.
There are ways to open such files without having Microsoft Office installed but I agree that another file format would make things easier. One size does not fit all.
csv files don't have the functionality of .xlsx files. In particular, I think multiple tabs might be an issue.
Open office should be able to import .xlsx files, simply because like it or not excel is still ubiquitous and having an amazing programme that nobody else can talk to is useless. It might be more complex than simply trying to open them though.
At home, I use Libreoffice (which was basically open office but there were some corporate/IP shenanigans so many of the open source crowd upped stakes and made a new program).
What Police concentrate on and how they use discretion are not quite the same thing, are they?
Yes they are different. I was using the broken windows campaign as an example where a previous discretion by Police had changed to enforcement.
Excellent, that makes you the most qualified of us to provide those “tables on the use of Police discretion” that you asked for in the first paragraph of your comment.
You can get an idea of police use of discretion by looking at the figure that Chris T provided. These show an exercise of Police discretion in single offences relating to possession of cannabis. I am not sure you would ever get tables on police discretion, rating as it does up with intuition and 'feelings' about a situation. (My comment was a bit tongue in cheek) And I am certain that a person who has had the police discretion in their favour (say on close orange/red light offence) is not going to say 'pick me, pick me and record all about me.' Warnings that are given and noted are a step up.
Perhaps you can elaborate on the broken window theory in the context of the disproportional charging and convicting of Māori and Pacific Peoples? There wouldn’t be systematic and institutional bias here, do you think? It was one of the arguments in favour of the failed Referendum, IIRC.
Well the broken windows theory is not so much relevant. This is to illustrate that concentrating on lesser offences rather than using a discretion not to charge, may stop more serious offences occurring later.
The concept that is relevant to the disproportionate charging of Maori and Pacific Peoples is the concept of public offences.
Offences committed by people in public are much easier to police than offences committed in private. People who by circumstance are forced to live their lives in the public eye are more likely to be seen, charged etc with offences. Public order/disorder offences such as fighting, urinating in public. drinking in public, frequenting public places for partying etc, right down to the wholesale littering by the visiting Gypsy family that raised hackles.
People who have access to large emptyish houses or sections in which to party, including to commit cannabis offences, are much less likely to come to the attention of the Police than people who have no places to meet as young people so they meet in parks etc.
These public activities, particularly those where people are unruly are more likely to result in attention from the Police. If there are multiple other offences taking place then the Police may overlook (use discretion) single possession of cannabis offences but then equally include them on a charge sheet if there are multiple other offences being committed.
There were concerns from time to time about the Police lack of focus on white collar crime and on domestic violence (not traditionally public offences) – behind closed doors. Both took public campaigns before they were concentrated on and before the discretion that Police sometimes exercised not to charge the people involved in domestic violence offences were dispensed with. Police now charge even though in older times if the people showed a level of contrition they were not.
Apart from the concept of public or private offences, the whole question of Maori/Pacific peoples offending is similar to why the
health stats
education stats
employment/unemployment stats
for these of our citizens also of concern.
Public offences also spill over into offences against uninvolved others such as unprovoked assaults against passersby, damage to the property of others.
I am not convinced that a successful Cannabis referendum result and follow-up per se would have lessened the offences that people are charged with, bearing in mind that possession is picked up and added or used as a gateway to investigate other more serious offences.
Public order/disorder offences without cannabis would still catch people. Carrying more than enough for personal use would still trigger investigations into possible more serious crimes. Public order/disorder offences are public, are seen and there are economic, health, education reasons why people are living their social lives in public.
"If it hadn't been for voters seeing National's, and Labours, true colours during covid, without the usual right wing PR spin/lies, National would have won".
Fixed it for you.
National lost many of their normal votes because Conservatives like to feel safe. National promising to open the borders to thousands of students, cheap workers and tourists, with private isolation, made them feel, rightly, unsafe!
finally an insight into the work of OT and how complex it is. So sick of everyone barking about the agency as if they are the problem rather than the appalling rates of child abuse that’s happening.
it really pisses me off to hear the media beat up about what’s going on. I have no idea about their ceo and how competent she is or otherwise. What I can say about the many social workers I have met who work there is they are passionate about the children, compassionate towards the families, some of whom are perpetrators and committed to their jobs. Do they always get things right? Hell no! This article illustrates the complexities of what they are dealing with, the knife edge of the judgment calls they have to make. They also run the risks of being targeted by dysfunctional family members on online forums, including receiving death threats.
maybe Maori would do better running the agency, but there is no evidence to support this. Sometimes people think there are really simple answers to very serious complex issues.
I realise many will disagree with my perspective and want to blame the problems on racism or a non NZder ceo of OT.
Reading through, here are the questions that come up for me:
why was there not a social worker in those visits who speaks Samoan given at least one of the parents is Samoan and speaks Samoan at home as does the child?
(that btw Anker is institutional racism. If the situation was in Samoa, that problem wouldn’t exist. Can you see how the dominant culture is failing this child, family and community from a non-Pākehā culture?)
what is the background here? Why is there no emergency foster care set up *before the first visit? I'm also raising my eyebrows that the medical people didn't pick up the extent of the bruising, but it's not clear if the other bruising happened after the A & E visit. These are systemic issues. I don't blame Oranga Tamariki here particularly, I do hold successive govts to account, as well as the NZ public who vote in govts that run these systems so badly and that insist on putting money ahead of child welfare. Again, systemic racism.
The family that take the kids in, an aunty, are offered financial support via OT and WINZ. I don't know what OT are like in that regard, but WINZ is often a nightmare, logistically and culturally (WINZ culture). They're the last organisation I would suggest a stressed family should have to engage with.
The father will be visited by the police, probably charged and convicted. Will he lose his job? Go to prison? There needs to be a holding to account of him and the mother, as well as prevention and roads to redemption, but this is truly ambulance at the bottom of the cliff stuff with the potential to damage many lives long term. If we had culturally appropriate systems, then I do believe that we would have far better ways of dealing with situations like. Not perfect, but better, because Māori and Pacifika place people at the centre of the ways they organise their societies.
It's also obvious here about the interconnected nature of the issues, and ambulances at the bottom of the cliff may or may not be doing their best but they're just not equipped to deal with whole systems in a good way.
I don't actually care about the blaming so much as I care that our critiques make us look long and hard at what kind of society we want. Mostly I see Pākehā relatively ok with the state of things and that makes me incredibly sad.
This child could have ended up dead. He was hit (assaulted in anger).
There are consequences for having a child removed and the abuser could blame the child for the loss of a home, income or a criminal conviction. A child is never to blame for this. This is why children may never be returned to live with the abuser/s.
OT has clearly not been working for Maori for the last 70 years. 3 generations of being marginalised by a government agency.
The Royal Commission into the Abuse in Care is going to show the damage done to children due to organisational failure.
"Not perfect, but better, because Māori and Pacifika place people at the centre of the ways they organise their societies."
This gets said as if it is a truism. I'd suggest there is as much variety in the raising of children in both Maori and Pacifika communities as there is in European.
The tolerance and normalisation of violence (and other forms of abuse) is just part of that. Greed. violence, abuse, depravity are all traits that all humans share. Genetically we are all pretty much the same and all have the potential to behave in the same ways (accepting that there are genetic traits that increase propensity).
Every culture has/had it's notion of just violence – Maori and Pacifika included. The real question is whether non-violence is part of the desired modern culture. In those traditional ways, lore vs law, like in any culture there was both good and bad. Those aspects of traditional culture that were violent – do we accept them or reject them or are we simply pretending that they never existed?
Capitalism (and by virtue of capitalism colonialism) has deliberately and consciously broken down traditional structures and thought patterns and identity, has caused economic deprivation and hardship and loss of land.
This story reflects some of that – the expectation and normalisation of violence, the need to be tough and hard to be a real man, the expectation that as a matai he should be allowed to do whatever he wants, that because he belonged to a church it couldn't possibly be him doing this.
These aspects aren't that uncommon across all cultures in NZ, while also not common. Most families don't inflict this abuse on children regardless of culture.
Institutions, foster care, intervention – these things often failed anyone who was put in them. I had enough family through them to know that.
Unfortunately, the penny doesn’t drop far enough [apologies for the bad pun] to realise and accept that contextual problems such as these need comprehensive contextual approaches to try improve matters.
Ok. Well maybe a Samoan speaking social worker, but that may be ill advised given the community networks in the Samoan community. Leave the s/w open to bias or pressure and back lash from the community. You are surely not suggesting all social worker speak Samoan? I am unclear what difference speaking to this father in Samoan would have made. He was violently abusing his son with a blunt instrument and lying about it, claiming it was racism from the s/w. I don't see that speaking Samoan was going to change that. Afterall this man is a criminal. Of the worse sort. Beating children. Sorry whatever you plight, no excuses. So many others face racism in NZ and are good parents and don't beat their kids or the wives for that matter. I guess you are not thinking that if the social workers had of spoken Samoan this guy would have fessed up and apologized.
My understanding is violence towards children was culturally sanctioned in Samoan families. I am not sure if that is changing.
I don't agree that the dominant culture is failing this child at all. School picked it up, so have done so sooner, but they got there, first dr missed it, likely working 12 hour shift in ED with dozens more patients to see, not good, but initially child was seen and assessed. Social workers, Pakeha by the looks made some very tough decisions, organised family conference, which shows good cultural inclusion. No I don't see that this is about the dominant culture failing this child. There were some mis steps which need looking into i.e first dr, first teacher, but other than that, the services did their job.
I hope the guy is getting some sort of treatment. He could have taken responsibility and got some for himself when he started beating his kids but he didn't. Unfortunately treatment for these offenders doesn't help everyone.
The on thing we do agree on is that it is very sad for the kids. I would say its disastrous for these kids.
Brigid I didn't see the story. What was the basis for these children being removed from their parents? Am keen to know.
Accept people will disagree with my point of view vehemently as is their right to do.
I don't think it is a cop out to say I don't expect them to always get things right. The reality is they are dealing with very emotional extreme situations and all the time they are having to make their best judgements, knowing if it goes wrong, their head is on the block.
It was an article at Newsroom but "These stories have been temporarily removed after the High Court granted an interim injunction restraining Newsroom from publishing them."
The children, all of Maori decent were put with an English foster couple over two years ago. There was no family available to take them. The arrangement was termed a 'forever home'. Oranga Tamariki, in their wisdom decided to up lift the kids after two years because they claimed the foster parents weren't culturally inappropriate or some such. All 3 were under 6, one had been with the foster parents since birth.
That was an awful story. To uplift children at a moment's notice when they had bonded to their "forever" family. By all means introduce them to their birth family so they know where they come from, but to do it like that shows what a bunch of little Hitlers run the outfit.
Then to put on their jackboots and kick the journos in the teeth for telling the story… the sooner they get their marching orders the better.
This is about welfare and stability for little ones who had never known love and care before. It matters not the colour of their skins nor that of their loving care-givers.
Unless you believe this was the first time the child was beaten (I don't) then obviously society *has failed this child, family and community. It failed to prevent the abuse. Abuse doesn't happen in a vacuum, and treating it as solely the responsibility of the abuser is why we end up with ambulance systems instead of ones that build wellbeing.
"I don't see that speaking Samoan was going to change that."
Well for a start, the social worker would have been able to understand the threats being made to the child in her presence. In terms of the abuse dynamics explained in the article, that is huge for the wellbeing of the child.
"Well maybe a Samoan speaking social worker, but that may be ill advised given the community networks in the Samoan community. Leave the s/w open to bias or pressure and back lash from the community."
Are you suggesting that Samoan social workers are more susceptible to bias? Because I haven't seen you suggest that Pākehā social workers shouldn't have Pākehā clients.
There is a such a wide gap between the framing you are using, and the framing that is available via cultural approaches that all I can say is that I think you are missing a *very large part of the picture. Until you understand those issues and dynamcis I can see why you would end up with the position you have currently.
It's not even my area but I can see the many, many things that failed before the first visit to the doctor, and I can see why they failed. Until you are able to recognise those things, or even acknowledge that you don't know what they are (no shame there, many don't) the conversation will remain centred on the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, which means that the kids have already been pushed off. I'm saying we can stand at the top of the cliff and start walking away from it. We can keep the ambulances in place of course, and in time we will need less of them there.
also wanted to add, that in the context of Māori and stories of 'uplifting' children and OT, those are very different stories than the one you presented here. So let's also acknowledge that OT deal with a range of situations, some of which they get right, some they get wrong, and lots in between.
Weka, I don't believe that this was the first time the child was beaten and the article indicated that.
I may be missing a part of the picture. I am speaking more up close and personal, although I cannot reveal how (except to say I have never worked for OT).
I also have a very close circumstance where a Maori baby was removed and adopted by a very close friend of mine. The abuse this child suffered was horrific unthinkable. This little girl is now an adult and at least had the benefit of a loving kind family. We were told to understand that whanau had no interest in this child and it seemed very much the case when over the years big efforts were made to connect the girl to the family.
I also know from the Dunedin study that violence in adults is due to a combo of genes and environment.
What are the many things that failed before the first visit to the Dr?
I must say that I am writing this with quite a bit of emotion as I see OT getting trashed and trashed over and over again and having known a number of their social workers well it makes me cross. The best people who really care about the children are compassionate towards the caregivers and try very hard to do their best. I hate seeing the pile on that is going on now.
I have to say I put the father in the article in the same category as the guy who killed Grace Millane, Talleys who exploit their workers so badly (although he is a psychopath I am sure).
Yes of course racism and homelessness are major social stresses that add to people being violent. My understanding certainly from the literature of violence towards female partners is that there is situational violence (joblessness, financial stress etc that lead to violence) and then characterlogical violence, ie. people with narcissistic, anti social etc personality disorders. And then of course there is the role of alcohol and drugs. These are complex issues. My heart goes out to the children, but the perpertraters, not so much.
The lastest article by Melanie Read shows that abuse of the children was NOT the reason they were removed from the couple, though OT did manufacture a story that convinced the court to allow for the kids to be removed.
Family violence is also linked to the housing crisis. Some partners would leave with the children if they had some where to go other than a refuge. Maybe the way refuges are run need to change. People need their privacy and shared services are not ideal. Units like in a motel with a support worker and security.
I also feel that legal aid needs to be made available so a person does not need to battle with an agency/service on their own when it comes to family violence and the removal of children.
We would get emails misspelling the children's names, incredible for an organisation that claims its current actions are all about preserving identity. OT did not treat the children we cared for as people and their needs were at the bottom of the pecking order.
Brigid I didn't see the story. What was the basis for these children being removed from their parents? Am keen to know.
Accept people will disagree with my point of view vehemently as is their right to do.
I don't think it is a cop out to say I don't expect them to always get things right. The reality is they are dealing with very emotional extreme situations and all the time they are having to make their best judgements, knowing if it goes wrong, their head is on the block.
Little New Zealand — perhaps the only place in the world that has suffered isolation and the tyranny of distance more than Australia — has repeatedly jumped out of its comfort zone and changed direction harder, faster and for longer than Australia has done in the past half-century.
Long before Australians noticed Ardern, its leaders were deregulating the economy more radically, cutting tax rates further, standing their ground for a more independent foreign policy against the United States and against the French over their nuclear testing in the Pacific.
The way New Zealanders run their politics is different too.
Yes, my partner brought it to my attention. She found the video on the Christchurch boys haka especially moving. Even made her a little homesick she said
I'm used to framing us pretty negatively and with reason,
That reminds me of a story from my teenage years. Dad worked for a company headquartered in Melbourne and made a trip over once for a big meeting. (This was back when that kind of business travel was rare.)
Anyhow he gets back home and at dinner that evening Mum asked him about the trip and mostly it went quite well he said, "but those bloody Australians, they treat us New Zealanders like we, … we treat the Cook Islanders!"
Australia has worse social problems in every area imo.
Their racism is awful. I like Australia but Aussies ??? Compared to the Right Wing in Australia, ours is mannerly lol.
Mind you neither set of ‘pollies’ stoop to throwing entrails along with insults.
Any situation involving high emotion is difficult. There are no absolutes.
Really? Australians are less inclined to be polite for it’s own sake, which kiwis can find a bit jarring, but on the whole I find the differences in race relations have more to do with intractable historic causes than any innate kiwi moral superiority.
Opinion piece on the wage subsidy and outcomes. Apart from wondering how Ryman healthcare qualified (I wouldn't have thought their sales would be down) a number of high profile paybacks have been made but there must be others who haven't bothered and who have had rebound sales trading etc so that the lockdown period was in the long run barely a blip.
The article suggests a one off levy – and this is money that the state has to repay – so perhaps Grant Robertson now needs to put some rules around his "high trust" model with the end of the 2021 financial year in sight. Perhaps some year on year sales and wages comparisons to determine who has actually suffered and needs the money and who has not. And maybe a subsidy threshold so under that mark only fraudulent claims are persued?
I've got no issue with Ryman claiming the subsidy. On 23/3/20 they would have been shitting, if covid had gone though their business like it was going through some age care in Europe and US they would have had a lot of customers gone and maybe a lot of facilities shut down, both would knock their cashflow.
Edmunds makes the point that the wage subsidy was to save jobs, but really it was to remove the financial imperative to go to work so the lockdown could be effective. So more about saving lives than jobs, at which it was very effective.
As for the businesses, and a few individuals I know of, that have in hindsight not needed the subsidy I think the court of public opinion will bring them to their senses. Briscoes paid it back pretty quickly once they saw where opinion was headed. I expect Ryman to follow. The pressure of public opinion will be much more effective than any moves Government may make.
I still don't see that Ryman would have had sufficient sales downturn. AFAIK they are elderly long term residential care so unless they had a massive death rate (not happened) and were unable to refill the spaces vacant then the only other loss would be some delayed sales on brand new builds. But the cost of the sales delay for them is some interest on a temporarily lowered cash flow. Yes they could have had the high death outcome of overseas but they didn't and indeed NZ has not had the usual end of winter death spike among the elderly so customer life generally has been extended. Yes I know it was sensible to take it and see how things panned out. But have they had the upside and it doesn't look like the funds are coming back.
The selfish from Ryman and Sommerset actually doesn't look too far behind. Guess it is probably time to identify any pension fund and ACC super fund type investors and get them to exert a bit of pressure. A nice hack at the upper level wages should generate enough for repayment. Time to buy a few shares and pass some motions at the AGM
Personally I am just hanging out till January, so that everyone hopefully stops going on and on and on about Trump, and have to think of another topic to turn every thread into.
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
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 ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
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 ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
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 Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
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Of course this extends to New Zealand main stream media lead by RNZ, who have taken to parroting any old shit that comes their way with gusto….never ever once correcting or following up with new updates which spoil their narrative ( propaganda).
Just witness the shameful silence from all NZ media on the public destruction of Assange to really understand exactly how deeply embedded and complete manufacturing consent has entrenched itself into our media…..not even RNZ's Media Watch will even mention this one, so who's left to keep citizens informed?… .
Fake news and/or withheld news ( both as dangerous as each other) is real alright, but it originates from MSM just as much as it does from social and fringe media…but then I guess at the end of the day, everyone has their own ideology they are pushing, RNZ just as much as the next guy…still it’s sad to see it being so blatant.
Dead right adrian RNZ news is Pathetic and nine times out of ten sourced either from CNN or BBC which kinda explaines why no news about Assange !!.I think they do have reporters but perhaps no computers ?Personally i hate their whole business model with a few exceptions theyre supposed to be free to air but the station is run like any standard commercial one with every second accounted for WTF ??.Aarron Mate is a god send to cynical bastards like me and id reccomend anyone not familier with his work to check out his interview with his old man whos pretty cool in his own right also as a starter.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/another-cannabis-referendum-vote-proposed-on-decriminalisation/Q6YZC5DRLAUMRE2PVMAPERH5BQ/
Confess I haven't actually read the link you posted, as I don't really care either way, wold probably vote yes to that.
But
This is what the original referendum should have been imo. Would have breezed through. And then they could have opened up a bit after.
One of those cases of trying for too much, too soon for the public at the election and getting your arse kicked.
Should have been a range of options, to be ranked STV, style.
And Labour should have front footed the reasons and evidence behind the options.
Instead of leaving the hard work to the Greens.
Leaving media propagandists to explain it, , as the remaining journalists in NZ media can be counted on one hand, was a failure of commitment.
I assume you mean failure of commitment from Labour, yes?
Making it a referendum in the first place was a lack of commitment. Thanks, Winnie.
I don't really care either way as I'm not in to cannabis myself. We had the vote, and > 50% said "No" so IMO, we accept democracy and move on, even though it was close and it didn't have the outcome we wanted / expected.
it's a different question.
Indeed. The one that should have been asked in the first case.
+1
+2
Do you know the reasons why the other option was chosen? There are compelling reasons.
Presumably they thought it would pass.
Which I would have thought would have been the starting point.
You don't think that creating good law should be the starting point for Members of Parliament?
Yes I do. Which is what happened with right to die, with well thought out law coming out of it, which was passed, depending on the referendum.
But in this case we are talking about a non binding referendum question and not a law.
The Greens pushed to do it that way. Instead we had a draft bill. But that is really beside the point.
But a draft bill doesn't mean much at all as it can change significantly going through the parliamentary process.
Seymour had the right process, take the proposal through Parliament, have it submitted on debated so it gets well publicised, and then take it to referendum if parliament hasn't got the fortitude to pass it outright.
It would have been interesting to see the outcome if both proposals had gone through the same process, either way. I suspect that Seymour's initial bill would have failed had it been put to referendum before it went through parliament too.
afaik the rationale for legalisation rather than decriminalisation for personal possession was because legalisation allowed for legal control over production, access to cannabis for disabled and unwell people who couldn't otherwise access it, way better health care and health promotion, and would drop the conviction rate for Māori who are over represented in charges due to systemic racism (lives destroyed).
There really is a big difference between legalisation and decriminalisation.
The yes and undecided vote was strong enough to warrant going for the full thing. It was always going to require education. I completely agree that covid has been a factor, negatively impacting on the Yes campaign's ability to do that educating.
The article says "He (Bouma) has not yet discussed the proposed referendum with Green Party drug reform spokesperson Chloe Swarbrick or any other MP."
I wonder if Swarbrick will tell him, "OK, Bouma!"
The decriminalisation option was presented to Cabinet along with the chosen option.
It was immediately discounted on the ground there would remain an illicit supply.
The chosen option made it a choice option with a guaranteed legal supply rather than an addiction reduction health issue that had been the previous focus of the Greens and Drug Foundation.
Too late now.
As I say.
The actual one asked was obviously too much.
If cabinet "immediately discounted" the decriminalise option, they might want to have a rethink about priorities.
Yes you've said that three times now so you can stop bleating. If it hadn't been for covid disrupting campaigning the thing probably would have passed.
a) I don't have to stop "bleating" about anything, especially when it is so obvious.
b) Blaming Covid for a dumb question is a cop out.
[When you repeat your own words often enough and start to be believe them it’s called ‘smoking your own dope’ and when you demonstrate that repeatedly in your comments it’s called ‘bleating’. None of your bleats addresses the points made by NOEL @ 3 and solkta @ 3.1.1. and it is just another of your reading fails here, which is becoming an issue. This is your warning – Incognito]
+1
lol
Given how close the result was it wasn't obvious at all. What is obvious is your bleating.
I think you are confusing not being obvious to you personally, while everyone else who was actually looking at polls before the actual question was published noticed it wouldn't win, if they went full legal.
[Really? What does the term “full legal” actually mean in this context? Sounds like a red herring to me. And what polls are you referring to? For your convenience: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_New_Zealand_cannabis_referendum#Polling. Should they have pulled the referendum when ‘the polls’ showed that it was “so obvious” that “it wouldn’t win”? Sounds like a thing Trump would do/say: stop the counting, I’ve won! Your comments are becoming more and more like tedious trolling – Incognito]
Polls were all over the place. "Full legal" would be available to all ages next to broccoli in the supermarket. There were many models to choose from. Decriminalisation can also mean any number of things. Until the question was formulated it could not be asked.
Which is nowhere close to what was proposed.
See my Moderation note @ 12:03 PM.
See my Moderation note @ 10:28 AM.
Forgive me for having a personal opinion on the daily open mike thread.
You have a history of being pretty much the only mod on here with a personal thing against my opinions, even on open mike, which I thought was a bit more open.
As you are the only one that seems to feel the need to give me warnings or bin me for a few comments you disagree with.
All good. It is your prerogative.
I apologise if anything I have said about weed offended you, while adding, I have not been offensive to anyone, said bad words, or even tried to be argumentative, besides saying my point of view. on what is supposed to be the open mike section.
If it helps I wont post anything to do with the topic after this.
.
Briefly, it is not personal, it is not about disagreeing with you, it is not about me being offended by you, and it is not about weed. All red herrings. If you cannot or won’t back your opinions with evidence and robust argument, for example and particularly when you assert “especially when it is so obvious”, you’re straying in moderation territory. You’ve been around here long enough to know how it works and your ‘response’ frankly is pathetic.
Other commenters disagree with you and you refuse to engage with them in good faith. Instead, you bleat.
You have not addressed even one point I made in my Moderation note just as you don’t address issues raised by other commenters unless it suits you. Maybe it is a reading/comprehension problem maybe it is that you don’t want to but these are hallmarks of a wannabe-troll.
You’re wasting Moderator time now and apologising for things that don’t matter is meaningless and irrelevant and even though it possibly shows that your intentions are not those of a wannabbe-troll, the impact is the same 🙁
I hope the answer to your question is self-evident.
" If it hadn't been for covid disrupting campaigning the thing probably would have passed."
Can I use your logic to have the General Election re-run in a few months?
After all " If it hadn't been for covid disrupting campaigning" the National Party would probably have got more than 50% of the seats.
Makes just as much sense as your proposal doesn't it?
If National + Act had had scored 49% of the vote then yes that statement would be sensible too.
No
Agree Alwyn. I am not sure what Covid had/s to do with the poll on Cannabis. Are we going to blame Covid on all sorts of unrelated issues?
The issue is a dead duck now.
The Govt has far more important issues to deal with than what is basically a lifestyle/leisure choice. You know things such as poverty, housing, energy costs undoing vestiges of neoliberalism such as employment contracts.
Policing has for many years(since the mid 80s to my knowledge) not concentrated on possession per se. It becomes an issue for Police when put together with issues such as burglary, growing for supply etc.
As long as medicinal cannabis is allowed to be grown, marketed and used more than is currently the case (price & supply) then I am happy to leave another vote for leisure activities for another day.
There was a national road trip campaign that was cancelled at time of the first lockdown that never went ahead. Effective campaigning on a complex issue requires complex discussions with voters, and these happen best face to face. Right wing groups opposed however just needed to break out all the old slogans and misinformation. Groups in favour had less money and the types of campaigning available suited those who had money.
"There was a national road trip campaign that was cancelled".
So? After all there was a National Party campaign launch that had to be cancelled because the Labour Government brought in a second lock-down that started just before the date of the launch.
The Labour Party had already had their launch when the lock-down was put in place.
Your knowledge needs refreshing.
https://www.justice.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Publications/mv07b9-Cannabis-offences-jun2020-v1.0.xlsx
https://www.justice.govt.nz/justice-sector-policy/research-data/justice-statistics/data-tables/
Those are actually quite interesting stats.
Everybody who voted in the Referendum should have informed himself or herself about what they were voting on. There is/was plenty of good data and information out there for those who looked for it. There is/was also plenty of mis- and dis-information out there for those who wanted it, for whatever reason or agenda.
I cannot open many of these files. In any case I have obviously not explained myself. I am talking about an earlier stage than the decision to charge with an offence. Unless you have tables on the use of Police discretion then the tables will not show the concept I am talking about.
I am not saying there were no charges of possession. I am saying police often exercise a discretion on whether or not to charge and one of these involves possession of small amounts of cannabis for own use where this is the only thing the person could be charged with. If this were not the case then the Police could be knocking on the doors of many households on Saturday night to check dinner party guests or hosts.
Possession charges coming to Police notice often go hand in hand with other charges as disorderly conduct (ie smart alec comments, unruly gatherings etc) or driving offences. They might find that a search of a vehicle after someone has come to their attention with unruly conduct/possession of a stash on cannabis on their person that in fact they have cannabis for supply, holding instruments of burglary. So the suspicion of possession is not followed up but the more serious crimes are. Or possession is bundled up along with the more serious crimes.
So it also falls into the category usually of a ‘public’ crime and the usual stereotypes about policing people who spend large amounts of time in public as opposed to the dinner party example above.
In high number crime scenes ie where there is rioting or other militancy that could go either way violently it would be lacking in nous/discretion for Police to suddenly wade in to arrest people for possession, even though it may be evident that this is happening.
There is a police term called 'cuffing' that describes this to an extent. Though perhaps better described as 'potential' crimes than as 'reported' crimes as this happens after the crimes are committed but before someone is charged.
Cuffing: The under-recording of reported crimes, the term being derived from the magician’s art of making objects disappear up the sleeve or cuff (Young 1991) (wiki)
Police often will work against giving a discretion as in the much vaunted broken windows campaigns.
'The broken windows theory (wiki) is a criminological theory that states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behaviour, and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes.'
So in cases where people committing minor street crime might have been given a warning or a caution or nothing are followed up with the full weight of the law behind them.
I have academic quals in the field and have no reason to doubt the research/knowledge about the use of Police discretion generally, to go for the most serious crime/s in preference to more minor ones.
There is one sheet which shows imprisonment just for the charge of possession without and with other charges, which is interesting how much the former is going down.
Imprisonment just on possession of weed and no other crimes
2010 – 176
2020 – 16
Added it to their other charges
2010 – 717
2020 – 457
Think it is safe to say the cops are using discretion unless you have other violent charges to go with it
Thanks for these figures. Not sure why I could not open them. Doesn't have to be violent charges though…just more serious in the scheme of things.
Fair call about the violent. Just assumed. Which is admittedly dumb, on my part.
Excellent, that makes you the most qualified of us to provide those “tables on the use of Police discretion” that you asked for in the first paragraph of your comment.
What Police concentrate on and how they use discretion are not quite the same thing, are they? As someone with academic qualifications you’d know to avoid ambiguity, don’t you?
Unfortunately, it becomes rather pointless to discuss this further with you, as you cannot seem to open a basic webpage of the Ministry of Justice nor an Excel file with very useful data!?
Perhaps you can elaborate on the broken window theory in the context of the disproportional charging and convicting of Māori and Pacific Peoples? There wouldn’t be systematic and institutional bias here, do you think? It was one of the arguments in favour of the failed Referendum, IIRC.
I couldn't open the spreadsheets in Open Office. I assume this is because they are XL documents and Microsoft deliberately make these only openable in the recent versions of their program. It really fucks me off when Crown agencies supply stuff in file formats that are not universal. They could simply save them as a CSV file to be universal.
My bad, I assumed, wrongly, it seems, that most people with a device can open these files.
The Excel file is a *.xlsx file.
There are ways to open such files without having Microsoft Office installed but I agree that another file format would make things easier. One size does not fit all.
csv files don't have the functionality of .xlsx files. In particular, I think multiple tabs might be an issue.
Open office should be able to import .xlsx files, simply because like it or not excel is still ubiquitous and having an amazing programme that nobody else can talk to is useless. It might be more complex than simply trying to open them though.
At home, I use Libreoffice (which was basically open office but there were some corporate/IP shenanigans so many of the open source crowd upped stakes and made a new program).
Yes they are different. I was using the broken windows campaign as an example where a previous discretion by Police had changed to enforcement.
You can get an idea of police use of discretion by looking at the figure that Chris T provided. These show an exercise of Police discretion in single offences relating to possession of cannabis. I am not sure you would ever get tables on police discretion, rating as it does up with intuition and 'feelings' about a situation. (My comment was a bit tongue in cheek) And I am certain that a person who has had the police discretion in their favour (say on close orange/red light offence) is not going to say 'pick me, pick me and record all about me.' Warnings that are given and noted are a step up.
Well the broken windows theory is not so much relevant. This is to illustrate that concentrating on lesser offences rather than using a discretion not to charge, may stop more serious offences occurring later.
The concept that is relevant to the disproportionate charging of Maori and Pacific Peoples is the concept of public offences.
Offences committed by people in public are much easier to police than offences committed in private. People who by circumstance are forced to live their lives in the public eye are more likely to be seen, charged etc with offences. Public order/disorder offences such as fighting, urinating in public. drinking in public, frequenting public places for partying etc, right down to the wholesale littering by the visiting Gypsy family that raised hackles.
People who have access to large emptyish houses or sections in which to party, including to commit cannabis offences, are much less likely to come to the attention of the Police than people who have no places to meet as young people so they meet in parks etc.
These public activities, particularly those where people are unruly are more likely to result in attention from the Police. If there are multiple other offences taking place then the Police may overlook (use discretion) single possession of cannabis offences but then equally include them on a charge sheet if there are multiple other offences being committed.
There were concerns from time to time about the Police lack of focus on white collar crime and on domestic violence (not traditionally public offences) – behind closed doors. Both took public campaigns before they were concentrated on and before the discretion that Police sometimes exercised not to charge the people involved in domestic violence offences were dispensed with. Police now charge even though in older times if the people showed a level of contrition they were not.
Apart from the concept of public or private offences, the whole question of Maori/Pacific peoples offending is similar to why the
health stats
education stats
employment/unemployment stats
for these of our citizens also of concern.
Public offences also spill over into offences against uninvolved others such as unprovoked assaults against passersby, damage to the property of others.
I am not convinced that a successful Cannabis referendum result and follow-up per se would have lessened the offences that people are charged with, bearing in mind that possession is picked up and added or used as a gateway to investigate other more serious offences.
Public order/disorder offences without cannabis would still catch people. Carrying more than enough for personal use would still trigger investigations into possible more serious crimes. Public order/disorder offences are public, are seen and there are economic, health, education reasons why people are living their social lives in public.
"If it hadn't been for voters seeing National's, and Labours, true colours during covid, without the usual right wing PR spin/lies, National would have won".
Fixed it for you.
National lost many of their normal votes because Conservatives like to feel safe. National promising to open the borders to thousands of students, cheap workers and tourists, with private isolation, made them feel, rightly, unsafe!
"Fixed it for you."? What on earth do you mean. You changed it to say something else but you didn't "fix" anything.
It meant they kindly fixed your comment; they cannot fix you 😉
We'll have another election in a few years.
When is cannabis law reform schduled for popular review again? Oh, it's not? Might as well do it whenever people want, then.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/123491058/somebodys-lying-anatomy-of-an-oranga-tamariki-uplift
finally an insight into the work of OT and how complex it is. So sick of everyone barking about the agency as if they are the problem rather than the appalling rates of child abuse that’s happening.
it really pisses me off to hear the media beat up about what’s going on. I have no idea about their ceo and how competent she is or otherwise. What I can say about the many social workers I have met who work there is they are passionate about the children, compassionate towards the families, some of whom are perpetrators and committed to their jobs. Do they always get things right? Hell no! This article illustrates the complexities of what they are dealing with, the knife edge of the judgment calls they have to make. They also run the risks of being targeted by dysfunctional family members on online forums, including receiving death threats.
maybe Maori would do better running the agency, but there is no evidence to support this. Sometimes people think there are really simple answers to very serious complex issues.
I realise many will disagree with my perspective and want to blame the problems on racism or a non NZder ceo of OT.
anyway rant over for today
fina
Reading through, here are the questions that come up for me:
(that btw Anker is institutional racism. If the situation was in Samoa, that problem wouldn’t exist. Can you see how the dominant culture is failing this child, family and community from a non-Pākehā culture?)
what is the background here? Why is there no emergency foster care set up *before the first visit? I'm also raising my eyebrows that the medical people didn't pick up the extent of the bruising, but it's not clear if the other bruising happened after the A & E visit. These are systemic issues. I don't blame Oranga Tamariki here particularly, I do hold successive govts to account, as well as the NZ public who vote in govts that run these systems so badly and that insist on putting money ahead of child welfare. Again, systemic racism.
Really?
Do you have any idea about just how fucking resource stretched these organisations are?
Or the hoops folk are required to jump through to be even considered for any caring role?
Or how many would-be carers are manifestly unfit to be even left alone with a child?
Or how many children are re-traumatised by their foster care experiences?
/
Agree 100% Joe90 re foster care.
The family that take the kids in, an aunty, are offered financial support via OT and WINZ. I don't know what OT are like in that regard, but WINZ is often a nightmare, logistically and culturally (WINZ culture). They're the last organisation I would suggest a stressed family should have to engage with.
The father will be visited by the police, probably charged and convicted. Will he lose his job? Go to prison? There needs to be a holding to account of him and the mother, as well as prevention and roads to redemption, but this is truly ambulance at the bottom of the cliff stuff with the potential to damage many lives long term. If we had culturally appropriate systems, then I do believe that we would have far better ways of dealing with situations like. Not perfect, but better, because Māori and Pacifika place people at the centre of the ways they organise their societies.
It's also obvious here about the interconnected nature of the issues, and ambulances at the bottom of the cliff may or may not be doing their best but they're just not equipped to deal with whole systems in a good way.
I don't actually care about the blaming so much as I care that our critiques make us look long and hard at what kind of society we want. Mostly I see Pākehā relatively ok with the state of things and that makes me incredibly sad.
This child could have ended up dead. He was hit (assaulted in anger).
There are consequences for having a child removed and the abuser could blame the child for the loss of a home, income or a criminal conviction. A child is never to blame for this. This is why children may never be returned to live with the abuser/s.
OT has clearly not been working for Maori for the last 70 years. 3 generations of being marginalised by a government agency.
The Royal Commission into the Abuse in Care is going to show the damage done to children due to organisational failure.
"Not perfect, but better, because Māori and Pacifika place people at the centre of the ways they organise their societies."
This gets said as if it is a truism. I'd suggest there is as much variety in the raising of children in both Maori and Pacifika communities as there is in European.
The tolerance and normalisation of violence (and other forms of abuse) is just part of that. Greed. violence, abuse, depravity are all traits that all humans share. Genetically we are all pretty much the same and all have the potential to behave in the same ways (accepting that there are genetic traits that increase propensity).
Every culture has/had it's notion of just violence – Maori and Pacifika included. The real question is whether non-violence is part of the desired modern culture. In those traditional ways, lore vs law, like in any culture there was both good and bad. Those aspects of traditional culture that were violent – do we accept them or reject them or are we simply pretending that they never existed?
Capitalism (and by virtue of capitalism colonialism) has deliberately and consciously broken down traditional structures and thought patterns and identity, has caused economic deprivation and hardship and loss of land.
This story reflects some of that – the expectation and normalisation of violence, the need to be tough and hard to be a real man, the expectation that as a matai he should be allowed to do whatever he wants, that because he belonged to a church it couldn't possibly be him doing this.
These aspects aren't that uncommon across all cultures in NZ, while also not common. Most families don't inflict this abuse on children regardless of culture.
Institutions, foster care, intervention – these things often failed anyone who was put in them. I had enough family through them to know that.
Mostly, because Pākehā see this as a non-Pākehā problem, which is not surprising.
https://orangatamariki.govt.nz/about-us/reports-and-releases/quarterly-report/care-and-protection-statistics/
Unfortunately, the penny doesn’t drop far enough [apologies for the bad pun] to realise and accept that contextual problems such as these need comprehensive contextual approaches to try improve matters.
Ok. Well maybe a Samoan speaking social worker, but that may be ill advised given the community networks in the Samoan community. Leave the s/w open to bias or pressure and back lash from the community. You are surely not suggesting all social worker speak Samoan? I am unclear what difference speaking to this father in Samoan would have made. He was violently abusing his son with a blunt instrument and lying about it, claiming it was racism from the s/w. I don't see that speaking Samoan was going to change that. Afterall this man is a criminal. Of the worse sort. Beating children. Sorry whatever you plight, no excuses. So many others face racism in NZ and are good parents and don't beat their kids or the wives for that matter. I guess you are not thinking that if the social workers had of spoken Samoan this guy would have fessed up and apologized.
My understanding is violence towards children was culturally sanctioned in Samoan families. I am not sure if that is changing.
I don't agree that the dominant culture is failing this child at all. School picked it up, so have done so sooner, but they got there, first dr missed it, likely working 12 hour shift in ED with dozens more patients to see, not good, but initially child was seen and assessed. Social workers, Pakeha by the looks made some very tough decisions, organised family conference, which shows good cultural inclusion. No I don't see that this is about the dominant culture failing this child. There were some mis steps which need looking into i.e first dr, first teacher, but other than that, the services did their job.
I hope the guy is getting some sort of treatment. He could have taken responsibility and got some for himself when he started beating his kids but he didn't. Unfortunately treatment for these offenders doesn't help everyone.
The on thing we do agree on is that it is very sad for the kids. I would say its disastrous for these kids.
Yup. We have a very close friend here in Australia who is a veteran in the social work arena. Very tough business for all concerned.
And the media should tread a lot more carefully on this. Beaten kids don't care much for adult ideologues.
Agree Red Logix.
Someone with some qualifications could do a post on the topic:
"Will The Ardern Era Make New Zealand Less Racist?"
Thankfully I don’t have those qualifications.
On the current trajectory, my unqualified opinion is “Yes” 🙁
Edit: aaarggghhh!! How could I get that wrong, FFS? I meant “No”.
For the duration of Covid perhaps.
The racist hiring policies of big Hort & big Ag are for the moment being postponed.
Folk with 20+ years of experience don’t end up mowing lawns if the game is being played straight.
I would say it is disastrous for these kids.
It is due to the limited life experience that children have and the power which adults have over them; and not just the caregivers.
I would like to see more research done on children who are now adults who were removed from their parent/s.
Also research done on the parent/s who had children removed.
First person accounts are very important in understanding how to cause the least harm.
Brigid I didn't see the story. What was the basis for these children being removed from their parents? Am keen to know.
Accept people will disagree with my point of view vehemently as is their right to do.
I don't think it is a cop out to say I don't expect them to always get things right. The reality is they are dealing with very emotional extreme situations and all the time they are having to make their best judgements, knowing if it goes wrong, their head is on the block.
It was an article at Newsroom but "These stories have been temporarily removed after the High Court granted an interim injunction restraining Newsroom from publishing them."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/oranga-tamariki-investigation
The children, all of Maori decent were put with an English foster couple over two years ago. There was no family available to take them. The arrangement was termed a 'forever home'. Oranga Tamariki, in their wisdom decided to up lift the kids after two years because they claimed the foster parents weren't culturally inappropriate or some such. All 3 were under 6, one had been with the foster parents since birth.
That was an awful story. To uplift children at a moment's notice when they had bonded to their "forever" family. By all means introduce them to their birth family so they know where they come from, but to do it like that shows what a bunch of little Hitlers run the outfit.
Then to put on their jackboots and kick the journos in the teeth for telling the story… the sooner they get their marching orders the better.
This is about welfare and stability for little ones who had never known love and care before. It matters not the colour of their skins nor that of their loving care-givers.
Unless you believe this was the first time the child was beaten (I don't) then obviously society *has failed this child, family and community. It failed to prevent the abuse. Abuse doesn't happen in a vacuum, and treating it as solely the responsibility of the abuser is why we end up with ambulance systems instead of ones that build wellbeing.
"I don't see that speaking Samoan was going to change that."
Well for a start, the social worker would have been able to understand the threats being made to the child in her presence. In terms of the abuse dynamics explained in the article, that is huge for the wellbeing of the child.
"Well maybe a Samoan speaking social worker, but that may be ill advised given the community networks in the Samoan community. Leave the s/w open to bias or pressure and back lash from the community."
Are you suggesting that Samoan social workers are more susceptible to bias? Because I haven't seen you suggest that Pākehā social workers shouldn't have Pākehā clients.
There is a such a wide gap between the framing you are using, and the framing that is available via cultural approaches that all I can say is that I think you are missing a *very large part of the picture. Until you understand those issues and dynamcis I can see why you would end up with the position you have currently.
It's not even my area but I can see the many, many things that failed before the first visit to the doctor, and I can see why they failed. Until you are able to recognise those things, or even acknowledge that you don't know what they are (no shame there, many don't) the conversation will remain centred on the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, which means that the kids have already been pushed off. I'm saying we can stand at the top of the cliff and start walking away from it. We can keep the ambulances in place of course, and in time we will need less of them there.
also wanted to add, that in the context of Māori and stories of 'uplifting' children and OT, those are very different stories than the one you presented here. So let's also acknowledge that OT deal with a range of situations, some of which they get right, some they get wrong, and lots in between.
Weka, I don't believe that this was the first time the child was beaten and the article indicated that.
I may be missing a part of the picture. I am speaking more up close and personal, although I cannot reveal how (except to say I have never worked for OT).
I also have a very close circumstance where a Maori baby was removed and adopted by a very close friend of mine. The abuse this child suffered was horrific unthinkable. This little girl is now an adult and at least had the benefit of a loving kind family. We were told to understand that whanau had no interest in this child and it seemed very much the case when over the years big efforts were made to connect the girl to the family.
I also know from the Dunedin study that violence in adults is due to a combo of genes and environment.
What are the many things that failed before the first visit to the Dr?
I must say that I am writing this with quite a bit of emotion as I see OT getting trashed and trashed over and over again and having known a number of their social workers well it makes me cross. The best people who really care about the children are compassionate towards the caregivers and try very hard to do their best. I hate seeing the pile on that is going on now.
I have to say I put the father in the article in the same category as the guy who killed Grace Millane, Talleys who exploit their workers so badly (although he is a psychopath I am sure).
Yes of course racism and homelessness are major social stresses that add to people being violent. My understanding certainly from the literature of violence towards female partners is that there is situational violence (joblessness, financial stress etc that lead to violence) and then characterlogical violence, ie. people with narcissistic, anti social etc personality disorders. And then of course there is the role of alcohol and drugs. These are complex issues. My heart goes out to the children, but the perpertraters, not so much.
"Do they always get things right? Hell no! "
The cop out that's always trotted out.
The lastest article by Melanie Read shows that abuse of the children was NOT the reason they were removed from the couple, though OT did manufacture a story that convinced the court to allow for the kids to be removed.
I disagree with your take vehemently.
Where is the Reed article found.
Family violence is also linked to the housing crisis. Some partners would leave with the children if they had some where to go other than a refuge. Maybe the way refuges are run need to change. People need their privacy and shared services are not ideal. Units like in a motel with a support worker and security.
I also feel that legal aid needs to be made available so a person does not need to battle with an agency/service on their own when it comes to family violence and the removal of children.
Funny you should ask: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/crown-asks-court-to-remove-newsroom-video
It is Melanie Reid, not Read or Reed.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/about
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/its-all-about-agendas
Brigid I didn't see the story. What was the basis for these children being removed from their parents? Am keen to know.
Accept people will disagree with my point of view vehemently as is their right to do.
I don't think it is a cop out to say I don't expect them to always get things right. The reality is they are dealing with very emotional extreme situations and all the time they are having to make their best judgements, knowing if it goes wrong, their head is on the block.
A more thoughtful read from the Australian perspective than usual:
Nothing on the SCV inequality. No surprise there.
As a SCV444 myself, if I can look past that to the points the article does make, then maybe you could too.
OK but for a "chief political correspondent" she may have identified the obvious political differences.
No two Houses and no States to complicate matters.
Cheers Red that was good.
I'm used to framing us pretty negatively and with reason, but it's still good to see us observed from Australia with more patience than usual.
Yes, my partner brought it to my attention. She found the video on the Christchurch boys haka especially moving. Even made her a little homesick she said
I'm used to framing us pretty negatively and with reason,
That reminds me of a story from my teenage years. Dad worked for a company headquartered in Melbourne and made a trip over once for a big meeting. (This was back when that kind of business travel was rare.)
Anyhow he gets back home and at dinner that evening Mum asked him about the trip and mostly it went quite well he said, "but those bloody Australians, they treat us New Zealanders like we, … we treat the Cook Islanders!"
Australia has worse social problems in every area imo.
Their racism is awful. I like Australia but Aussies ??? Compared to the Right Wing in Australia, ours is mannerly lol.
Mind you neither set of ‘pollies’ stoop to throwing entrails along with insults.
Any situation involving high emotion is difficult. There are no absolutes.
Their racism is awful.
Really? Australians are less inclined to be polite for it’s own sake, which kiwis can find a bit jarring, but on the whole I find the differences in race relations have more to do with intractable historic causes than any innate kiwi moral superiority.
What are you thinking of (I'm figuring it must be more than the English colonialism our nations share)?
Opinion piece on the wage subsidy and outcomes. Apart from wondering how Ryman healthcare qualified (I wouldn't have thought their sales would be down) a number of high profile paybacks have been made but there must be others who haven't bothered and who have had rebound sales trading etc so that the lockdown period was in the long run barely a blip.
The article suggests a one off levy – and this is money that the state has to repay – so perhaps Grant Robertson now needs to put some rules around his "high trust" model with the end of the 2021 financial year in sight. Perhaps some year on year sales and wages comparisons to determine who has actually suffered and needs the money and who has not. And maybe a subsidy threshold so under that mark only fraudulent claims are persued?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300168847/wage-subsidy-was-never-meant-to-line-rich-pockets
I've got no issue with Ryman claiming the subsidy. On 23/3/20 they would have been shitting, if covid had gone though their business like it was going through some age care in Europe and US they would have had a lot of customers gone and maybe a lot of facilities shut down, both would knock their cashflow.
Edmunds makes the point that the wage subsidy was to save jobs, but really it was to remove the financial imperative to go to work so the lockdown could be effective. So more about saving lives than jobs, at which it was very effective.
As for the businesses, and a few individuals I know of, that have in hindsight not needed the subsidy I think the court of public opinion will bring them to their senses. Briscoes paid it back pretty quickly once they saw where opinion was headed. I expect Ryman to follow. The pressure of public opinion will be much more effective than any moves Government may make.
I still don't see that Ryman would have had sufficient sales downturn. AFAIK they are elderly long term residential care so unless they had a massive death rate (not happened) and were unable to refill the spaces vacant then the only other loss would be some delayed sales on brand new builds. But the cost of the sales delay for them is some interest on a temporarily lowered cash flow. Yes they could have had the high death outcome of overseas but they didn't and indeed NZ has not had the usual end of winter death spike among the elderly so customer life generally has been extended. Yes I know it was sensible to take it and see how things panned out. But have they had the upside and it doesn't look like the funds are coming back.
Ryman trousered $14.2 million in wage subsidies and kept it despite paying out $44m in dividends from 'underlying profit'. Here are the people who thought that was OK: https://www.rymanhealthcare.co.nz/about-us/investors/governance
Comparison with other local operators:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/123488989/critics-urge-ryman-healthcare-to-repay-the-142m-wage-subsidy
The selfish from Ryman and Sommerset actually doesn't look too far behind. Guess it is probably time to identify any pension fund and ACC super fund type investors and get them to exert a bit of pressure. A nice hack at the upper level wages should generate enough for repayment. Time to buy a few shares and pass some motions at the AGM
heh
https://djtrumplibrary.com/
Great!
Personally I am just hanging out till January, so that everyone hopefully stops going on and on and on about Trump, and have to think of another topic to turn every thread into.