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 ”

  1. 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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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. 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

    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

    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

    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. 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

    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

    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

    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

    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. 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. 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. 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. 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

    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

    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

    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. 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

    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. 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

    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

    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

    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

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

    L

  32. lprent 32

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    “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

    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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    Open to all - happy weekend ahead, friends.Today I just want to be petty. It’s the way I imagine this chap is -Not only as a political persona. But his real-deal inner personality, in all its glory - appears to be pure pettiness & populist driven.Sometimes I wonder if Simeon ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Government of deceit

    When National cut health spending and imposed a commissioner on Te Whatu Ora, they claimed that it was necessary because the organisation was bloated and inefficient, with "14 layers of management between the CEO and the patient". But it turns out they were simply lying: Health Minister Shane Reti’s ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago
  • The professionals actually think and act like our Government has no fiscal crisis at all

    Treasury staff at work: The demand for a new 12-year Government bond was so strong, Treasury decided to double the amount of bonds it sold. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, September ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 6-September-2024

    Welcome to another Friday and another roundup of stories that caught our eye this week. As always, this and every post is brought to you by the Greater Auckland crew. If you like our work and you’d like to see more of it, we invite you to join our regular ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies; Excerpt Four.

    Internal versus external security. Regardless of who rules, large countries can afford to separate external and internal security functions (even if internal control functions predominate under authoritarian regimes). In fact, given the logic of power concentration and institutional centralization of … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    2 days ago
  • A Hole In The River

    There's a hole in the river where her memory liesFrom the land of the living to the air and skyShe was coming to see him, but something changed her mindDrove her down to the riverThere is no returnSongwriters: Neil Finn/Eddie RaynerThe king is dead; long live the queen!Yesterday was a ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bright Blue His Jacket Ain’t But I Love This Fellow: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power E...

    My conclusion last week was that The Rings of Power season two represented a major improvement in the series. The writing’s just so much better, and honestly, its major problems are less the result of the current episodes and more creatures arising from season one plot-holes. I found episode three ...
    2 days ago
  • Who should we thank for the defeat of the Nazis

    As a child in the 1950s, I thought the British had won the Second World War because that’s what all our comics said. Later on, the films and comics told me that the Americans won the war. In my late teens, I found out that the Soviet Union ...
    2 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #36 2024

    Open access notables Diurnal Temperature Range Trends Differ Below and Above the Melting Point, Pithan & Schatt, Geophysical Research Letters: The globally averaged diurnal temperature range (DTR) has shrunk since the mid-20th century, and climate models project further shrinking. Observations indicate a slowdown or reversal of this trend in recent decades. ...
    2 days ago
  • Media Link: Discussing the NZSIS Security Threat Report.

    I was interviewed by Mike Hosking at NewstalkZB and a few other media outlets about the NZSIS Security Threat Report released recently. I have long advocated for more transparency, accountability and oversight of the NZ Intelligence Community, and although the … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    2 days ago
  • How do I make this better for people who drive Ford Rangers?

    Home, home again to a long warm embrace. Plenty of reasons to be glad to be back.But also, reasons for dejection.You, yes you, Simeon Brown, you odious little oik, you bible thumping petrol-pandering ratfucker weasel. You would be Reason Number One. Well, maybe first among equals with Seymour and Of-Seymour ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • A missed opportunity

    The government introduced a pretty big piece of constitutional legislation today: the Parliament Bill. But rather than the contentious constitutional change (four year terms) pushed by Labour, this merely consolidates the existing legislation covering Parliament - currently scattered across four different Acts - into one piece of legislation. While I ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago
  • Nicola Willis Seeks New Sidekick To Help Fix NZ’s Economy

    Synopsis:Nicola Willis is seeking a new Treasury Boss after Dr Caralee McLiesh’s tenure ends this month. She didn’t listen to McLiesh. Will she listen to the new one?And why is Atlas Network’s Taxpayers Union chiming in?Please consider subscribing or supporting my work. Thanks, Tui.About CaraleeAt the beginning of July, Newsroom ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Inflation alive and kicking in our land of the long white monopolies

    The golden days of profit continue for the the Foodstuffs (Pak’n’Save and New World) and Woolworths supermarket duopoly. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, September 5:The Groceries Commissioner has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • The thermodynamics of electric vs. internal combustion cars

    This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler I love thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is like your mom: it may not tell you what you can do, but it damn well tells you what you can’t do. I’ve written a few previous posts that include thermodynamics, like one on air capture of ...
    3 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt Three.

    The notion of geopolitical  “periphery.” The concept of periphery used here refers strictly to what can be called the geopolitical periphery. Being on the geopolitical periphery is an analytic virtue because it makes for more visible policy reform in response … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    3 days ago
  • Venus Hum

    Fill me up with soundThe world sings with me a million smiles an hourI can see me dancing on my radioI can hear you singing in the blades of grassYellow dandelions on my way to schoolBig Beautiful Sky!Song: Venus Hum.Good morning, all you lovely people, and welcome to the 700th ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • I Went to a Creed Concert

    Note: The audio attached to this Webworm compliments today’s newsletter. I collected it as I met people attending a Creed concert. Their opinions may differ to mine. Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago
  • Government migration policy backfires; thousands of unemployed nurses

    The country has imported literally thousands of nurses over the past few months yet whether they are being employed as nurses is another matter. Just what is going on with HealthNZ and it nurses is, at best, opaque, in that it will not release anything but broad general statistics and ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A Time For Unity.

    Emotional Response: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon addresses mourners at the tangi of King Tuheitia on Turangawaewae Marae on Saturday, 31 August 2024.THE DEATH OF KING TUHEITIA could hardly have come at a worse time for Maoridom. The power of the Kingitanga to unify te iwi Māori was demonstrated powerfully at January’s ...
    4 days ago
  • Climate Change: Failed again

    National's tax cut policies relied on stealing revenue from the ETS (previously used to fund emissions reduction) to fund tax cuts to landlords. So how's that going? Badly. Today's auction failed again, with zero units (of a possible 7.6 million) sold. Which means they have a $456 million hole in ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt Two.

    A question of size. Small size generally means large vulnerability. The perception of threat is broader and often more immediate for small countries. The feeling of comparative weakness, of exposure to risk, and of potential intimidation by larger powers often … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Nicola Willis’s Very Unserious Bungling of the Kiwirail Interislander Cancellation

    Open to all with kind thanks to all subscribers and supporters.Today, RNZ revealed that despite MFAT advice to Nicola Willis to be very “careful and deliberate” in her communications with the South Korean government, prior to any public announcement on cancelling Kiwirail’s i-Rex, Willis instead told South Korea 26 minutes ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Satisfying the Minister’s Speed Obsession

    The Minister of Transport’s speed obsession has this week resulted in two new consultations for 110km/h speed limits, one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. There has also been final approval of the Kapiti Expressway to move to 110km/h following an earlier consultation. While the changes will almost certainly see ...
    4 days ago
  • What if we freed up our streets, again?

    This guest post is by Tommy de Silva, a local rangatahi and freelance writer who is passionate about making the urban fabric of Tāmaki Makaurau-Auckland more people-focused and sustainable. New Zealand’s March-April 2020 Level 4 Covid response (aka “lockdown”) was somehow both the best and worst six weeks of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    4 days ago
  • No Alarms And No Surprises

    A heart that's full up like a landfillA job that slowly kills youBruises that won't healYou look so tired, unhappyBring down the governmentThey don't, they don't speak for usI'll take a quiet lifeA handshake of carbon monoxideAnd no alarms and no surprisesThe fabulous English comedian Stewart Lee once wrote a ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Five ingenious ways people could beat the heat without cranking the AC

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons Every summer brings a new spate of headlines about record-breaking heat – for good reason: 2023 was the hottest year on record, in keeping with the upward trend scientists have been clocking for decades. With climate forecasts suggesting that heat waves ...
    4 days ago
  • No new funding for cycling & walking

    Studies show each $1 of spending on walking and cycling infrastructure produces $13 to $35 of economic benefits from higher productivity, lower healthcare costs, less congestion, lower emissions and lower fossil fuel import costs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • 99

    Dad turned 99 today.Hell of a lot of candles, eh?He won't be alone for his birthday. He will have the warm attention of my brother, and my sister, and everyone at the rest home, the most thoughtful attentive and considerate people you could ever know. On Saturday there will be ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • Open Government: National reneges on beneficial ownership

    One of the achievements of the New Zealand’s Open Government Partnership Fourth National Action Plan was a formal commitment from the government to establish a public beneficial ownership register. Such a register would allow the ultimate owners of companies to be identified - a vital measure in preventing corruption, money ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt One.

    This project analyzes security politics in three peripheral democracies (Chile, New Zealand, Portugal) during the 30 years after the end of the Cold War. It argues that changes in the geopolitical landscape and geo-strategic context are interpreted differently by small … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    5 days ago
  • Tea and Toast

    When the skies are looking bad my dearAnd your heart's lost all its hopeAfter dawn there will be sunshineAnd all the dust will goThe skies will clear my darlingNow it's time for you to let goOur girl will wake you up in the mornin'With some tea and toastLyrics: Lucy Spraggan.Good ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • NLTP 2024 released – destroying pipeline of shovel ready local projects

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Waka Kotahi yesterday released the latest National Land Transport Plan (NLTP) for 2024-27. The NLTP sets out what transport projects will be funded for the next three years, including both central and local government projects. As expected given the government’s extremely ideological transport policy, it’s ...
    5 days ago
  • Can Brown deliver his roads

    The Government’s unveiling of its road-building programme yesterday was ambitious and, many would say, long overdue. But the question will be whether it is too ambitious, whether it is affordable, and, if not, what might be dropped. The big ticket items will be the 17 so-called Roads of National Significance. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • New paper about detecting climate misinformation on Twitter/X

    Together with Cristian Rojas, Frank Algra-Maschio, Mark Andrejevic, Travis Coan, and Yuan-Fang Li, I just published a paper in Nature Communications Earth & Environment where we use the Computer Assisted Recognition of Denial and Skepticism (CARDS) machine learning model to detect climate misinformation in 5 million climate tweets. We find over half ...
    5 days ago
  • Excerpting “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies.”

    In the late 2000s-early 2010s I was researching and writing a book titled “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Chile, New Zealand and Portugal.” The book was a cross-regional Small-N qualitative comparison of the security strategies and postures of three small … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    5 days ago
  • Hating for the Wrong Reasons: Of Rings of Power, Orcs and Evil

    A few months ago, my fellow countryman, HelloFutureMe, put out a giant YouTube video, dissecting what went wrong with the first season of Rings of Power (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ6FRUO0ui0&t=8376s). It’s an exceptionally good video, and though it spans some two and a half hours, it is well worth your time. But ...
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change: “Least cost” to who?

    On Friday the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released their submission on National's second Emissions Reduction Plan, ripping the shit out of it as a massive gamble based on wishful thinking. One of the specific issues he focused on was National's idea of "least cost" emissions reduction, pointing out that ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Israeli Lives Matter

    There is no monopoly on common senseOn either side of the political fenceWe share the same biology, regardless of ideologyBelieve me when I say to youI hope the Russians love their children tooLyrics: Sting. Read more ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Luxon Cries

    Over the weekend, I found myself rather irritably reading up about the Treaty of Waitangi. “Do I need to do this?” It’s not my jurisdiction. In any other world, would this be something I choose to do?My answer - no.The Waitangi Tribunal, headed by some of our best legal minds, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • Just one Wellington home being consented for every 10 in Auckland

    A decade of under-building is coming home to roost in Wellington. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday September 2:Wellington’s leaders are wringing their hands over an exodus of skilled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Container trucks on local streets: why take the risk?

    This is a guest post by Charmaine Vaughan, who came to transport advocacy via her local Residents Association and a comms role at Bike Auckland. Her enthusiasm to make local streets safer for all is shared by her son Dylan Vaughan, a budding “urban nerd” who provided much of the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    6 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #35

    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, August 25, 2024 thru Sat, August 31, 2024. Story of the week After another crammed week of climate news including updates on climate tipping points, increasing threats from rising ...
    6 days ago
  • An Uncanny Valley of Improvement: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power, Episodes 1-3 (Season ...

    And thus we come to the second instalment of Amazon’s Rings of Power. The first season, in 2022, was underwhelming, even for someone like myself, who is by nature inclined to approach Tolkien adaptations with charity. The writing was poor, the plot made no sense on its own terms, and ...
    7 days ago
  • Alcohol debris and Crocodile Tears

    I write to you this morning from scenes of carnage. Around the floor lie young men who only hours earlier were full of life, and cocktails, and now lie silent. Read more ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago
  • When Do We Look Away?

    Hi,The first time I saw something that made me recoil on the internet was a visit to Rotten.com. The clue was in the name — but the internet was a new thing to me in the 90s, and no-one really knew what the hell was going on. But somehow I ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    7 days ago
  • The decades just fly by

    You turn your back for a moment and a city can completely transform itself. It was, oh, just the other day I was tripping up to Kuala Lumpur every few months to teach workshops and luxuriate in the tropical warmth and fill my face with Char Kway Teow.It has to ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago
  • 2024 Reading Summary: August

    Completed reads for August: Aesop’s Fables (collection), by Aesop Berserk: Volume XXV (manga), by Kentaro Miura Benighted, by J.B. Priestly Berserk: Volume XXVI (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXVII (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXVIII (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXIX (manga), by Kentaro Miura ...
    1 week ago
  • Is recent global warming part of a natural cycle?

    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with John Mason. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is recent global warming part ...
    1 week ago
  • White Noise

    Now here we standWith our hearts in our handsSqueezing out the liesAll that I hearIs a message, unclearWhat else is there to decide?All that I'm hearing from youIs White NoiseLyrics: Christopher John CheneyIs the tide turning?Have we reached the high point of the racist hate and lies from Hobson’s Pledge, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • The Death Of “Big Norm” – Exactly 50 Years Ago Today.

    Norman KirkPrime Minister of New Zealand 1972-1974Born: 6 January 1923 - Died: 31 August 1974Of the working-class, by the working-class, for the working-class.Video courtesy of YouTubeThese elements were posted on Bowalley Road on Saturday, 31 August 2024. ...
    1 week ago
  • Claims and Counter-Claims.

    Whose Foreshore? Whose Seabed? When the Marine and Coastal Area Act was originally passed back in 2011, fears about the coastline becoming off-limits to Pakeha were routinely allayed by National Party politicians pointing out that the tests imposed were so stringent  that only a modest percentage of claims (the then treaty ...
    1 week ago
  • Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • The Principles of the Treaty

    Hardly anyone says what are ‘the principles of the treaty’. The courts’ interpretation restrain the New Zealand Government. While they about protecting a particular community, those restraints apply equally to all community in a liberal democracy – including a single person.Treaty principles were introduced into the governance of New Zealand ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • The Only Other Reliable Vehicle.

    An Elite Leader Awaiting Rotation? Hipkins’ give-National-nothing-to-aim-at strategy will only succeed if the Coalition becomes as unpopular in three years as the British Tories became in fourteen.THE SHAPE OF CHRIS HIPKINS’ THINKING on Labour’s optimum pathway to re-election is emerging steadily. At the core of his strategy is Hipkins’ view ...
    1 week ago
  • A Big F U to this Right Wing Government

    Open to all - deep thanks to those who support and subscribe.One of the things that has got me interested recently is updates about Māori wards.In April, Stuff’s Karanama Ruru reported that ~ 2/3 of our 78 councils had adopted Māori wards in NZ.That meant that under the Coalition repeal ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Climate Change: James Shaw’s legacy keeps paying off

    One of the central planks of the previous Labour-Green government's emissions reduction policy was GIDI (Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry). This was basically using ETS revenue to pay polluters to clean up production, reducing emissions while protecting jobs. Corporate welfare, but it got the job done, and was often a ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago
  • Gravity

    Oh twice as much ain't twice as goodAnd can't sustain like one half couldIt's wanting moreThat's gonna send me to my kneesSong: John MayerSome ups and downs from the last week of August ‘24. The good and bad, happy and sad, funny and mad, heroes and cads. The week that ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Ditch the climate double speak and get real

    Long stories short, here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer:The Government announced changes to the Fast-Track Approvals Bill on Sunday, backing off from the contentious proposal to give ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Hoon around the week to August 30

    The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts and talking about the week’s news with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on the latest science of changing sea temperatures and which emissions policies actually work; on the latest from Ukraine, Gaza and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • This Govt’s infrastructure strategy depends on capital gains taxes & new road taxes

    Billions of dollars in value uplift was identified around the Transmission Gully project, but that was captured 100% by landowners and not shared to pay for the project. Now National is saying value capture should be used for similar projects. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/ Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 30-August-2024

    Kia ora and welcome to the end of another week. Here’s our regular Friday roundup of things that caught our eye, in the realm of cities and transport. If you enjoy these roundups, feel free to join our growing ranks of supporters by making a recurring donation to keep the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Table Talk: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.

    That’s the sort of constitutional reform he favours: conceived in secret; revolutionary in intent; implemented incrementally without fanfare; and under no circumstances to be placed before the electorate for democratic ratification.TO SAY IT WAS RAINING would have understated seriously the meteorological conditions. Simply put, it was pissing down. One of ...
    1 week ago
  • Big Norm and Chris Hipkins

    It’s 50 years ago today that “Big Norm” Kirk died of a heart attack in Wellington’s Home of Compassion. Home of Compassion. Although he was Prime Minister for only 623 days, he has an iconic place in New Zealand history, particularly Labour history. When Labour leaders like Jacinda Ardern recite ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 week ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #35 2024

    Open access notables Arctic glacier snowline altitudes rise 150 m over the last 4 decades, Larocca et al., The Cryosphere: We mapped the snowline (SL) on a subset of 269 land-terminating glaciers above 60° N latitude in the latest available summer, clear-sky Landsat satellite image between 1984 and 2022. The mean SLA was extracted ...
    1 week ago
  • Unravelling the String of State: New Zealand Sovereignty and the Treaty of Waitangi

    Oh dear. Sometimes people just need to prod the sleeping dog. We currently have a parliamentary dispute over the nature of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, as signed between the British Crown and New Zealand Maori: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/526451/sovereignty-debate-split-on-party-lines Specifically, the National Government takes the traditional view that Maori ceded sovereignty ...
    1 week ago
  • Rigour, PLEASE

    You may have noticed I have been taking my time getting home. You may have wondered if that might have anything to do with our brave little nation being constitutionally and morally abused by this woeful excuse for a government. It does. I have enjoyed being able to turn the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • Making A Difference.

    The Jacinda and Ashley Show: Before the neoliberals could come up with a plausible reason for letting thousands of their fellow citizens perish, the Ardern-led government, backed by the almost forgotten power of an unapologetically interventionist state, was producing changes in the real world – changes that were, very obviously, saving ...
    1 week ago

  • Government progresses response to Abuse in Care recommendations

    A Crown Response Office is being established within the Public Service Commission to drive the Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care. “The creation of an Office within a central Government agency was a key recommendation by the Royal Commission’s final report.  “It will have the mandate ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Passport wait times back on-track

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says passport processing has returned to normal, and the Department of Internal Affairs [Department] is now advising customers to allow up to two weeks to receive their passport. “I am pleased that passport processing is back at target service levels and the Department ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • New appointments to the FMA board

    Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister has today announced three new appointments and one reappointment to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) board. Tracey Berry, Nicholas Hegan and Mariette van Ryn have been appointed for a five-year term ending in August 2029, while Chris Swasbrook, who has served as a board member ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • District Court judges appointed

    Attorney-General Hon Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new District Court judges. The appointees, who will take up their roles at the Manukau Court and the Auckland Court in the Accident Compensation Appeal Jurisdiction, are: Jacqui Clark Judge Clark was admitted to the bar in 1988 after graduating ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government makes it faster and easier to invest in New Zealand

    Associate Minister of Finance David Seymour is encouraged by significant improvements to overseas investment decision timeframes, and the enhanced interest from investors as the Government continues to reform overseas investment. “There were about as many foreign direct investment applications in July and August as there was across the six months ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • New Zealand to join Operation Olympic Defender

    New Zealand has accepted an invitation to join US-led multi-national space initiative Operation Olympic Defender, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. Operation Olympic Defender is designed to coordinate the space capabilities of member nations, enhance the resilience of space-based systems, deter hostile actions in space and reduce the spread of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government commits to ‘stamping out’ foot and mouth disease

    Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says that a new economic impact analysis report reinforces this government’s commitment to ‘stamp out’ any New Zealand foot and mouth disease incursion. “The new analysis, produced by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, shows an incursion of the disease in New Zealand would have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Improving access to finance for Kiwis

    5 September 2024  The Government is progressing further reforms to financial services to make it easier for Kiwis to access finance when they need it, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.  “Financial services are foundational for economic success and are woven throughout our lives. Without access to finance our ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Prime Minister pays tribute to Kiingi Tuheitia

    As Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII is laid to rest today, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has paid tribute to a leader whose commitment to Kotahitanga will have a lasting impact on our country. “Kiingi Tuheitia was a humble leader who served his people with wisdom, mana and an unwavering ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Resource Management reform to make forestry rules clearer

    Forestry Minister Todd McClay today announced proposals to reform the resource management system that will provide greater certainty for the forestry sector and help them meet environmental obligations.   “The Government has committed to restoring confidence and certainty across the sector by removing unworkable regulatory burden created by the previous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • More choice and competition in building products

    A major shake-up of building products which will make it easier and more affordable to build is on the way, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Today we have introduced legislation that will improve access to a wider variety of quality building products from overseas, giving Kiwis more choice and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Joint Statement between the Republic of Korea and New Zealand 4 September 2024, Seoul

    On the occasion of the official visit by the Right Honourable Prime Minister Christopher Luxon of New Zealand to the Republic of Korea from 4 to 5 September 2024, a summit meeting was held between His Excellency President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Comprehensive Strategic Partnership the goal for New Zealand and Korea

    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol. “Korea and New Zealand are likeminded democracies and natural partners in the Indo Pacific. As such, we have decided to advance discussions on elevating the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • International tourism continuing to bounce back

    Results released today from the International Visitor Survey (IVS) confirm international tourism is continuing to bounce back, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey says. The IVS results show that in the June quarter, international tourism contributed $2.6 billion to New Zealand’s economy, an increase of 17 per cent on last ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Government confirms RMA reforms to drive primary sector efficiency

    The Government is moving to review and update national level policy directives that impact the primary sector, as part of its work to get Wellington out of farming. “The primary sector has been weighed down by unworkable and costly regulation for too long,” Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says.  “That is ...
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