The Parler purge

Written By: - Date published: 9:04 am, January 12th, 2021 - 87 comments
Categories: Donald Trump, Media, social media lolz, uncategorized, us politics - Tags:

Poor Parler and its users.  Where will the right congregate online now and talk about white supremacy and how patriotic it is to engage in armed insurrection?

It was already having a bad week with Google and Apple pulling its app and then Amazon deciding to no longer host its data. But things then got really crazy.

What happened is described by David Gilbert in Vice:

Right-wing social network Parler was taken offline in the early hours of Monday morning, but not before hackers found a way to download all data posted by users — including messages, images, videos, and users’ location data — shared during last week’s attack on the Capitol.

The data taken from Parler is still being processed, but Trump supporters are already voicing their concerns about what the data dump could expose about them and their activity in Washington, D.C. last week.

Imagine the book that could be written from this data.

A hacker who goes by the name Crash Override on Twitter claims they were able to reverse-engineer the Parler iOS app, in order to find a web address that the application uses internally to retrieve data.

That allows the hacker to make a list of all posts, videos, and images uploaded to Parler — including posts that users had deleted, such as those referring to the Capitol attack last Wednesday.

Like most online services, Parler didn’t actually delete user posts; they simply marked them as unviewable and omitted them from search results.

Initially, the hacker worked on downloading the data herself, but when Amazon announced it was going to shut off access, [she] urged her followers to join in by publishing a list of all the posts.

The hacker set up a crowdsourcing system where multiple people could help download the content. The downloaded data is now being processed before being uploaded to the Internet Archive, where anyone will be able to view or download it — including the open-source intelligence community and law enforcement agencies.

And the possibility of everything coming out has scared some Trump supporters.

“Bad news. Left extremists have captured and archived over 70TB of data from Parler servers. This includes posts, personal information, locations, videos, images, etc,” a Telegram account called North Central Florida Patriots said on Monday morning.

“The intent is a mass dox and a list to hold patriots ‘accountable’. It is too late to scrub your data, and it’s already archived. There is nothing you can do to prevent what’s already happened. All you can do is prepare for the fallout. Accountability may come in many forms for our free speech, doxing, jobs might be called, addresses leaked and people coming to your house, etc.”

To be honest I am not sure how much effect this will have and it seems like many of the protesters have already doxxed themselves.  And the ethical considerations are complex.  But the fallout will be interesting.

For law enforcement the information is gold.  The US Government has killed people based on metadata.  Photos with time stamps and location data linked back to an individual are wonderful ways to prove who was where and when.  And contemporary information on what they were wearing that can be cross referenced against other photos and videos is wonderful information for law enforcement to have.

As an example this guy has been identified and arrested already.  In part because he took his mum along.  But the data will allow for many more to be identified.

There is a debate to be had about the role of social media in our lives and what has happened here.  And what regulations should be in place in the future.  I am pretty confident that allowing the unfettered spread of fake news and conspiracy theories are not inimical to our collective best interests.

But for now we can all have have a quiet chuckle that the the self styled master race do not appear to be so masterful.

87 comments on “The Parler purge ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. KSaysHi 1
    12 January 2021 at 9:39 am

    Authorities already have all the information in the NSA Utah Data Center.

    Wouldn't the news of this hack be used in court to suggest the hacker themselves may have altered the information, thus corrupting any case the NSA had been building?

  2. gsays 2
    12 January 2021 at 10:36 am

    You open with a very good question. I get it was meant to be rhetorical, for local audiences, but surely these ideas are better where they can be seen, debated and assessed.
    Racism, hatred, bigotry and anything else undesirable will not go away because it has been ‘deplatformed’.

    • roblogic 2.1
      12 January 2021 at 11:07 am

      Oh so we should just take the fatalist approach and let the bullshit and hatred spread like COVID?

      No.

      • gsays 2.1.1
        12 January 2021 at 12:44 pm

        Nothing fatalistic about engaging with someone.

        In fact deplatfirming belongs in the fatalistic file.

        Any examples of prohibition working?

        • McFlock 2.1.1.1
          12 January 2021 at 1:57 pm

          Several, actually. Not too many Cathars around these days, for example.

          But deplatforming isn't prohibition. It's refusing to be party to recruitment. "Engaging" with people requires respect and consideration. Giving respect suggests the position is respectable. The very act of polite discourse in the face of obscenity makes that obscenity socially acceptable, and therefore aids recruitment.

          And when Popper comes into play, "engaging with someone" is an act of attempted suicide.

          • gsays 2.1.1.1.1
            12 January 2021 at 2:29 pm

            The intolerance of intolerance conundrum occupied me as I pushed a lawn mower round.

            • McFlock 2.1.1.1.1.1
              12 January 2021 at 2:54 pm

              Yup. It's a good one.

              • gsays …
                12 January 2021 at 3:55 pm

                I am gonna have to look up Cathars.

                • McFlock …
                  12 January 2021 at 4:02 pm

                  A Catholic heresy the pope prohibited 600 years ago. Prohibited with extreme prejudice.

                  I actually read an argument a few years ago that reckoned alcohol prohibition in the US actually worked ok – reckoned that some benchmarks like tonnage drunk, % of regular drinkers, and alcohol related harm decreased. Everyone talks about the lawbreakers, but the argument was that we're only looking at sexy criminals, not the people who went to work every day and stopped drinking during the period. I take it with a grain of salt, but the prohibition does sometimes work.

                  • gsays …
                    12 January 2021 at 4:46 pm

                    Oops, doing too many things at once.

                    Currently doing a radio show up @ Massey.

                    My understanding of prohibition is that the behaviour frowned upon ceases immediately. Wiki reckons it took over 200 years for the Cathars to cease. That's with a Catholic Crusade on their tails.

                    Not that the idea of two Gods has disappeared from humanity. The Catholic Church has become less relevant than those days however.

                    • McFlock …
                      12 January 2021 at 5:34 pm

                      Immediately? Nah. Few if any social changes happen immediately.

                      If people didn't want to do something, it wouldn't have to be prohibited. So then the thing being prohibited has a function of how desperate people are for it (spiritual belief, chemical addiction), mechanisms to recruit new people to it (proselytisers, free hits), manufacturing (priests/prophets/chemists/growers) and a distribution network for it (priests/bibles/dealers). All of that needs to be interrupted and broken down.

                      If it was just "rule change and everyone immediately stops doing it", I doubt any prohibition effort would have ever been successful. There's always someone who keeps doing it for a bit.

                    • In Vino …
                      12 January 2021 at 9:10 pm

                      I personally have always admired G K Chesterton's version of the Ten Commandments:

                      "No graven image shall worshipped be

                      except the golden currency"

                      Small chance of prohibition working in cases like that.

                • Pierre …
                  13 January 2021 at 6:56 am

                  Francis Cabrel wrote this haunting song about them. It's a violent and tragic story of a cult which was wiped out through long years of systematic killing and torture.

                  Obviously the comparison with Parler was rhetorical.

                  • gsays …
                    13 January 2021 at 7:11 pm

                    Thanks Pierre, it is a beautiful song. Reading the translation, Cabrel has beautiful poetry for such shameful actions.

          • RedLogix 2.1.1.1.2
            12 January 2021 at 4:28 pm

            I agree with the idea that when an ideology steps over a boundary, then it's necessary to disengage and condemn. Facism for example.

            And on this occasion Trump has unquestionably stepped over it too. I'm discomforted in some respects by his deplatforming, but it's justified in my view. This is not something we should ever do lightly.

            However we should be aware that we seem very sensitive to boundaries our opponents step over, not so much our own.

        • roblogic 2.1.1.2
          12 January 2021 at 4:04 pm

          The Dems tried engaging in thoughtful democratic debate while QAnon conspiracy nuts had free rein to spread torrents of lies and disinformation, and Trump stirred hatred and fear. Media platforms have no obligation to facilitate insurrection.

          As an academic exercise it may be interesting to critique the roots of Trumpism and fascism, but when a movement turns violent and hateful, forceful and decisive action is necessary.

          https://eand.co/america-needs-to-break-the-back-of-its-fascist-movement-now-or-else-d415b4b75a3f

          • gsays 2.1.1.2.1
            12 January 2021 at 4:37 pm

            I realise Amerikkka is broken.

            The Dems as they are currently, arent the ones to fix it.

        • roblogic 2.1.1.3
          12 January 2021 at 4:07 pm

          Turning your question around, there are plenty of examples of marketing and disinformation campaigns being incredibly effective.

        • Gabby 2.1.1.4
          12 January 2021 at 6:59 pm

          Not a lot of point engaging with an inveterate shameless liar.

        • Simbit 2.1.1.5
          13 January 2021 at 1:14 pm

          Once read of a Buddhist sect that believed we went through 10,000 rebirths and then attained nirvana, regardless of karma and our attitudes and behaviours. You can see why they purged that…

    • Phil 2.2
      12 January 2021 at 12:10 pm

      …surely these ideas are better where they can be seen, debated and assessed.

      Do you really, truly, think that there still needs to be a debate about whether it's ok to be a racist? Seems to me like we're well past that being a topic worth engaging.

      Racism, hatred, bigotry and anything else undesirable will not go away because it has been ‘deplatformed’.

      I accept that we might never be 100% rid of those things, just like I accept that i'm never going to be 100% rid of weeds in my garden. But in neither case does that mean we should do nothing and let them choke out the positive speech or plants that I want to see grow.

      • gsays 2.2.1
        12 January 2021 at 12:52 pm

        If we aren't discussing racism, how does a racist become unracist?

        As to the garden analogy, is comfrey a weed?

        • McFlock 2.2.1.1
          12 January 2021 at 2:06 pm

          Engaging with someone has three possible primary outcomes: they convince you, you convince them, neither convinces the other. Secondary outcomes include convincing spectators.

          Refusing to engage with racists and deplatforming them has one possible outcome: You will not help them to recruit anyone else.

          • gsays 2.2.1.1.1
            12 January 2021 at 4:02 pm

            Ok, that's the primary possibilities. Planting seeds needs watering, attention and nurturing.

            I know since hanging out here, my views on many things have shifted. Not immediately mind…

            That is without going into what is considered offensive/worthy of being shut down. One person's insurrectionist is another's patriot

            I don't for a moment think Amazon was making an ethical decision. It was about business interests from the get go.

            • McFlock 2.2.1.1.1.1
              12 January 2021 at 4:13 pm

              Yeah, but how many nats have come here and managed to flip a unionist?

              A lot of these forums where the capitol activities were organised were not akin to town squares where everyone went for the craic. Think more the local fasc booking out a community hall – good faith counter-discussion wasn't going to do much other than let them convince each other "liberal got owned". So don't rent them the hall.

              Amazon realised most people have had enough of these wankers, so yeah, it made a commercial decision.

              As to where we should be drawing the line, if neonazis and white supremacists are anywhere close to the grey area then I'm personally not cool with that.

    • mickysavage 2.3
      12 January 2021 at 8:34 pm

      Thanks gsays. I asked the question and wrote the post because part of me is really happy and cheering what has occurred. But rather than driving them underground shouldn't we make sure they were still in public so that we can continue to monitor what they are doing. But they have caused a lot of damage over the past decade.

  3. WeTheBleeple 3
    12 January 2021 at 12:02 pm

    Free speech is not disinformation, falsehoods, gaslighting, bullying or hate. Those things are as labelled.

    The blue lives matter crowd beat a cop to death. They were never interested in free speech just pissing off BLM.

    The Jesus is love folk got bused in to 'take our country back'. They're interested in creating a theocracy, no free speech required after that.

    The 'stop the steal' folk merely smeared feces on the Capitol walls, erected a gallows, and plotted the murders of officials. These the results of so called 'free speech'.

    Mealy mouthed bullshit used to concoct and carry out bullying, intimidation, gaslighting, incitement and yes, insurrection.

  4. lprent 4
    12 January 2021 at 12:18 pm

    There is a general rule about anything on the net. I got told it in early 1980s when I started playing multi-user Star Trek on VT100 terminals on a DEC 1170.

    Never write or say anything in private that you wouldn't want to eventually see in public.

    Eventually everything leaks. If it doesn't leak then someone downloads it. If you say it, then sure as hell someone will repeat it.

    It is the generic rule that I've followed throughout my life.

    It looks like another generation is going to find that out the hard way. The crowd sourced download is a interesting feature of this hack. I have mused for a while that was going to happen. It is easy enough to pin up a pile of virtual machines on cloud platforms to pull data these days.

    Hopefully whoever initiated this and those of organised the download have protected themselves as well. I suspect that Parler and this who have their statements presented in court will try to cover their embarrassment by attacking the means of the data being made public.

    However I suspect that they have a pretty good public interest mitigation argument for the sentencing in that they are making this information direct to public without any possible monetary or profit motive or even a personal benefit.

    The only reason this hasn't happened before at this kind of level (nearest I can think of is some of the anonymous hacks – but there is often a dickwaving motive to that). But the capabilities have been there for a while.

    • The Al1en 4.1
      12 January 2021 at 12:41 pm

      I agree with your quote, and have adhered to this for a long time, on line or in the real world.

      Only comparable thing I remember is the bnp membership leak.

      https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/nov/18/bnp-membership-list-leak

      ” “I’m also on the list, what the fuck is going on? I could lose my job,” posted one member on a north-west England BNP forum.

      Another wrote: “God help anyone who is in the army, the prison service, health care, police officer or a teacher.” “

    • weka 4.2
      12 January 2021 at 4:47 pm

      It's a reasonable rule of thumb, but there is still a difference between what people share privately and what they say in public in the same way there is IRL. I'm also mindful of the people who will be collateral damage in this, it's not like US law enforcement or spooks are going to take *that much care. If the personal details data is published online, then that's stepping over a line and I'm not yet convinced the public good argument prevails.

      • McFlock 4.2.1
        12 January 2021 at 5:39 pm

        I'm concerned about people they were doxxing amongst themselves. like if they were targeting journos or whatever, all the personal details about those targeted people would be out, too.

        • weka 4.2.1.1
          12 January 2021 at 7:20 pm

          didn't follow that at all sorry. You're concerned about the people that the hackers were sharing details about amongst the hackers?

          • McFlock 4.2.1.1.1
            12 January 2021 at 8:48 pm

            No. There's a fair chance (just being an internet forum) that some of the material discussed amongst the registered users involved the personal information of completely unconnected individuals. Even something like has happened on TS on one occasion, where someone copy and pastes company director addresses from the companies register. The mods here caught it, but even if the parler admins "deleted" similar content, that content would still be in the data dump that the hackers plan to make publicly available.

            I have fewer concerns about actual registered commenters of parler. If someone outed that my hairdresser was a closet nazi, I think that's a piece of information that would help me with my purchasing decisions.

            It goes both ways. If I get doxxed for some of the stuff I've said here over the years, my employer would likely lose some income if I stayed in the job. I think my employer is worthwhile, so I'd have a serious talk about making a graceful exit.

            • weka 4.2.1.1.1.1
              12 January 2021 at 11:13 pm

              Ah yes, that's some of who I was thinking about too. As well as partners or kids of people registered people being doxxed. Your hairdresser might be someone hanging out on parler talking to Nazis but fully radicalised yet, and when she loses her job her kids go hungry.

              I know sfa about parler though, and don't have a good sense of how many people were using it who weren't hard core protofascists.

              I'm not sure I'm arguing against the hack so much as pointing out there are issues here for the left in terms of what's acceptable ethically.

              • McFlock …
                12 January 2021 at 11:57 pm

                Yeah, it's not a blanket good.

                I'd also be interested to see how researchers deal with the ethical issues down the track – it could provide an almost complete record on radicalisation and the development of covert social networks.To have a complete record like that in an open source has all sorts of potential for social research, not even just researching the nutbar right.

  5. Adrian 5
    12 January 2021 at 1:01 pm

    What are the chances that the two people who did not get Covid on the flight may have had an immunity from previous contact, can that be picked up in Day 3 and 12 testing, or they had high Vit-D levels which has been shown to be protective. Maybe they were just super careful?

    As for pre-flight negative tests, I can’ t think of anything stupider than sending someone out to where C19 positive people must gather to wait for a test, as a negative test only records from 3 days prior when in fact the very process is probably the most dangerous thing that a hopeful flyer may have done for weeks. I feel a lot of the things that Dr Baker says defies common sense.
    Sorry on wrong thread, having huge probs with bloody Spark and stuff dropping out every few minutes so got out of sync.

  6. Forget now 6
    12 January 2021 at 4:12 pm

    I am pretty confident that allowing the unfettered spread of fake news and conspiracy theories IS inimical to our collective best interest. I am pretty confident MS is too, maybe just tripped up on the proofreading?

  7. Grafton Gully 7
    12 January 2021 at 8:06 pm

    They'll get old fashioned and find another way. bypassing and undermining the online vehicles.

  8. Ad 8
    12 January 2021 at 9:15 pm

    They will figure out the same ways to communicate as Middle East terrorists have from the last three decades.

    I'm looking forward to the entire Homeland Security apparatus focused on their dominant domestic threat. It'll happen at some point.

    • McFlock 8.1
      12 January 2021 at 11:25 pm

      In the morning, when they shave for work? 🙂

      The 1990s to 2000s was damned odd – militia got a lot of focus after OKC, but also the militia were waiting for the big government event that would be an excuse to introduce totalitarianism (and the militias would bravely defeat 2000lb bombs with an ar15).

      Then 9/11 happened, and that became the excuse for Homeland security and the Patriot Act (and nude scans at airports). And the militias… tended to support it.

      Sure, the tea party was going nuts, but the patriot act wasn't high on their list of complaints. I guess if you don't read to often, you don't have a problem with librarians being required to tell feds what you've been reading.

  9. smilin 9
    12 January 2021 at 11:03 pm

    amazon owns the bulk of US and European servers plus the US govt military ones

  10. Sacha 10
    13 January 2021 at 7:31 am

    Not much hacking required, thanks to amateurish setup.

    https://twitter.com/MartinSFP/status/1349050917417574400

    Parler lacked the most basic security measures that would have prevented the automated scraping of the site's data. It even ordered its posts by number in the site's URLs, so that anyone could have easily, programmatically downloaded the site's millions of posts.

    Parler's cardinal security sin is known as an insecure direct object reference, says Kenneth White, codirector of the Open Crypto Audit Project…

    …

    "It's just a straight sequence, which is mind-numbing to me," says White. "This is like a Computer Science 101 bad homework assignment, the kind of stuff that you would do when you're first learning how web servers work. I wouldn't even call it a rookie mistake because, as a professional, you would never write something like this."

    Services like Twitter, by contrast, randomize the URLs of posts so they can't be guessed. And while they offer APIs that give developers access to tweets en masse, they carefully restrict access to those APIs. By contrast, Parler had no authentication for an API that offered access to all its public contents, says Josh Rickard, a security engineer for security firm Swimlane.

    • alwyn the troll 10.1
      13 January 2021 at 1:12 pm

      Was their security like that on the Labour Party website when Whaleoil accessed it in 2011? ie non-existent?

      If that is the case they really do deserve to have the whole lot made public don't they? Just the same way that the Labour Party deserved it?

      Or am I missing something?

    • Phillip ure 11.1
      13 January 2021 at 10:38 am

      Redbaiter closed down also…

      • Phillip ure 11.1.1
        13 January 2021 at 10:52 am

        I agree with closing down trump..

        but not so happy about the weeding out of his acolytes..

        as in when does the banning stop..?

        seeing as our spooks already see animal rights people as evonomic-terrorists…who are undermining the nz economy..

        ..with their blathering on..

        ..there must almost be cause to ban them..

        should we de-platform hosking for his years of preaching racism..against maori..?

        (the examples are many..)

        t'is a slippery-slope…that banning thing..

        and much as I loathe pretty much every word that falls from their lips..I don't think redbaiter and that dem-mum person should be banned..

        like talks with like…and you don't have to read them..

        ..and you don't need the apparatus of the state/whatever to do that for you..

        do you…?

  13. Corey Humm 13
    13 January 2021 at 4:53 pm

    Too little too late from big tech. The damage social media has done to politicial discourse it's insane now. Social media allows us to broadcast our first reactions to news and our first reactions are usually angry and uniformed.

    While we're happy Trump and co are being somewhat deplatformed and we should be , I'm not happy that corporates hold this much power, we must never forget historically it's the left who get censored and deplatformed and it's only a matter of time before left wing voices that go against corporate news media and silicon valleys politics are considered radical and dangerous (we are the ones who want to break up the big corporates after all)

    Im glad they are getting radicals off mainstream social media but it doesn't mean they'll go away.

    There's also questions like what kind of veiws will get you banned ? Will it be an algorithm or people? There's many many many with conspiratorial views on the left, many who talk about revolutions, corporate conspiracies, sending the 1% to gulags, killing and eating the rich will they be banned? Will activists on the left for civil rights issues many who can often speak quite viciously about white people ( out of pain and anger, which is understandable) which can be construed by some as racist if it's not a human doing the deleting I'd say they'd be banned too . There's a lot of radical people on the left who use quite radical language even in my own LGBT+ community who talk about killing straight white men, hell there are people on the left who call homosexuality genital preference and believe same sex attraction is a choice and just a societal construct, this could be interpreted as homophobia from inside the lgbt if a non lgbt person or algorithm is doing the deleting. (This isn't me accusing any movement of bigotry but there are all sorts of activists who might be called for views, jokes and inflammatory langue just go in Twitter because social media brings out the worst in people regardless of politcs)

    And what happens when they are deplatformed do they go away or do they go somewhere in the dark which scares me even more especially for the right wing scum who are already using platforms like parler.

    I am glad that big tech is frankly doing something don't get me wrong but it does set a dangerous precedent and many movements which use inflammatory language even on the left may be caught in the cull.

    I still think we should break up the big tech giants and turn social media into some kind of utility because they have far too much power and absolute power corrupts absolutey. I mean deplatforming the potus is incredible power even though I agree with it . Everytime I comment I get banned and I probably will for saying that a lot of progressive movements and communities use inflammatory langue all time, will calling for some kind of revolution have your blog or account or site removed by big tech? Will legitimate protests no longer be able to advertised or shared on line.

    I just hope it's a human being not an algorithm because the algorithms already in use have negatively effected the left more than the right

    • Sacha 13.1
      13 January 2021 at 5:02 pm

      I doubt the big US corporates will jump to ban lefties unless there is any action to match the fine words.

      This banning only happened because the chumpy mob showed they were quite willing to turn words into physical and civic harm. Credible threat.

    • gsays 13.2
      13 January 2021 at 7:26 pm

      With Phil's garden analogy, I asked about comfrey. Some opine it is an invasive, prolific weed and curse it.

      I have found it to be great living mulch (keeps weeds and grass at bay around trees), bees love it, awesome compost/tea and goes OK in a salad when the leaves are young. I wouldn't be without it.

      One person's surrectionist is another's patriot.

    • roblogic 13.3
      14 January 2021 at 1:05 pm

      Corporate America is a scary beast that plunders the Earth but it’s enabled by the Deep State/ CIA which runs the most powerful military and intelligence apparatus ever seen, and it’s run by unaccountable men in suits.

      “Democracy”… great marketing gimmick

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    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    24 hours ago

  • Winding back the hands of history’s clock
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    24 hours ago

  • Paula Bennett’s political appointment will challenge public confidence
     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 ...
    Point of OrderBy xtrdnry
    1 day ago

  • Business confidence sliding into winter of discontent
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the coalition’s awful, not good, very bad poll results
    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 ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    1 day ago

  • New HOP readers for future payment options
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    1 day ago

  • 2024 Reading Summary: April (+ Writing Update)
    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 ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • At a glance – Clearing up misconceptions regarding 'hide the decline'
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Road photos
    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 ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Paula Bennett’s political appointment will challenge public confidence
    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, ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    2 days ago

  • NZDF is still hostile to oversight
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • Winding Back The Hands Of History’s Clock.
    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 ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Sweet Moderation? What Christopher Luxon Could Learn From The Germans.
    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 ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • A clear warning
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • Poll results and Waitangi Tribunal report go unmentioned on the Beehive website – where racing tru...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Listening To The Traffic.
    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 ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Comity Be Damned! The State’s Legislative Arm Is Flexing Its Constitutional Muscles.
    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 ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Ending The Quest.
    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 ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Will political polarisation intensify to the point where ‘normal’ government becomes impossible,...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Tuesday, April 30
    TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:30am on Tuesday, May 30:Scoop: NZ 'close to the tipping point' of measles epidemic, health experts warn NZ Herald Benjamin PlummerHealth: 'Absurd and totally unacceptable': Man has to wait a year for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the country
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Worst poll result for a new Government in MMP history
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Pinning down climate change's role in extreme weather
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Serving at Seymour's pleasure.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Webworm LA Pop-Up
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago

  • “Feel good” school is out
    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 ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • 6 Months in, surely our Report Card is “Ignored all warnings: recommend dismissal ASAP”?
    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 ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    3 days ago

  • Bread, and how it gets buttered
    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 ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the country
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • Justice for Gaza?
    The New York Times reports that the International Criminal Court is about to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over their genocide in Gaza: Israeli officials increasingly believe that the International Criminal Court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials on ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • If there has been any fiddling with Pharmac’s funding, we can count on Paula to figure out the fis...
    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”. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • FastTrackWatch – The case for the Government’s Fast Track Bill
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Monday, April 29
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on Iran killing its rappers, and searching for the invisible Dr. Reti
    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 ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    3 days ago

  • Auckland Rail Electrification 10 years old
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    3 days ago

  • Coalition's dirge of austerity and uncertainty is driving the economy into a deeper recession
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Disability Funding or Tax Cuts.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Of the Goodness of Tolkien’s Eru
    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 Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    4 days ago

  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #17
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Pastor Who Abused People, Blames People
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago

  • Vic Uni shows how under threat free speech is
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Winston remembers Gettysburg.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • 25
    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 ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Fact Brief – Is Antarctica gaining land ice?
    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? ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Policing protests.
    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 → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    5 days ago

  • Open letter to Hon Paul Goldsmith
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: FastTrackWatch – The Case for the Government’s Fast Track Bill
    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. ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 days ago

  • Luxon gets out his butcher’s knife – briefly
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • More tax for less
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Real News vs Fake News.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Another way to roll
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Share ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Simon Clark: The climate lies you'll hear this year
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Cutting the Public Service
    It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    6 days ago

  • Luxon’s demoted ministers might take comfort from the British politician who bounced back after th...
    Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious:  we live in a troubled ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • This is how I roll over
    1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • The Waitangi Tribunal is not “a roving Commission”…
    …it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisition   NOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes –  The High Court ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Is Oranga Tamariki guilty of neglect?
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same? Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Three Strikes saw lower reoffending
    David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Luxon’s ruthless show of strength is perfect for our angry era
    Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • 'Lacks attention to detail and is creating double-standards.'
    TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • One Night Only!
    Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago

  • What did Melissa Lee do?
    It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #17 2024
    Open access notables Ice acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment: In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
    Skeptical Science
    7 days ago

  • Maori Party (with “disgust”) draws attention to Chhour’s race after the High Court rules on Wa...
    Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago

  • Stronger oversight for our most vulnerable children
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 hours ago

  • Streamlining Building Consent Changes
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago

  • Minister acknowledges passing of Sir Robert Martin (KNZM)
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    18 hours ago

  • Speech to New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Parliament – Annual Lecture: Challenges ...
    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.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    18 hours ago

  • Accelerating airport security lines
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago

  • Community hui to talk about kina barrens
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Kiwi exporters win as NZ-EU FTA enters into force
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Mining resurgence a welcome sign
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill passes first reading
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government to boost public EV charging network
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Residential Property Managers Bill to not progress
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Independent review into disability support services
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Justice Minister updates UN on law & order plan
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Ending emergency housing motels in Rotorua
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Trade Minister travels to Riyadh, OECD, and Dubai
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Education priorities focused on lifting achievement
    Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • NZTA App first step towards digital driver licence
    The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say.  “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Supporting whānau out of emergency housing
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