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Three strikes law is not the answer
Written By: - Date published: 12:13 pm, November 29th, 2022 - 25 comments
National is proposing a return of the Three Strikes legislation, despite the Supreme Court ruling that the law went well beyond excessive punishment and would shock the conscience of properly informed New Zealanders, and was so disproportionately severe as to breach the Bill of Rights. And despite there being no evidence that it would actually work.
The politics of the voting age change
Written By: - Date published: 8:12 pm, November 21st, 2022 - 90 comments
The Supreme Court has just lobbed a grenade into New Zealand politics by ruling that denying 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote was not only discrimination on the basis of age but also had not been justified and was therefore a breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.
National’s Boot Camps announcement is deeply cynical policy recycling
Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, November 21st, 2022 - 28 comments
There should be a law against the cynical recycling of dog whistle policies that everyone knows will not work. Last week’s announcement by National of a boot camp policy is as good an example as you can imagine.
Are Luxon’s days numbered?
Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, November 17th, 2022 - 66 comments
Yesterday was a bad day for Chris Luxon. It is increasingly clear that he is not up to the job of being leader of the opposition and National’s senior management must be worried.
What happened to National’s policy machine?
Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, November 16th, 2022 - 70 comments
Remember when a few leaders ago then National Leader Simon Bridges promised that National would be a 56 MP policy machine? Judging by its response to the Government’s release of two bills at the centre of RMA reform the machine has major problems.
National’s relentless negativity
Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, November 5th, 2022 - 86 comments
National’s recent press releases show that its approach to politics will be relentlessly negative, with no idea of what it will do as an alternative or how it will fund changes.
Is it fair for the PM to get a weekly tax cut of $349 while a minimum wage worker would receive only $2.15?
Written By: - Date published: 11:46 am, November 2nd, 2022 - 148 comments
Chris Luxon has avoided answering this question so far but he needs to be asked continuously about it. Is it fair that he as Prime Minister would receive under National’s proposed tax cuts a tax cut of $349 per week while a minimum wage worker would receive only $2.15 per week
National has gone full woke
Written By: - Date published: 8:39 pm, November 1st, 2022 - 22 comments
Remember this scene from the Tauranga by election? National has decided it will not be repeated by ensuring that it has no potential white male candidates for the Hamilton West by election.
Bruce’s Reckons: The increased speculation about Chris Luxon quitting
Written By: - Date published: 8:45 pm, October 25th, 2022 - 109 comments
Leader of the Opposition Christopher Luxon turned up to Parliament today and his media spin doctors will be hoping for some good photo opportunities to lift his popularity. But they will be asking a lot.
What are National’s constituent tribes?
Written By: - Date published: 10:06 am, October 23rd, 2022 - 25 comments
Russ Jones has described the five tribes of the UK Conservative Party as including One Nation Conservatives, xenophobic English nationalists, wild-eyed libertarians, scatty populist bullshitters and machine politicians.
What conflict of interest
Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, October 16th, 2022 - 19 comments
National’s attacks on Nanaia Mahuta for conflicts of interest have suffered a major blow after National MP Barbara Kuriger was forced to resign her portfolios for using official letterhead to harass MPI officials.
Climate change: I think that we are f&*ked
Written By: - Date published: 11:02 am, October 13th, 2022 - 88 comments
This week the Government announced plans to bring in a scheme for pricing farming emissions in 2025. National’s response suggests the prospects of political consensus are non existent.
Even more proof that Conservatives are not good economic managers
Written By: - Date published: 11:44 am, September 29th, 2022 - 61 comments
There has been this carefully crafted illusion that conservative politicians are somehow better with the finances than progressive politicians. Recent events in the United Kingdom suggest that this illusion is terribly misplaced.
Comrade Chris wants to solve Aotearoa’s housing crisis
Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, September 28th, 2022 - 64 comments
Something unusual has happened. Chris Bishop, or as we should now call him Comrade Chris, has come out fully in favour of a vast expansion of the provision of social housing for kiwis.
Luxon’s mishandling of the Uffindell report
Written By: - Date published: 8:11 am, September 21st, 2022 - 65 comments
The only word that I can think of is clusterfuck. I cannot understand how badly Christopher Luxon has handled the Maria Dew report into what Sam Uffindell may have done when he was a younger person.
Has Uffindell been cleared?
Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, September 19th, 2022 - 98 comments
It appears that the Dew report may clear Sam Uffindell and he may be returned to National’s caucus.
The right’s last desperate throw of the dice in Auckland
Written By: - Date published: 12:50 pm, September 16th, 2022 - 18 comments
Even though her name is on the ballot paper and people can vote for her National aligned Mayoral candidate Viv Beck has purported to withdraw from the Auckland Mayoral race.
The right is weirdly gleeful about the end of the mask mandate
Written By: - Date published: 6:59 am, September 14th, 2022 - 40 comments
National MPs and their supporters have been celebrating the removal of the mandate with weird levels of glee.
Who pays the cost of an extra day off?
Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, September 13th, 2022 - 50 comments
The Government has announced that we will all have a day off to commemorate the life of Queen Elisabeth. Act has come out against it on the basis that we are in a cost of living crisis, even though the adverse effect on workers and the poor is essentially nil and even though there is analysis that suggests that holidays are good for the economy.
Newshub’s incredibly bad gang take
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, September 6th, 2022 - 55 comments
Yesterday the Government announced a slate of new powers designed to address gang violence. Newshub chose that day to imply that Labour was soft on gangs because a gang member said on social media not to vote for National.
National’s PR support springs into action
Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, September 2nd, 2022 - 52 comments
Yesterday National’s PR machine also known as Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB sprang into action to get the message out that National will not negotiate with Destiny Church over support. Even though eight days previously Chris Luxon pointedly did not rule this out.
Viv Beck going full Trump backfires
Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, August 31st, 2022 - 28 comments
Recent leaks and publicity have caused huge damage to Viv Beck’s campaign to become Auckland’s next mayor. They also highlight the stark difference between the left and the right in terms of campaigning.
Mark Mitchell is Kim Hilled on National Radio
Written By: - Date published: 11:07 am, August 29th, 2022 - 35 comments
National should learn. They should never send an MP into an interview with Kim Hill unless they are completely prepared. As Mark Mitchell learned this morning.
Selling your soul to the bishop for power
Written By: - Date published: 2:36 pm, August 24th, 2022 - 52 comments
This morning Christopher Luxon refused to rule out working with Freedoms New Zealand, the Brian Tamaki entity which has held mock trials, alleged senior Government figures should be tried for treason and have professed a desire to make the country ungovernable.
Labour’s “tenant tax” is neither a tax nor for tenants
Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, August 22nd, 2022 - 33 comments
National’s media spin team is at it again claiming that removing interest rate deductibility for landlords is a “tenant tax” when it is neither a new tax nor for tenants.
A week of sideshows
Written By: - Date published: 5:34 pm, August 21st, 2022 - 64 comments
But the past week has been a week of sideshows. One international as elements of the right try to smear Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin for dancing. And one local where rogue Labour MP Gaurav Sharma is running out of excuses for not backing up the extraordinary claims he has made about the Labour Party.
The Three Strikes abomination is no more
Written By: - Date published: 7:50 am, August 11th, 2022 - 44 comments
The three strikes legislation, the brainchild of dead baby identity stealing former ACT MP David Garrett, is no more.
Uffindel’s new allegation
Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, August 10th, 2022 - 231 comments
Radio New Zealand has published new allegations of bullying by National MP Sam Uffindell this time by a female flatmate who flatted with Uffindell while at University.
National’s culture problem
Written By: - Date published: 9:14 pm, August 8th, 2022 - 139 comments
National MP Sam Uffindell has today been engaged in a media wide mea culpa after allegations that he bullied a young student and was expelled from Kings College have been publicised.
National’s weird take on the Government’s Climate Adaption Plan
Written By: - Date published: 9:05 am, August 4th, 2022 - 7 comments
The Government’s release of the National Adaption Plan to deal with climate change has been met by National with an insistence that who should pay for potentially hundreds of billions of costs should have already been identified.
Chris Bishop supports AND opposes vaccine mandates
Written By: - Date published: 8:28 am, August 3rd, 2022 - 51 comments
Remember when National’s Chris Bishop thought that Labour was not being staunch enough of mandates? He now thinks that Labour is being too staunch.
- Why isn’t dental included in Medicare? It’s time to change this – here’s how
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Breadon, Program Director, Health and Aged Care, Grattan Institute Engin Akyurt/Unsplash When the forerunner of Medicare was established in the 1970s, dental care was left out. Australians are still suffering the consequences half a century later. Patients pay much ...6 days ago - Human rights and hummus: The fight over Obela in New Zealand is just getting started
While activists insist no dip has been harmed, supermarkets are keeping Obela products in back rooms or surrounding them in A4 signage warning of CCTV surveillance. Hundreds of protestors are pawing “like zombies” at supermarket windows in Christchurch. Managers peep from behind walls of security guards. Police are visiting the ...6 days ago - Why are the violins the biggest section in the orchestra?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Case, Lecturer in Musicology, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney Manuel Nägeli/Unsplash, FAL As the largest section of the orchestra, sitting front and centre of the stage performing memorable melodies, it’s easy for violinists to steal the limelight. ...6 days ago
- ‘Breakthrough discovery’: Indigenous Rangers in outback WA find up to 50 night parrots – one o...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Paltridge, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, ecology, The University of Western Australia In arid inland Australia lives one of Australia’s rarest birds: the night parrot. Missing for more than a century, a live population was rediscovered in 2013. But the species remains ...6 days ago
- Fisher back in the boat amid love and support
After the disappointment of Paris, Aimee Fisher has picked up her paddle once again, in a place where she knows she is surrounded by love.Fisher has been back on the water at the North Shore Canoe Club for a couple of weeks now. Even though, she admits, there was a ...6 days ago - Otago’s simmering water wars bubble towards boiling point
The Government is accused of acting like Biff Tannen from the Back to the Future movies, during a fractious regional council meeting The post Otago’s simmering water wars bubble towards boiling point appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 days ago
- Windbag: Tory Whanau keeps making unforced errors
The Wellington mayor has the political radar of the Aratere. And just like the ferry, she is at risk of losing power. In 2021, Andy Foster was interviewed by Corin Dann on RNZ’s Morning Report about his decision to launch a governance review to address council infighting. Dann repeatedly challenged ...6 days ago
- The half-a-million-dollar decision that still haunts the book industry
Narrative Muse was awarded $500,000 to boost sales of New Zealand books. Three years later, industry insiders report that it has had little, if any, impact. What went wrong? The Spinoff Cover Story is our premier long-form feature offering, made with the generous support of our members. Read our other ...6 days ago
- NZ ‘niche capabilities’ on table in Aukus talks
The UK government’s domestic agenda will not stop work with NZ on climate change and international issues, high commissioner says The post NZ ‘niche capabilities’ on table in Aukus talks appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 days ago
- An obligation in Tairāwhiti
It took me years to finally go back home. I didn’t know where ‘home’ was for most of my childhood. As someone who was adopted, I didn’t even know my birth parents’ names, let alone where they were from. I certainly didn’t know what iwi I was, or at one ...6 days ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 23 September
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 23 September appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 days ago
- Female full-court press in basketball takeover
Jo Caird was tired of being being continually frustrated with the state of women’s sport in New Zealand; sick of standing on the sidelines and criticising what wasn’t happening. A former New Zealand junior tennis player and the All Blacks’ first official photographer, Caird had watched in awe as the ...6 days ago
- Daily crossword, Monday 23 September
The post Daily crossword, Monday 23 September appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 days ago
- Gold shines brightly in the wake of interest rate cuts
It’s a pity New Zealand no longer has the once thriving gold mining industry it previously boasted towards the later part of the 19th century when the country was still in its infancy.Were it still in existence today, with the huge output that it once produced (a total of 2 million ...6 days ago
- Coalition should worry about reality outside, not this theatre of the absurd
Opinion: Question Time is an expression of the most simplistic version of democracy, not its epitome The post Coalition should worry about reality outside, not this theatre of the absurd appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 days ago
- Three maps that reveal NZ’s climate future
NZ will get warmer everywhere, wetter in some places and drier in others – but how bad things get is up to us The post Three maps that reveal NZ’s climate future appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 days ago
- Gang search clause a step too far
The controversial Gangs Bill has passed its third reading – with even more controversy.It now includes a clause that was added at the eleventh hour without any public consultation.Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith initially rejected a police request to ban gang patches in the private homes of repeat offenders, but then ...6 days ago
- Beyond the bruises: Why violence is a health problem
Opinion: There is a misconception that family violence only affects a few people, but the data shows something different, with experience of family violence being shockingly common.Population-based studies show that over half of New Zealand women experience some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime, and almost half of ...6 days ago
- An Ode to .. Tory Whanau
Brideshead RebudgetedThe House of Tory had fallenOn hard times.Returning after many yearsTo the Grand Estate,I strolled in once lush Courtney Meadows,now tangled with stringy weeds and thickets.The Lambton Wing had fallen into disrepair.Dust collected on the chandeliers.Laughter once rose from these tablesOf the Banquet Hall,And goblets clinked with merry effect.Now ...1 week ago
- From bystander effect to bystander effective
The ‘bystander effect’ has been a staple of psychology texts since the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese and the New York Times published an article claiming 38 witnesses saw or heard the attack and did nothing about it. While the Times article turned out to have inaccuracies, subsequent research replicated ...1 week ago
- IINZ Condemns NZ’s Participation In Diplomatic Terrorism
Our closest democratic allies, Canada, Australia, the UK, and the USA either abstained or voted against the resolution. New Zealand is once again out of step. ...1 week ago - Public Consultation Begins Over Flight Paths Options
Our closest democratic allies, Canada, Australia, the UK, and the USA either abstained or voted against the resolution. New Zealand is once again out of step. ...1 week ago
- West Papua Action Aotearoa On The End Of NZ Pilot’s Captivity
We welcome the news and we hope that this positive outcome will lead to the New Zealand Government calling on Indonesia to withdraw troops from Papuan highlands. ...1 week ago
- Condemnation Of NZ Support Of Unjust UNGA Resolution
The Resolution’s call for Israel to withdraw all its military forces from the “Occupied Palestinian Territory”, is a denial of her right to self defence and with no similar call for Palestinians to lay down its arms, is an invitation for continued attacks ...1 week ago
- NZ Jewish Council: New Zealand’s Naive Vote For Unworkable UN Resolution
None of New Zealand’s traditional allies and friends voted for this resolution; in total, 57 UN member states either voted against it or abstained. New Zealand’s naive vote is an embarrassment. ...1 week ago
- COMS-Israel: Bad Decision By Peters
We call on the Minister of Foreign affairs, the Rt Hon Winston Peters, to rethink his policy and re-align it with our traditional defence partners, none of which voted in favour of this resolution. ...1 week ago
- Restoring A Culture Of Free Speech Essential To Rebuilding Public Confidence
Our democracy depends on all voices being heard, and this includes holding politicians and journalists to account. It is only with free speech that we have democracy. ...1 week ago
- Short story: Abicene, by Michael Hodder
When Brian alerted Andy that an owl was caught in the netting, he had been puzzled, wondering how such a large bird could have got inside. Its talons had got caught on the outside. Andy guessed it was the morepork which he had heard most nights over the past year – ...1 week ago
- The Secret Diary of .. The Comancheros
MONDAYMemo to all staff: Hope you all had wonderful weekends! Please send your encrypted messages with a detailed list of what you’re working on today and I’ll see you on an all-hands Zoom call at 0930.And just a reminder to please file your cash earnings in microwave ovens. There are ...1 week ago
- A new exhibition breathes life into Te Reo Māori documents
The first official copy books in te reo Māori; a map of Aotearoa labelled ‘New Munster’ and ‘New Ulster’; the original manuscripts capturing karakia and waiata for the first time; and a copy of The Cat in the Hat in te reo.All taonga that are part of a new exhibition, ...1 week ago
- Unbought gems: Who will buy New Zealand’s largest gemstone collection?
Alex Casey visits the largest gemstone collection in the country, and meets the 85-year-old owner trying to Marie Kondo the lot. Despite its charming name, someone once warned me that Birdlings Flat was like a place from the Twilight Zone. Hang a right off the winding roads to Akaroa and ...1 week ago
- Beware the online menus with AI food photos
Local eateries using AI images may be at risk of duping their customers, but a lack of legislation means they’re not breaking the law. You notice something’s a bit off straight away. The macaroni looks too smooth, the miscellaneous herb is too miscellaneous and the sauce kinda looks like it’s ...1 week ago
- The Weekend: Big frick energy
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. There’s something very funny about the word frick. Perhaps it’s the Christian undertones, popularised by kids who were too god-fearing to say the bad f-word (but probably just god-fearing enough to say the other bad f-word). It might sound like a milder version ...1 week ago
- ‘A crisis situation’: Guy Montgomery’s live TV toilet nightmare
Comedian Guy Montgomery takes us through his life in television, including a What Now nightmare and the comedic genius of Goldstein from the ASB ads. To the untrained eye, Guy Montgomery appears to be one of the busiest people in comedy right now. With both the local and Australian versions ...1 week ago
- ‘Perfect on a dusty Sunday’: Mohi and Chase Woods’ perfect weekend playlist
Waiata Anthems singers Mohi and Chase Woods share their perfect weekend playlist. Mohi (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa) and Chase Woods (Waikato) are both friends and collaborators. Having previously teamed up on Mohi’s single ‘Hoki Mai Rā’ in July, the two will now ...1 week ago
- Podcast: Will Kiwibank step into the ring with the big four?
In a candid chat on When the Facts Change, Kiwibank chief executive Steve Jurkovich lays out his vision for the bank’s future – one where it can step up and truly challenge the big four Aussie-owned banks. But while he has high hopes, Jurkovich is quick to warn it won’t ...1 week ago
- Almost all of the Hobbits in the Tolkienverse, ranked from worst to best
To celebrate International Hobbit Day on September 22 (Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ birthdays), we’ve decided who of all the furry-footed creatures is best. Concerning Hobbits and Spinoff rankings, it really feels like there is not a lot left to be said or ranked. Well, on International Hobbit Day, boy do ...1 week ago
- The first Wellingtonian
Hundreds of years ago, a man named Tara founded the first permanent human settlement in Wellington. The city still bears his name: Te Whanganui a Tara. But what do we actually know about him? If you look out at the right angle from Ray Ahipene-Mercer’s house in Breaker Bay, you ...1 week ago
- Gentrification isn’t inevitable − it can hinge on how residents view their neighborhood
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Families on bikes at a July Fourth parade in Houston’s Northside neighborhood. Jimmy Castillo, CC BY-ND Gentrification has become a familiar story in cities across the United States. The ...1 week ago
- Discrimination faced by indigenous Papuans ‘isn’t something new’, says disturbing new rights r...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Racism, torture and arbitrary arrests are some examples of discrimination indigenous Papuans have dealt with over the last 60 years from Indonesia, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. The report, If It’s Not Racism, What Is It? Discrimination and other abuses ...1 week ago
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