Beneath the headlines – complete sentences
Written By:
- Date published:
8:00 pm, March 3rd, 2009 - 34 comments
Categories: articles, law and "order" -
Tags:
The issue of parole has long been controversial. We’ve also seen one of the core underpinings of our justice system become a manipulated by its political opponents, regardless of what the policy arguments are. In this article from the Listener at the begining of the year we gain some insight into parole – and why it is too important to dismiss:
A young woman in a crisp white shirt and tight ponytail rises nervously to her feet. She has come all the way from Northland to Christchurch Prison to say a few words to the Parole Board about her brother, who has spent 12 years inside for a brutal and premeditated murder and is today being considered for release.
She tells the board she wants him to come and live with her and her partner up north, in a household without drugs and alcohol, where he can better himself. She knows he has much to do before he is allowed out, but the invitation, she says tearfully, is there for life.
It’s a moving and unconditional expression of support. Judge David Carruthers, Parole Board chairman and one of the seven members who make up today’s ‘extended’ panel, thanks her. He tells the prisoner, ‘You are a lucky man.’
Lucky, but not yet free to leave.
The support of the prisoner’s sister is useful information for the board decent accommodation and companionship are essential elements in any successful prisoner release but not decisive. He has not done well in prison. By his own assessment, he is an alcoholic and a drug addict. He has twice been kicked off the prison’s drug treatment programme, and is onto his third go.
‘I don’t find things easy,’ he tells the board. ‘I am hopeful. I want to progress. I want better quality of life. I understand my victims.’
At this, board member June Jackson bores into him: ‘I don’t know that you do, because they suffer something terrible, and they are still hurting.’
The prisoner has made some progress, however. In the past, he has been ambivalent about his cultural identity, but a prison officer tells the board he has completed a tikanga programme, and recently delivered a presentation in te reo. ‘It was a great achievement. I didn’t ever think he would be able to do that,’ says the officer. ‘That’s a start to finding out who he is.’
‘That’s very good to hear,’ says Carruthers. ‘But we can’t possibly release you on parole today.’ There will be no release until the prisoner has kicked his drug and alcohol problem. He needs to reconnect with a psychologist, and there is talk of a violence prevention programme down the track. But the board is concerned about his motivation for change: he is warned that a relapse could mean he could face a postponement order where the right to appear annually before the board for consideration for release is frozen for up to three years. Postponement would, at least, relieve the victims of having to recycle their grief every year.
‘So, we will see you next year,’ says Carruthers. No one, least of all the prisoner, seems surprised that parole is declined.
This prisoner, like the eight other murderers who file through the Parole Board’s hearing room at Christchurch Prison on this November day, will in all likelihood have several appearances before a decision is made, if ever, to release him. It’s exceptionally rare for an offender to get out at the first hearing.
Parole is a journey, not an event, says Carruthers. Each time a prisoner appears, more information is gathered and further insight gained. Even if a prisoner is entitled to be considered for parole (currently, after serving a third of the sentence, or after 10 years of a life sentence, unless a longer non-parole period is set by the sentencing judge), the board can’t approve release until it is satisfied the prisoner does not present an ‘undue risk’ to public safety.
Conversely, if the evidence shows that, no matter how awful the crime or how traumatised the victims, the offender is no longer a risk, the board must not deny parole. General deterrence or a community desire for retribution doesn’t come into it.
Parole the discretionary release of offenders from prison, enabling them to serve the remainder of their sentence in the community under supervision has been around for a century in most Western jurisdictions. New Zealand’s first parole legislation was contained in the Crimes Amendment Act 1910, according to a potted history prepared by the Howard League for Penal Reform.
But it remains shrouded in mystery, in part because, in this country, at least, hearings are held in the bowels of the prisons, and are closed to the media. Carruthers wants to change that. Last year, the Listener and reporters from two newspapers were allowed to attend parole hearings, although the prisoners could not be named or identified.
It’s a small step towards what he hopes will be an open media policy, but not every-one agrees. ‘There are respectable arguments against it,’ says Carruthers. ‘One is that anything that dilutes honest and robust discussion is counterproductive But I would prefer on balance for everyone to see what we did and know what we did, than not. Because unless we have public support and the public are behind it, we are doomed to fail.’
In the information vacuum, law and order hardliners have open slather. Act MP David Garrett, who is pushing the party’s ‘three strikes and you’re out’ bill, says of the Parole Board’s decision-making process: ‘They toss a coin, don’t they?’ (Garrett immediately tried to retract that comment, telling the Listener he was joking.)
Like his ally Garth McVicar of the Sensible Sentencing Trust, he thinks the entire judge-given sentence should be served in prison. For instance, the eight-year sentence handed down to former policeman Bob Schollum for his part in the gang rape of a Mt Maunganui woman in 1989 ought to mean eight years behind bars, with supervision in the community at the end of that time. Instead, Schollum, like his co-offenders, was out after serving a fraction of his sentence in prison.
‘[Parole] is a disaster. It assumes that everyone is capable of rehabilitation,’ says Garrett.
McVicar: ‘It’s a corrupt ideology. There is no doubt in our opinion that parole has been solely implemented to unload the prison population.’
Ideology seems far from the minds of the seven Parole Board members as they address the perpetrator of one particularly terrible crime, which the Listener can’t describe without identifying the offender. The board is considering a postponement order, a move that the prisoner’s lawyer is opposing. The offender is handsome, lean and fit-looking, but seems stripped of emotion.Board member Phil Brinded, a psychiatrist, tells him the victims continue to be ‘extraordinarily distressed’. The prisoner says he spends nights thinking of them, and of his crime. Then it is Jackson’s turn to speak: she says she is waiting for him to express sorrow and regret, that she is looking for him to reveal some humility: ‘I have to be honest with you. My vote for your release will never be. Never be.’
Another prisoner, who raped and murdered a woman, is up for parole for the first time. He tells the board how he has been helping with the Scared Straight programme, giving talks to youngsters who have had scrapes with the law and advising them ‘jail is no place for no one’. He has finished the drug treatment programme, but ‘to be honest, I have dealt with a lot of my drug issues I have addressed a lot of my stuff’.
Board member Richard Lewis, a former probation officer, pushes him to reflect on his crime. ‘I am embarrassed about it. It was a heinous act,’ says the prisoner. ‘I have remorse and empathy. I don’t like the person that did that crime.’
He was ‘angry and resentful’ when he first came to prison, but ‘one day the penny just dropped’.
Jackson, who is chief executive of Auckland’s Nga Whare Waatea marae and its prisoner reintegration programme, tells him she’s heard it all before from people who get out then revert to their old ways. ‘While you present well, I’m thinking, maybe deep down it’s still the same and maybe you are in the best place.’
Parole is declined. ‘There are slow, steady steps to be taken,’ says Carruthers. ‘We need to see that there is action, not just fine words.’
Fine words, or genuine change? The ability to judge the difference lies at the heart of a successful parole system. How does the Parole Board know when a prisoner is ready to be let out into the community?Contrary to Garrett’s suggestion, no coins are tossed.
Instead, there are screeds of reports on each prisoner, held electronically by board members on a laptop that sits before them during the hearing. Among them is a statistical assessment of the prisoner’s risk of reoffending, as measured on the so-called RoC*RoI (Risk of re-Conviction, Risk of re-Imprisonment) scale. RoC*RoI is a population-based model developed by the Corrections Department in the 1990s and gives a risk classification derived from a raft of factors including age and gender, frequency of convictions, time spent in prison, maximum sentence and seriousness of offending. It has been validated against more than 133,000 offenders, and found to be 82% accurate.
The board sees every prisoner’s RoC*RoI rating, but it’s just a starting point in assessing suitability for release. In addition, there are reports from the prison about the offender’s behaviour and the programmes he or she has completed as well as psychological assessments and, where relevant, psychiatric and medical assessments.
There are reports on what support is available in the community for the prisoner, submissions from the prisoner and the victims and intelligence reports from the police and the Corrections Department. There is often information about educational programmes completed, and assessments from special units such as the Kia Marama or Te Piriti sex offender programmes. The judge’s sentencing notes and summary of facts from the original trial are reread.
And there is the information gleaned from the prisoner under questioning from the board.
Carruthers: ‘Sometimes questions are asked to which the answers are already known, just to see what the prisoner will say, because insight is a very important thing. How much do you understand about your own behaviour and how much has changed? Sometimes there are robust challenges to see how they handle that. ‘You are a liar and a thief and you should rot there.’ How do you take a bit of confrontation, because that’s what you will get in the community.
‘A lot of prisoners become Christians. Is it real or is it feigned, or does it mean they have real pro-social support? What sort of accommodation will they have? What will they live on? That’s an important question because a lot of prisoners come out with very few skills and just have a benefit to survive on. Prisons are places of no responsibility only for your own survival, and you don’t have to worry about budgeting or relationships.
‘What sort of company are you going to keep? Who are the significant people in your life and will they be a good influence or are they gangs or whatever? Do you have a serious drug and alcohol problem and 83% of prisoners do and, if so, what have you done about it? What will you do with your time? It’s ancient wisdom if you’re idle, are you going to get into trouble?’
At the same time, it’s important not to waste time on factors that have been shown in research not to be relevant. Grief and low self-esteem, for instance, are not ‘criminogenic’, although they can lead to drug use, which is. ‘Everything is connected to everything else,’ says Carruthers.
All this information is weighed up using a ‘structured decision-making’ model, called the RPF15, which has been used by the board since it was established in its current form in 2002.
It looks and sounds like an exhaustive, risk-averse approach, which is reflected in the data of 4261 parole hearings in the 2007/08 year, 70% were declined.Yet the infamous Graeme Burton case showed just how fraught with risk the process is. Burton was released on parole in July 2006 after serving 14 years of a life sentence for murder. He went on to relapse into methamphetamine use and assault, to extort money from drug dealers and to breach his parole terms, before eventually murdering Karl Kuchenbecker and injuring four mountain bikers in the Wainuiomata hills in January 2007.
In retrospect, it seems obvious Burton should not have been released. After his murderous rampage, the Parole Board appointed internationally renowned risk-assessment expert Jim Ogloff, professor of clinical forensic psychology at Melbourne’s Monash University, to review the release decision.
Ogloff’s report prepared in conjunction with Chief District Court Judge Russell Johnson shows Burton was described in prison reports as compliant, motivated and, in the years before his release, trouble-free. Yet his file also contained psychological reports assessing him as at high risk of violent reoffending. He also had a high score on a psycho-pathy screening test, and had a ‘pattern of grandiosity’ and lack of empathy and remorse.
There was also reference in a psychologist’s report to unsubstantiated allegations that Burton had assaulted other prisoners.
However, psychiatric reports said his risk of reoffending had moderated, and that by May 2006 there was a ‘window of opportunity’ to release him before the benefits of his time in the violence -prevention unit were ‘eroded by more prolonged incarceration’.
In March 2006, the board told Burton he would be released in July that year, subject to a satisfactory psychological report.
‘There was a sense over time that the board had an expectation that Mr Burton should be released,’ the Ogloff/Johnson report said. ‘The possible reasons for such expectations are unclear but may be linked to a sense that, with the passage of time and the rehabilitative efforts that Mr Burton was undertaking, he deserved to be released.’
Burton had a high rating on the RoC*RoI scale. ‘The higher the score, the higher the risk,’ Ogloff told the Listener from Melbourne. ‘If you have a high score, you need good evidence of sustained change over a long time before you think that is going to be reduced.’
Since the Ogloff/Johnson report, however, the report of Wellington coroner Garry Evans has revealed that the Parole Board unknowingly made its decision to release Burton based on incomplete information.
Rimutaka Prison’s glowing report on Burton said he was drug-free and had had no misconduct reports since his previous board appearance. It failed to mention he had been moved to a medium-high security unit because of the assault allegations, or that the allegations had been the subject of an internal inquiry. Internal reports recommended that a crime prevention officer appear at Burton’s June 2006 parole hearing to enable the board to gain an informed opinion about the allegations, but this did not happen.
The board was essentially left to make its own sense of a passing reference to the ‘unsubstantiated’ allegations, and decided they should not be taken into account.
Once he was released, failures in Burton’s management by the Probation Service and police meant he roamed ‘on a long lead’ until, eventually, he killed again.
Changes have since been made: the board has been given new powers to summons witnesses to give evidence to hearings, and police can apply for confidentiality orders covering information given to the board that it wants kept secret, ensuring that sources are not exposed.
Carruthers says the Burton tragedy has also reinforced to board members that they must not be ‘captured’ by the expectations of a prisoner who thinks he is on a path to release.
The board’s structured decision-making model, the RPF15, is also being updated by Ogloff, who says the new model under development establishes the RoC*RoI as baseline information and includes a wide range of other relevant factors affecting the likelihood of reoffending, such as how the prisoner has dealt with past releases.
‘Although it’s pretty simple, it just requires the board to really systematically look at the variables relevant to the -outcome, so they move away from the gut-instinct mentality,’ Ogloff says.
‘It’s just like if you went to the bank to get a loan they have a bunch of questions. They have a special formula to decide whether you get a loan.’
Flawed decision making can cut both ways. ‘In that case it went in [Burton’s] favour. I’ve never met the man in my life, but reading a lot about him now and hearing about him and looking at the reports, he was quite a psychopathic guy, quite manipulative, brighter than average, so there is little doubt he was able to manipulate a whole range of people.
‘But just as often, in fact more often, it works against them. They are usually inarticulate thugs who couldn’t make a case if their lives depended on it, and they are the ones often denied parole. They may be more in your face, or more likely to say things that are inappropriate. So, structure in decision-making protects society by alerting the board to factors that we sometimes neglect.’
But if we can’t predict with absolute certainty whether a prisoner released on parole will reoffend, why don’t we, as McVicar advocates, simply keep them in jail for their entire sentence? Why bother with parole at all?Because the Burton tragedy notwithstanding the evidence is that it works.
Renée Collette, executive vice-chairwoman of Canada’s National Parole Board, which is regarded as world-leading, explains it this way: ‘Someone who is part of the community and commits a crime, and is convicted and sentenced, will at some point come back into society. So, can we bridge that release in a controlled way, by helping and controlling and at the same time supervising that person in order that they will not commit a new crime. It is about the safe, gradual reintegration of offenders.’
In Canada, which has a highly developed system of halfway houses to bridge the gap between prison and the community, 90% of releases on parole do not result in a new offence, and 99% do not result in a new violent offence, says Collette. In the past 10 years, annual convictions for violent offences by parolees have fallen 65%. And over the past decade, the crime rate in Canada, including violent crimes, has steadily declined.
Ogloff says the evidence is ‘crystal clear’ ‘people on parole are less likely to reoffend than those released from prison without the benefit of parole’. Offenders’ social and economic supports often unravel extremely rapidly when they are sent to prison, he says girlfriends disappear, landlords seize property to defray unpaid rents, families are often estranged. A good parole system helps re-establish social supports.
He says the international research also shows the benefits of supervised release on parole hold up over the long term, with lower rates of reoffending among those who have been through the system.
Carruthers says because sentencing and parole laws were changed in 2002, there is not yet a good long-term picture of the success of the New Zealand parole system. ‘But we think on fairly rough figures that we are between two and three times more effective in preventing reoffending than [if prisoners are automatically released]. That’s based on the number of releases we have, and the number of people we recall as a result of further offending during the term of parole.’
He says another strong argument for a parole system is that it provides an incentive for prisoners to engage in rehabilitation programmes. ‘I have been in countries were there is no parole for sex offenders, and they have set up these wonderful programmes and nobody does them. Why should they when there is no advantage?’
A further reason is cost: ‘If we are intelligent about our decisions so they are safe, we are saving the country $76,000 [per year] per prisoner, which can be spent in other areas. If we can save money sensibly and without any jeopardy to the safety of people, then that’s obviously a huge advantage.
‘A further reason that is important for New Zealand is 51% of our prisoners are Maori, and we know from very good research what the prognosis is for the children of prisoners. So, if we can make a contribution in a safe way to that awful statistic, we are also making a contribution to a safer New Zealand.’
And although he believes some people are incapable of rehabilitation, many are. Indeed, he notes that 241 ‘lifers’ are living successfully in the community.
fromNZ Listener
January 31-February 6 2009 Vol 217 No 3586
Complete sentences
by Rebecca Macfie
34 comments on “Beneath the headlines – complete sentences ”
- Comments are now closed
- Comments are now closed
Recent Comments
- Tolling Existing Roads
One of the government’s transport policy and agreements with it’s coalition partners made it clear that they were looking at options like tolling and road pricing. This was reinforced in it’s draft Government Policy Statement released at the start of March which made a couple of references to it. Road pricing, ...1 hour ago - At a glance – The difference between weather and climate
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...16 hours ago - More criminal miners
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...16 hours ago - Photos from the road
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...17 hours ago - RMA reforms aim to ease stock-grazing rules and reduce farmers’ costs – but Taxpayers’ Union w...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...18 hours ago - Luxon Strikes Out.
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...21 hours ago - In many ways the media that the experts wanted, turned out to be the media they have got
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...22 hours ago - The Waitangi Tribunal Summons; or the more things stay the sameGraeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...22 hours ago
- Both Parliamentary watchdogs hammer Fast-track bill
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General, John Ryan, has joined the ...23 hours ago - India makes a big bet on electric busesThis is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Spengeman People wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...1 day ago
- Bernard’s pick ‘n’ mix of the news links at 6:36am on Tuesday, April 23
TL;DR: These six news links stood out in the last 24 hours to 6:36am on Tuesday, April 22:Scoop & Deep Dive: How Sir Peter Jackson got to have his billion-dollar exit cake and eat Hollywood too NZ Herald-$$$ Matt NippertFast Track Approval Bill: Watchdogs seek substantial curbs on ministers' powers ...1 day ago - What is really holding up infrastructure
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...1 day ago - “Pure Unadulterated Charge”
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...1 day ago - Bernard's six-stack of substacks for Monday, April 22
Tonight’s six-stack includes: writes via his substack that’s he’s sceptical about the IPSOS poll last week suggesting a slide into authoritarianism here, writing: Kiwis seem to want their cake and eat it too Tal Aster writes for about How Israel turned homeowners into YIMBYs. writes via his ...2 days ago - The media were given a little list and hastened to pick out Fast Track prospects – but the Treaty ...Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...2 days ago
- Just trying to stay upright
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...2 days ago - “Unprecedented”Today, former Port of Auckland CEO Tony Gibson went on trial on health and safety charges for the death of one of his workers. The Herald calls the trial "unprecedented". Firstly, it's only "unprecedented" because WorkSafe struck a corrupt and unlawful deal to drop charges against Peter Whittall over Pike ...2 days ago
- Bryce Edwards: Time for “Fast-Track Watch”
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...2 days ago - Gordon Campbell on fast track powers, media woes and the Tiktok banFeel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...2 days ago
- The Government’s new fast-track invitation to corruption
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...2 days ago - Maori push for parallel government structuresMichael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...2 days ago
- An announcement about an announcementWithout a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...2 days ago
- All the Green Tech in China.
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...2 days ago - Western Express SuccessIn our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...2 days ago
- Bernard’s pick ‘n’ mix of the news links at 7:16am on Monday, April 22
TL;DR: These six news links stood out in the last 24 hours to 7:16am on Monday, April 22:Labour says Kiwis at greater risk from loan sharks as Govt plans to remove borrowing regulations NZ Herald Jenee TibshraenyHow did the cost of moving two schools blow out to more than $400m?A ...2 days ago - The Kaka’s diary for the week to April 29 and beyond
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...2 days ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #16A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...2 days ago
- Bryce Edwards: The Government’s new fast-track invitation to corruptionThe ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...3 days ago
- Thank you
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...3 days ago - Determining the Engine Type in Your Car
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...4 days ago - How to Become a Race Car Driver: A Comprehensive GuideIntroduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...4 days ago
- How Many Cars Are There in the World in 2023? An Exploration of Global Automotive StatisticsIntroduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...4 days ago
- How Long Does It Take for Car Inspection?Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...4 days ago
- Who Makes Mazda Cars?Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...4 days ago
- How Often to Replace Your Car Battery A Comprehensive GuideYour car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...4 days ago
- Can You Register a Car Without a License?In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the Rule If you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...4 days ago
- Mazda: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Reliability, Value, and PerformanceMazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...4 days ago
- What Are Struts on a Car?Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...4 days ago
- What Does Car Registration Look Like: A Comprehensive GuideCar registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...4 days ago
- How to Share Computer Audio on ZoomZoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...4 days ago
- How Long Does It Take to Build a Computer?Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...4 days ago
- How to Put Your Computer to SleepSleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...4 days ago
- What is Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT)?Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...4 days ago
- iPad vs. Tablet Computers A Comprehensive Guide to DifferencesIn today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...4 days ago
- How Are Computers Made?A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...4 days ago
- How to Add Voice Memos from iPhone to ComputerVoice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...4 days ago
- Why My Laptop Screen Has Lines on It: A Comprehensive GuideLaptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...4 days ago
- How to Right-Click on a LaptopRight-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...4 days ago
- Where is the Power Button on an ASUS Laptop?Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...4 days ago
- How to Start a Dell Laptop: A Comprehensive GuideDell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...4 days ago
- Bryce Edwards: Serious populist discontent is bubbling up in New ZealandTwo-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...4 days ago
- How to Take a Screenshot on an Asus Laptop A Comprehensive Guide with Detailed Instructions and Illu...In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...4 days ago
- How to Factory Reset Gateway Laptop A Comprehensive GuideA factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...4 days ago
- The Folly Of Impermanence.
“You talking about me?” The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...4 days ago - A crisis of ambitionRoger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...4 days ago
- Have 308 people in the Education Ministry’s Curriculum Development Team spent over $100m on a 60-p...Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...4 days ago
- 'This bill is dangerous for the environment and our democracy'Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...4 days ago
- The Bank of our Tamariki and Mokopuna.
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...4 days ago - The worth of it all
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...4 days ago - What is the Hardest Sport in the World?Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...4 days ago
- What is the Most Expensive Sport?The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...4 days ago
- Pickleball On the Cusp of Olympic GloryIntroduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...4 days ago
- The Origin and Evolution of Soccer Unveiling the Genius Behind the World’s Most Popular SportAbstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...4 days ago
- How Much to Tint Car Windows A Comprehensive GuideTinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...4 days ago
- Why Does My Car Smell Like Gas? A Comprehensive Guide to Diagnosing and Fixing the IssueThe pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...4 days ago
- How to Remove Tree Sap from Car A Comprehensive GuideTree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...4 days ago
- How Much Paint Do You Need to Paint a Car?The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...4 days ago
- Can You Jump a Car in the Rain? Safety Precautions and Essential StepsJump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...4 days ago
- Can taxpayers be confident PIJF cash was spent wisely?Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...4 days ago
- EGU2024 – An intense week of joining sessions virtuallyNote: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...5 days ago
- Submission on “Fast Track Approvals Bill”
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...5 days ago - The Case for a Universal Family Benefit
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...5 days ago - A who’s who of New Zealand’s dodgiest companiesSubmissions on National's corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law are due today (have you submitted?), and just hours before they close, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop has been forced to release the list of companies he invited to apply. I've spent the last hour going through it in an epic thread of bleats, ...5 days ago
- On Lee’s watch, Economic Development seems to be stuck on scoring points from promoting sporting e...Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...5 days ago
- New Zealand has never been closed for business
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...5 days ago
- Release: Budget blunder shows Nicola Willis could cut recovery funding
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...17 hours ago - Further environmental mismanagement on the cards
The Government’s resource management reforms will add to the heavy and ever-growing burden this Government is loading on to our environment. ...20 hours ago - Release: RMA changes will be a disaster for environmentThe Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...22 hours ago
- Release: Labour supports urgent changes to emergency management systemLabour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...22 hours ago
- Release: Labour calls for New Zealand to recognise PalestineThe Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...2 days ago
- Release: Three strikes law political posturing of worst kindThe Government is bringing back a law that has little evidential backing just to look tough, Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...2 days ago
- Release: Government cuts unbelievably target child exploitation, violent extremism, ports and airpor...Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...2 days ago
- Three strikes has failed before and will fail againResurrecting the archaic three-strikes legislation is an unwelcome return to a failed American-style approach to justice. ...2 days ago
- Release: Environmental protection vital, not ‘onerous’The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...2 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts doctors and nurses in hiring freezeCuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...5 days ago
- Fast-track submissions period must be extendedThe Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...5 days ago
- Release: Progress on climate will be undone by GovtNew Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...5 days ago
- Release: Dark day for Kiwi kids as a third of Govt cuts affect themNews that 1000 jobs at the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki could go is devastating for future generations of New Zealanders. ...7 days ago
- Release: Alarm as Government signals further blow to school lunchesMore essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...7 days ago
- Release: Quick, submit – stop Govt’s dodgy approvals billThe Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...1 week ago
- Government throws coal on the climate crisis fireThe Government’s policy announced today to ease consenting for coal mining will have a lasting impact across generations. ...1 week ago
- Release: Public transport costs to double as National looks at unaffordable roading project insteadCancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...1 week ago
- Release: Cost of living in Auckland still not a priorityA laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...1 week ago
- Greens look to fast-track submissions on harmful lawThe Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt should stop making people’s lives harder and build more homesThe National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Melissa Lee missing in action on mediaThe action Melissa Lee promised to protect democracy and the media sector is missing, Media and Communications spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...2 weeks ago
- Landlord Government leaves little hope for rentersThe Government’s announcement on tenancy rules prove that it does not care about renters. ...2 weeks ago
- Opportunity to build a more sustainable economyGreen Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...2 weeks ago
- Significant step forward in fixing cruel and unjust pastA significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...2 weeks ago
- Missed opportunity but NZ will surely one day recognise the right to a sustainable environmentNew Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Don’t cut our lunches – clear message sent to GovernmentTens of thousands of people are demanding the Government commits to fully funding free and healthy school lunches. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt makes U-turn on Suicide Prevention OfficeLabour welcomes the Government’s U-turn on the closure of the Suicide Prevention Office, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...2 weeks ago
- CCC issues warning over further climate delayToday’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...2 weeks ago
- Luxon targets lame and lousy example of leadershipIf talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...2 weeks ago
- Luxon targets are lousy example of leadershipIf talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Commitment to disability communities missing from Govt prioritiesMinister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...2 weeks ago
- Methane target review is dangerous duplicationThe Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Government must commit to school building project for disabled studentsThe Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: National must take mental health seriouslyMental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...3 weeks ago
- Referendums for Māori wards a racist step backwardsThe Government's imposed referendum on Māori wards is a racist step backwards for Māori representation, and disregards Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Job losses at Health not worth it for tax cutsNew Zealand will feel the harm of the National Government’s reckless cuts to jobs at the health ministry for generations, says Ayesha Verrall. ...3 weeks ago
- Minister welcomes hydrogen milestone
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...16 hours ago - Urgent changes to system through first RMA Amendment BillThe coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...23 hours ago
- Overseas decommissioning models consideredOverseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...23 hours ago
- Release of North Island Severe Weather Event InquiryEmergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...1 day ago
- Justice Minister to attend Human Rights CouncilJustice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...2 days ago
- Patterson reopens world’s largest wool scouring facilityAssociate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...2 days ago
- Speech to the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective Summit, 18 April 2024Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...2 days ago
- Government to introduce revised Three Strikes lawThe Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...2 days ago
- New diplomatic appointmentsForeign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...2 days ago
- Humanitarian support for Ethiopia and SomaliaNew Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...2 days ago
- Arts Minister congratulates Mataaho CollectiveMinister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...3 days ago
- Supporting better financial outcomes for KiwisThe Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...3 days ago
- Trade relationship with China remains strong“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...3 days ago
- PM’s South East Asia mission does the businessPrime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...4 days ago
- $41m to support clean energy in South East AsiaNew Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...5 days ago
- Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder listThe Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...5 days ago
- Judicial appointments announcedAttorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...5 days ago
- Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in SingaporeEducation Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...5 days ago
- Value of stopbank project proven during cycloneA stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...5 days ago
- Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visitForeign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...5 days ago
- Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac DayScience, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...5 days ago
- Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the PhilippinesPrime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...5 days ago
- Government commits $20m to Westport flood protectionThe Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...6 days ago
- Taupō takes pole positionThe Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...6 days ago
- Cost of living support for low-income homeownersLocal Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...6 days ago
- Government backing mussel spat projectThe Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...6 days ago
- Government focused on getting people into workBenefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...6 days ago
- Clean energy key driver to reducing emissionsThe Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...6 days ago
- Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forwardThe Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...6 days ago
- Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic PartnershipPrime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...7 days ago
- Government consults on extending coastal permits for portsRMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...7 days ago
- Inflation coming down, but more work to doToday’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...7 days ago
- School attendance restored as a priority in health adviceRefreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...7 days ago
- Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sectorOceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...7 days ago
- Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International CongressAssociate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...1 week ago
- Removing red tape to help early learners thriveThe Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...1 week ago
- RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tapeChanges to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...1 week ago
- McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationshipTrade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...1 week ago
- Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister LeePrime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...1 week ago
- PMs Luxon and Lee deepen Singapore-NZ tiesPrime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...1 week ago
- Is it possible to ‘objectively’ judge music? We asked 5 experts
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...57 mins ago - From Gallipoli to Gaza: remembering the Anzacs not as a ‘coming of age’ tale but as a lesson for...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...1 hour ago
- The end of the Census? Stats NZ to look at whether survey is still needed
The traditional Census survey could become a thing of the past as Stats NZ starts to rely more heavily on administrative data. ...2 hours ago - Leaked document reveals millions of dollars of cuts at Te Whatu Ora
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The “financial sustainability target”, which was “allocated” to Waitaha, is consistent with what’s happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...3 hours ago - Hiring freeze leaves Oranga Tamariki with no lawyers in Gisborne or SouthlandThe ministry's lawyers work with vulnerable children across the country, often in the youth and family courts. ...3 hours ago
- Is KiwiBuild finally on its last legs?
A look at the state of the previous government’s affordable housing scheme, and what could come next. Remind me: What’s KiwiBuild again? First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...4 hours ago - Labour has forgotten it was in governmentLabour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertson’s valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...4 hours ago
- Lessons identified must become lessons learned for emergency preparednessOpinion: It cost too much, apparently, to implement a ‘common operational picture’ The post Lessons identified must become lessons learned for emergency preparedness appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 hours ago
- The state of Taiwan’s silicon shieldTaiwan’s semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 hours ago
- Quake rules in for a shake-upThere’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules – and costs – that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...4 hours ago
- Kiwis are learning how to fight climate change – pollsBucking a common misconception, NZers no longer say recycling is the most effective action they can take to reduce climate pollution The post Kiwis are learning how to fight climate change – polls appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 hours ago
- Daily crossword, Wednesday 24 AprilThe post Daily crossword, Wednesday 24 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 hours ago
- Child protection decimation a ‘callous razor gang response’Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...4 hours ago
- ‘Lesser Spotted Kiwi’ survives one of world’s toughest racesAfter more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didn’t know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race he’d dreamed ...4 hours ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 24 AprilLoading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 24 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 hours ago
- ‘I was in awe of Germaine Greer’s face, her neck, her hands’The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...4 hours ago
- Can social investment shift the dial on welfare and wellbeing?Exploring the arguments for and against a social investment approach The post Can social investment shift the dial on welfare and wellbeing? appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 hours ago
- Murray Horton: Get tough on Israel – we’ve done it before over spiesCOMMENTARY: By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...8 hours ago
- Fiji journalism – starting with the people and ending with the peopleNEWSMAKERS: By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...8 hours ago
- Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on b...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...10 hours ago
- West Antarctica’s ice sheet was smaller thousands of years ago – here’s why this matters todaySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...10 hours ago
- 'We can't forget those people': Public sector job cuts not just impacting WellingtonAt least 400 of the thousands of jobs on the line so far are outside Wellington, according to the Public Service Association. ...11 hours ago
- 'There's no evidence that three strikes reduces crime' – lawyersThe government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...12 hours ago
- Elon Musk vs Australia: global content take-down orders can harm the internet if adopted widelySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask ...15 hours ago
- Elon Musk says ‘disc replacement’ worked for him. But evidence this surgery helps chronic pain i...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...15 hours ago
- The NSW treasurer says a slashed share of GST will cost his state $11.9 billion. But where did he ge...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...15 hours ago
- Anti-gang laws faces heavy criticism at select committeeWhile police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...16 hours ago
- Anti-gang laws face heavy criticism at select committeeWhile police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...16 hours ago
- PNG’s PM Marape to ‘give hand to his bro’ Albanese on Kokoda TrailBy Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea. Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their ...17 hours ago
- Ministry of Social Development accepts 200 voluntary redundancies – PSAThe Public Service Association says further job cuts are likely. ...17 hours ago
- Many Australians face losing their homes right now. Here’s how the government should helpSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Shutterstock An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry ...17 hours ago
- French security forces in Nouméa ahead of two opposing marches todayBy Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Security forces reinforcements were sent from France ahead of two rival marches in the capital Nouméa today, at the same time and only two streets away one from the other. One march, called by Union Calédonienne party (a component of the ...18 hours ago
- Just 1 In 6 Oppose ‘Three Strikes’ – Poll
A poll last August found that just 16% of New Zealanders oppose bringing back the ‘Three Strikes’ law. The nationwide poll of 1,000 New Zealanders was commissioned by Family First NZ and carried out by Curia Market Research. ...18 hours ago - Scattergun: After the Death of Rūaumoko reveals the frightening talent of Ana ScotneyThe solo show from Ana Scotney is both sprawling and intimate, and a must-see, writes Mad Chapman. In the opening moments of Scattergun: After the Death of Rūaumoko, writer and performer Ana Scotney lays out the groundwork, literally. Silently moving around the square stage, Scotney is not so much dancing ...18 hours ago
- Curious Kids: who makes the words? Who decides what things like ‘trees’ and ‘shoes’ are call...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University Who makes the words? Why are trees called trees and why are shoes called shoes and who makes the names? – Elliot, age 5, Eltham, Victoria Good question Elliot! Let’s start with ...18 hours ago
- We’re only using a fraction of health workers’ skills. This needs to changeSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne at am Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock Roles of health professionals are still unfortunately often stuck in the past. That is, before the ...18 hours ago
- Malcolm Evans: A new low in NZ media’s record of bias over PalestineCOMMENTARY: By Malcolm Evans Last week’s leaked New York Times staff directive, as to what words can and cannot be used to describe the carnage Israel is raining on Palestinians, is proof positive, since those reports are published verbatim here in New Zealand, that our understanding of the conflict is ...19 hours ago
- New Zealand Survey Finds 65 Percent Agree The Economy Is “rigged To Advantage The Rich And Powerfu...In the case of New Zealand, the results confirm that there is no popular support for the vicious austerity program being imposed by the National Party-led government, which is backed in all fundamental respects by the opposition Labour Party. ...19 hours ago
- Is Olivia Rodrigo about to announce a New Zealand show? An investigationThe ‘Vampire’ singer has never visited our part of the world, but that might all be about to change. We assess the evidence. Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour is pulling in massive crowds as it whips around the US and Europe, even helping to catapult regular supporting act Chappell Roan ...20 hours ago
- Govt Repeal Of Te Mana O Te Wai Condemning Rural Communities To Unsafe Drinking Water – Greenp...Testing of drinking water in rural Canterbury over the weekend by Greenpeace revealed that several public town supplies were reaching levels of nitrate above 5 mg/L - the threshold which a growing body of scientific evidence has linked to increased ...20 hours ago
- Vastly bigger than the Black Summer: 84 million hectares of northern Australia burned in 2023Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Fisher, Information Technology for Development Researcher, Charles Darwin University It may come as a surprise to hear 2023 was Australia’s biggest bushfire season in more than a decade. Fires burned across an area eight times as big as the 2019–20 Black ...20 hours ago
- RMA Changes Welcome, But Must Go FurtherResponding to the Government’s announcement of changes to resource management laws, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said: “These changes are a step in the right direction in terms of removing ideological and unworkable ...20 hours ago
- Papua New Guinea: Slow Progress On Reforms And Ongoing Restrictions To Freedom Of ExpressionMore than two years after the Human Rights Council called for the establishment of a national human rights commission, such a body has yet to be formed. ...20 hours ago
- Familiar laxity on show in Cyclone Gabrielle findingsComment: An emergency management system with wide variations in performance, significant capability gaps, funding shortfalls and above all a setup that is not meeting the needs of New Zealanders at times of crisis. The Government’s inquiry into the response to Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events in the North ...21 hours ago
- Existing roads could be tolled, officials tell Transport Minister Simeon BrownSimeon Brown is being encouraged to look at charging for existing roads to relieve pressure on transport funding. ...21 hours ago
- Independent Review And Interim Coverage Rates Highlight Successful CensusApproximately five million people will be represented in 2023 Census data – that’s more than 99 percent of the population. ...21 hours ago
- Is it time for anti-capitalists to embrace shopping? An argument with myselfWelcome to the whirring wonders of one brain trying to align its actions with its beliefs within a system it thinks is evil. My brain has been spiralling in a woke conundrum ever since I found out a bookshop I’ve never been to was shutting down. Good Books, a bookshop ...21 hours ago
- The Criminal Bar Association Of New Zealand (CBANZ) Strongly Opposes The Proposed Return Of The Thre...We repeat our call for criminal justice policy to be based on evidence, something the three strikes regime neglects to recognise – with no evidence that it either reduces crime or assists with rehabilitation. ...22 hours ago
- No clear winner as lobbying to form next Solomon Islands government intensifiesBy Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara With only four more seats in the 50-member Parliament yet to be officially declared, there is no outright winner in the Solomon Islands elections. As of Monday, the two largest blocs in the winner’s circle, independents and the incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh ...22 hours ago
- Government reveals first changes to Resource Management ActFarming, mining and other industrial regulations are being scrapped and altered in a reformed RMA. ...22 hours ago
- Space as a tool for change: Inside the innovation of two/fiftysevenTwo/fiftyseven is a multi-purpose space hidden in the heart of Wellington that is paving a way for sustainable building and responsible landlording in Aotearoa and beyond. By 2060 the world is predicted to double its entire building stock, which equates to building an entire New York City every 34 days, ...23 hours ago
- TrueBliss react to their most iconic Y2K Popstars looksPopstars wasn’t just a reality television revolution, it was also a huge moment for Y2K fashion. It’s 25 years since girl group TrueBliss was formed on New Zealand national television, breaking new ground for both the reality television industry and the shiny clothing industry. With the first episode on NZ ...23 hours ago
- Would you be happy as a long-term single? The answer may depend on your attachment styleSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Pepping, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Griffith University Marvin / Shutterstock Are all single people insecure? When we think about people who have been single for a long time, we may assume it’s because single people have insecurities that make ...1 day ago
- Gone in a puff of smoke: 52,000 sq km of ‘long unburnt’ Australian habitat has vanished in 40 ye...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Geary, Lecturer in Quantitative Ecology & Biodiversity Conservation, The University of Melbourne Trismegist san, Shutterstock Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbour vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these ...1 day ago
- Ecosystems are deeply interconnected – environmental research, policy and management should be tooSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Gladstone-Gallagher, Lecturer in Marine Science, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Shutterstock/S Curtis Why are we crossing ecological boundaries that affect Earth’s fundamental life-supporting capacity? Is it because we don’t have enough information about how ecosystems respond to change? Or ...1 day ago
- What if the Reserve Bank itself has been feeding inflation? An economist explainsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Crocker, PhD Student in Economics, Deakin University Here’s something for the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia to ponder as it meets next month to set interest rates. It has pushed up rates on 13 occasions since it began its ...1 day ago
- The cost of being: A frugal charity director with two teens and two housesAs part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a charity director outlines how she’s saving for retirement and buying secondhand. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here. Gender: Female Age: 45 Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: Charity director, mum of ...1 day ago
- Choice and control: people with disability feel safer when they can select their NDIS providersSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophie Yates, Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Many Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late last year. Now a ...1 day ago
- Government chalks up ‘tough on crime’ point with resurrected three strikes lawIt’s been called a failed experiment and a judicial straightjacket but the government says the revised three strikes law will be a more workable regime, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Three ...1 day ago
- Israeli Ambassador To New Zealand’s Unchallenged On TVNZ Q+A Programme, Allowed To Spread Misinfor...New Zealand’s Palestinian community and Palestinian Youth Aotearoa are voicing alarm and disappointment with the lack of factual rigour present during the Israeli Ambassador’s appearance as a guest on TVNZ’s Q+A With Jack Tame Sunday (21/04). ...1 day ago
- Selwyn residents fighting for homes after being told they need to leave them by 2039And entire community has been told it'll be evicted - but some are feeling stressed and cannot afford to buy anywhere else. ...1 day ago
- Tax cuts: Finance Minister maintains commitment to no extra borrowingNicola Wills says tax cuts will be fully funded through reprioritising money and targeted revenue measures - and won't add to inflation. ...1 day ago
- End of Life Choice Act: Changes needed in review, say advocatesBoth ACT leader David Seymour, who played a key role in drawing up the assisted dying law, and hospice leaders say it's time the legislation was changed. ...1 day ago
- Have gang numbers really ‘skyrocketed’ in recent years?Public submissions on proposed gang control laws are being heard today. Rising gang membership has been cited as rationale for a crackdown – but what do we actually know about how many people belong to gangs in New Zealand? What’s all this then? A rise in the number of gang ...1 day ago
- Why Restore Passenger Rail has set its sights on stopping cruise shipsClimate activists are setting their sights on an unpopular target, and hoping to bring lots of the public with them. It’s hard to miss the Majestic Princess: the enormous cruise ship, docked at Auckland’s Prince’s Wharf, looms over the nearby buildings. The ship, which can fit nearly 6,000 people, ...1 day ago
- New emergency services radio network plans off-trackA new radio network for emergency responders should already be up and running in Canterbury The post New emergency services radio network plans off-track appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- West is best? How we stack up against AustraliaOpinion: We’ve kicked the tyres on the perception NZ’s economy is in a parlous state compared to Australia. We take a quick tour of relative trends in GDP, housing markets, labour markets, trade, the fiscal situation, and the outlooks for inflation and interest rates. We find the cyclical positions of ...1 day ago
- Political donor fails in final appeal over Chinese cultural defenceThe Supreme Court rejects a bid to argue a Chinese New Zealander convicted of lying to the SFO did so for cultural reasons The post Political donor fails in final appeal over Chinese cultural defence appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- From ling to liquidation for New Zealand Coastal SeafoodsA former director of the Australia-listed company is asking tough questions about disclosure as local operations are liquidated The post From ling to liquidation for New Zealand Coastal Seafoods appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- A new kind of city dealOpinion: Making sure developers, local and central government, and landowners are all on the same page makes sense The post A new kind of city deal appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 23 AprilLoading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 23 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Rotorua kuia: ‘I’m disgusted at the investment of my own iwi in a luxury spa’The following korero between Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku, author of the newly published memoir Hine Toa, one of the year’s most important books, and Dale Husband from e-tangata, was first published in October. It traverses her involvement with the activist group Ngā Tamatoa at Auckland University in the early 1970s, her ...1 day ago
- The de-railing of New ZealandIn the 16 years since it was bought by the government for $690 million, KiwiRail has had several overhauls and turnaround plans worth billions of dollars. Its ambitions as a successful, profitable operator of tourism, freight and ferries have often been derailed by disasters from earthquakes to cyclones, mine explosions ...1 day ago
- Daily crossword, Tuesday 23 AprilThe post Daily crossword, Tuesday 23 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- King of backs begins her Black Ferns reignBlack Ferns trailblazer Kendra Cocksedge was on the verge of tears when her young protégé, Hannah King, unassumingly broke the news. Three-time Rugby World Cup winner Cocksedge and Lincoln agriculture student King meet every few weeks over a hot chocolate, in an enduring mentorship that’s spanned years. “Before we even ...1 day ago
Interesting article. There are certainly problems with parole. I know Greg Newbold, a criminologist doesn’t favour parole, but obviously for reasons different from Garret. Tome parole is a broken system. Its a pity there can’t be discussions around parole. Because right now it isn’t a good system. Doesn’t matter whether you want lighter sentences or tougher sentences. You favour rehabiltation or community schemes. Its about time this country had a proper debate concerning parole.
Good to read that. I stopped buying the listener a couple of years ago. It’s also raised my opinion of Macfie.
Denying parole is insane. It offers a intermediary between incarceration and freedom that is essential to stopping reoffending. Especially violent reoffending.
One cannae help but notice how Act – Party MPs and likely also party members – hold firm US-like or enabled views on topics such as this. Such folks stateside would invoke curiosity insofar as what earmarks are they seeking from federal lawmakers. Earmarks being spending appendages to legislature bills..
Is/are there pecuniary interests operating behind such views in enzed?
Good post and a very good article. The problem with the debate is that it never gets past the “good” verses “evil” part. The really sad truth is that parole is there to make prisoners behave better, and that if you remove the chance of parole you may as well clap them in chains, feed them with a stick and hope without reasonable expectation that at the end of their sentence they will behave.
It does not and will not happen this way.
Either we should give up completely on people or we should have some system where rehabilitation ought to be rewarded. And we should remember that prisoners are the sons and daughters and husbands and wives and fathers and mothers of decent people who have witnessed their loved ones descend into hell and want to see them get out of there.
The parole laws have been manipulated to control prison populations. This is seriously a recipe for disaster as has been seen again and again.
One thing we as a country need to do is get our heads around the fact that our prison population is what it is. It’s a result of our society interacting with the criminal justice system. There is no validity in comparing our per capita incarcerated stats with per capita incarceration stats from another country. We have our own laws, our own culture and our own prison population. The actual numbers in prison are not a play thing for political popularity – govts need to stop treating them as such.
Burt that sounds like like it came straight from an ACT campaign speech.
Surely even you can see the greater advantages of having a parole board in play.
Not every bit of fruit in the basket is rotten to the core at the same time, if you cut the mould off most at an early stage then they can useful. Unless you leave them in with the rotten ones forever then theres no going back. They’re fucked.
Captcha – national convinced
How appropriate
Akldnut
IMHO parole is a good thing, a parole board is a good thing. The problem that I have with the process is the way it’s played with by either party. Parole law needs to be changed when genuine reforms are occurring, that’s a given. Changing it (the law regarding parole) and calling this a reform is another matter entirely. How can it be that the information about Burton’s in custody behaviour was not conveyed to his parole board. What modification to the definition of “what information the board may consider” forced that to occur?
Each and every law that has imprisonment in it’s penalty clauses (perhaps excluding electoral or public finance laws) has an impact on prison populations. We either build enough prisons to store the numbers we lock up for full sentence OR we run an accountable early release process OR we reduce the lengths of the sentences being given out OR we juggle the margin where early release can be applied from year to year.
Pick the easy option eh…. It’s so much more instantly gratifying to play with that one.
I like your idea of running an accountable early release process and Aris’ tougher base sentences with more discretion and better access and eligibility to parole
I’m sympathetic to the goal of the idea, but suspect it would turn into yet another media screechfest.
Perhaps we should have compulsory civics classes in school from age 8ish through 15 where we cover all these types of things. ‘Why does our society do the things it does’ type questions.
Great article.
Perhaps we should have compulsory civics classes in school from age 8ish through 15
Would sure save a lot of time here.
Personally, I think tougher base sentences with more discretion and better access and eligibility to parole would be a good combination to prevent re-offending. I’d like to hear some good justification from the crowd that thinks parole is broken at the moment, and specifically what needs to be fixed other than scrapping it altogether- but ideally we should be locking up for life any violent criminal that can’t be rehabilitated, and letting every other criminal out as soon as they’re not at risk of re-offending. The only matter of concern is minimising the error ratio, as I’m pretty sure everyone who believes that even one criminal can be rehabilitated will agree that parole is more useful than harmful- it’s just a matter of finding the best formula, and funding enough supervision post-parole.
The supervision part is probably where the NZ system is most “broken,” as it seems very light even in some violent cases. It would be nice if extra supervision could be added for less straight-cut cases directly from the parole board, too.
Thanks and congratulations again for bringing some sanity into this debate. And for once on a law & order issue I find myself in complete agreement with gingercrush. Parole is broken.
I’m always highly suspicious of using a computer matrix to calculate risk. For instance, presumably race isn’t one of the factors input into the matrix because that would be seen to be discriminatory. But there’s no denying that (for a whole range of reasons I won’t go into here) dark skinned people make up a disproportionate number of our prison population.
So if that isn’t input then how can the data be accurate?
More importantly, of those found to have failed their parole in some way, what data is collected on the actual amount of support they received once released? Often the best intentions of friends and relatives don’t translate into action; or if they do, then they find it much harder than they thought to support an addict. And of course the various state agencies frequently fail.
Is any allowance made for the person who might well have successfully completed parole but who was denied a benefit for so long they had no choice but to resort to theft? Or someone who falls off the wagon and then can’t get back on our woefully underfunded drug rehab programmes?
If the stats aren’t adjusted for those sorts of failures then they’re not adequately reflecting innate likelihood of recidivism so much as the chance that things will go terribly wrong for the offender once released, through no fault of their own.
Indeed we need a debate. What a pity Act haven’t taken the “liberal”, open-minded approach exemplified by gingercrush and sought a national debate round these issues. Instead they’ve taken a radical, punitive, closed-minded approach exemplified by David “Tosser” Garrett.
Edit: In answer to Ari’s question above, yes aside from too much reliance on incomplete and thus flawed statistical bases, it’s the support provided once parole is granted that’s broken. By parole I don’t just mean the hearing, I mean the process from the first hearing to the successful completion of the parole period.
IrishBill/Mickey S, I don’t agree – A prison guard friend told me 95% prisoners say “I was wasted” – they don’t consider all the choices they make that got them to the situation first, or the way they didn’t back out of it, not even at the last moment. Afterwards they find a scapegoat – drugs, drink, poverty, anything.
And as someone who has been involved in a murder from the victims side, I found it is very easy for an offender to say ‘sorry’ but hard to back it up and show that they truly understand what ‘sorry’ really is.
I know we all find it hard to examine their own failings – but that statement we made that upset someone, or the time we behaved foolishly can’t compare with trying to examine your own motivations (a real example) for an 17 year old senior grade league player launching unprovoked punches on a 65 year old man followed by fatally kicking the unconcious man in the back of the head. (And driving off in his car, using the money in it to buy beer, crash the car while showing off, drive off again with a mate, and finally crash the car again when chased by the police.)
Until a prisoner realises they are the only person cupable for the crime, they are not going to begin to be truly rehabilitated. Claiming that parole will make prisoners aim to achieve rehabilitation is wrong – too most prisoners parole is relevant to rehabilitation in a box ticking excercise. This is why so many criminals fail at the first step, and suceed later – they begin to realise that they just need to tick some different boxes and they can be released.
Parole should only be a mechanism for those who can prove that they are truly sorry and then have and will take steps to make the right choices in life when released.
There will be no release until the prisoner has kicked his drug and alcohol problem.
And saying that when prison rehab programmes are systematically underfunded is simply an exercise in sadism.
Sorry but where is the evidence that giving people parole leads to less offending?Are you lot saying, that if prisoners were given parole it will greatly enhance the chances that they will not reoffend. So essentially, every prisoner should get parole because this will lead to a serious decline in offending, particularly violent offending? How does that stack up.
—
On another note. Does anyone with Newbold’s book on prison, could you share what he says about parole. Because I’ve been trying to find things he’s said about parole online but haven’t been able to find it. From what I remember, he suggested that parole doesn’t work. And what it basically does, is give prisoners a guideline on what they have to do to be released early without actually coming to terms with the consequences of their actions. Indeed, I think I remember he offered an alternative to New Zealand’s current parole system.
I seem to remember reading that too – a long time ago though.
To your first point (and I’m not claiming any special expertise) it seems self-evident that a prisoner, especially a long-term prisoner, should have a carefully managed transition between being locked up and being free.
Rex
I do not disagree with much of what you say. I feel somewhat conflicted …
Michael
The victims of crime have the most pertinent things to add to the debate about parole but with the greatest of respect they are the worst people to talk to about how individual criminals should be treated. I hear your angst but the Criminal Justice system should be cold and should not have the emotion of the victims cloud its decision. Otherwise the system is about revenge rather than the appropriate treatment.
Gingercrush
Many academics have spent most of their professional lives over the past 40 years reporting on the issue of parole. The mainstream media mostly misses their conclusions.
Most of the academics with whom I associate* are of the opinion that some form of restorative justice helps heal not only the primary victim(s) but also the secondary victims (offenders’ loved ones) and often goes someway toward repaying society.
More importantly from the perspective of this debate, it truly makes offenders face up to the real effects of their actions on others.
There’s a lot of research on this… the stuff I work with is here.
* Admittedly a self-selecting sample, as I wouldn’t talk for long with any academic as ignorant as Garrett. Mind you, I’ve yet to encounter one, even amongst those who take a much tougher stance. The difference is, of course, they do so with an open mind.
I can’t claim to have consumed and understood all of the information contained in this document, however it’s very interesting reading and quite informative in a debate like this one.
Thanks burt, that is a useful document. None of the “what works”conclusions surprised me, but I admit some shock at the conclusion that “scared straight” interventions don’t work for younger offenders. Those that I’d looked at appeared effective, but then I didn’t track results over lengthy periods of time.
What jumped out at me in the present environment was this:
Considering untreated offenders create more victims, Garrett and McVicar are not only stupid, they’re dangerous.
Can anyone tell me how the South Auckland Rapist would have done under the Three Strikes Bill – would it be 3 rapes = 25 years
47 victims
Akldnut
I think the most important person(s) to consider here are his 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th … victims.
Absolutely I agree – just making a comparison.
South Auckland serial rapist Joseph Stephenson Thompson, is serving a 25-year non-parole sentence on 129 sex charges, involving 47 victims.
Akldnut
I think 25 years non-parole is fine for such an offender. I might not agree to a 25 year non-parole period for a rapist caught on his first victim, but in some circumstances I might.
You could also argue that if a person was only caught once that having 47 or 1 victims shouldn’t make any difference with regard to eligibility for parole. There has been the same chance for rehabilitation in both cases.
Just a few quick thoughts for now.
It always troubles me when people run around the blogsphere or talk back radio claiming they know better than the judge or parole officer, especially when they dont provide any reason as to why they know better.
David Garrett is looking increasing like a clown, I mean seriously, if someone makes a comment like that, there’s no way i would take them seriously in any position of power any more.
Did any one else find it kinda sinister Garth McVtictim on the late ]news tonight was suggesting that boy should be treated as guilty before sentanced?
Labour Propaganda: “Legitimate acts of resistance against the bourgeois class enemies and colonial oppressors by the heroes of the oppressed proletariat, yearning to break free.”
Translation: “Violent Crime.”
The revolving-door parole board is an accessory before the fact of recidivist offending. Another reason to preclude Labour Party members from public positions.
Fuck Simon. Dont be a “hater” mate. The parole baord has been around a long time and successive govts have have had their 5 cents worth as to its operations, not just labour so cool down pal.
not just labour so cool down pal.
Wake. the. fuck. up. The Labour politburo’s single goal is to foster a socialist revolution in New Zealand. They’re dogmatically following the 1-2-3 of Trotsky 101 to do it; disestablish the mechanisms of state and disenfranchise the middle class.
Labour and it’s sycophants at the substandard want as many violent criminals on the streets as possible, as many welfare beneficiaries guzzling our scarce resources as possible, as many productive Kiwis emigrating away from our shores as possible, as many HIV-positive illiterate immigrants as possible. It’s all a precursor to their vision of a socialist revolution.
Their utopia is our Cambodia.
[Tane: Banned for life. I don’t have time for this shit.]
“The Labour politburo’s single goal is to foster a socialist revolution in New Zealand. They’re dogmatically following the 1-2-3 of Trotsky 101 to do it; disestablish the mechanisms of state and disenfranchise the middle class.”
All I can say is that they are being fncking slack about it then.
[Tane: Banned for life. I don’t have time for this shit.]
On you Tane. This has been, apart from Simon’s contribution, one of the more sane and civilised discussions I have seen on a blog. It is a shame that many postings tend to develop into slanging matches.
I just heard Kim Workman on Morning Report. He made the very good point that if we had a “three strikes” law and a person had just committed their third strike then they would become extremely dangerous and would in all likelihood kill to avoid being caught. After all, what do they have to lose?
Gingercrush – I gather that people released on parole are much less likely to reoffend. There’s a fairly obvious flaw in the following:
Are you lot saying, that if prisoners were given parole it will greatly enhance the chances that they will not reoffend. So essentially, every prisoner should get parole because this will lead to a serious decline in offending, particularly violent offending? How does that stack up.”
Umm, to get parole, you must be unlikely (or at least less likely) to reoffend. Obviously if you gave parole to people who are likely to reoffend, then…they’d be likely to reoffend.
Look at it this way – if you are sentenced to 15 years in prison, but can get out in 10 on parole, there’s a good chance you will try and do what is required to get out in 10. What the parole board needs, to do, essentially, is determine whether it’s an act for freedom, or whether you’ve genuinely reformed.
Given the significantly lower rates of reoffending under parole (one figure I heard was 80%), they are obviously doing their job fairly well.
It’s an incentive system to reform, and a fairly sophisticated one at that. It also ties in with post-release support/monitoring – though like others above in this thread, I think that needs to be revised. Well it has been post-Burton.
Obviously, that’s not to say ‘every prisoner should get parole because this will lead to a serious decline in offending’. That makes as much sense as saying ‘no one should go to jail because if you’ve been to jail you’re more likely to commit a crime’. There’s no logic there at all, GC.
Is parole an option for all prisoners or only those on their first jail-able offense ?
Just asking I have no idea.
What a great discussion. Riveting.
The major need with parole is the staffing/resources. One parole officer who was very successful with young offenders, considered that the most valuable tool was in his abilty to listen. However if he had a very heavy caseload, there is no way he can do that and attend to the support for work and family. I believe that 50% of the Parole Officers have less than 2 years experience and the turn-over rate is huge. Needs a huge increase in the people/resources to make parole work better.
Higherstandard
It is available for all prisoners. Check out the Parole Act 2002 and the Sentencing Act 2002 for details.