The Politics of Small Green Fences

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, April 1st, 2014 - 43 comments
Categories: activism, democratic participation, Politics - Tags:

The small green fence.

The small green fence (scoop).

I arrived at the TPPA protest march in Wellington the intent of making my voice heard. The protest started well – enlightening speakers, a funny MC and raucous chanting. However, when we got to parliament, the march was confronted by a waist-high green fence blocking our way up seven stairs to the main courtyard in front of the parliament. How we dealt with this seemingly insignificant obstacle does not bode well for the political left in New Zealand.

The march organisers were surprised by the fence, spoke to a nearby parliamentary security and pointed out they were always allowed to speak at the top of this seven stair platform. They had set up their PA equipment up there, but it had been moved down. The organisers were told “this was the deal”. After a few sputtering complaints, we held the final speeches down in front of it.

The essence of politics is expanding the horizons of what is possible – what is acceptable to say, think, and what we deem a possible way of living. Power is about who can move these horizons. We fight the TPPA precisely because it narrows our horizon of action through a raft of foreign and corporate control. In a similar, albeit smaller way, the state’s decision to move the fence was a profoundly political act – it changed where we could march, speak and express political dissent.

I attempted to convince a few of the people I recognised at the march to get together and move the fence. However, I was told we “didn’t have enough people”. After all the chants of “Whose go the power? We’ve got the power” and “TPPA? No way! We’re going to fight it all the way”, this crowd of several hundred people were corralled and halted by this small green fence.

It is worth emphasising that there was no police line assembled behind the fence, just an interspaced scattering of parliamentary security wandering aimlessly around the courtyard. This fence was not a physical obstacle – a dedicated band of militant pacifists could have moved up those stairs without undermining their beliefs. We made it a barrier. We collectively decided it would not be appropriate or allowed. We admitted we did not have the power to move up that flight of stairs. Because the government implied it might be a bit naughty.

If we are unwilling to move such a small obstacle for a right to speak slightly closer to parliament, what hope do we have against stopping the amalgamation of governments and corporations pushing for the TPPA? If the TPPA is really as bad as the speakers claimed, and I believe it is, what would inspire enough people to move that fence?

If all the left is willing to do is act within the boundaries set out by the government, we are no longer practising anything resembling resistance and dissent. We could have pushed through that fence and realised the political power we all have. We could have dictated the terms where we believed we had a right to speak. We could have left the march feeling empowered, excited and rejuvenated, ready to continue fighting against the TPPA.

Instead, we decided we did not have power. This pattern has been repeated again and again across this government’s two terms. Protest by the left is increasingly become part of the acceptable theatre of political action – making us feel as though we ‘did something’, but ultimately doing nothing to expand what we can and cannot do.

We need to start moving fences.

 

See also Chris Trotter’s “Protest Futile In The Absence Of Consensus Politics” for a different view on the same topic.

43 comments on “The Politics of Small Green Fences ”

  1. Bill 1

    Oh fck, there’s no ‘satire’ or ‘April Fool’ tag on this! I mean, I actually did check. I checked because I thought this post might have been one of the most well constructed farces I’ve read on ‘the standard’….or anywhere else for that matter. But no. And now I’m stuck between the bit of me that wants to laugh and the bit of me that wants to cry.

  2. Draco T Bastard 2

    Just another use of Free Speech Zones. We should be getting very angry about this.

  3. greywarbler 3

    How was the Rent a Crowd asked John vaguely, his mind on more important matters. Well behaved and no litter near to parliament. All went to plan. Oh good, now we have a few things to tie up or sell before the election said John. Get the team together will you, we have work to do.

  4. Not a PS Staffer 4

    Wouldn’t have happened in Auckland.

  5. fambo 5

    The government is attacking on all fronts to force the oppostion to spread its energy as thinly as possible.The best thing people can do if they want to fight this government is not only join one of the opposition parties but actively participate in it. By committing a small amount of your time, energy and money to your party of choice you are using it as effectively as possible. The more MPs in parliament, the more votes you have, and the more your arguments will be heard through the mainstream media.

  6. karol 6

    While I dislike this whittling down of public protest sites, i also think, Trotter especially, ignores the communication factor of protests.

    A presence on the streets may not have an immediate and/or noticeable impact. But it is something that passers by have their attention drawn to. Demos also have more of an impact if they get widely reported, and positively reported, in a range of media.

    In contrast to many other demos, I thought the 6pm news on TV3 & One gave a pretty good public airing of the TPPA issues last weekend.

  7. thechangeling 7

    In Palmerston North it was very disappointing to hear Labour Party MP Iain Lees Galloway declare that he thinks Free Trade Agreements have been good for New Zealand, which as most of us here at thestandard know is not true. FTA’s are instead responsible for our permanently high unemployment and under employment levels in New Zealand and around the western world, largely because we don’t make very much of what we consume anymore and instead import it, largely at the expense of dairy farmers who are all singing in the rain.
    Massey University academic Jeff Sluka however nailed it on the head when he declared that FTA’s have been directly responsible for the growing inequality in New Zealand.

    • Draco T Bastard 7.1

      Massey University academic Jeff Sluka however nailed it on the head when he declared that FTA’s have been directly responsible for the growing inequality in New Zealand.

      That is their purpose so it really shouldn’t be a surprise that that’s what they achieve.

    • lprent 7.2

      ..Labour Party MP Iain Lees Galloway declare that he thinks Free Trade Agreements have been good for New Zealand, which as most of us here at thestandard know is not true.

      Not me. It’d be bloody hard to be able to point to a FTA that NZ that has been a party to that caused significiant economic issues. The last one I can think of was the one we made with the Britian back in the empire days that kept us as an under developed farming economy.

      I suspect that you are confusing FTAs with the dropping of tariff barriers. That happened unilaterally without any international agreements in the 1980s. It also happened too fast.

      My opposition to the TPP is because I see it as a restraint of trade agreement, and as we are already a free trading nation, we’re heavily on the downward side of any benefits. It will cost us a hell of a lot because about the only sector that may (but probably not) get any benefits is the farming sector. Every other sector of the economy looks like it will either not get anything or it will cost us.

      I forgot, it will also enhance the bloated egos of some useless politicians…

      • Disraeli Gladstone 7.2.1

        Well said.

      • thechangeling 7.2.2

        The restricted trade agreement model allows for policies such as full employment to be enacted. We must make an increasing proportion of what we consume or an employment imbalance will be permanent such as we have now. The primary amd service sectors have demonstrated that they can not soak up the unemployed caused by ‘economic restructuring aka FTA’s’. There’s a lot of products here (almost everything in fact) that NZ used to produce that now comes from China and various other places.
        Labour’s value added wood policy for example, is destined to be a flop because once processed, the completed product then has to compete on price both in the domestic market and globally with countries that produce the same or similar product such as China which can always compete favourably on cost of labour, as well as fixed currency advantages. A national procurement policy that favours the local supplier could however mitigate this to a large extent if implemented systemically.
        Tariff reductions are always ambiguous as far as FTA’s are concerned.

        • Draco T Bastard 7.2.2.1

          The primary amd service sectors have demonstrated that they can not soak up the unemployed caused by ‘economic restructuring aka FTA’s’.

          They’re not supposed to. In the present economic paradigm unemployment is purposefully kept high (Greater than 6%) so as to keep wages down. That’s what john Key meant when he said he wanted lower wages. National must have been over the moon about coming in to power with the GFC as they could lower employment and wages while blaming it on Labour and the GFC.

          • lprent 7.2.2.1.1

            That was frigging annoying. Labour had been pushing a long-overdue economic diversification after they got elected in 1999. It’d been pretty successful by the mid-noughties and was doing a pretty credible job of soaking up unemployment in the provincial and main centres.

            Then the dumbarse economic nitwits known as National threw all of the diversification support efforts away and started using the remaining money to support their cronies mostly in the farming economy and we stopped getting new companies forming. The parts of our economy that were vulnerable shed employees and started shutting down. And as you say, unemployment went up and is still persistently rising at a household level.

            I don’t know know of any new tech companies formed since 2009 so the basic manufacturing export growth is just running on what Labour started without replacements as companies move closer to their markets.

            Dairy provides fuckall employment and nothing much else is going to provide jobs at anything like even our existing population growth…

            Welcome to the economic stupidity that characterises National governments.

            I guess we just have to turf the useless munters..

        • lprent 7.2.2.2

          Both major left parties have statements and even policies about local procurement. Labour hasn’t been particularly noticeable at doing it.

          In almost every FTA I’ve looked at for NZ, there really isn’t anything to stop that as a general policy. It is certainly the policy on the other side in countries we have signed FTA with.

          The thing you realise after being in manufacturing and even services businesses here is that that 4 and bit million people is a market that simply isn’t worth chasing for anything. It is too small to build a business on and will always get the overflow from larger economies offshore with economies of scale. The only things that work well inside the market are things that are hard to transport and those that are localised or cater to local tastes. Increasingly even those are owned an run from offshore.

          So all manufacturing and increasingly most services go directly offshore to vertical segment markets. That way you can leverage high levels of knowledge and skills in a small market segment directly to a very small but large number of customers in an international market. That provides employment here directly and indirectly as amassive multiplier. Basically we are increasingly exporting smarts from people that can’t see a point on moving from NZ if they have the net to work over.

          I’ve been doing that since 1996 in my code segments. I didn’t move from NZ in 1991 purely because I saw the net arriving.

          • thechangeling 7.2.2.2.1

            So what the hell are 150,000+ unemployed and 350,000+ under-employed people supposed to do with their lives while a few ‘high tech,’ ‘smart,’ ‘innovative’ and ‘niche’ manufacturing businesses make plenty of dosh and splash out on products imported into New Zealand that could of been made here and employed addtional New Zealanders?
            Looking after the local labour market should come first when it comes to production and consumption paradigms, after which the surplus production can be offloaded offshore where there’s sufficient demand.

            • lprent 7.2.2.2.1.1

              sigh Those people in tech industries live and buy goods and services locally. That creates local employment providing those goods and services. This is exactly the same as has happened with exports from farming and forestry for the last hundred years or so. What we need to do is to widen the base of the competitive export industries that allow us as a economy to pay for our imports. We are too small an economy to try to close off an internal economy because we will always require imports.

              The problem with NZ is that our internal economy is too small to be efficient for producing many goods, so like all smaller economies we import them from economies that do have the economies of scale. The problem is that we have to pay for them, so we export goods and services to pay for them.

              The problem is that there is an issue with that in providing the gateway for wealth from exports to filter through to the rest of the economy. Both farming and forestry and for that matter most resource extraction industries here and overseas are increasingly automated. So the ‘gateway’ for that wealth dispersal are increasingly constrained.

              For instance, the entire dairy and dairy processing industry (our single largest export industry) directly employs something like 60k people out of an economy of close to 3 million people. This is roughly the same as the tech industry directly employs, but for about a tenth of the export value.

              So rather than the wealth from dairy exports going into wages and thereby out into the local economy as purchases, it has been increasingly being tied up paying for capital on the speculative bubble of property. Effectively it increasingly never really hits the local economy, but instead leaks out of the country in the form of interest payments. (I’m over simplifying like hell – but that is the nett effect over time).

              Whereas the wealth for IP based industries is far more expressed as wages, which then largely gets spent in the local economy and disperses in creating and maintaining local jobs.

              Sure we could put up some kind of tariff barriers to produce local industries that are inherently inefficient and charge that cost through to everyone in the country. We had that back in the late 70’s and 80’s when I first started working.

              However it effectively means that all of our export industries also carry that cost as well and therefore become relatively inefficient in a world market. That is exactly what happened in the 1980s. Our local protected industries couldn ‘t export worth a damn. They just overcharged local purchasers and killed the local cost structures. It meant that the corporate I worked for back then had a larger office of lobbyists in Wellington trying to keep tariff barriers than its entire head office. And we didn’t export anything because our production prices were such that we weren’t and never could be competitive in the world economy.

              Eventually the local costs override the export income, and the country goes into a spiral of debt when its external import costs (like oil) rise. That was why the tariff barriers were dropped decades late in the 1980s, and it is why they should stay dropped. It is a bad idea to try to create a artificial economy to charge exporters to run the economy while ensuring that their ability to export gets screwed by the

              Basically we aren’t the US or Europe or China where the economies are big enough to make the internal economy many times larger than the export/import trade, and therefore the internal economies of scale for local production work.

              What we need to encourage is alternative export industries that preferably directly employ more people than automated farming, and who therefore provide much higher levels of indirect employment.

              • RedBaronCV

                The trouble is we are also offshoring services for some of which we are charged a higher price than those doing the same thing locally. Rationally those services should be provided onshore but some one’s offshore ego trip takes precedence.

                The second thing about offshoring services is, while it may be cheaper for the provider, the customer wears an increased cost. Call centres used to be an epic example of this, one could spend an entire work afternoon spelling Opotiki or similar and trying to extract information or documents from someone somewhere who didn’t have a clue what you were actually talking about. A local would have sorted it in 5.

                Lastly part of the cheaper price is that we are taking goods made with lower health and safety standards – child labour anyone? Some tax/tariff reinstatement might not be a bad idea.
                It’s a subject on which we could take lessons fom Australia. We need to stop being so “nice” and giving away our goods and productivity to off shore multinationals.
                It’ss probabaly no coincidence that software exports are growing. Where there are peopel involved not goods they can’t be offshored, bought and sold in the same way.

                • lprent

                  The trouble is we are also offshoring services for some of which we are charged a higher price than those doing the same thing locally.

                  Oh I’d entirely agree. This site’s active servers for instance are entirely offshore these days.

                  I’ve had it local and I’ve had it offshore.

                  Anytime it is local, the site is always susceptible to vexatious actions. Local hosting firms tend to want to take the site down or offending content removed if a lawyer makes a threat against them – regardless of if it is a valid threat or not. Running it from offshore makes the cost of being vexatious a lot higher then merely getting a lawyer mate to send a letter to a hosting company.

                  Not to mention what the bloody stupid net laws that are steadily coming into play here (there are some supremely dfat anti-bullying laws going through at present for instance) where the presumption of guilt on complaint appears to be the basis of any operation. They also appear to want to bypass the system operators and go directly to the hosting companies.

                  Needless to say, I’ve set the system so that ANY action must go through me or possibly Mike. People would have to convince one of the other of us that there is an actual problem – which seldom is the case.

                  But also I can get flexible servers with a lot of functionality at a reasonable price offshore that I simply can’t get here. LIterally the number of servers running this site drops dramatically overnight (usually to 3) and increases during the day (so far the peak has been about 12). Basically that means that we’re not paying for capacity we don’t need AND we have the CPU power when we need it. There are a lot of other services in a large scale operation that make this possible. It is exactly the same reason why wordpress.com and blogger.com have the majority of smaller blog sites. Economies of scale by serving a worldwide system.

                  But then of course there are the local system economic inanities that push you offshore as you site scales up. For instance the cost of overseas traffic. Now maybe 10% of our audience are offshore. Mostly overseas kiwis. But if we were running servers here, then the Southern Cross would mean that we’d be paying at least twice our current costs mostly servicing robots.

                  We’re pumping about 300GB-700GB out per month of non-static data (the static data caches on the client side and is about an additional 100GB per month). The human readers are almost entirely in NZ. The robots are almost entirely offshore and account for the increase – mostly heading into xmas. But we pay for all of that at a pretty low costs at a offshore site. The traffic is a minor proportion of our costs.

                  But inside NZ our cost structure is dominated by the costs of providing even a relatively small amount of data to the robots from offshore. That is because everything that goes from OUR servers via the Southern Cross cables and they cost like it was gold. Data internal to the NZ network is essentially free.

                  By siting offshore we don’t have to pay for that indeterminate amount of very expensive offshore traffic.

                  I can’t think of a good reason to site in-country because of those two reasons.

                  But what is abnormal about our situation compared to a tech company is that we have no paid employees doing development, sales, and distribution and our cost structure is dominated by our server costs.

                  An actual exporting tech company like the one I work for has server costs that are miniscule compared to wages, and almost all support is done via email. We also spend quite a lot of development effort making sure that we don’t get support calls or emails (something that I find is notably lacking amongst any company that offshores its call support)..

    • Wayne 7.3

      If you want to vote for a party against free trade, you have to vote Green or Mana. After all Labour pioneered the China FTA (and a good thing too).

      Anyway you already know this.

      By the way, it does seem that The Standard has become very de-spirited over the last few weeks. The only thing that has really excited commenters was Kim Dotcom.

      Sign of the election result?

      • Tautoko Viper 7.3.1

        No way, Wayne.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 7.3.2

        I like your spirit Dr. Mapp. You’ve been awful quiet about corruption Collins, especially the way her personal corruption lends credence to Simon Lusk’s evidence that the National Party is nothing but a vehicle but the personal enrichment of its MPs and donors.

        Plenty of spirit in the left old boy, but I fear your party has been taken over by toadies and shills.

      • lprent 7.3.3

        By the way, it does seem that The Standard has become very de-spirited over the last few weeks. The only thing that has really excited commenters was Kim Dotcom.

        Don’t know about anyone else. But I’ve been far too busy at work to spend much time hanging out or writing here. Also haven’t had time to chase people up to write on the site (especially guest posts) which is why we have been having some variation in the numbers of daily posts. However than is also part of the annual pattern which sinks markedly on the onset of the reduced daylight hours every year.

        Basically we have a drop over xmas and a slow increase up to March/April, a drop through the dark months, and then a rise through August to the end of the year. It gets extreme towards the second half of general election years. We get major growth increases in election year which then persists and slightly grows in off-election years.

        Ummm try this public summary …
        http://statcounter.com/p6805620/summary/?guest=1

        Set to Monthly Or Quarterly, All Data, Area Graph. Look mostly at the Unique visits to see the trend. The pageviews peaks in May 2011, March 2012, August 2012-November 2012 were exaggerated by issues from facebook.

        The statcounter data set is a bit too small to see pronounced repeating election year growth pattern. I can see that in wordpress stats and google analytics

  8. Tracey 8

    wait til the chines premier comes here if key is in power. i suspectt key will make shipley look like a softie in this regard

  9. vto 9

    why didn’t someone just pick the fence up at one end and swing it out of the way?

    • framu 9.1

      exactly – who actually own the grounds around parliament?

      i would like to think its public land but you never know

      • McFlock 9.1.1

        public, but it’s the Speaker who acts as the delegated property supervisor, for want of a better term.

    • s y d 9.2

      Why? No one dared to step out of line. Shall we? Is it allowed? What did the security guy say? Oh that’s terrible. We always get to go to the top step. They should do something….

      Like Karol says don’t discount the communication factor of protest. I’ve always felt the best protests annoy people, incovenience them, jolt them out of the stupor, make them angry, spitting and venomous. They allow passers-by to see, feel, experience the hate and bile of the reaction against you. It’s amazing how such a simple thing can lift the edge of the carpet.

      However our local TPPA march went on the footpath….as if a random mob of shoppers had got loose. I know Mr Bragg advised against being cynical but I’m with Bill above.

  10. Tautoko Viper 10

    The green fencing of Parliament grounds brought to mind the Tony Robinson series in which enclosure, including Parliamentary enclosure, reduced the common land available to the people. A similar stripping of publicly owned land (and services) is taking place here.
    Landcorp CEO now saying that Land management and not ownership is its core business ( because of Treasury review no doubt). http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/rural/238654/landcorp-moving-more-into-farm-management

    Public Schools and Hospitals are under threat as this article shows the Treasury pushing the same thinking.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11226941
    We are being too nice about respecting green fences while being mocked by politicians who are stealing our assets.

  11. Colonial Viper 11

    Where is the spirit of defiance and dissent amongst the 99%. Peaceful civil resistance may sometimes have to go further than politely observing stay off the grass signs.

    In the US they have effectively closed off all public spaces in big cities to being available for significant protest actions. An example is setting a closing time for a park or square at 9pm or 10pm which is only ever enforced if a protest is occurring.

    Significant protests and strikes of any duration require significant logistical support and logistical bases. In the old days union halls and the like would fulfill this role.

    Today many of these things are no longer available.

  12. weka 12

    Thanks for writing this guest poster. These meta issues are the really crucial ones. We can’t win the others without sorting these ones out.

  13. freedom 13

    The post is a fair summation of the wider issue, but things were not completely passive and options were considered.

    It is no revelation to anyone with real world experience of organizing actions at Parliament that any openly aggressive actions during a protest potentially harm the conditions laid down for further protest action at Parliament. This is always (quietly) made clear during ‘negotiations’ for protest actions at Parliament. Remember there were maybe three hundred people gathered. Not a huge crowd, and it was not a highly co-ordinated group, but they were there to listen, and stand together. That still counts for something in this world. Maybe more so now than ever.

    Upon arrival at the forecourt steps, the organising team were busy getting the P.A. sorted as it had been interfered with in some manner since the earlier event.

    Whilst that was being sorted, myself and one of the organisers began attaching the main banners to the barrier fence. We did seriously consider getting the crowd to assist in lifting the fence up to the forecourt but a quick appraisal of the situation means we rejected the idea without much debate. The crowd’s own behaviour showed it really was not much of an issue.

    “I attempted to convince a few of the people I recognised at the march to get together and move the fence. However, I was told we “didn’t have enough people” – I did hear a few people voicing similar ideas but don’t recall many stepping forward. When looked at objectively, the situational reality dictated not to respond to the obvious manipulation of the barrier fence with too much aggression. The crowd was not “corralled” by the fence, it was a single line, there were no sides to the barrier fence.

    If we had wanted, the entire rally could just as easily have walked around the fence up onto the forecourt. This is probably what we should have done. Everyone sitting on the forecourt steps with their back to parliament listening to the speakers down on the lawn. A lost opportunity, maybe. A plan to consider for next time, definitely. The obviousness of the deliberate placement of the fence at the base of the forecourt steps was more an admission by the Government that petty is the preferred play.

    There were one or two marchers who were considering pulling the fence away. They gave the barrier an enthusiastically symbolic rattling whilst shouting some pretty direct vitriol at the government. Not sure who he was, but there was one young guy who would give Maynard James Keenan a run for his money in a shouting loudly competition.

    Things quickly calmed down and I believe this was the right reaction to the situation. Positioning the fence below the forecourt steps forced a quick decision upon arrival at Parliament, and it was very much a group think decision. If the crowd had been bigger then I believe we would have moved the fence for the symbolic nature alone, but the word from the crowd made it clear the speeches were more important than where they were delivered from.

    That is not apologizing for any apparent lack of anger expressed at the event’s manipulation, I am simply hoping to clarify something about the situational reality.

    For the record: The ‘little green fence’, was a chain of steel barrier sections padlocked together.
    It is in reality an unwieldy heavy and dangerous object. It had been formed and situated so the length of its entirety extended well beyond the stairs’ 20m width and moving its dozen or so padlocked sections would have been a difficult job, even with a well-rehearsed team. Any action to re-locate the barriers would have been time consuming, not likely to have had any real benefit and potentially come at a very real cost to future actions. There were also risks of having the situation become a farce rather than an act of resistance.

    All in all I think the best was made of a crappy situation.

    I would like to add how the main gates of Parliament were locked as well, which now seems to be normal operating procedure facing protest actions entering the grounds of Parliament. This fragments the arrival of a march into Parliament grounds and again is an action best described as petty.

    • weka 13.1

      That’s interesting freedom, and adds to the picture. I’m unclear why so much focus on moving the fence though. Surely the issue isn’t the position of the fence but where the protest gets to be. Jumping the fence, or walking around it seem entirely reasonable.

  14. bad12 14

    That’s progress for you tho, the last time i seen ‘the fence’ on the Parliaments forecourt it was the steel grey of its manufacture,(Parliamentary green now i must hope???),

    Given a ‘Hot issue’ akin to the anti-apartheid protests,(so long ago i glaringly remember them to this day), i am sure that ‘the fence’ would have not remained as an impediment and quite possibly would have been put to good use as a tool,

    It was a question asked by many of us after the head-bashing meted out by the forces of the State on young girls and grandmothers WHY did those who were our leaders on that night march us away from the Parliament where up on the balcony National Government Ministers watched on with what i assume to be amusement, if not glee,

    Never really answered, and pointless to speculate upon,(although i have a theory), nothing much after that was allowed to become a barrier to anyone’s right to protest from barbed wire to the two meter plus gates of Rugby League Park a means was simply found to remove such obstacles,

    i do tho still believe that for all the energy spent, for all the blood spilled, a far greater effect would have been had on the ‘Tour’ if every committed anti-tour protester had of made their way to Wellington and either occupied the grounds of the Parliament for the more faint of heart,or, for those more robust an actual occupation of the Parliament…

    • BM 14.1

      You would have been arrested or shot.

      • bad12 14.1.1

        i have been arrested,(to times to count), and shot at,(three times), in my short span upon this Earth, so BM what’s new???…

        • BM 14.1.1.1

          Could be the reason why the others weren’t so enthusiastic, could have been different though if a hardened bad ass such as yourself was leading the charge and showing the way.

          • bad12 14.1.1.1.1

            BM, what exactly are you raving about,could the reason for your latest exhibition be that your drunk again…

      • One Anonymous Bloke 14.1.2

        Imagine the scene: Bad12 getting arrested and shot, and BM witnessing the murder, proudly wearing his uniform, but simultaneously worried about when his ability to read and write would mark him as a dangerous subversive.

  15. Glenn Cassidy 15

    Or they could have walked around them very easily… I think the pressure was actually more malignant than a few security officers..afterall there were a large number of foreign ministers inside at the time being smooched and slobbered over by Hekia.
    Also, the Fijian delegation were just beaming from ear to ear at the unbelievable sight of protesters on parliament grounds full stop… pick your battles.

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    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    7 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    7 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    7 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    8 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    9 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    12 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    12 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    13 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    14 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    15 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    17 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – 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. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    2 days ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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 ...
    2 days 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 ...
    2 days 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    4 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
    4 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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 ...
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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 ...
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours 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
    11 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
    13 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
    13 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
    1 day 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
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