California lifts gay marriage ban

Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, May 17th, 2008 - 41 comments
Categories: International, john key - Tags: , , ,

California’s top court has ruled that a state law banning marriage between same-sex couples is unconstitutional, accrording to a BBC report.

The state’s Supreme Court said the “right to form a family relationship” applied to all Californians regardless of sexuality.

I wonder if this ruling will re-ignite debate on the status of relationships here in NZ? As a contender for the top job it would be good to get a definitive answer out of Mr Key, who in the past has presented two different views on local Civil Union laws:

To the Gay community he said that he had no problem with civil unions.

Key: (to GayNZ):“Personally I have no problems with Civil Unions”

Yet he voted against the Civil Union Bill.

Key (to right-wing Christian-style magazine Investigate on why he voted against the bill): “I thought it was a gay marriage bill, and I thought the government should have just been honest enough to say that.”

So does that mean he’d support gay marriage if it was up front?

It’s hard to see many of our politicians re-engage with this topic – but i have no doubt the question will return eventually.

41 comments on “California lifts gay marriage ban ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Inventory2 1
    17 May 2008 at 8:33 am

    Fellas, when will you learn? It’s not about John Key all the time! But keep it up, and that 27 point gap between National and Labour will grow, and grow, and grow…..

    It is quite possible to support civil unions and oppose gay marriage.

  2. RedLogix 2
    17 May 2008 at 8:56 am

    These polls are rigged.

    My younger daughter has been working for Herald Digipoll the last few months, and she was talking with me last night about how they are a total scam:

    1. The target the demographic they want to by carefully selecting the suburb and time of day. This is done very explicitly.

    2. They are perfectly aware that much of the left wing demographic does not have landlines, but they refuse to poll cellphone users.

    3. Only a small fraction of those conctacted actually answer the questions; this makes these polls almost as hopelessly self-selecting as on-line polls.

    4. The questions are always carefully phrased and couched in language that will get the answers that are being paid for. It is this aspect that most appalls my daughter and I got the impression she’s sick of it and is looking for another job as soon as she can.

  3. Dancer 3
    17 May 2008 at 9:04 am

    i agree that it’s not all about john key – but if the polls hold true through to the election then he’ll have a majority with no need to do the deals with other parties – and no need to do deals to get policy through. so i think it’s fair enough to have some scrutiny of the man who wants to be pm – we don’t know that much about him – nor what he thinks about many of those side issues that become the topic of the day when you’re sitting at the big desk.

  4. AncientGeek 4
    17 May 2008 at 9:12 am

    I2: there are so many things wrong with your statements. But I’m nursing a mild level of dehydration.

    So I’ll confine myself to saying that I’m interested in John Keys ability to be so much in opposition to himself. He doesn’t appear to have much depth – probably just a nice guy. Likes to say whatever people want to hear. That really doesn’t sound like someone worth having running the country.

    The track record of nice populist politicians is abysmal in this country and everywhere else. It isn’t nice having politicians with the intellectual opinion backbone of wet spaghetti.

    But back on topic again. Civil union or gay marriage is a “Chicken Little” issue. The debate here was full of squawking about the doom that would happen if it was passed and put into law.

    It is probably too early to see the full effects. But at this point it looks to me that it hasn’t made a blind bit of difference. Which is what I expected to happen. It is in the same class of “Chicken Little” as doing things like giving women the vote – which was also going to destroy society in the 1890’s.

    It always amazes me with conservatives that they have absolutely no sense of history, because they routinely keep doing the same stupid chicken little act over and over again. It’d be funny if you didn’t consider the people it affects.

  5. Billy 5
    17 May 2008 at 9:28 am

    I tend to agree AG. It’s hard to believe everyone got so worked up. Or that this was so vital, when you consider that so far 16 gay men, 8 lesbians and a pair of Mt Eden social workers have had civil unions.

  6. AncientGeek 6
    17 May 2008 at 10:00 am

    Billy: In your inimitable style of humour, I’m pretty sure you’ve understated it. While I haven’t seen it used for gays, I’ve been to a few civil unions for non-gays. They haven’t been social workers either.

    But full marks for effort – tell me have you tried the comedy club yet? You’re giving away good lines.

  7. Lew 7
    17 May 2008 at 10:13 am

    RedLogix: Anyone who knows anything knows that these polls are indicative only. There’s only one which matters, and it’s conducted on a Saturday in Spring once every three years.

    L

  8. Lew 8
    17 May 2008 at 10:21 am

    My instinct is that, if he wins this year, John Key will once in government find himself unable to be all things to all people all the time. At that point inconsistency won’t fly any longer, so in order to remain he’ll need to become consistent. Then the electorate will see what he’s really about and can make a decision on that basis. If it’s something approaching the `compassionate conservative’ that he’s publicised himself as, then there will probably not be any significant backlash, but if it’s too far from this line, he’s bound to piss of some chunk of the electorate.

    Politics by focus group is a tricky business, but it’s not inherently impossible.

    L

  9. barnsleybill 9
    17 May 2008 at 10:42 am

    Nice conspiracy play redlogix. Shame it was not a herald digipoll poll.
    Irrespective of the numbers and the usual suspects calling each and every poll a red herring or a statistical blip or an anomaly…
    Look at the trend boys. It is all bad for harry and her team. Cullen may well be moving decimal places on his budget announcement as we speak!

  10. Billy 10
    17 May 2008 at 10:47 am

    It’s funny, isn’t it BB. Every post about a poll is met with certain people claiming that this is (yet another) rogue poll. They just cannot imagine why anyone would not be perfectly happy with this government, because they expect everyone thinks like they do.

  11. Billy 11
    17 May 2008 at 10:52 am

    AG: yes, I was exaggerating for comic effect. But not too much, it appears:

    marriages civil-unions and divorces yr ended dec07

    It seems there were about 63 non-gay civil unions last year. So, if you’ve been to “a few” you’re doing well.

    [lprent: corrected link so it didn’t spread all over the page on firefox]

  12. AncientGeek 12
    17 May 2008 at 11:06 am

    Can’t remember going to any last year. In fact last year I can only remember going to one marriage – church and all that.

    But just after the civil union came out, I went to a few – but that was a few years back. To tell the truth it is bloody hard to see the difference unless you get told proudly by the participants.

    Umm those graphs are interesting, I thought that there were some dramatic shifts until I looked closer at the scale. But it does look like there is a steady decline in marriages at present. Hardly surprising when you look at the divorce rate.

    It is a pity that they don’t show the dissolution rate for civil unions. That is a trend that would be interesting to watch.

  13. Inventory2 13
    17 May 2008 at 11:10 am

    Ancient Geek said “I2: there are so many things wrong with your statements. But I’m nursing a mild level of dehydration.”

    AG – having suffered from post consumption dehydration a few times myself, you have my sympathy.

    However, I take issue with your comments. I have no problem with relationships of all kinds being given legal status as per the Civil Unions Act. However, I would have opposed any attempt to legalise gay marriage. It’s not homophobia on my part – my brother came out in the early 1970’s (I’m almost as ancient a geek as your name suggests!) long before being gay was fashionable, is incredibly successful in his field, I love him dearly and am immensely proud of him. I have a number of gay friends, male and female, who are always warmly welcomed into our home.

    However, as a Christian ( a middle-of-the road, conservative Christian, rather than a Bible-bashing, tongue-speaking fundamentalist) I believe that MARRIAGE is the preserve of a man and a woman. As I said earlier, I have no problem with legislation that provides legal recognition of and protection for other relationships, for both same-sex couples, and heterosexual couples who do not wish to marry. I would far rather see stable relationships where a formal commitment has been made, especially when children are involved.

    I believe there was a level of deceit when the Civil Unions legislation was before the House. Even though the legislation was in the name of David Benson-Pope, it was well known that Tim Barnett was the driving force. Had Barnett put this legislation forward as a means by which same-sex couples could achieve legal recognition of their relationships, it may have enjoyed wider support than was achieved.

  14. AncientGeek 14
    17 May 2008 at 11:12 am

    Billy: I distrust all polls, good or bad. I have done so for a few decades. As redlogix says, they aren’t much more accurate than online polls.

    Their methodology is so suspect at many different levels. You can start with the sample sizes, the selection criteria, and just work outwards.

    I view them as just being a marketing con-job for the ill-informed suckers in society and to produce media headlines.

    On a related subject. There is also that other marketing con – the TV rating system. What is it? 400 boxes on TV’s around the country? They stay at the same places until people die. Explains the high ratings for coro street.

  15. Lew 15
    17 May 2008 at 11:24 am

    Right argument, wrong example, AncientGeek. Yes, like polls, TV ratings are mostly meaningless in isolation, but as BB says it’s the trends which matter. And Coro street is and always has been a genuine hit.

    L

  16. AncientGeek 16
    17 May 2008 at 11:31 am

    I2: I really don’t care one way or the other about marriages vs civil unions.

    So long as they have the same effect under the law, and provides the same level of legal protection for children – then they are the same as far as I’m concerned.

    Normally, what value people choose to put in a name is their issue as far as I’m concerned. That is up until the time that they start trying to use their beliefs to restrict the legal protections and rights available to other people. Then I start getting annoyed.

    In the end, after all that fuss and chicken little rhetoric, the protections and rights offered by the civil union bill appear to be adequete. In a lot of ways, it seems like a more rational law than the marriage act.

    I’d add that I’m agnostic on most things, religion, sexual preferences, a lot of politics, types of cars, etc. The criteria I usually use is the level of harm to third or innocent parties. For instance if someone tries preaching Christianity to me, then I tend to shove the more interesting parts of the old testament into their beliefs. Then I start on the track record of christians over the last 2000 years. Thats on the general principle of “if you bug me, then I’m really going to bug you”.

  17. AncientGeek 17
    17 May 2008 at 11:36 am

    L: I’d agree that it is a hit. I’ve had to suffer through people insisting that it be played with loaud volumes because they’re deafer than I am. It makes a *strong* impact on my ears.

    I just don’t think that it is as big a hit as the TV ratings indicate. In fact the TV ratings are good for one thing. Usually if they’re high, it is good indicator of something to avoid.

    What I object to is that they seem to be used to justify making sure that there is seldom any TV worth watching.

  18. Inventory2 18
    17 May 2008 at 12:45 pm

    AG – surprisingly, I agree with you on much of what you have written, in particular the legal protection afforded children. I worked with a gay woman who had a child with her partner – when the relationship went sour, things got pretty messy for a while. Had this couple had a legally-recognised and protected relationship, things may have been different.

    As far as the Christianity thing goes, I respect your views. I have heard it said that “the biggest cause of atheism is Christians” and often find myself agreeing. I prefer St Francis of Assize’s words – “preach the gospel at all times; when that fails, use words.”

  19. Travellerev 19
    17 May 2008 at 1:32 pm

    Isn’t it funny RedLogic how the ignoramuses that comment on this site refuse to accept information that could enlighten them a bit. And how everything instantly becomes a “conspiracy theory”.

    You tell of a conversation with your daughter who tells you how these polls are conducted and Bam you’re a conspiracy theorist.

    We don’t have a free and independent press any more since all but one newspaper are owned by Fairfax which is 10% owned by Murdoch.
    We don’t get the real news any more, and Fairfax very much want John Key in and Helen out.

    Wake up sheeple.

  20. Brett Dale 20
    17 May 2008 at 1:38 pm

    A gay couple should be allowed to have a civil Union if they want, they should have the same rights as straight couples. They should be allowed to get married also.

    I would also hope that Churches of all religions should allow gay marriages.

    But it should be up to each Church to decide if they want to allow Gay Marriage, the Government shouldnt tell them that they have to.

    [Brett, such ignorance. This isn’t about marriage as a ceremony performed by churches, which churches are free to set their own rules around. It’s about marriage the legal institution from which flows various legal rights and social status. SP]

  21. Brett Dale 21
    17 May 2008 at 2:36 pm

    Yes I agree 100% that Gay people should have the same rights and social status thru the legal institution of marriage.

    I know what a civil Union is, and Im for it.

    In terms of the wider debate of Marriage as a ceremony performed by a church, then the Government should butt out.

    Just trying to widen this debate.

  22. AncientGeek 22
    17 May 2008 at 2:41 pm

    I prefer St Francis of Assize’s words – “preach the gospel at all times; when that fails, use words.’

    That was pretty much what I told my brother when he became religious. I’d done a lot of reading on religions when I was younger and puzzled to find out that I appeared to have no capability to take anything on faith.

    It was funny how fast he took to getting religious instruction after he talked to me a few times. He swore off the old testament pretty rapidly – so many authors and so contradictory. For some reason he didn’t like the suggestions I made (and pointed to the appropriate verses) after he said that he was going to live his life by the bible.

    I have the greatest respect for people who manage to live their lives following their faith. But as you might have gathered I have little respect for people pushing anything. I prefer to see how they act rather than what they say.

  23. AncientGeek 23
    17 May 2008 at 2:48 pm

    BD: Most marriages aren’t performed by a church. In the marriages I’ve been to recently, most have been performed by people other than those ordained in a church.

    It’d be interesting to see some stats on that if anyone knows of any.

    A marriage is defined by what act of parliament that the union takes place under. Everything else is in the heads of the participants and how they perceive it.

  24. Lew 24
    17 May 2008 at 3:32 pm

    Travellerev: “We don’t have a free and independent press any more since all but one newspaper are owned by Fairfax which is 10% owned by Murdoch.”

    It’s statements like this which cause people to label you a conspiracy theorist nut. It’s just plain fucking bullshit and shows that you a) don’t know anything about what you’re talking about; b) don’t care to do even the most trivial bit of research before spouting off and c) aren’t prepared to consider alternatives because you already have your mind made up.

    The first google hit on the words nz media ownership is http://canterbury.cyberplace.org.nz/community/CAFCA/publications/Miscellaneous/mediaown.pdf Even CAFCA disagrees with you on this one.

    L

  25. Travellerev 25
    17 May 2008 at 4:50 pm

    Thank you very much for this pdf. Lew, I’ll read it and get back to you.
    First impression is: it seems that Murdoch’s influence has even been bigger than I previously thought.
    You should read these things before you put them up, Lew.

    See this is what I mean, all that anger:
    It’s just plain fucking bullshit and shows that you a) don’t know anything about what you’re talking about; b) don’t care to do even the most trivial bit of research before spouting off and c) aren’t prepared to consider alternatives because you already have your mind made up.

    Oh, I thought this might interest you.
    http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=57801
    http://www.pol.mq.edu.au/Bridget%20Griffin%20Foley/Dynasties.pdf
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/jul/23/newscorporation.rupertmurdoch
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1769788.htm
    http://www.greenleft.org.au/1992/51/3492

    Sucker

  26. RedLogix 26
    17 May 2008 at 4:53 pm

    Well actually Travellerev may have simplified, but she’s not too far off the mark:

    1. The very interesting CAFCA document you cited (thanks for the link) summarises Print Ownership in an Appendix. (p59) For Daily Press with a circulation over 25,000 there are only three owners ANM, Fairfax and Allied. Allied (the ODT) is the exception, being NZ owned. ANM runs just two papers, the Herald (195,000) and Hawkes Bay Today (27,000). FairFax have five papers (The Dom being the largest) with a readership totalling almost 300,000, ie about 55% of the total daily readership. If you add in ANM, then about 92% of the daily press readership is with papers owned by just TWO companies.

    2. According to these dated links Murdoch owns at least 7.5% of Fairfax.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1769294.htm

  27. Travellerev 27
    17 May 2008 at 4:59 pm

    Oh Lew,

    I’m so going to whip your ass with this Pdf.
    Thank you so much for sharing it with me.
    lol

  28. Lew 28
    17 May 2008 at 5:40 pm

    Travellerev: Not sure how you can whip my arse with this, since my only assertion on the matter of media ownership has been that the statement quoted above is false. I won’t be at all unhappy if you can disprove my a, b and c assertions above with an educated, well-researched and open-minded bit of work- I have no quarrel with you personally, I just don’t like sloppiness.

    RedLogix: Yes, I do have some concerns about the ownership structure of NZ’s media ecology, but in spite of these, by most metrics it’s actually fairly robust. Reporters without Borders and another agency (I forget who) routinely lists our media as among the best.

    And yeah; it is a useful document. Since it’s CAFCA it needs to be taken with some scepticism, but it’s based on quite firm (and most importantly transparent) data.

    L

  29. RedLogix 29
    17 May 2008 at 6:25 pm

    Yes, I do have some concerns about the ownership structure of NZ’s media ecology, but in spite of these, by most metrics it’s actually fairly robust.

    Frankly I think that is grossly understating it. We’ve just gotten accustomed to the biased pap we are being fed. Print journalism in NZ is in trouble.

    There are only two major employers, both known to be highly aligned with the rightwing point of view. Both of them are overseas owned by mega-corporates that really only care about revenue. Pay rates are appallingly low for such a vital and skilled profession and the main prospect for advancement seems to be either into the wilderness of freelancing or going over to the PR darkside.

    Compare this with the situation prior to the 90’s, we had dozens of genuinely independently owned publications, with robustly expressed diversity of editorial positions, committed to actually enquiring into issues and holding authority to account. In the major cities readers often had a choice of dailies, and just as importantly, journos had a choice of employers. If life didn’t suit under one, there was always the chance of a better fit with another paper.

    But with only TWO employers, both committed to representing conservative, business interests, traditional journalism as a profession is dying on it’s feet.

    Whether the internet will a evolve new and credible platform for the profession remains to be seen.

  30. Lew 30
    17 May 2008 at 7:22 pm

    RedLogix: I agree entirely about the parlous way media people are treated; it was a major reason in my choosing media analysis over journalism as a career. This is significantly the result of ownership concentration. But by this metric journalism everywhere is in trouble. If that’s so then eventually alternatives will emerge and if they genuinely fill a need people will flock to them and the existing media will need to adapt or perish. If you think there’s a credible way to improve things to that end I’m all ears; I’d love to be on the next major media wave.

    It’s not that I’m `used to the pap we are being fed’ (I’m often frustrated by the poor standard of journalism), I’m just not under any delusions that it’s much better elsewhere, of that we were once in some sort of golden age. It’s just not so. The business model has at a fundamental level always been the same, driven by the same imperatives and yielding much the same outcomes. One fundamental difference is that there is simply a hell of a lot more news now than there was, and that news is much easier to create, transmit, cover, store and distribute, but deadlines and other factors have not changed commensurately. This makes the job a damned sight harder than it was and changes the balance between what you might call `pap’ and what you might call `robust’. Believe it or not, the `pap’ is of news value to a bunch of people, and them who pay the piper call the tune.

    One more thing: I think what you represent as the `rightwing point of view’ is seen by many as `enquiring into issues and holding authority to account’, and while it might not be your view you need to realise that it is a legitimate view; we do currently have a Labour government in power and the media holding them to account is always going to look unfair to leftist partisans. I’ve said before and I’ll restate it here that I don’t think there’s a credible case to be made that the media systemically favour either side; the revenue-driven business model which you deride simply doesn’t allow it, at least not in NZ’s tiny little media ecology. Pockets of the media certainly focus on particular demographics (in fact I’ve spent some time researching this very phenomenon) but that’s on the periphery; what I’m talking about is the Big 4, One News, 3 News and Radio NZ National.

    L

  31. Lew 31
    17 May 2008 at 7:23 pm

    Having reread this exchange, I think we’ve hijacked the thread. Sorry.

    L

  32. lprent 32
    17 May 2008 at 7:41 pm

    Thats ok. We kind of expect that sort of stuff to happen. You really only find people and moderators getting upset if it degenerates into schoolyard taunting.

    The kind of stuff that has been going on in here doesn’t fall into that category. In fact I’d say it is exactly what you’d expect towards the tail of a post.

  33. RedLogix 33
    17 May 2008 at 7:48 pm

    it was a major reason in my choosing media analysis over journalism as a career.

    oops… I’m arguing with an expert.

    we do currently have a Labour government in power and the media holding them to account is always going to look unfair to leftist partisans.

    What I object to is that New Zealand is actually going along very well all things considered. In fact we have never been better off. But you wouldn’t know that if you read the Herald or Dom.

  34. Lew 34
    17 May 2008 at 8:26 pm

    RedLogix: I don’t see this as a problem, but simply the nature of the beast. The commercial media business model is this: in exchange for your eyeballs and earholes looking at or listening to advertisements, the outlet keeps an eye on the happenings of the world for you, because you’re too busy to go and do all the background research and interviews and so on that journalists and such people do. This means hard-news media outlets are in principle weighted towards `need to know’ stuff – things which can or will impact materially on people in the immediate to mid-term; and because what people need to know is strongly oriented toward avoiding adversity or danger, news media tend to accentuate the negative and eliminate the positive.

    Naive news readers tend to buy the Chicken Licken line, but anyone with any institutional memory can see that doom and gloom are never far from the headlines. One of Poneke’s last posts was on this very subject.

    L

  35. lprent 35
    17 May 2008 at 8:32 pm

    Lew: I just finished reading the latter part of this thread.

    The basic problem is that the underlying demographics have changed so much. 20 years ago I was vastly over-educated compared to the average run of the population. Now I’m seeing kids routinely getting that level of education.

    There hasn’t been the type of media that I could read in NZ ever. The nearest was probably the NBR or Independent in the 80’s and 90’s. The radionz national program has been my mainstay.

    Offshore it was a lot simplier. I could read the economist, new scientist, and a number of other publications.

    These days, the net is making a hell of a difference. You see it here all of the time. People link in pieces from everywhere. Both in the posts and the comments.

    The downside of it is that it will probably cause the media to focus more on the pap level. Because these net media are highly interactive. If you don’t have much to say, then the net based media becomes pretty boring very fast.

    The problem for the media, is that there isn’t any good revenue stream model developed yet for net content. It takes peanuts and some skill to run this type of site at a technical level. The posters do the content because they want to. They have skill levels that are probably way in excess of what is required, and a hyper-critical public of comments that encourage self improvement very rapidly. Look at how fast our posters lifted their writing and research style.

    How can you maintain a organization with its overheads against that kind of opposition.

  36. Lew 36
    17 May 2008 at 8:48 pm

    lprent: And here I thought you were just the tech guy.

    Your point about the ease of running this show makes good sense to me. I’ve been involved in administering a few sites; the biggest of which I co-founded and now has more than 20,000 members.People turn themselves from rank newbies to genuine tradespeople, whether technical, social, or what, just because they want to be involved.

    There’s another aspect, though: a media ecology is like a jigsaw puzzle. Nobody is meant to get all their news from the one source, and the trick has not so much been in concentrating on getting one particular demographic, but in strategic diversification, which is a targetted form of horizontal integration. This rests on the links between publications; stabled journalists often write for several of a company’s publications to draw readers across; the same things occur on TV where John Campbell guests in Bro’Town to raise his profile.

    The internets are *designed* to work this way, and thus they have a natural advantage – and the revenue stream is the same: advertising. But the internet advertising market is still too weak, because for one thing it’s an untrusted medium with only moderate penetration; and secondly because that marginal medium is moving into an already-crowded market. It seems guaranteed that this will strengthen, and as it does an ad campaign on the Standard might be enough to actually employ journalists and editors and such like.

    Just as we’re seeing the phasing-out of analogue TV, we’ll eventually see people stop printing dead tree papers; and stop scheduling TV at certain times, moving to a permanent on-demand model; etc. The thing is that the majors are on this game as well.

    L

  37. Lew 37
    17 May 2008 at 9:14 pm

    Travellerev: Thanks for that link by Bridget Griffin-Foley.

    I see what you’re saying, but the problem is that you think I’m arguing there’s no concentration of ownership, but I’m not. I’m just saying that making shit up on the spot without fact-checking it doesn’t help your case any or speak well for your critical habits.

    L

  38. Ari 38
    17 May 2008 at 9:28 pm

    Lew: The media is most certainly NOT holding Labour to account, at least not in an unbiased fashion. There are a lot of really good leftist, environmentalist, and identity politics critiques to the Labour government that simply aren’t being run. Instead we have endless populist drivel on tax cuts and how the public is “hurting”, with no exploration into the causes behind rising oil and food prices, no exploration on whether Labour could actually be reasonably expected to do anything about it, and no exploration into whether tax cuts are a favourable economic policy at this time.

    I have no illusion that this has at least something to do with the business model big media is run under, but that doesn’t mean we can’t challenge them back, too. It wouldn’t be hard for them to dig a little deeper into things.

  39. Phil 39
    18 May 2008 at 10:42 am

    “Isn’t it funny RedLogic how the ignoramuses that comment on this site refuse to accept information that could enlighten them a bit. And how everything instantly becomes a “conspiracy theory’.

    You tell of a conversation with your daughter who tells you how these polls are conducted and Bam you’re a conspiracy theorist. ”

    Yes, actually it IS funny, because neither you, Trav, or RedL, have any idea what you’re actually saying.

    Why do polling companies target certain demographics at certain times of day? Because it’s good business sense, plain and simple.
    They work to very strict demographic targets and if you’re tying to poll working parents, then there isn’t much point calling them in the middle of the day!

    Contrary to your opinion, polling companies use very sophisticated statistical modelling to make sure that the results they get are as accurate as possible. Methodology, weighting, calling strategies, and best practice are all reviewed on a regular cycle, and when I see ignorant dismissive attitudes like yours, I weep.

    One thing I will agree with you on is that, this far out from an election, they don’t mean much. However, that doesn’t make them unnecessary. To do so would be like saying that peoples expectations of inflation or interest rates two years ahead are irrelevant. I can tell you now, they’re very VERY relevant, and offer an intriguing look into the psychology of the voter/consumer

  40. Lew 40
    18 May 2008 at 10:47 am

    Ari: If enough people cared, the business model mandates that those sorts of critiques would be given air time. But apparently they don’t. If you see a gap in the market, I suggest you fill it.

    Incidentally, this is why we have public service broadcasters such as Radio NZ, the BBC and PBS. They’re subject to a somewhat (but not entirely) different business model.

    L

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    2 hours ago

  • Top 10 for Monday, December 11
    Luxon does not see the point in Treasury analysing the impact of some of his government’s ‘first 100-day’ reforms. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Monday, December 11, including:Scoop of the day: A Treasury ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 hours ago

  • BRIAN EASTON: How should we organise a modern economy?
     Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy. Brian Easton writes – The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 hours ago

  • Coalition Circus of Chaos – Verbal gymnasts; an inept Ringmaster, and a helluva lot of clowns
    ..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The Curtain Closes…You have to hand it to Aotearoa - voters don’t do things by halves. People wanted change, and by golly, change they got. Baby, bathwater; rubber ducky - all out.There is something ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    8 hours ago

  • “Brown-town”: the Wayne & Simeon show
    Last week Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown kicked off what is always the most important thing a Council does every three years – update its ‘Long term plan’. This is the budgeting process for the Council and – unlike central government – the budget has to balance in terms of income ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    9 hours ago

  • Not To Cast Stones…
    Yeah I changed my wine into waterHad a miracle or four since I saw youSome came on time, some took a whileLocal Water Done Well.One of our new government’s first actions, number 20 on their list of 49 priorities, is the repeal of the previous government’s Water Services Entities Act 2022. Three Waters, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    9 hours ago

  • So much noise and so little signal
    Parliament opened with pomp and ceremony, then it was back to politicians shouting at and past each other into the void. Photo: Office of the Clerk, NZ ParliamentTL;DR: It started with pomp, pageantry and a speech from the throne laying out the new National-ACT-NZ First Government’s plan to turn back ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    11 hours ago

  • Lost in the Desert: Accepted
    As noted, November was an exceptionally good writing month for me. Well, in an additional bit of good news for December, one of those November stories, Lost in the Desert, has been accepted by Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/) for their Winter Solstice 2023 issue. At 3,500 words, ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    18 hours ago

  • This Government and their Rightwing culture-war flanks picked a fight with the country… not the ot...
    ACT and the culture-war warriors of the Right have picked this fight with Te Ao Māori. Ideologically-speaking, as a Party they’ve actually done this since inception, let’s be clear about that. So there is no real need to delve at length into their duplicitous, malignant, hypocritical manipulations. Yes, yes, ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    19 hours ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #49
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 3, 2023 thru Sat, Dec 9, 2023. Story of the Week Interactive: The pathways to meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C limit The Paris Agreement’s long-term goal of keeping warming “well below” ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 day ago

  • LOGAN SAVORY: The planned blessing that has irked councillors
    “I’m struggling to understand why we are having a blessing to bless this site considering it is a scrap metal yard… It just doesn’t make sense to me.” Logan Savory writes- When’s a blessing appropriate and when isn’t it? Some Invercargill City Councillors have questioned whether blessings might ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago

  • Surely it won't happen
    I have prepared a bad news sandwich. That is to say, I'm going to try and make this more agreeable by placing on the top and underneath some cheering things.So let's start with a daughter update, the one who is now half a world away but also never farther out ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • Let Them Eat Sausage Rolls: Hipkins Tries to Kill Labour Again
    Sometimes you despair. You really do. Fresh off leading Labour to its ugliest election result since 1990,* Chris Hipkins has decided to misdiagnose matters, because the Government he led cannot possibly have been wrong about anything. *In 2011 and 2014, people were willing to save Labour’s electorate ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • Clued Up: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    “But, that’s the thing, mate, isn’t it? We showed ourselves to be nothing more useful than a bunch of angry old men, shaking our fists at the sky. Were we really that angry at Labour and the Greens? Or was it just the inescapable fact of our own growing irrelevancy ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • JERRY COYNE: A powerful University dean in New Zealand touts merging higher education with indigeno...
    Jerry Coyne writes –  This article from New Zealand’s Newsroom site was written by Julie Rowland,  the deputy dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland as well as a geologist and the Director of the Ngā Ara Whetū | Centre for Climate, Biodiversity & Society. In other ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.
    Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.For the last couple of weeks its felt as though all the good things in our beautiful land are under attack.These isles in the southern Pacific. The home of the Māori people. A land of easy going friendliness, openness, and she’ll be right. A ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Speaking for the future
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.MondayYou cannot be seriousOne might think, god, people who are seeing all this must be regretting their vote.But one might be mistaken.There are people whose chief priority is not wanting to be ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • How Should We Organise a Modern Economy?
    Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy. The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the Cold War focuses on the contribution of ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    3 days ago

  • Willis fails a taxing app-titude test but govt supporters will cheer moves on Te Pukenga and the Hum...
    Buzz from the Beehive The Minister of Defence has returned from Noumea to announce New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting and (wearing another ministerial hat) to condemn malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government. A bigger cheer from people who voted for the Luxon ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • ELIZABETH RATA: In defence of the liberal university and against indigenisation
    The suppression of individual thought in our universities spills over into society, threatening free speech everywhere. Elizabeth Rata writes –  Indigenising New Zealand’s universities is well underway, presumably with the agreement of University Councils and despite the absence of public discussion. Indigenising, under the broader umbrella of decolonisation, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the skewed media coverage of Gaza
    Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website. If he did, Peters would find MFAT celebrating the 25th anniversary of how New Zealand alerted the rest of the world to the genocide developing in Rwanda. Quote: New Zealand played an important role ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    3 days ago

  • “Your Circus, Your Clowns.”
    It must have been a hard first couple of weeks for National voters, since the coalition was announced. Seeing their party make so many concessions to New Zealand First and ACT that there seems little remains of their own policies, other than the dwindling dream of tax cuts and the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 8-December-2023
    It’s Friday again and Christmas is fast approaching. Here’s some of the stories that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered some of the recent talk around the costs, benefits and challenges with the City Rail Link. On Thursday Matt looked at how ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    3 days ago

  • End-of-week escapism
    Amsterdam to Hong Kong William McCartney16,000 kilometres41 days18 trains13 countries11 currencies6 long-distance taxis4 taxi apps4 buses3 sim cards2 ferries1 tram0 medical events (surprisingly)Episode 4Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains tha… ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 8
    Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • New Zealand’s Witchcraft Laws: 1840/1858-1961/1962
    Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    4 days ago

  • No surprises
    Don’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #49 2023
    113 articles in 48 journals by 674 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects Diversity of Lagged Relationships in Global Means of Surface Temperatures and Radiative Budgets for CMIP6 piControl Simulations, Tsuchida et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-23-0045.1 Do abrupt cryosphere events in High Mountain Asia indicate earlier tipping ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Phone calls at Kia Kaha primary
    It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • A question of confidence is raised by the Minister of Police, but he had to be questioned by RNZ to ...
    It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news  out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • Xmas  good  cheer  for the dairy industry  as Fonterra lifts its forecast
    The big dairy co-op Fonterra  had  some Christmas  cheer to offer  its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for  the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast  midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • MICHAEL BASSETT: Modern Maori myths
    Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • Dreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28
    Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour Tunnels
    It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    4 days ago

  • Webworm Presents: Jurassic Park on 35mm
    Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago

  • The Prime Minister's Dream.
    Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • National’s new MP; the proud part-Maori boy raised in a state house
    Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago

  • Climate Adam: Battlefield Earth – How War Fuels Climate Catastrophe
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • They do not speak for us, and they do not speak for the future
    These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Another attack on te reo
    The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”
    Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came  from  Education Minister  Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • Climate Change: Failed again
    There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On Maori
    This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    5 days ago

  • Rising costs hit farmers hard, but  there’s more  positive news  for  them this  week 
    New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has  been under  pressure  from rising  costs. Down on the  farm, this  has  been  hitting  hard. But there  was more positive news this week,  first   from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where  prices  rose,  and  then from  a  report ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    5 days ago

  • ROB MacCULLOCH:  Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...
    Rob MacCulloch writes –  In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
    Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Eleven years of work.
    Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
    A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • How Did We Get Here?
    Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago

  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    6 days ago

  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    6 days ago

  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    Skeptical Science
    7 days ago

  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    7 days ago

  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago

  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes – The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 week ago

  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 week ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    1 week ago

  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 week ago

  • First step to flexible labour market
    The Government is delivering on its commitment to repeal the Fair Pay Agreement legislation by Christmas 2023. “We are moving quickly to remove this legislation before any fair pay agreements are finalised and the negative impacts are felt by the labour market,” says Minister van Velden.  “Fair pay agreements undermine ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    52 mins ago

  • Extending 90-day trial periods to all employers
    The Government is delivering on its commitment to extend the availability of 90-day trial periods to all employers.  “Extending 90-day trial periods to all employers gives businesses the confidence to hire new people and increases workplace flexibility,” says Minister van Velden.  “Whether a business has 2 or 200 employees, bringing ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    52 mins ago

  • COP28 National Statement for New Zealand
    Tēnā koutou katoa Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. An island nation at the bottom of the Pacific, New Zealand is unique.          Our geography, our mountains, lakes, winds and rainfall helps set us up for the future, allowing for nearly 90 per cent of our electricity to come from renewable sources. I’m ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needs
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activity
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