Written By: advantage - Date published: 11:31 am, July 17th, 2023 - 27 comments
The Solomon Islands signed an agreement with China on law enforcement and security matters suggests that New Zealand should review the decades of support given to the Solomon Island Government.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:01 am, May 9th, 2023 - 16 comments
In case we just missed it, New Zealand really has picked a side. Prime Minister Hipkins will head to the NATO summit in Lithuania together with Australia, Japan and South Korean leaders. Also Vladimir Zelinskyy is intending to go as well.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:16 pm, April 24th, 2023 - 63 comments
Andrew Little says our government is willing to “explore” participating in AUKUS Pillar 2, but “foreign or local voices would not be a factor.” Our leaders will decide he says. I say “taihoa.”
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 4:12 pm, March 20th, 2023 - 38 comments
On 20 March 2003 the US invaded Iraq, on the basis that it had and could use weapons of mass destruction. That was a lie. Australia joined President Bush ‘coalition of the willing’, New Zealand did not. The drums of war beat strong then, they are doing so again now. This time China is the target.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 7:07 pm, March 6th, 2023 - 10 comments
Australia’s Prime Minister Albanese is trying to get actual indigenous representation into the Australian Parliament with a referendum. Going to be tough.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:48 am, December 17th, 2022 - 136 comments
Australia is showing New Zealand how to resist the authoritarian Xi Jinping’s pressure and stay prosperous at the same time.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 3:27 pm, December 13th, 2022 - 311 comments
Vladimir Zelensky’s message to the New Zealand Parliament will be delivered in the last week before Christmas, in the bury-it time-slot. That seems appropriate, for much has changed since the heady days when our Parliament went straight for sanctions on Russia without discussion.
Written By: lprent - Date published: 2:17 pm, November 28th, 2022 - 12 comments
The Liberal/Nat victory that Newscorp had been promoting in the Victorian state elections simply didn’t materialise. For some reason pandering to the loud and noisy just isn’t what it used to be. Fortunately those who still rely on traditional media and who haven’t been immunised against the idiots on the net are a diminishing voting resource.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 12:00 pm, October 13th, 2022 - 37 comments
Can you be too old to represent your people? New Zealand’s oldest person to first get elected was William Cargill at 71. Australia’ s John Howard was 68 when he retired, and Robert Menzies was 72 when he retired as Prime Minister. The previous US president is now 76 and will likely run again in […]
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:17 am, August 24th, 2022 - 5 comments
Australian news site Crikey has taken on Murdoch’s News Corp by reposting an article accusing the Murdoch family of being “Donald Trump’s unindicted co-conspirator” and then taking out advertisements in the New York Times inviting Lachlan Murdoch to sue them.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:33 am, July 28th, 2022 - 9 comments
New Zealand has been overdue to show strong results in the Pacific Islands. Not a moment too soon, this is what Prime Minister Ardern delivered.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 2:04 pm, July 17th, 2022 - 16 comments
The Solomons Islands security agreement with China led to paroxysms of ‘serious concern’ about militarisation of the Pacific. 3 days before the Pacific Island Forum convened, 4 US B-2 nuclear-capable stealth bombers deployed on rotation into Australia. I know what worries me most.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 12:34 pm, July 4th, 2022 - 69 comments
Jacinda Ardern has just completed three overseas trips. The cumulative benefits for the country are extraordinary and I have never witnessed anything similar from another New Zealand leader. But local responses from sectors of the media have been muted. Why is this?
Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:45 pm, June 21st, 2022 - 31 comments
It’s pretty commonplace now to observe that Prime Minister Ardern is doing well overseas but tanking at home.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 7:08 pm, May 21st, 2022 - 66 comments
Post for people to comment on developing news about the Australian election.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 2:03 pm, May 20th, 2022 - 28 comments
I cannot understand why in Australia Scotty from Marketing still has a fighting chance of remaining as Prime Minister. But the recent tightening in the polls suggests that this is a possibility.
Written By: lprent - Date published: 1:31 pm, May 13th, 2022 - 13 comments
JuiceMedia have done their high quality opinionated but fact based satire Honest Government Ad describing the lowlights of the current Aussie shitshow. If you haven’t seen it yet, then be my guest.
Written By: lprent - Date published: 12:22 pm, May 11th, 2022 - 33 comments
The early voting polls have opened in Australia, so the election there is nigh. Reading on the election there has been interesting. The weirdness of marginal seats. The burgeoning dissatisfaction and probable deciding impact of Aussie women on this election result.
Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 8:24 pm, March 29th, 2022 - 33 comments
Jacinda Ardern is “gravely concerned.” Peeni Henare was ‘”caught off-guard.”. Barnaby Joyce feels “intimidated.” Solomon Islands PM Sogavare found it “insulting to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs.” I think he is right.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 8:59 am, March 15th, 2022 - 117 comments
In six months time the world could be in a very precarious position.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:58 am, January 27th, 2022 - 55 comments
With an Omicron surge appearing to be inevitable the importance of proper mask wearing has never been more important.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 10:54 am, January 21st, 2022 - 113 comments
So far the country has fought back and eliminated the original Covid infection, won a couple of skirmishes and then and fought and quelled the Delta incursion. But it looks like Omicron is coming …
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:44 am, January 6th, 2022 - 132 comments
With over 61,000 new Covid cases reported yesterday Australia is in the midst of an infection surge that it has not seen before. What lessons can New Zealand learn from Australia’s handling of the pandemic?
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:30 am, January 1st, 2022 - 117 comments
A few random predictions for 2022.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:36 am, December 30th, 2021 - 280 comments
But Omicron may be loose.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:07 pm, December 21st, 2021 - 37 comments
Coming up surprising quickly in 2022 is the Australian federal election – and Labor has a good shot.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 9:52 am, November 7th, 2021 - 36 comments
Southland Mayor Gary Tong has justified felling a forest to construct a coal mine by saying “[w]e all want to make a cleaner, greener planet, but we can’t do it in five minutes.”
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 8:37 am, November 3rd, 2021 - 8 comments
China, which has previously successfully suppressed the Covid virus, is struggling with a delta outbreak. And questions are being asked if suppression is still viable.
Written By: advantage - Date published: 12:02 pm, November 1st, 2021 - 39 comments
The show is now on for Conference of Parties 26 (COP 26), where countries show each other how they will achieve the Paris Agreement climate goals. How will we do? Set in Glasgow, it will bring together negotiators from nearly every country on earth to assess progress, and to determine the scale of sacrifice we’re […]
Written By: advantage - Date published: 1:03 pm, October 11th, 2021 - 14 comments
So, the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is preparing for a November resumption of international air travel.
Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 11:20 am, October 2nd, 2021 - 41 comments
Mike Hosking’s go to female Politician Gladys Berejiklian has resigned in disgrace after the Independent Commission against Corruption announced a formal inquiry into her involvement in preferential grants given to organisations in her former boyfriend’s seat from which it is alleged he attempted to receive a commission.
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