Author Archive
The Māori Party and the National Party
Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, May 13th, 2021 - 57 comments
There were dramatic scenes in Parliament yesterday. Judith Collins chose to again attack Jacinda Ardern about the He Puapua report. And Māori Party Co leader Rawiri Waititi expressed his disgust at her race baiting in a uniquely New Zealand way.
Government backs away from public service wage announcement
Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, May 12th, 2021 - 34 comments
Some good news from yesterday. The Government has decided to walk back earlier comments suggesting a wage freeze for teachers and nurses.
National’s use of the dog whistle and its hatred of UN conventions
Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, May 10th, 2021 - 52 comments
Judith Collins has applied the dog whistle to the He Puapua report and suggested that it is evidence of the Government wanting to radically change New Zealand society. But a check through history shows that the report is based on an International Treaty that National signed up to.
Onya Michael
Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, May 8th, 2021 - 34 comments
Yesterday Minister of Labour Michael Wood led the announcement of a policy that conceivably could do more to address the decline in workers wages and conditions over the past 40 years than anything else tried recently.
About the public service pay freeze
Written By: - Date published: 7:40 am, May 6th, 2021 - 43 comments
A few of us on the left have issues with the public service wage freeze announced yesterday. By setting the salary level so low, at $60,000 per annum, the threat is that previous gains for teachers and nurses will be undermined.
About Trevor Mallard
Written By: - Date published: 8:20 pm, May 5th, 2021 - 67 comments
- Trevor Mallard has made a concerted effort to change the tone of Parliament. But last night got caught in a bickering match with National.
Collins’ really bad take on te Tiriti
Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, May 4th, 2021 - 67 comments
Last weekend Judith Collins spoke to the Northern Regional Conference of the National Party and gave as crude an analysis of te Tiriti as you can imagine.
Sepuloni: Labour to increase Jobseeker benefit
Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, May 3rd, 2021 - 58 comments
Some good news from over the weekend. Labour is planning to significantly increase the level of Jobseeker benefit.
Can we trust David Seymour?
Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, May 1st, 2021 - 48 comments
David Seymour has got himself into a little bit of trouble. He filed a Parliamentary Pecuniary interests return that was not, ahem, correct.
The Most Blacks
Written By: - Date published: 10:36 am, April 30th, 2021 - 45 comments
The New Zealand Rugby Union is currently in the process of selling its soul to the devil, in this case a private equity firm called Silver Lake. This made me reflect on what the NZRU is selling.
National’s election review leaked
Written By: - Date published: 7:33 am, April 29th, 2021 - 20 comments
It was only a matter of time. Tova O’Brien at Newshub has been leaked a copy of the abridged version of the National Party election review.
Australia is picking a fight with China
Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, April 28th, 2021 - 53 comments
I am pleased that Nanaia Mahuta and the Government have distanced ourselves from joining in with five eyes attacks on China. Because when you look at that aggressive rhetoric that is emanating from Australia you have to be worried.
Boris Johnson’s and Dominic Cummings’ very public fallout
Written By: - Date published: 10:54 am, April 27th, 2021 - 17 comments
Over in the UK Boris Johnson and his former chief advisor Dominic Cummings have had a very public fallout. And ever since it happened there have been very public leaks of damaging information which incredibly have not as yet damaged the Conservative Party’s standing.
The five eyes beat up
Written By: - Date published: 1:50 pm, April 24th, 2021 - 33 comments
There has been a conservative sourced beat up of Aotearoa New Zealand for not using an intelligence gathering treaty grouping to publicly attack China.
Biden is serious about climate change
Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, April 24th, 2021 - 70 comments
One of the many regretful aspects of the Trump presidency was the United States open hostility to doing anything about climate change. It looks like Joe Biden will do his best to make up for lost time.
National’s very bad day
Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, April 22nd, 2021 - 86 comments
Yesterday was a day where National focussed on dog whistle racism, supported religious extremists and moaned about workers receiving a modest increase in the minimum wage.
DHBs to go
Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, April 21st, 2021 - 101 comments
Television New Zealand has reported that Andrew Little is to announce that district health boards are to go
Its official – Transmission Gully is a fiasco
Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, April 20th, 2021 - 19 comments
A damning report into National’s PPP contract for construction of Transmission Gully has concluded that the maximum price the government would pay was set too low, project bidders soon worked this out and that proposals were “value managed down” or made cheaper on designs and timelines that created risks that would eventually manifest themselves after procurement once construction commenced.
National’s housing policy
Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, April 16th, 2021 - 30 comments
National has released its housing policy and the proposals are predictable. Free up more land, loosen up the RMA, and require Councils in high growth areas to urgently review their district plans.
Bridges supports Judith at this time
Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, April 14th, 2021 - 10 comments
Simon Bridges had added to rumours of a leadership challenge by pledging support for Judith Collins as leader “at this time”.
Donations trouble for Māori Party and National
Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, April 13th, 2021 - 14 comments
The Electoral laws about donations are pretty clear. Receive a donation over $30,000 and you should tell the Electoral Commission about the report within the next ten working days. But the Maori Party and the National Party have both managed to recently breach this simple requirement.
The politics of the Covid vaccination roll out
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, April 12th, 2021 - 91 comments
Poor National. Faced with a Government response to Covid that has been superb it is reduced to criticising the Government for not rolling out the Covid vaccine quickly enough.
The Covid India issue
Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, April 9th, 2021 - 29 comments
This is a desperately difficult issue. India is currently experiencing a surge in Covid cases. And faced with the prospect of quarantine beds being overrun if current trends continue the Government has taken the step of banning people entering the country if they have been in India during the two weeks prior to travel.
Bridges is back?
Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, April 9th, 2021 - 16 comments
Judith Collins has more reasons to be worried. There is a rumour of a SImon Bridges-Chris Luxon leadership ticket potentially having a run for the leadership of the National Party.
Click bait frenzy
Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, April 8th, 2021 - 69 comments
Media has been awash with discussion about Mike Hosking’s recent interaction with Jacinda Ardern. She was invited onto his show, agreed to appear, was grilled on isolation facility beds, and gave responses. End of story you would think.
Bubble bubble toil and trouble
Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, April 6th, 2021 - 42 comments
An announcement on the Trans Tasman bubble is expected this afternoon.
The biggest grifter
Written By: - Date published: 12:21 pm, April 5th, 2021 - 17 comments
The New York Times is reporting that the Trump Campaign sucked in a whole lot of republican voters by asking for urgent donations but then treating them as regular rather than one off donations unless donors discovered and clicked on a well hidden check box.
What is Socialism – a primer for idiots
Written By: - Date published: 9:09 am, April 5th, 2021 - 163 comments
Merchant Banker Troy Bowker has accused the Government of engaging in Socialist wealth redistribution ideology by not extending to landlords a state supported loan guarantee scheme and by implementing relatively modest wealth redistribution measures.
Greta Thunberg is now 18
Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, April 2nd, 2021 - 59 comments
Greta Thunberg is now aged 18. And her activism is still strong.
Ports of Auckland – time for change
Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, March 31st, 2021 - 5 comments
Auckland Council has released the Ports of Auckland Independent Health and Safety Report and the recommendations are damning.
National’s leadership problem
Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, March 30th, 2021 - 42 comments
Chris Luxon’s maiden speech last week and another example of multiple leaks of details of a caucus meeting highlight how precarious Judith Collins’ tenure as National Party leader is. But does someone have the numbers to replace her?
- Another captive agency
The Crown Pastoral Land Act 1998 requires leaseholders to obtain permission before conducting certain activities, such as burning vegetation or disturbing the soil (which includes clearing vegetation, planting trees, draining wetlands, and applying fertiliser, as well as going wild with a bulldozer). It allows the Commissioner of Crown Lands to ...6 hours ago - When the Line Between Life and Death Is ‘A Little Bit Fuzzy’
May 10, 2021 by Lola Butcher Until Sept. 17, 2020, Sharon Frederick was an ostensibly healthy 63-year-old woman who spent her days caring for her disabled sister and going to church. That evening, she was praying the rosary over the telephone with a friend when she began slurring her ...6 hours ago - The Adventures of Annalax: Volume XXIII
Session forty-seven. No-one trusted these mirrors. Nor should anyone. A collection of mirrors, just conveniently sitting in the middle of a Nightmare Forest? Clearly dangerous. The party made a point of burying them face-down in the dirt. Then three bears and eight wolves turned up. Again, these were ...7 hours ago - Union worker: Pay freeze was an attempt at intimidation by a government scared of strikes
Why on earth did the Government announce a “pay freeze” for public sector workers? Writing anonymously*, a public sector union worker argues that the Government’s goal was to drive down the pay expectations of the nurses who are currently set to strike, which the Government fears could lead to others ...7 hours ago - Labour: Dirty and corruptThe Serious Fraud Office has laid charges over illicit donations to the Labour party in 2017: The Serious Fraud Office has charged six people in relation to a donation made to the Labour Party. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Thursday the defendants are entitled to seek name ...8 hours ago
- COVID-19 vaccines prevent spread of the virus tooMany people seem to be reading that our COVID-19 vaccine won’t prevent the spread of COVID-19 from one person to the next.1 If you’re worried about this, this one is for you. We now have evidence the vaccine reduces transmission, and a rough idea of by how much.2 Science is ...9 hours ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 13 May 2021Parliamentary debates on race Jane Patterson (RNZ): Policies can be called racist but not MPs, Speaker rules Tess McClure (The Guardian): Māori party co-leader ejected from parliament after performing haka in racism row Richard Harman: Behind Parliament’s “racist” row (paywalled) Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi ejected from Parliament Anna Whyte (1News): Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi performs haka in ...13 hours ago
- SARS-CoV-2: A modern Greek Tragedy?By Dr Matt Boyd, Blog Syndicated from Adapt Research Despite a WHO-led investigation, compelling evidence on the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus remains inconclusive. The WHO investigation concluded in favour of a natural origin, being satisfied that ‘asking whatever questions we wanted’ and obtaining answers to these questions ruled out a ...14 hours ago
- The National Party: Regressing to 19th Century “values”? It sure seems so…
The National Party undertook its usual round of introspection at the Northern Retreat. That is to say, obviously none at all. And if Judith Collins destroys the National Party “brand” permanently, it really only has itself to blame. But she is not alone. Other former Leaders, still in the ...24 hours ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #19, 2021
Putting a price tag on upcoming atmospheric rivers The Clausius-Clapeyron equation isn't complicated— once somebody has thought of the concept and mathematically tamed it. However, the deceptively meek and harmless looking caged expression of the idea in combination with an entire planet's atmosphere heating up in the presence of an ample water ...1 day ago - Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – Have billions been incorrectly paid out in the wage subsidy sch...The Government’s wage subsidy scheme may have incorrectly paid out billions of dollars to ineligible businesses, and this is not being audited. That’s the conclusion to be taken from the Auditor General’s report, released yesterday. It is highly critical about the lack of checks and balances on a scheme that ...1 day ago
- Vaccine patentsThis week’s Newsroom column covered some of the arguments around increasing vaccination rates in poor countries by voiding patents. It won’t work. A snippet: Fundamentally, voiding patents is an unserious way of dealing with a serious problem. The world needs substantial expansions in vaccine manufacturing capabilities as quickly as possible. ...1 day ago
- Another English war crimeFifty years ago, the British army murdered ten people in the Ballymurphy massacre in Northern Ireland. In what has become a common tactic for the British establishment, they immediately tried to cover up their crime by smearing the victims as IRA members. Now, a UK coroner has ruled the killings ...1 day ago
- Members Day: Second readingsToday is a members day, and it looks like it will be wall-to-wall second readings left over from last term. First up is Anahila Kanongata’a-Suisuiki's District Court (Protection of Judgment Debtors with Disabilities) Amendment Bill, followed by Louise Upston's Rights for Victims of Insane Offenders Bill. Both of these have ...1 day ago
- The future finally arrivesOver the past few years I've been watching the price of solar energy fall, to the point where it now outcompetes fossil fuels, and wondering when it is finally going to take off in New Zealand and give us the clean, green future we need to survive. And now it ...1 day ago
- Falling Between Two Treaties: A Reply To Dr Emily Beausoleil.
1 day ago - Australia’s Quarantine Systems Failures: Lessons for NZDr Leah Grout, Ameera Katar, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Nick Wilson (*Author details) Aotearoa NZ and Australian states have successfully eliminated community transmission of COVID-19, albeit with occasional outbreaks from imported cases. Both countries have primarily used hotel-based quarantine for returning travellers, but still do not have optimal border ...1 day ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 12 May 2021Public sector pay freeze Claire Trevett (Herald): PM steps in, the melting of the pay freeze begins (paywalled) Jordan Bond (RNZ): Public sector pay freeze: Nurses warming to strike action plan – union Henry Cooke (Stuff): Thawing freeze: Jacinda Ardern says Government is open to introducing step-based pay for more public servants Duncan Greive (Spinoff): Is there a noble method to ...2 days ago
- Graham Adams: Will He Puapua propel Winston Peters back into politics?The NZ First leader once described the UN Declaration as the “road to Zimbabwe”. Graham Adams asks how long he will sit on the sidelines as the debate over Maori sovereignty rages. The controversial report He Puapua has been seized upon by National and Act as evidence of a covert ...2 days ago
- The same question again and againThe Independent Police Conduct authority has found police were unjustified in using an attack dog against a fleeing child: Police were not justified in using a police dog to bite a young offender following a pursuit, according to an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report. The 14-year-old was bitten ...2 days ago
- Samoa tries to gag its peopleSamoa's dodgy dissolution will be challenged in court this Thursday, which should provide some certainty over whether they are having an election next week. Meanwhile samoa's caretaker government is reportedly planning to ban Facebook for the election. Their reason? “The disrespectful, repulsive and obscene language towards our leaders; not ...2 days ago
- Labour’s divide and rule pay freeze
by Don Franks Last week, on the anniversary of Karl Marx’s birthday,Public Service Minister Chris Hipkins had good and bad news for workers. His good news – twenty-five per cent of public servants can expect pay rises. His bad news – for the next three years, public servants earning more than $60,000 will only get rises under ...2 days ago - NZ Politics Daily: 11 May 2021Public sector pay freeze Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): Ardern and Robertson say public sector wage freeze is ‘misreporting’. But is it? Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Grant Robertson schedules union crisis meetings after failing to communicate public pay freeze properly Chris Trotter (Interest): Playing by a new set of rules RNZ: Government urged to rethink public sector pay freeze decision Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government in ...3 days ago
- Overshooting 2C risks rapid and unstoppable sea level rise from AntarcticaThis is a re-post from Carbon Brief by: Dr Robert M. DeConto, professor of geosciences and co-director of the School of Earth and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, lead author on IPCC’s special report on the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate, and a recipient of the Tinker-Muse Prize for Science and ...3 days ago
- On the Parnassus Plays and Shakespeare Authorship
Yesterday, I read the Parnassus Plays (1598-1602): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnassus_plays These are three late Elizabethan university plays, put on by Cambridge students, for Cambridge students. They’re primarily known because of their extensive references to contemporary English writers, including William Shakespeare. And, certainly, we’ll get to that – there are interesting implications ...3 days ago - Climate Change: “Least cost” means “do nothing”The National Party is trying to sabotage the struggle against climate change again, with a bill in the member's ballot to force the Climate Change Commission to allow our domestic targets and international commitments to be met with "offshore mitigation". What does "offshore mitigation" mean? From past experience, it means ...3 days ago
- Incoherent 2Last week, the government froze public service pay for three years in a return to the economy-strangling austerity politics of the National era. But today, suddenly they're rolling in money: There’ll be more spending and lower debt levels in the 2021 Budget than expected, the Finance Minister, Grant Robertson ...3 days ago
- The Scots deserve their referendumScotland went to the polls on Friday in national elections, and delivered another thumping victory for the Scottish National Party. Once again, it fell just short of an absolute majority, but has an easy majority with the Scottish Greens. Both parties campaigned explicitly for Scottish independence, and in a democratic ...3 days ago
- Playing By A New Set Of RulesMeet The New Rules, Not Like The Old Rules: The old book was written on the assumption that political principles are important, and that, accordingly, political consistency from political parties must also be important. At its core, the old rule book accepted that the game it was regulating was the ...3 days ago
- Reducing tobacco retail availability: counterarguments to industry claimsLindsay Robertson, Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards, George Thomson, Louise Marsh (*Author details) The NZ Government’s Discussion Document outlines an Action Plan for the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 goal and proposes substantially reducing the number of retailers selling tobacco. In this blog, we examine arguments that interest groups have advanced to ...3 days ago
- National’s latest default Go-To Distraction
. . As National Party’s current Leader, Judith Collins, channeled former National Party Leader, Don Brash by playing the Race Card, I was reminded of a blogpost I wrote in March 2017; …//… Faced with increasingly negative indicators from high immigration, English was forced to explain why we were seeing ...4 days ago - NZ Politics Daily: 10 May 2021Public sector pay freeze Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup: The Public sector worker backlash against Labour Andrea Vance (Stuff): Why Jacinda Ardern needs to make a John Key-style u-turn on pay sector freeze Alexia Russell (RNZ): Pay freezing out your traditional voter base Liam Dann (Herald): Muldoon or Richardson? Robertson cops it from all sides (paywalled) Claire Trevett (Herald): Labour ...4 days ago
- Hiding He Puapua From Winston May Cost Labour Dearly.4 days ago
- 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #19Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 2, 2021 through Sat, May 8, 2021 In no particular order the following articles lead to the most interactions during the last seven days: Shifting Distribution of Land Temperature Anomalies, 1951-2020, Dare we hope? ...4 days ago
- A plan so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel
This week the Labour government, in its infinite wisdom, decided we’d all had enough of them spending billions of dollars helping out large multi-nationals pay their wage bill during Covid, they decided on a completely new course of action. This week Labour announced an austerity plan. And what a plan ...4 days ago - Mother’s Day
(Content note: infertility, mental health, motherhood) My first post about our ~parenting journey~ is here. Mother’s Day has never been the most problematic artificially-hyped-to-sell-stuff-parental-celebration holiday for me. I grew up ~without a father~ (he bailed; his loss) so it was always the unthinking way we/marketing departments assume that everyone has ...4 days ago - Types of futures reportsThe web comic xkcd created a great (satirical) overview of the types of scientific papers. That got me thinking about the types of futures reports I commonly see. There are very good reports out there. You just need to read with a critical eye. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash ...5 days ago
- Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – The Public sector worker backlash against LabourIs Labour supposed to be the party of labour or of capital? It’s often hard to tell these days, and many in the labour movement and the political left are feeling betrayed this week by the Government’s announcement of a pay freeze for public sector workers. The Government has essentially ...5 days ago
- Fast times and a fast mouth with Boy Racer MP, David Seymour?
You’ve got to give the man credit: he quite honestly built his own car, a Lotus replica, and clearly had personal skills and a driving interest here – ha – that served him well even at a young age, which no doubt were enhanced further when he went on ...6 days ago - Why Are We Moving to Auckland?
Might the drift to the north be resisted?The regional population projections of Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) have only the Auckland and Waikato regions growing faster than the national average through to 2048. The other fourteen grow slower than average. The next three are Bay of Plenty, Canterbury and Northland, so ...6 days ago - The Free Speech Union NZ branch
by Daphna Whitmore Across the English speaking world free speech is threatened. Wokeness and cancel culture, which emerged from the universities in the past decade, has spread. Its ideology is postmodernism, an obscure and impenetrable outlook. Now the university graduates have taken their piousness into government departments and NGOs where ...6 days ago - IncoherentOn Wednesday, the government froze public service pay for three years in a vicious attack on the very workers who have kept the country alive during the pandemic for the last year. Meanwhile, today they've re-announced their new system of "Fair pay Agreements", allowing unions to negotiate basic terms and ...6 days ago
- Branko Marcetic: Labour’s public sector pay freeze isn’t just a betrayal of frontline workers ...All around the world, governments, economists, and even neoliberal bastions like the World Bank are urging a change in the direction of economic policy away from the mistakes of a decade ago – all except here in New Zealand, where the government appears determined to repeat them. Branko Marcetic examines ...6 days ago
- Farewell the utopian city. To cope with climate change we must learn from how nature adaptsMohammed Makki, University of Technology Sydney “Among all species, it is perhaps only humans who create habitats that are not fit to live in.” – Stephen Marshall It’s a damning statement but one that can be reasonably argued to be true. We don’t have the best track record in ...6 days ago
- Why we should take a women-centred approach to diagnosing and treating iron deficiencyClaire Badenhorst, Massey University Iron deficiency is a common nutritional disorder worldwide, and pre-menopausal women are most at risk of being diagnosed with it. New Zealand’s most recent nutritional survey (from 2008/09) shows 12% of women may suffer from iron deficiency. But more recent research in New Zealand suggests up ...7 days ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 7 May 2021Public sector pay freeze Stuff: Editorial – Pay freeze stretches public sector loyalty Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Pay freeze shows Government can’t manage the books Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Pay freeze controversy enters second day, with Greens and National pressing Labour Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Do people really earn more in the public sector? David Farrar: Robertson and Hipkins become honorary members of ...7 days ago
- Josh Van Veen: The Muller TrapA speech by Todd Muller at the Te Puna Rugby Club last June told voters everything they need to know about the New Zealand National Party. It was, arguably, the most coherent statement on political philosophy by a National leader in the MMP era. Interwoven with the usual platitudes ...7 days ago
- With Friends Like These …He's On Our Side? When Australia’s very own Minister of Defence, Peter Dutton, is telling anyone who will listen that "a war over Taiwan cannot be discounted" and that Australia was "already under attack" from Chinese cyber-warriors, it is probably time to think again about who New Zealand's "friends" and ...7 days ago
- Developing Separately – Or Together?'He iwi tahi tātou'? Should Maori poverty be addressed as a manifestation of the economic and social injustices inherent in free-market capitalism; or, is it the inevitable consequence of colonial oppression, white privilege and institutional racism? If it’s the former, then Maori and Pakeha can tackle the problem together. If ...1 week ago
- “A Rare Misstep from Simeon Brown”: Once more playing the Useful Idiot of the National Party?
Overall, MP Simeon Brown is someone to poke fun at with his asinine takes, clearly. He can, like Collins, just not help himself to save himself. But never let yourself get seriously worked up and actually worn out over it. He’s simply not worth it, sad as it ...1 week ago - Selling a buffalo for a brain scan: India’s COVID-19 crisis reveals deep fractures in its health s...Kaaren Mathias, University of Canterbury As India’s COVID-19 crisis continues, the percentage of the population testing positive for the virus has grown from 4.2% to 18.4% in the past 30 days. With more than 300,000 new cases reported each day, hospitals and crematoria face collapse. Global media have been awash ...1 week ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 6 May 2021Parliament’s Speaker Trevor Mallard Henry Cooke (Stuff): National v Mallard: That atrocious late-night debate is the reason people hate politicians Barry Soper (Herald): Trevor Mallard’s outburst this week questions whether he understands what a serious sexual assault is Claire Trevett (Herald): The unedifying spectacle of the Speaker v National in Parliament (paywalled) Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Mallard using his power to attack ...1 week ago
- Reducing tobacco retail availability: how could this be achieved and what evidence supports the NZ G...Lindsay Robertson, Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards, Frederieke Petrović-van der Deen, George Thomson, Louise Marsh (*Author details) The NZ Government has published a Discussion Document outlining an Action Plan for the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 goal. This blog is one of a series examining key aspects of the plan to help inform ...1 week ago
- Ardern says China differences ‘becoming harder to ignore’; promises to work harder on ignoring t...
Ardern has been crystal clear that New Zealand “must step up” its efforts if it is to successfully dodge questions about genocide in China. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the Auckland Business Chamber on Monday that differences between New Zealand and China on human rights were “becoming more difficult” to ...1 week ago - covid-19 infection and how the spike protein is involved in doing harmJust this morning a journalist sent me a link to a press release about a new paper looking at how SARS-Cov-2 affects the vascular system, & asked to comment on it for a article. If you’d like to read the actual paper you can find it here, but be ...1 week ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #18, 2021Bringing more certainty to uncertainty communications For the armchair dilettante observer of scientific progress a solid literature review is something akin to going to Disneyland. It's almost too much stimulation. When a review covers a salient, hot topic, so much the better. This week we're pleased to feature a vast review ...1 week ago
- Is ‘Spot’ a good dog? Why we’re right to worry about unleashing robot quadrupedsJeremy Moses, University of Canterbury and Geoffrey Ford, University of Canterbury When it comes to dancing, pulling a sled, climbing stairs or doing tricks, “Spot” is definitely a good dog. It can navigate the built environment and perform a range of tasks, clearly demonstrating its flexibility as a software ...1 week ago
- Punishing our saviours againLast year public servants saved our lives, working overtime in the middle of a pandemic to stand up a response which kept out Covid and kept kiwis alive and employed. The government rewarded them with a pay freeze. And now they're extending that for another three years: Public servants ...1 week ago
- Hard News: A picture of official callousness and detachment
Last night, the New Zealand Herald posted a story from its political reporter Derek Cheng which bundles together a number of current issues around medicinal cannabis. The most alarming is that of Katy Thomas and her epileptic son Eddy, which has recently been taken up by Green MP Chloe Swarbrick. Their ...1 week ago - Samoa’s dodgy dissolutionSamoa's tied elections took a turn for the worse last night, with the O le Ao o le Malo purporting to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections in what looks awfully like a self-coup. The "justification" for this was the uncertainty created by the hung parliament - a situation the ...1 week ago
- 12,000 unemployed under LabourThe quarterly labour market statistics have been released, and once again outperformed expectations, with unemployment dropping to 4.7%. So there are now 135,000 unemployed, 12,000 more than when Labour took office. Its not all good news though: the underutilisation rate is up, suggesting that more jobs are part-time. Still, compared ...1 week ago
- Labour refuses to condemn genocide in XinjiangBut they will condemn "possible severe human rights abuses". What a pack of snivelling, grovelling chickenshits. Refusing to call the crime what it is for fear of offending the criminal. But maybe this is Labour's "kindness"? Fuck the poor. Fuck the kids. Fuck immigrants. But be kind to génocidaires. But ...1 week ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 5 May 2021He Puapua document and the National Party Henry Cooke (Stuff): Whose race card is this anyway? Judith Collins and David Seymour both appear to have found the same wedge issue Graham Adams (Stuff): Ardern on a hot tin roof over He Puapua plan to share power with Māori Claire Trevett (Herald): Judith Collins’ has grabbed the agenda on ...1 week ago
- Collins warns Government is planning separatist New Zealand with special car parks and gender segreg...The Government is accusing National of scaremongering over a proposal to establish separate Māori governance in New Zealand, pointing to its long history of ignoring recommendations. National Party interim leader Judith Collins has deepened her attacks on the Government’s proposed Māori Health Authority this week, alleging that Prime Minister Jacinda ...1 week ago
- #PLURV – the German #FLICC – getting popular in GermanyLongtime readers of what we are up to at Skeptical Science will be well aware of the FLICC taxonomy first suggested by Mark Hoofnagle in 2007, written about in Diethelm & McKnee (2009) and since then greatly enlarged by John Cook: A much simpler FLICC-taxonomy first started out to be utilized ...1 week ago
- https://sciblogs.co.nz/?p=276367Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz I’ve heard the gravity changes when Antarctica melts will lower ...1 week ago
- The Greens worry about morality, Labour worries about tradeThe Greens have done what was expected of them, and agreed to back ACT's motion on genocide in Xinjiang tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Labour Party is worrying about trade: Trade Minister Damien O'Connor has warned a parliamentary debate on whether Beijing is committing genocide in Xinjiang would damage trade with ...1 week ago
- Why we remember more by reading – especially print – than from audio or videoNaomi S. Baron, American University During the pandemic, many college professors abandoned assignments from printed textbooks and turned instead to digital texts or multimedia coursework. As a professor of linguistics, I have been studying how electronic communication compares to traditional print when it comes to learning. Is comprehension the ...1 week ago
- Shaken and Stirred: The Left Reacts To Judith Collins’ Race-Based Politicking.Extremely Moderate: That was the “problem” with Judith Collins’ address to the National Party’s Northern Regional Conference on 1 May 2021: its totally unexpected moderation. This was no bilious outpouring of racial hate – quite the reverse. With a degree of political subtlety and tactical agility that did both Collins and her ...1 week ago
- Labour adopts NZ First’s racismNew Zealand First were a nasty pack of racists. One of the ideas they pushed was that immigrants - which in NZ First-ese means "non-white people", not those lovely people from the UK or South Africa - are coming here to steal the pensions of "hardworking" (white) New Zealanders by ...1 week ago
- Redefining Democracy.The Dead Hand Of Privilege: To be white, male, heterosexual, well-educated, and – of course – wealthy, is to enjoy a high degree of “privilege” in a culture where such distinctions are generally esteemed. Formal democratic equality, it is asserted, actually serves to mask this privilege and, by doing so, ...1 week ago
- The police’s “emissions-free fleet” strategyLast year, just as the government was announcing plans for a carbon-neutral public service, the police announced they were buying new petrol-powered patrol cars. But they weren't ignoring the government's requirements, with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster quoted as saying "we are committed to reducing our carbon emissions and have outlined ...1 week ago
- Could the COVID vaccines affect your period? We don’t know yet — but there’s no cause for conc...Michelle Wise, University of Auckland Over recent weeks, news reports have indicated some women are experiencing irregularities in their menstrual cycles after receiving a COVID vaccine. This has included periods arriving early and being heavier than usual, or being absent or late, among other changes. At this stage, there’s no ...1 week ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 4 May 2021China and New Zealand Bryce Edwards (The Guardian): Ardern’s speech was not an attack on China, or even a shift away from Beijing Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): Nanaia Mahuta’s China dilemma and the future of New Zealand diplomacy Geoffrey Miller (Democracy Project): Something for everyone in Ardern’s speech on China Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Political, economic China perspectives collide at summit Michael Neilson ...1 week ago
- Report: All new cars and trucks in U.S. could be electric by 2035This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Thinking ahead to what (and whether?) you may be driving – may have parked in your garage or driveway or parking lot – a few years from now? Like, for instance, in 2035? Only with “robust” public policy initiatives as yet not on ...1 week ago
- Securing our recovery with Budget 2021
Next week, our Government will set out the next steps in our COVID recovery with Budget 2021. We’re taking a balanced approach that will create jobs, grow the economy, and keep a lid on debt, while tackling long-term issues like child wellbeing, housing, and climate change. ...4 hours ago - Green Party condemn violent displacement of Palestinians
The Green Party condemns the violent and forced displacement of the Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah community of East Jerusalem by Israeli forces and settlers. ...5 hours ago - Student accommodation inquiry recommends proactive transparency, independent dispute resolution proc...Today the student accommodation inquiry initiated by Green Party Tertiary Education spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick tabled its report in Parliament. ...6 hours ago
- Jacinda Ardern: Pre-Budget speech to Business New ZealandToday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave a speech to Business New Zealand, setting out the next steps in our plan as we reconnect with the world and secure our recovery. Read the full speech below. ...6 hours ago
- What is the Budget and why should I care?Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced that New Zealand’s Budget 2021 will be delivered on Thursday, 20 May. What does that even mean? ...9 hours ago
- Green MP Teanau Tuiono walks out of the House in support of Te Pāti MāoriGreen Party MP Teanau Tuiono walked out of the House today in support of Te Pāti Māori, who call for debate in the House about kaupapa Māori to include Māori voices. ...1 day ago
- Happy Mother’s Day, Aotearoa!Today, we’re celebrating mothers, grandmothers and all the mother figures in our lives – and wishing them a wonderful day with whānau and friends – and, ideally, not so many obligations. ...4 days ago
- Green Party launch petition calling for Labour to reverse public sector wage suppression on our nurs...The Green Party have launched a petition calling on Labour to reverse its decision to suppress the wages of our nurses, teachers, and DOC workers earning between $60,000 and $100,000. ...6 days ago
- A full-on six months: Our record since the 2020 electionNew Zealanders voted for stability and security at the last election. In the six months since, we’ve worked hard to keep Kiwis safe from COVID-19, while accelerating our economic recovery and tackling long-term challenges like housing affordability, child poverty, and climate change – and we’ve made good progress. ...1 week ago
- Greens welcome US support for People’s VaccineThe Green Party strongly supports today’s commitment by the United States joining the call to waive the morally indefensible pharmaceutical patents on the COVID-19 vaccine in order to make it accessible to Developing World communities. ...1 week ago
- Public sector pay restrictions are unacceptableThe Government’s decision to restrict the wages of many essential public sector workers for another two years does a disservice to those who have kept our communities safe during COVID-19, the Green Party said today. ...1 week ago
- The Green Party is putting reasonable renting rules on the agendaThe Green Party is launching its Reasonable Rents campaign to start a national conversation about the high cost of rents for the more than 1.4 million Kiwis who live in a rental home. ...1 week ago
- Keeping Kiwis snug this winterWe believe everyone deserves a warm, dry place to call home. One way we’re making this a reality is through our Winter Energy Payment, which helps around a million people with their heating bills through the colder months and ensures whānau stay healthy with less stress. ...2 weeks ago
- Our tamariki Maōri should not suffer any more: GreensThe Green Party welcomes the Waitangi Tribunal report that recognises mulitple breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by the Crown. ...2 weeks ago
- Eight times Labour proved it has workers' backsOur name says a lot about our priorities, but so does our history. We’ve consistently fought for workers’ rights – from when our Party first formed in 1916, to now, when we’ve placed workers’ rights and health at the centre of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call for amnesty programme in open letter to immigration ministerThe Green Party is calling on the Government to create a broad amnesty programme for people who overstay their visa, and for temporary visa holders to be granted residency in an open letter to the Minister for Immigration. ...2 weeks ago
- Industry leadership for our training system becomes reality
Six new Workforce Development Councils formally established today will ensure people graduate with the right skills at the right time to address skill shortages, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. Every industry in New Zealand will be covered by one of the following Workforce Development Councils: • Hanga-Aro-Rau – Manufacturing, Engineering ...3 hours ago - Rotorua Emergency Housing updateThe Government has announced a suite of changes to emergency housing provision in Rotorua: Government to directly contract motels for emergency accommodation Wrap around social support services for those in emergency accommodation to be provided Grouping of cohorts like families and tamariki in particular motels separate from other groups One-stop ...5 hours ago
- Further COVID-19 vaccine and economic support for the PacificNew Zealand will be providing protection against COVID-19 to at least 1.2 million people in the Pacific over the coming year $120 million in Official Development Assistance has been reprioritised to support Pacific economies in 2021 Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Associate Health and Foreign Affairs Minister Aupito William ...5 hours ago
- Statement on the escalation of violence in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and GazaForeign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta today expressed Aotearoa New Zealand’s grave concern at the escalation of violence in Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Gaza. “The growing death toll and the large numbers of casualties, including children, from Israeli airstrikes and Gazan rockets is unacceptable,” Nanaia Mahuta said “Senior officials met ...5 hours ago
- Trade Minister to travel to UK and EU to progress free trade agreementsTrade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor announced today he will travel to the United Kingdom and European Union next month to progress New Zealand’s respective free trade agreement negotiations. The decision to travel to Europe follows the agreement reached last week between Minister O’Connor and UK Secretary of State for ...7 hours ago
- Pre-Budget speech to Business New ZealandKia ora koutou katoa It’s great to be here today, at our now-regular event in anything-but-regular times. I last spoke to some of you in mid-March. That was an opportunity to reflect on an extraordinary 12 months, but also to reflect on how the future was shaping up. In what ...8 hours ago
- Te Hurihanganui growing with Nelson community celebrationNelson is the latest community to join the Te Hurihanganui kaupapa to drive change and address racism and bias in education, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Speaking at today’s community celebration, Kelvin Davis acknowledged the eight iwi in Te Tau Ihu for supporting and leading Te Hurihanganui in ...8 hours ago
- Te Hurihanganui Nelson Community Celebration Te Hurihanganui Nelson Community Celebration Victory Community Centre, Nelson “Racism exists – we feel little and bad”. Those were the unprompted words of one student during an interview for a report produced by the Children’s Commissioner in 2018. They were also the words I used when I announced the ...9 hours ago
- Child wellbeing reports highlight need for ongoing actionThe Government has released the first Annual Report for the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy and the second Child Poverty Related Indicators (CPRI) Report, both of which highlight improvements in the lives of children as a result of actions of the Government, while setting out the need for ongoing action. ...10 hours ago
- Formal consultation starts on proposals for Hawera schoolsEducation Minister Chris Hipkins today announced a formal consultation for the future of schooling in Hawera. "Recent engagement shows there is a lot of support for change. The preferred options are for primary schools to be extended to year 7 and 8, or for a year 7-13 high school to ...10 hours ago
- He Whenua Taurikura: New Zealand’s Hui on Countering Terrorism and Violent ExtremismThe Government is progressing another recommendation of the Royal Commission of Inquiry report into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain by convening New Zealand’s first national hui on countering terrorism and violent extremism. He Whenua Taurikura, meaning ‘a land or country at peace’, will meet in Christchurch on 15 and ...15 hours ago
- Hundreds of new electric cars for state sectorTotal of 422 new electric vehicles and charging infrastructure across the state sector $5.1 million for the Department of Conservation to buy 148 electric vehicles and install charging infrastructure $1.1 million to help Kāinga Ora buy 40 electric vehicles and install charging infrastructure 11,600 tonnes of carbon emissions saved over ...1 day ago
- Apartments give new life to former Trade Training hostelA building that once shaped the Māori trade training industry will now revitalise the local community of Ōtautahi and provide much needed housing for whānau Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson announced today. The old Māori Trade Training hostel, Te Koti Te Rato, at Rehua Marae in Christchurch has been ...1 day ago
- Opening of Te Kōti o Te Rato at Rehua Marae, Ōtautahi*Check with delivery* It is a great pleasure to be here with you all today. I acknowledge Ngāi Tūāhuriri and the trustees of Te Whatu Manawa Māoritanga o Rehua Trust Board. The opening of six new apartments on these grounds signifies more than an increase in much-needed housing for Ōtautahi. ...1 day ago
- Major step to pay parity for early learning teachersCertificated teachers on the lowest pay in early education and care services will take another leap towards pay parity with their equivalents in kindergartens, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said in a pre-Budget announcement today. “Pay parity for education and care teachers is a manifesto commitment for Labour and is reflected ...1 day ago
- New Zealand Wind Energy ConferenceTēnā koutou katoa Tēnā koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te Rā No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa Thank you Grenville for the introduction and thanks to the organisers, the New Zealand Wind Energy Association, for inviting me to speak this morning. I’m delighted that you ...1 day ago
- Speech to New Zealand Drug Foundation 2021 Parliamentary Drug Policy SymposiumSpeech to Through the Maze: On the road to health New Zealand Drug Foundation 2021 Parliamentary Drug Policy Symposium Mōrena koutou katoa, Tēnei te mihi ki a koutou, Kua tae mai nei me ngā kete matauranga hauora, E whai hononga ai tatau katoa, Ka nui te mihi! Thank you for the opportunity ...1 day ago
- Govt to deliver lower card fees to businessCommerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark has today announced the Government’s next steps to reduce merchant service fees, that banks charge businesses when customers use a credit or debit card to pay, which is estimated to save New Zealand businesses approximately $74 million each year. “Pre COVID, EFTPOS has ...1 day ago
- Government support boosts Arts and Culture sectorGovernment support for the cultural sector to help it recover from the impact of COVID-19 has resulted in more cultural sector jobs predicted through to 2026, and the sector performing better than forecast. The latest forecast by economic consultancy ‘Infometrics’ reflects the impact of Government investment in keeping people in ...2 days ago
- Govt takes further action against gang crimeThe Government will make it illegal for high risk people to own firearms by introducing Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPOs) that will strengthen action already taken to combat the influence of gangs and organised crime to help keep New Zealanders and their families safe, Police Minister Poto Williams and Justice Minister ...2 days ago
- Thousands of MIQ spaces allocated to secure economic recoveryFive hundred spaces per fortnight will be allocated in managed isolation facilities over the next 10 months, many for skilled and critical workers to support our economic recovery, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor say. “The Trans-Tasman bubble has freed up more rooms, allowing us to ...3 days ago
- New Zealand Sign Language Week a chance to recognise national taongaThis week (10 – 16 May 2021) is New Zealand Sign Language Week (NZSL), a nationwide celebration of NZSL as an official language of New Zealand. “We’re recognised as a world leader for our commitment to maintaining and furthering the use of our sign language,” says Minister for Disability Issues ...3 days ago
- Economic resilience provides more options in Budget 2021Securing the recovery and investing in the wellbeing of New Zealanders is the focus of Budget 2021, Grant Robertson told his audience at a pre-budget speech in Auckland this morning. "The economy has proven resilient in response to COVID-19, due to people having confidence in the Government’s health response to ...3 days ago
- Pre-Budget speech to BNZ-Deloitte Auckland Breakfast EventThank you for the invitation to speak to you today, and to share with you some of the Government’s thinking leading into this year’s budget. This will be my fourth time delivering the annual Budget for the Government, though the events of the past year have thrown out that calculation. ...3 days ago
- Rotuman Language week affirms language as the key to Pacific wellbeingThe first Pacific Language Week this year makes it clear that language is the key to the wellbeing for all Pacific people said Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio. “This round of language weeks begin with Rotuman. As I have always said language is one of the pillars of ...4 days ago
- Budget delivers improved cervical and breast cancer screeningBudget 2021 funds a more effective cervical screening test to help reduce cervical cancer rates A new breast screening system that can proactively identify and enrol eligible women to reach 271,000 more people who aren’t currently in the programme. Budget 2021 delivers a better cervical screening test and a major ...4 days ago
- NZ-France to co-chair Christchurch Call Leaders’ SummitNew Zealand and France will jointly convene the Christchurch Call Community for a leaders’ summit, to take stock of progress and develop a new shared priority work plan. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and President Emmanuel Macron will co-chair the leaders’ meeting on the 2nd anniversary of the Call, on 14 ...5 days ago
- New South Wales travel pause to be lifted tomorrowCOVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says the current travel pause with New South Wales will lift tomorrow – subject to no further significant developments in NSW. “New Zealand health officials met today to conduct a further assessment of the public health risk from the recently identified COVID-19 community cases in Sydney. It has been determined that the risk to public ...5 days ago
- March 15 Collective Impact Board appointedThe voices of those affected by the March 15 mosque attacks will be heard more effectively with the establishment of a new collective impact board, Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan announced today. Seven members of the Christchurch Muslim community have been appointed to the newly established Board, ...5 days ago
- More young Kiwis supported with mental health and addiction servicesNearly quarter of a million more young New Zealanders will have access to mental health and addiction support in their communities as the Government’s youth mental health programme gathers pace. New contracts to expand youth-specific services across the Northland, Waitematā and Auckland District Health Board areas have been confirmed, providing ...6 days ago
- New hospital facilities mean fewer trips to Auckland for NorthlandersNorthlanders will no longer automatically have to go to Auckland for lifesaving heart procedures like angiograms, angioplasty and the insertion of pacemakers, thanks to new operating theatres and a cardiac catheter laboratory opened at Whangārei Hospital by Health Minister Andrew Little today. The two projects – along with a new ...6 days ago
- Fair Pay Agreements to improve pay and conditions for essential workersThe Government is delivering on its pre-election commitment to implement Fair Pay Agreements which will improve wages and conditions, as well as help support our economic recovery, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood announced today. Fair Pay Agreements will set minimum standards for all employees and employers in an ...6 days ago
- Establishment of the new Māori Health Authority takes first big stepSir Mason Durie will lead a Steering Group to provide advice to the Transition Unit on governance arrangements and initial appointments to an interim board to oversee the establishment of the Māori Health Authority. This Group will ensure that Māori shape a vital element of our future health system, Minister ...6 days ago
- Cycle trails move up a gear in CentralWork on new and upgraded cycle trails in Queenstown, Arrowtown and Central Otago is moving up a gear as two significant projects pass further milestones today. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has announced new funding for the Queenstown Trails Project, and will also formally open the Lake Dunstan Trail at Bannockburn ...6 days ago
- Government gives households extra help to reduce their power billsNine community energy education initiatives to help struggling New Zealanders with their power bills are being given government funding through the new Support for Energy Education in Communities (SEEC) Programme. “Last year we committed nearly $8 million over four years to establish the SEEC Programme. This funding will help ...6 days ago
- Picton ferry terminal upgrade consent fast-trackedThe planned upgrade of the Waitohi Picton Ferry terminal has been approved under the fast-track consenting process. Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the decision by the expert consenting panel to approve the Waitohi Picton Ferry Precinct Redevelopment Project. The project will provide a significant upgrade to the ferry facilities ...1 week ago
- Quarantine Free Travel with New South Wales pausedCOVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has announced his intention to pause Quarantine Free Travel from New South Wales to New Zealand while the source of infection of the two cases announced in Sydney in the last two days is investigated. Whole genome sequencing has linked the case yesterday to a recent ...1 week ago
- Covid-19 immigration powers to be extendedThe passing of a bill to extend temporary COVID-19 immigration powers means continued flexibility to support migrants, manage the border, and help industries facing labour shortages, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said. “Over the past year, we’ve made rapid decisions to extend visas, vary visa conditions and waive some application requirements ...1 week ago
- “Supporting a Trade-Led Economic Recovery”Trade Policy Road Show SpeechManukau, Auckland Kia ora koutou – nau mai, haere mai ki Manukau, ki Tāmaki. Good morning everyone, and thank you for this opportunity to discuss with you current global challenges, opportunities and the Government’s strategy in support of a trade-led recovery from the economic ...1 week ago
- Building consent numbers at an all-time highA record 41,028 new homes have been consented in the year ended March 2021 March 2021 consent numbers the highest since the 1940s Record number of new homes consented in Auckland The number of new homes consented is at an all-time high, showing a strong and increasing pipeline of demand ...1 week ago
- Immigration Minister confronted at rally over border restrictions
Crowd rallies at Parliament over border closures, saying families are separated ...1 hour ago - With billions more allocated to immigration detention, another bleak year for refugees
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Refugees and asylum seekers will take little comfort from the 2021–22 budget. Resettlement places remain capped, while spending on offshore processing, immigration detention and deterrence measures remains high. For those ...2 hours ago - Big-spending ‘recovery budget’ leaves universities out in the coldSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Larkins, Professor Emeritus and Former Deputy Vice Chancellor, The University of Melbourne The 2021 federal budget has largely ignored the plight of Australian universities. The forward estimates even point to an overall decline, once adjusted for inflation, in Commonwealth direct funding ...2 hours ago
- The 2021-22 budget has added salt to universities’ COVID woundsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University The federal government’s budget announcements this week included nothing new for universities — an industry hit particularly hard by the pandemic border closures and loss of international students. Treasurer ...2 hours ago
- What is the Moderna COVID vaccine? Does it work, and is it safe?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Taylor, Early Career Research Leader, Emerging Viruses, Inflammation and Therapeutics Group, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University Overnight, Boston-based pharmaceutical company Moderna announced a new supply agreement with Australia for 25 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine. The deal includes ten ...3 hours ago
- NZ Human Rights Organisation Condemns Israeli Aggression
“The Foundation Against Islamophobia and Racism (FAIR) strongly condemns the latest atrocities committed by the illegal state of Israel on the Palestinian people and the attacks on Masjid Al Aqsa in the blessed month of Ramadan,” said Azad Khan, ...3 hours ago - What is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and how does it actually work?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Fitzgerald, Professor of Psychiatry, Monash University A line in this week’s federal budget allocating A$288.5 million to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) therapy might pass most people by. This is a brain stimulation technique that’s been used to treat conditions such ...4 hours ago
- Data Confirms That The 2020 NZ Election Occurred Alongside A Dangerous Spike In Online Misinformatio...Tohatoha CEO Mandy Henk and Emmi Bevensee, developer of the Social Media Analysis Toolkit (SMAT), have presented oral evidence to the Justice Committee at NZ Parliament that shows misinformation from ‘malicious actors’ originating on fringe websites ...4 hours ago
- No vaccine ‘targets’, but Australians could still be vaccinated by end of yearSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Driss Ait Ouakrim, Research Fellow, Population Interventions Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne This week’s budget assumes Australians will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of the year, despite ...4 hours ago
- Bid to roll West Coast Regional Council chair Allan BirchfieldAn attempted coup is underway at the West Coast Regional Council with a bid to roll the chairperson Allan Birchfield. ...4 hours ago
- Business is Boring: Compostic is taking the plastic out of kitchen products
New Zealand startup Compostic wants to help us kick our plastic cling wrap habit with a range of home compostable alternatives. Simon Pound speaks to founder and CEO Jon Reed in this episode of Business is Boring.Follow Business is Boring on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider.The way ...4 hours ago - The budget should have been a road to Australia’s low-emissions future. Instead, it’s a flight o...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Looking at other nations around the world, the path to cutting greenhouse gas emissions seems clear. First, develop wind and solar energy and battery storage to replace coal- and gas-fired electricity. Then, ...4 hours ago
- ExportNZ Welcomes Trade Missions And Trade FocusExportNZ welcomes Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern’s announcement today that she will be leading a trade mission to Australia in July and that Trade Minister Damien O’Connor will be heading to the UK and Brussels in June to pursue the FTA negotiations ...4 hours ago
- The Mitchells vs The Machines shows ‘smart’ tech might be less of a threat to family bonds than ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, leader of the Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, UNSW Sydney, and leader of the UNSW Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decison-Making and Society, UNSW Robots have fascinated ...5 hours ago
- Lifeline Records Busiest Text Month EverCrisis helpline Lifeline Aotearoa’s text support service recorded its busiest month ever in April with more than 30,000 texts sent and received. This follows a previous record set in March of 27,000 texts sent and received. Both figures are ...5 hours ago
- PM: Vaccine stocks could run out before July surge
Ministers and officials have flagged the possibility the vaccine rollout could falter in June - despite engineering it to avoid that very thing As of Sunday evening, New Zealand had around 378,000 Pfizer vaccines available for use. That surged to more than 400,000 with the delivery of 60,840 doses a few days ...5 hours ago - Money for telescopes and vaccines is great, but the budget’s lack of basic science funding risks l...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Shine, President, Australian Academy of Science; Laboratory Head, Garvan Institute The story of the past year has been the pandemic: from the first outbreaks in early 2020, the identification of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and methods to detect it, through to lockdown ...5 hours ago
- Police and their Minister duck Maori Party question which drew attention to something troubling abou...
Yes, we are aware of the Maori Party’s aversion to Parliamentary questions from Opposition MPs which aim to flush the PM and her government into the open on their programme of incorporating the “Treaty partnership” in their reform programme. The Maori Party insists those questions are racist and has pressed ...6 hours ago - ‘If you want to torture somebody, this is what you do’: Immigrants plead for end to family separ...When the borders closed in March 2021, immigrants who were cut off from their families never imagined they’d still be waiting to be reunited more than a year later. Now many are at their breaking point, they tell Branko Marcetic.Despite all the worries that had driven Johan and Sumari Steyn ...6 hours ago
- Foreign Affairs Minister calls growing Israel-Gaza violence unacceptableNew Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister said that all sides must de-escalate amid growing violence in Israel. ...6 hours ago
- How snake fangs evolved to perfectly fit their foodSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Silke Cleuren, PhD candidate, Monash University Few structures in nature inspire more fear and fascination than the fangs of venomous snakes. These needle-like teeth are used by snakes to pierce their prey and inject deadly venom. With more than 3000 species of ...6 hours ago
- How can the world help India — and where does that help need to go?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dileep Mavalankar, Vice President western region, Public Health Foundation of India India is in the grip of an unprecedented second wave of COVID-19. Official data suggests new cases have crossed 400,000 per day, and the daily death count is around 4,200. But ...6 hours ago
- Moving past psychometrics: How inclusive employment works in practiceInclusivity in the workplace is changing – and for many employers and workers, it’s become a critical pillar of business. Here’s what it looks like in action. Ever aced a job interview then bombed when confronted with a psychometric test?Designed by psychologists, the standardised tests are used regularly by a range ...6 hours ago
- NZ Budget 2021: we need the arts to live, but artists need to earn a livingSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Harvey, Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts, University of Auckland It seems unlikely the arts will be a priority in the government’s May 20 budget. With housing affordability, climate change and child poverty all urgent issues, arts funding might not be seen ...6 hours ago
- Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces trade missions to Australia, UKThe prime minister has announced that she will lead a trade and promotional delegation to Australia in early July, which will be New Zealand's first since Covid-19 hit. ...6 hours ago
- Mayor Steve Chadwick On Rotorua Emergency Housing UpdateThe first actions announced today by Minister Woods and Minister Sepuloni are a great start. I called for the Government to focus its attention on Rotorua and to have a presence here on the ground because of the untenable situation of mothers ...7 hours ago
- Government Funding To Help Drive Emissions DownHawke’s Bay DHB welcomes Climate Change Minister James Shaw’s announcement that it will receive funding for an electric vehicle (EV) and to install charging infrastructure under the State Sector Decarbonisation Fund. The news follows last month’s announcement ...7 hours ago
- Emergency housing: Move to end 'mixed-use' motels practice in RotoruaThe government is moving to clean up the problems with emergency housing in Rotorua, in response to reports of crime and unsafe living conditions. ...7 hours ago
- https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2105/S00114/.htm...7 hours ago
- ‘Top down’ disaster resilience doesn’t work. The National Recovery and Resilience Agency must ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Duckworth, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Deakin University In the past ten years we have seen several major reports and announcements seeking to improve and transform the way ...8 hours ago
- Govt allocates $13.1m to buy 400 cars – but they will be climate-friendly and help drive the publi...
Good news for car dealers – if they are in the business of selling electric cars, at least. Some of them are about to strike it lucky: the Government is going on a $13.1 million shopping expedition to keep civil servants mobile while helping the public service become carbon-neutral. Good ...8 hours ago - Kindergartens Want Pay Parity Delivered Through A Collective AgreementKindergartens Aotearoa welcomes the government move to spend $170 million over four years to move towards pay parity for early childhood teachers. Kindergarten teachers are covered by a national collective employment agreement that means salaries relate ...8 hours ago
- Government Report Shows Children Made To Suffer UnnecessarilyGrim reading: that’s the Child Poverty Action Group’s assessment of the Child Poverty Related Indicators Report released today by the Government. "The report shows our children are suffering unnecessarily. Polling shows our communities care ...8 hours ago
- Camp Rock? No, We Rock!The Doc Edge original showcases girls and enbys destined to rock at Girls Rock! Camp Aotearoa 2020.We Rock! is a Doc Edge original and made with the support of the Doc Edge Rei Foundation Film Fund.If you have to send your kid to a camp, why not make it one ...8 hours ago
- Watch live: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern makes pre-Budget speechPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern is making a pre-Budget speech to Business NZ in Auckland today. ...8 hours ago
- Greyhound Doping And Suspicious Betting Should Warrant A Police InvestigationLast week the Otago Daily Times revealed an unidentified punter placed a $10,000 bet on greyhound Zipping Sarah, who won her race at the Addington Raceway in November 2020 before testing positive for methamphetamine. Of the 481 bets placed totalling ...9 hours ago
- SFO files criminal charges against six people in Labour Party donations caseThe Serious Fraud Office has filed criminal charges against six people in relation to a donation made to the Labour Party in 2017. ...9 hours ago
- National hammers government over unclear gun buy-back estimatesBoth police and government are claiming a successful firearms buy-back despite having no up-to-date estimate of how many guns they expected to be handed in. ...9 hours ago
- Employment Indicators: Weekly As At 10 May 2021The experimental weekly series provides an early indicator of employment and labour market changes in a more a timely manner than the monthly employment indicators series. Key facts The 6-day series includes jobs with a pay period equal to or less than ...10 hours ago
- Rental Price Indexes: April 2021...10 hours ago
- Rawiri Waititi: Māori 'sick and tired' of being a political footballMāori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi says a barrage of rhetoric towards Māori in Parliament is fuelling racist comments on social media. ...10 hours ago
- Online Meeting On The 2010 Pike River Mine Disaster In New Zealand Exposes Cover-up By Successive Go...The Socialist Equality Group (New Zealand) held an important public webinar last Saturday, titled “Ten years after the Pike River mine disaster: Political lessons of the struggle for the truth about the deaths of 29 men.” It discussed one of ...10 hours ago
- A night in the life of a nurse on the NICUYesterday was International Nurses Day. Against the backdrop of months of stalled pay negotiations, Roxie Mohebbi, a former Auckland ICU nurse, wrote this journal entry based on some of her toughest shifts. This story discusses infant mortality and babies in medical distress. Please take care.17.00: My timer is set for 45 minutes. ...10 hours ago
- Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – May 13 2021Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily. Today’s content Parliamentary debates on race Jane Patterson (RNZ): Policies can be called racist but not MPs, ...11 hours ago
- Dunne Speaks – The Could-be Prime Minister?There has been a desperate and palpably false rumour circulating in recent weeks that the resignation of the Prime Minister is imminent. Meanwhile, Jacinda Ardern remains just as firmly ensconced in office as she ever was. However, it does raise ...11 hours ago
- Grant Robertson says public pay sector restrictions do not amount to pay freezeFinance Minister Grant Robertson says he deeply regrets the distress caused by public sector pay restrictions, but maintains the restrictions do not amount to a pay freeze. ...12 hours ago
- Hold the celebrations — the budget’s supposed focus on women is no game-changerSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Hill, Associate professor, University of Sydney One of the major planks of the budget was a pitch to women. This included an 80-plus page women’s budget statement — the first since 2013 — with an overall figure of A$3.4 billion for ...12 hours ago
- How much can the budget’s $1.1 billion for women’s safety really achieve? Two experts give their...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Director, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre; Associate Professor of Criminology, Faculty of Arts, Monash University One of the headline figures in Tuesday’s federal budget was a A$1.1 billion dollar investment in women’s safety. This came as part of ...12 hours ago
- The pressure is on for Australia to accept the coronavirus really can spread in the air we breatheSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW More than a year into the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) and US Centers for Disease Control finally changed their guidance to acknowledge SARS-CoV-2, ...12 hours ago
- The 50 beautiful Australian plants at greatest risk of extinction — and how to save themSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Silcock, Post-doctoral research fellow, The University of Queensland As far as odds go, things don’t look promising for the slender-nerved acacia (Acacia leptoneura), a spiky plant with classic yellow-ball wattle flowers. With most of its habitat in Western Australia’s wheat belt ...12 hours ago
- Despite major conservation efforts, populations of New Zealand’s iconic kiwi are more vulnerable t...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Isabel Castro, Associate Professor in Ecology and Zoology, Massey University Kiwi are moved between populations to lower the risk of inbreeding. Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust, CC BY-SA Like many endangered species, Aotearoa’s flightless and nocturnal kiwi survive only in small, fragmented and ...12 hours ago
- Frustrated Auckland developers call on council to turn up the consenting tapAuckland Council is being accused of blocking the flow of affordable houses, and industry leaders are calling for more streamlined systems.Inefficient consent processing and a lack of Auckland Council staff is being blamed by property developers, industry leaders and even a city councillor for slowing the supply of houses into ...12 hours ago
- How China has been transforming international education to become a leading host of studentsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jing Qi, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Sciences, RMIT University When Australians think of international education and China, they typically consider the country as a source of international students — Australia’s largest. But China is now one of the leading ...12 hours ago
- Soaring housing costs are pushing retirees into areas where disaster risks are highSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lois Towart, Lecturer in Property Economics, University of Technology Sydney The impacts of a closed border and recent floods have highlighted the challenges facing older Australians who live permanently in caravan parks and manufactured home estates. These properties have long provided affordable ...12 hours ago
- Guide to the Classics: Montesquieu’s Persian Letters at 300 — an Enlightenment story that resona...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Knox Peden, Senior Lecturer in European Enlightenment Studies, The University of Queensland We have recently seen a spate of books defending the Enlightenment, that period of efflorescence, in 18th-century Europe, which helped shape the modern world. At the vanguard has been the ...12 hours ago
- Live updates, May 13: ‘Trumpish’ rhetoric by Judith Collins inciting hatred against Māori – W...Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for May 13, bringing you the latest news updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz8.00am: ‘Trumpish’ rhetoric by Judith Collins inciting hatred against Māori – Rawiri WaititiPolicies are allowed to called racist during debates in parliament – but not people.That’s the ruling ...12 hours ago
- The Bulletin: Pandemic could have been prevented, international panel findsGood morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: International panel finds pandemic could have been prevented, big pre-budget boost for ECE teachers, and nurses may vote to strike.A high-powered international panel has castigated governments and supra-national organisations for allowing Covid-19 to become the pandemic it is today. The panel, ...13 hours ago
- Kinder, gentler policies can have downsides
Peter Dunne: In politics, achievements rather than virtuous ambitions are all that matter ...13 hours ago - Government to cap bank interchange fees for businesses
A new disclosure and reporting requirement will empower the Commerce Commission to monitor and regulate retail payments. The government is introducing regulations to reduce the fees banks charge businesses when customers use credit or debit cards. The Commerce Commission will also be given powers to regulate and monitor the retail ...14 hours ago - Judith Collins sends letter to PM asking her to sack SpeakerNational Party Leader Judith Collins is challenging the Prime Minister to sack Parliament's Speaker. ...14 hours ago
- Newsroom's daily sudoku, Thursday 13 May
...15 hours ago - Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 13 May
Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. ...15 hours ago - Newsroom daily crossword, Thursday 13 May
...15 hours ago - One trip, nine tickets and transports cards, nil progress
Paul Callister just wanted to make a simple trip to the uni in Palmerston North – but navigating the public transporting ticketing is anything but simple ...15 hours ago - Policies can be called racist but not MPs, Speaker rulesThe latest blow up over race relations in Parliament has raised the question - are MPs allowed to call each racist in the House? ...15 hours ago
- Electric Vehicles Announcement A “Baby Step” For The Climate – GreenpeaceMay 12, 2021 In response to today’s announcement that the Government will procure 422 new electric vehicles for the public sector, Greenpeace Climate Campaigner, Amanda Larsson, says: "More electric vehicles for the public sector is a small step ...15 hours ago
- The story of a mighty penWhy is an ordinary ballpoint pen held in the collection of Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland Museum? For The Single Object, Madeleine Chapman learns it has a story to tell about the power of privilege.This story was first published in July 2018.In 1978, young brown men were being arrested. With unemployment ...15 hours ago
- They said the changes would help the most vulnerable. Here’s what happened to meThe government announced that changes to the welfare system would reduce poverty. For me, it did the opposite, writes Alex.Earlier this year Carmel Sepuloni declared that changes to the welfare system, introduced on April 1, would help to “reduce poverty among our most vulnerable”.That hasn’t happened for me.The narrow and ...15 hours ago
- Grim effects of long Covid amplify need for vaccine
Dr Victor Dieriks draws attention to Covid's potential risks of long-term, life-changing neuropsychiatric disorders should we not run a successful vaccination campaign New evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic paints a grim picture of the long-term neurological effects of the disease and further emphasises the importance of protecting our population through vaccination. ...15 hours ago - Climate tipping point looms for business
The way businesses report and respond to climate change is about to change, David Williams writes in this content partnership article Pressure for climate action by businesses is about to hit a tipping point, a leading law firm predicts in a just-released report. New financial disclosure requirements going through Parliament ...15 hours ago - Take that rope from around your neck
"That’s not cancel culture, that’s consequences culture." John Palenthorpe responds to David Cohen's piece in Newsroom, pointing out how opinions that have faded from fashionable to cringeworthy have made it much easier for people to speak up. I was interested to read David Cohen’s recent Newsroom piece entitled “A word with ...15 hours ago - An open letter to those seeking rugby's top job
Women in Rugby Aotearoa wants to know what the two candidates to chair NZ Rugby, Stewart Mitchell and Bailey Mackey, intend to do to back the one part of the game experiencing a boom in numbers Dear Chair candidates, You have indicated your intention to run for the position of ...15 hours ago - Trawling for the truth about fishing
A new Netflix programme - we're not calling it a documentary - is putting people worldwide off eating fish. But how much of the message was massaged? If the controversial Netflix documentary Seaspiracy is to be believed we should all give up eating fish now. It even set a ...15 hours ago - Race-based rhetoric all the rage at Parliament
The idea that Māori should be entitled to health services that Pakeha aren't, doesn't sit well with National MP Simon Bridges. ...15 hours ago - Eleventh hour bid to stop sale of Laura Ferguson trust for disabled
The Laura Fergusson Trust provided a safe haven for young disabled people - until last year when it abruptly shut up shop in Auckland. Now, members of the community are rallying for the Government to intervene in the centre's impending sale. Matthew Scott reports. Sophia Malthus was just glad she didn’t ...15 hours ago
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