Surveillance in Australia

Written By: - Date published: 8:35 am, September 28th, 2014 - 51 comments
Categories: australian politics, Spying - Tags: , ,

Latest developments in Australia are relevant in the context of the recent focus on surveillance in NZ.

The entire Australian web can be monitored

Australian spies will soon have the power to monitor the entire Australian internet with just one warrant, and journalists and whistleblowers will face up to 10 years’ jail for disclosing classified information.

The government’s first tranche of tougher anti-terrorism bills, which will beef up the powers of the domestic spy agency ASIO, passed the Senate by 44 votes to 12 … with bipartisan support from Labor. …

Anyone – including journalists, whistleblowers and bloggers – who “recklessly” discloses “information … [that] relates to a special intelligence operation” faces up to 10 years’ jail. Any operation can be declared “special” by an authorised Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) officer. …

Many, including lawyers and academics, have said they fear the agency will abuse this power. … They said this would effectively allow the entire internet to be monitored, as it is a “network of networks” and the bill does not specifically define what a computer network is.

ASIO will also be able to copy, delete, or modify the data held on any of the computers it has a warrant to monitor. The bill also allows ASIO to disrupt target computers, and use innocent third-party computers not targeted in order to access a target computer. …

What are the odds that the Nats will pass similar laws here during their current term?

51 comments on “Surveillance in Australia ”

  1. Jay 1

    This is all a load of cobblers. While we waste our time and money worrying and writing about this we are ignoring actual issues. My reasons for thinking it’s rubbish are as follows:

    1. There are insufficient staff and resources to look at the communication data of law abiding kiwis. In fact, there are insufficient staff and resources to look at the communication data of criminals in nz as it is, never mind reading your emails to ascertain your political views. Seriously, don’t flatter yourself. Noone cares.

    2. Even if there were sufficient staff and resources to trawl though the data, there are insufficient staff and resources to follow any more than a tiny tiny fraction of it up. It’s a big job and takes a lot of time and resources, and it’s easy to quickly get snowed under.

    3. There are so many bigger fish to fry that are already slipping through the cracks, literally no one cares if you’re shagging your neighbour, using drugs, committing benefit fraud, low level dealing, property crime etc etc. Believe me if you saw how much wasn’t getting done you’d want an enquiry to be carried out. Of course we would need to increase our police tenfold to get anywhere near it, but that would be a police state right?

    4. If anyone was actually trawling through all our emails, don’t you think we’d see more child porn cases brought? If they wanted to use illicitly obtained information, they would start with abhorrent crimes such as these. They don’t, because they can’t and don’t use our spy powers for this kind of thing, even though I bet they’d love to.

    5. With the state of the world the way it is, we actually need these powers. In fighting them we just play into the hands of terrorists, who are beheading each other at far greater rates than they are us infidels. These guys are mad and we need powers to deal with them

    6. Stop being paranoid. The government doesn’t care about your private life, not only because they have no reason to, but also because they don’t have the resources to even if they did care. To me it’s like cannabis law reform, but even less of an issue. Smoking dope in private virtually already is legal, people are rarely even charged with possession nowadays and noone actually cares if you smoke dope. It’s a non-issue that needs to be put to one side. Just like all this spying hysteria.

    The time spent debating this would be far better spent working at a charity or giving our time to make lunches for all the poor kids who don’t know or have any reason to care about the bloody gcsb.

    • You don’t understand how it works. If it can be collected, it can be mined. The Snowden documents explain how it works through analysis of metadata. We aren’t talking just about targeting people who are already under suspicion, but the trawling of metadata looking for suspicious “patterns”.

      The government doesn’t care about your private life.

      The same government that more or less employed Cameron Slater to smear its opponents, in many cases by delving into their private life and using it as leverage against them?

      Interesting.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 1.2

      You just don’t get it, do you?

      The government doesn’t care about your private life until you do something that brings you to their attention. Like, oh, be the leader of the opposition, or “that feral bitch who screams at me in meetings”, or advocate for Maui’s Dolphin.

      There’s a reason lawyers oppose these laws. I expect it’s because they’re all communists, eh.

    • Molly 1.3

      You really haven’t thought this through have you?

      Your comments are unrelated to any of the concerns that were given by the Human Rights Commission, the Law Society and the Privacy Commission during the law changes for the GCSB and TICS legislation.

      You should go and read them, and the follow it up with watching the Youtube of the Moment of Truth event.

      It is not just our government that has access, it is also unelected (ie not NZ) governments (and their spies) from the US, the UK, Australia and Canada.

      Legislation is not being rewritten to address crime (aka child porn) – it is to protect corporate interest – that is right – (commercial advantage) money.

      (Was going to rewrite a previous comment but have cut and pasted instead.)

      “What makes NZ more likely to be a location for an act of terror?

      – Primarily acting as a stooge for the US which has committed long and sustained acts of terror against sovereign states for immoral and illegitimate reasons,
      – spying on other sovereign states that we are not in conflict with and using our location and access to allow others to do so;
      – sending our defence forces in at the request of the US despite there being no credible intelligence that indicates this approach will improve the living conditions of those countrymen or women. In fact, historical evidence shows that it usually results with deterioration of living conditions and increases the likelihood of extremist groups taking power;
      – using intelligence systems to spy on and target those who disagree with the government of the time, and use intimidation techniques to get them to change behaviours – even if they are legitimate and peaceful. When you remove the right to disagree by legitimate and peaceful means, you increase the likelihood that desperation will result in ramping up actions.

      In essence, failing to act like a sovereign state that upholds values such as human rights for all, and avoidance of unnecessary or ineffective conflict – is what is going to make us vulnerable to acts of terrorism.”

      We don’t presently need anti-terrorism policy, but this government is doing its best to ensure that everyone thinks that we do – and acts in such a way as to invite it.

    • Colonial Viper 1.4

      This is all a load of cobblers. While we waste our time and money worrying and writing about this we are ignoring actual issues. My reasons for thinking it’s rubbish are as follows:

      Odd that you would attack people critical of the creation of a turnkey security and surveillance state, by using the excuse that ‘it’s no big deal and can’t really be done properly anyway’.

      Without even asking yourself why the anglo-saxon power elite have been working consistently over the last 10 years, in secret, across multiple countries, using hundreds of billions of dollars, to build the resources, facilities and expertise to do just such a thing.

    • Naki man 1.5

      Great post Jay, the crims are getting worried. Law abiding people have nothing to fear.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 1.5.1

        🙄

        John Key introduces Stalinism accompanied by rapt applause.

        • Naki man 1.5.1.1

          The Australians spy on terrorists to keep their people safe and the paranoid crims are sweating like a rapist.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 1.5.1.1.1

            You poor sap, crims get caught by police work, not by spooks. Do you honestly not understand that crims evolve, like say, the Odgers/Collins gang?

            • Colonial Viper 1.5.1.1.1.1

              Spooks are supposed to keep track of enemies of the state. At this rate however, they are treating every single citizen, MP, judge, business leaders, doctor, lawyer, police officer, mayor as a potential enemy of the state.

            • Naki man 1.5.1.1.1.2

              The police bug phones cars etc.
              That is why you poor saps are shitting.

              • Colonial Viper

                Do pay attention, you’re really not that smart unless you focus. Tapping a phone line under court warrant for a specific and limited investigation is *not* what we are talking about here.

                We’re talking about mass surveillance of a whole society and all its civil and societal leaders by unaccountable local and foreign powers. This signals the end of any true democracy – as no democracy can survive the end of civil rights and privacy. What we will get now is what we see in the USA – a pretence of a managed democracy via a corporate state.

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                Nappy Man, your mind is a very revealing toilet.

    • Lan 1.6

      They are called search engines, databases and AI (artificial intelligence). Your confidence about “big data” is misplaced.

    • Mick McCrohon 1.7

      Your comment makes very little sense ?

      A single example …from 5. “In fighting them we just play into the hands of terrorists, who are beheading each other at far greater rates than they are us infidels.”
      then from 6. “Stop being paranoid.”

      • Colonial Viper 1.7.1

        Gosh you’re not supposed to think with a critical mind, just to swallow what they are feeding us without question.

  2. Richard Christie 2

    We’ll know an announcement for a new law will be just around the corner right after we get news of a SWAT team bust of a terrorist cell in NZ. This will be pasted all over the front page of Cameron Slater’s Drop Boxthe NZ Herald along with calls for ptrotection.

  3. mpledger 3

    We might not have the resources now but that doesn’t mean we might not at some point in the future. If we pass the law now we’ll never know when it does become feasible, it will happen silently.

    And anyway, with America surveilling 300,000,000 people in their own country what is it to them to poke through 4,000,000 people’s communications in their down time. I don’t know what their laws are on surveilling non-US citizens, I would guess it’s fair game to them.

    Since so much of our internet use goes through America, even internal NZ stuff can bounce up to America and back, a lot of it is probably captured already.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 3.1

      Please try and get it through your head that ubiquitous surveillance will be used against you if and when you become a person of interest, by starting a community group that opposes fossil fuel extraction, for example, or being active in progressive politics, or being a National Party MP who makes private statements criticising Judith Collins.

      You have no idea, yet, what it’s like to live in a surveillance society.

      • halfcrown 3.1.1

        But, but we have had a lot of right wing dicks on here telling us “nothing to hide ,nothing to fear.” Yeah right.

        Might have to go back to the good old “word of mouth”

        • ghostwhowalksnz 3.1.1.1

          John Banks famously used that phrase ‘ nothing to fear , nothing to hide’

          But then he DIDNT testify in the witness box at his own trial as of course he had plenty to hide.
          And probably feared his lies at a previous court case coming back to bite him in the honesty bum.
          Its not really secret surveillance, but goes to show how breaking the law happens

  4. tc 4

    Labor under shorten have checked out, the Rudd/gillard saga has left it rather an empty vessel.

    There is no opposition looking out for joe public who will be alongside US troops in greater numbers soon, no debates, no public discourse just where do we sign up Tony.

    With PUP holding sway in the senate Oz is in for some intersting times.

    • The Al1en 4.1

      “Labor under shorten have checked out, the Rudd/gillard saga has left it rather an empty vessel.”

      http://www.roymorgan.com/morganpoll Morgan Poll – September 13/14 & 20/21, 2014

      Two Party Preferred:
      ALP 54.5% up 0.5%
      L-NP 45.5% down 0.5%

      Voting Intention:
      ALP 37.5
      L-NP 38.5
      Greens 12
      Ind 12

      • tc 4.1.1

        I base my comments on the actions of its MPs, no surprise they poll better than two faces tony after the many broken pledges.

        But they aint calling the shots just nodding and signing off on tonys.

        • Colonial Viper 4.1.1.1

          Yes, the Labor Party supported this utter annihilation of Australian democracy, and the handing over of the reigns of power to a small technocratic elite.

  5. Jay 6

    You are all seriously paranoid. We are already using mass surveillance on each other with our cellphones, we are ourselves already the real big brother and it will only get worse and worse, anyone care to complain about that? As if anyone aside from a megalomaniac is going to enact laws and carry out activities that will have a major negative impact on ordinary people, do you think Mr Key wants his friends and family subject to anything that will be detrimental to them anymore than you do? And don’t give me any conspiracy theories either. People like greenwald and Snowden are nothing but traiters, they exposed the government methods that have provided our enemies with information, forcing the government to change their methods and reducing their effectiveness. There were many many dissenters when we went to war in 1939, didn’t history show them up as a pack of fools. As for monitoring your activity if you are an activist, I can only repeat once again. Don’t flatter yourself.

    I trust John Key or whoever is the PM to do their incredibly important job without me poking my nose into it, and meanwhile I’ll just get on with mine, as should all of you get on with yours. Honestly this is all really whacky.

    • AsleepWhileWalking 6.1

      If it’s whacky then why waste time commenting?

      Everyone commenting on this site could reasonably expect to be monitored as an activist and their electronic footprint searched for National Security reasons. Likewise those who attend regular protest marches. But there is nothing wrong with wanting some kind of oversight to the whole process – in fact it would be prudent to have in place to avoid misuse. The real problem is that it isn’t in place.

      I don’t object to monitoring, just the oversight issue and the weird veil of secrecy from the public about the level of surveillance being put in place.

    • Dialey 6.2

      All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing

    • RedLogix 6.3

      I trust John Key or whoever is the PM to do their incredibly important job

      Definition of naivety. You have no idea who might become PM in the future.

      All your arguments boil down to the old “if you are doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about” line.

      Which completely ignores the fact that you don’t get to define ‘wrong’. Someone else does. A faceless someone you have no way of holding to account.

      It is a deep irony of course that it is the Left that has been responsible for the first trial runs of ubiquitous surveillance societies – the Soviets, the KGB and Stasi with their networks of political commissars and informers, that absent much technology got pretty close to a panoptican.

      And if you didn’t rock the boat, if you remained loyal in thought, word and deed to the authorities you didn’t have to worry. Outwardly the ordinary daily life in the USSR was reasonably civilised and orderly. But the people hated it.

      So how strange it is now to find the so-called liberal, freedom-loving, personal rights advocating, capitalist Right – now insisting on making exactly the same mistake their old enemy the Communists made before them.

      Only on a much grander scale.

      • Tom Jackson 6.3.2

        I remember being told by right wing teachers at high school that the reason we should oppose communism was that no-one should have to live in a society like East Germany.

        So how strange it is now to find the so-called liberal, freedom-loving, personal rights advocating, capitalist Right – now insisting on making exactly the same mistake their old enemy the Communists made before them.

        It extends much further than surveillance. The dominance of IT in capitalism means that we essentially live in a planned economy (or at least an economy where any attempt at genuine risk on a significant scale is ruthlessly stamped out at light speed by stock trading algorithms). It’s why nobody can create truly innovative products: no such product could ever survive modern market research.

      • Murray Olsen 6.3.3

        RL, we don’t have to worry about who might be PM in the future. John Key is already bad enough. Even when the watchers do break the law, he legalises their actions. I know from personal experience what agribusiness and fossil fuel companies have done in some other parts of the world. Key is BFF with this guys and I have seen basically no evidence of any ethical handbrake on his actions. When the shit hits the fan, government is supposed to protect us. This one won’t.

    • Colonial Viper 6.4

      Jay – why are you not concerned about the loss of the civil liberties and privacy which is the bedrock for a true democracy? Why are you ignoring the now many examples internationally of how these surveillance powers have been misused?

      Why are you so scared of asking questions of the people in power, the people who want to know everything about you while they will put you in jail for wanting to know anything about them.

      Does that strike you as fair? Or does that strike you as authoritarian?

    • You are all seriously paranoid.

      You just don’t get it.

      Hardly anyone disagrees that the state should have the power, when presented with probable cause, and with a judicial warrant (secret or no), to put individual citizens or groups under surveillance. It’s a significant power, but it is intrinsically limited to individuals and groups.

      What you are defending is a digital panopticon that monitors the behaviour of everybody as a pre-emptive measure. The number of people who can be trusted with such power is zero. None of this is the same as companies collecting data, because they don’t have the power of the state and they don’t have access to everything.

      Nobody has a right to a digital panopticon, because nobody can be trusted with it.

      As for activists, we already know that they have been put under illegal surveillance.

      • ghostwhowalksnz 6.5.1

        When the SIS was found illegally breaking into house occupied by Aziz Choudry in Christchurch July 1996 ( he was merely a GATT activist , now called World Trade Organisation WTO)
        http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/choudry.htm

        The law was changed to allow them to break into homes.

        When the GCSB was found out to be illegally having computer surveillance on Kim Dotcom, the law was changed to allow them to spy on NZ citizens.

        Both these situations are not ones you would consider where the public or institutions of state are in dire peril.

        An interesting sideline to Choudry case, we never really knew why they broke into his house, but the person who ‘caught them in the act’ faced consequences from the state.

        David Small was the person who actually caught the SIS agents breaking into Aziz’s house. It was he who took down the vital clue of their numberplate (which led to the SIS; the agents have never been named) and reported it to the police – who waved the agents on their way. In the most sinister feature of the whole episode, the police raided the homes of both Aziz and David Small, looking for “bombmaking equipment”, shortly after the foiled SIS break in. A hoax bomb had been left at the Christchurch City Council building. This mysterious episode has never been explained (a remarkably similar hoax bomb disrupted Auckland Airport when it was inadvertently left behind there during a security exercise prior to the 1999 APEC Leaders’ Summit. Coincidence, surely?).

        Even if you ‘have nothing to hide’ but speak up or note something unusual and its the state secret services, you will face consequences.

        I wonder if David Smalls life since then had other banana skins placed in his way

    • Yoyo 6.6

      Great posts.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 6.7

      So, no substantive response to the points raised, no inkling why the Law Society is in bed with communists, just a bunch of worthless personal opinions from someone doing their best impression of an airhead.

    • framu 6.8

      ” As for monitoring your activity if you are an activist,”

      which is a highly regular activity – far higher than monitoring terrorists – for all of the western intelligence forces

      this isnt a conspiracy either – they happily admit it

      your being staggeringly stupid jay

      • Rolf 6.8.1

        Could I kindly remind everyone of something out of the history.

        “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”

        Minted by the propagandaministerium in Nazi Germany. We know the result.

        I don’t think we really what that back, but that is where we are heading just now.

  6. But conspiring against their own citizens? Neh, never! They wouldn’t do that would they?

  7. Chooky 8

    As usual Wallace Chapman’s programe is very relevant …Media Watch and Wayne Brittenden and Chapman …on Australian anti terrorist raids…and achieving peace by peaceful means

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/20151331/mediawatch-for-28-september-2014

    and this

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/20151343/wayne-brittenden's-counterpoint

  8. Rolf 10

    This is interesting for us that experienced the Third Reich. It is almost a carbon copy of the “security measures” Hitler put in place in the 1930s, and we know how those were used. The difference today is the Internet, and as we know, it is still possible to publish anonymously on the web, just don’t try it if you don’t know what you are doing. We also know that both Snowden and Assange were given political asylum to protect them from just these sorts of actions. Make good use of publishers and people located in safe areas, where they can not be captured, harassed or tortured. Leak the information to them – safely.

  9. It is not just the spying that should scare the bejeezus out of people with laws that enable access to our privacy and computers in any shape or form.

    They can also put stuff on your computer, change email, and do other things to change the content of your computer. There have already been reported cases of people finding photo’s of pornographic and pedophile nature on their computers after they had been separated from their computers. Activists and citizen journalists have received emails promising material they could use in their articles only to find that these emails where rigged to download pedophile photos on to their computers.

    If you are stupid enough to believe the “if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear” you have never been in a county where the entire citizenry is terrified because any day there could be a knock on the door of the secret police. More often than not the evidence against people was fabricated by the secret police themselves in countries such as Czechoslovakia or East Germany. Just imagine if someone unbeknownst to you puts damaging material on your computer or cell phone to set you up. There is no end what these bastards could get up to if you have something they want or if you speak out against the elite.

    Why put up with dissent if you can get people out of the way with a little blackmail or the threat of prison time for having objectionable material on their computer? Who is going to believe them when they say they didn’t put in on their computers in the first place!

    • greywarbler 11.1

      @ travellerev
      Frightening and worrying. F&W for short. I fear that we will have reason to use this term a lot – might as well get a handy acronym ready for the situations.

  10. greywarbler 12

    I’m reading an Agatha Christie Passenger to Frankfurt. She put a lot of time and thought into devising a story of a worldwide plot to harness young idealists with a Nazi-style fervency using big amounts of money siphoned here and there.

    There is an older woman who has made pots from mining and every other activity who is behind it. She is in Bavaria, though, not Australia, and her name is Charlotte Krapp and she has inherited money from her father’s Krapp yards in Germany!

    This was published in 1970 and has caught many of the themes around today. It is very involved in intelligence and false identities. It ends up with the wife of a USA ambassador being the centre of the movement.

  11. Jones 13

    “What are the odds that the Nats will pass similar laws here during their current term?”

    Perhaps this is the something special that NZ is on the verge of?

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    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
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