Why is no one in the government claiming credit for this …
From next Thursday, April 11, INZ will have the power to issue infringement notices to employers, with the aim of addressing "non-compliance" with immigration law.
Stephanie Greathead, INZ's national compliance manager, said the agency will be able to penalise businesses if they: employ someone in breach of their visa conditions, employ someone unlawfully, or fail to comply with a 10-day information request.
"Non-compliance with these three requirements now has immediate consequences," she said in a statement.
Is this and consequences for KO tenants, going to be the two things that the government will cite in 2026 as to improvements in the public service?
World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza.
The WCK team was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle.
Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route.
“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore.
As if we didn't need the moral standards of war lowered further, there's a 1961 Geneva Convention against attacking embassies of other countries. If other countries follow suit, the system of embassies will rapidly decline and with it the idea of diplomacy and diplomatic assistance for citizens of one country visiting another.
Occupation corrupts, more so when those who favour the annexation of territory become part of it.
The southern command declined under Gallant, when it applied the dahiya strategy – the collective punishment of civilians to coerce release of hostages. It failed to work then (they had to hand over a 1000 prisoners to get an IDF soldier back) and the same man, now Defence Minister returns to what he knows.
It was the southern command that failed to prevent the Hamas attack (despite intelligence of the plan a year earlier and then 6 months before of training to enact it).
A real command would have used the intelligence to rationalise a better defence formation, alert systems and gone big on training for an attack. The attackers would have been deterred.
Not being awake to a 50 year reprise of 1973 (after the shooting of people by the fence 1948-2018 provocation) is inexplicable.
Occupation armies are first corrupted and then become inept.
At that point it gets confused as to whether actions are deliberately corrupt (top down) or just manifestation of incompetence (and or casual amorality) at the lower level.
The defence review should end the term of their PM, and America will only continue to support its coalition including fascists if Trump becomes POTUS again.
I approve of some of the new government's policies, but the indiscriminate 6.5 % cut across so many ministries makes no sense to me. How can you cut 6.5% from health when we need more ICU capacity, for example? And how is DOC supposed to cope with a 6.5 % cut when they're already overstretched? On the other hand, why do we need a Ministry for Women at all in 2024? Don't all the other ministries deal with women?
They haven't even started on NZTA yet. And the aim is 7%.
The question you're really asking is who uses public services. And the answer: it's mostly the poor, old, and powerless. That's why we have agencies for disability rights, veterans, the Office for Seniors, women's rights, HRC for human rights, MPac for pacific islanders, Te Puni Kokiri among others for Maori, settlement services in Immigration for refugees, and so on.
If you've ever been done in by MSD or others, you need some help and those are the kinds of agencies you turn to.
Luxon isn't going for a full austerity budget, but if Act get a few more percentage points next time, you could well see the governing legislation of many of those get reversed, and those entities disestablished. And you would save fuck all for tax cuts in doing so.
Some time last Century I was on NACEW. There were women there representing working women from every part of the spectrum. From the Employer's Assn to the CTU. It was a multi disciplinary group with a focus on improving women's access to the workforce and to employment equity and safety.
We made recommendations to the Minister for Women, the Dept of Labour, Immigration etc.
Thanks for the question and the info provided. No, I'm not suggesting each department have a specialist women's affairs unit. Do they have specialist men's affairs units?
You list a lot of activities carried out by the Ministry for Women. I'm more interested in the results of said activities – what do we have to show for the money spent? For example, is there evidence that Te Aorerekura has had any impact on family and sexual violence?
And why do we need gender analysis across government? Why do we need a special advisory unit on the employment of women? Why not a special advisory unit on the employment of very short people? Or very tall people? And why do we need research on key issues affecting women and girls? Surely there must also be "key issues" affecting boys and men – are there any parallel initiatives for them? Why do women need special support to apply to public sector boards and committees?
Why do we need an Equal Pay Taskforce, or the inquiry into "pay transparency"? The so-called "gender pay-gap" is not the result of men being paid more than women for performing the same role – that's illegal. And why would anyone do it? The so-called "gender pay-gap" reflects the different priorities of men and women on average, related to significant average psychological differences. For example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3149680/
I suspect sexual selection is also involved. Many women want high-status men with access to resources. As a result, men compete fiercely to be top-dog. Employment status and salary have no comparable sexual payoff for women, because men are focused primarily on other attributes in their female partners.
It looks to me like most of the activities carried out by the Ministry for Women's Affairs are based on the premise that women as demographic are "oppressed". But what is the evidence that women are in fact "oppressed" in 21st century NZ? Without proper evidence, it's pure ideology. You can of course cite domestic violence statistics – it would be disengenous to deny that this is primarily male on female violence, but it is highly likely that female on male violence is underreported, because of the shame attached to it. I could respond with plenty of stats showing that women are doing better than men in many areas, or that women are treated better than men by society. For example, women get lighter sentences than men for the same offence (https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/gender-differences-sentencing-felony-offenders), and men make up 89% of workplace deaths (https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/27/2/124)
I think contemporary feminism in the West is a racket that mostly serves the interests of ambitious middle-class professional women. I might take contemporary feminism more seriously if I saw feminists pushing for women to be better represented in less glamorous male-dominated areas like forestry or waste management.
In summary, you haven't convinced me we need a Ministry for Women.
I might take contemporary feminism more seriously if I saw feminists pushing for women to be better represented in less glamorous male-dominated areas like forestry or waste management.
Funny, I was just listening to a gender critical feminist pointing out that the reason there is no push for women to be bin men is because of the physiological differences between women and men.
It doesn't however explain why men don't do their fair share of cleaning toilets.
Fortunately for New Zealand women, as opposed to say women in Afghanistan, we currently don't have to convince sexist men about the need for a Women's Ministry. Most other people already know why it matters.
And prithee tell, why does it matter? Maybe most people don't question the need for a women's ministry because for several decades now, feminists and other "progressives" have had inordinate influence over our state education system. And implying I'm a "sexist" isn't actually an argument.
Yes, I see little to recommend in "progressivism". It's frighteningly self-righteous, authoritarian and untethered from reality. I wish the left would drop identity politics, and be more evidence-driven, more practical, and focused on core tasks like strengthening our public health and education systems and developing our infrastructure (which was so neglected by Key et al).
I would add that I also see little to recommend in neoliberalism. Election time means deciding which dead rat is least intolerable.
We need more medical school capacity. For years now we've been happy to poach doctors from India, which is a bit crap really. We've been turning away many non-Maaori students with good marks, simply because there isn't the capacity to train them. That's likely to change in the near future – though frankly it might more sense to expand the Otago and Auckland med schools rather than creating a new one at Waikato.
I think it's clear our drinking water infrastructure also needs investment. The issue isn't so much water quality as the losses to leakage. And no, 3/5 Waters was not a bona fide infrastructure project – David Seymour's description of it as a "treaty settlement disguised as an infrastructure project" was pretty close to the truth. If the previous government had been serious about a sustainable improvement to our water infrastructure, they could have reached out across the aisle and negotiated something that wouldn't be scrapped at the next change of government. Instead, despite knowing they were likely to lose the 2023 election, they tried to coerce the (probable) future government by signing long-term contracts for 3/5 Waters employees within a few weeks of election day.
I'm not implying you're sexist, I'm calling you sexist to your face. Any halfwit can look up stats on how women fare in society, so I can only assume your sexism is intentional and wilful. If you don't want to be seen like that, then maybe don't make long sexist comments 🤷♀️
I'm not troubled by your accusation of "sexism" – it's just a lazy truncheon word. I'm just pointing out that you've resorted to it because you're unable to refute my arguments.
dude, I've been in hard core feminist debates spaces online for years. I've also been blogging on feminism in that time as well. It's not that I can't make the argument, it's that I have better things to do with my time when clearly you have a sexist position against the interests of women rather than trying to understand why women have particular needs in NZ society.
We've been turning away many non-Maaori students with good marks.
I see you're a racist plonk as well otherwise you would have just said students. It used to be you pretty much only got into med school if you were the child of a doctor. If you couldn't get in via that route you got your child to be a chemist as chemists' children were next off the rank.
As most doctors were already European then Maori never stood a shit show. That is exactly why affirmative action policies are needed. Even with that we've only gone from 2.3% of doctors being Maori to 4.7%. They make up 16% of the population.
I've worked in workplaces where all the management and high level positions were men. Women simply were not considered for those positions. The men however used to do the interviews for the lower positions where they held up scorecards behind the interviewees back rating them out of 10 – blond hair and large breasts always got higher ratings.
More recently worked with a group of women all employed at the same time where someone had accidently emailed everyone the pay rates. All the men started on $20,000 more than the women. They felt they needed to improve their negotiating skills – I said no they didn't the only person who knew the starting salaries was the manager and they had deliberately paid all the women less saving in the process $100,000 per year for however many years they worked there. The men of course thought it was really funny. The manager was just an arse. Many of the women had much more experience than the highest paid male.
There are better ways of setting salaries than by men.
Hospital cleaners play a vital role in the workings of our healthcare facilities. Not only do they clean hospitals and help maintain standards of hygiene to protect against infection but they also contribute towards wider health outcomes. The importance of these cleaners is often underestimated and undervalued in the way they are paid and treated.
We estimated, however, that for every £1 they are paid, over £10 in social value is generated.
Although the role of an advertising executive has high status, the impact of the industry has always been a point of controversy. It encourages high consumer spending and indebtedness. It can create insatiable aspirations, fuelling feelings of dissatisfaction, inadequacy and stress. In our economic model we estimate the share of social and environmental damage caused by overconsumption that is attributable to advertising.
For a salary of between £50,000 and £12 million, top advertising executives destroy £11 of value for every pound in value they generate.
I'm about to start paying RUC for my EV. Fair enough, though there is a n argument for incentives.
When will the trucking companies pay their true cost?
They'd pass it on, anyway, in their charges and then there's be competition between rail and road, pressure on truckers to be as least damaging as they can, and lots more money in the pot to address the roading issues.
Has anyone actually costed the decision to allow trucks on roads in NZ that were too heavy for the actnal design strength? Who made it? What did it actually cause?
Politics is about compromise, right? And framing it so the voters see your compromise as the better one. John Key was a skilful exponent of this approach (as was Keith Holyoake in an earlier age), and Chris Luxon isn’t too bad either. But in politics, the process whereby an old ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
It’s being explained as an “inadvertent error”. However, National MP David MacLeod’s excuse for failing to disclose $178,000 in donations for his election campaign last year is not necessarily enough to prevent some serious consequences. A Police investigation is now likely, and the result of his non-disclosure could even see ...
The relentless drone coming out of the Prime Minister and his deputy for a million days now has been that the last government was just hosing money all over the show and now at last the grownups are in charge and shutting that drunken sailor stuff down. There is a word ...
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Rex Ahdar writes – The Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, likes to trace his political lineage back to the pioneers of parliamentary Maoridom. I will refer to these as the ‘big four’ or better still, the Four Knights. Just as ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Willie Jackson will participate in the prestigious Oxford Union debate on Thursday, following in David Lange’s footsteps. Coincidentally, Jackson has also followed Lange’s footsteps by living in his old home in South Auckland. And like Lange, Jackson might be the sort of loud-mouth scrapper ...
That is the only way to describe an MP "forgetting" to declare $178,000 in donations. The amount of money involved - more than five times the candidate spending cap, and two and a half times the median income - is boggling. How do you just "forget" that amount of money? ...
In this week’s “A View from Afar” podcast Selwyn Manning and spoke about the upcoming US elections and what the possibility of another Trump presidency means for the US role in world affairs. We also spoke about the problems Joe … Continue reading → ...
Hi,Two years ago I briefly featured in Justin Pemberton’s Web of Chaos documentary, which touched on things like QAnon during the pandemic.I mostly prattled on about how intertwined conspiracy narratives are with Evangelical Christian thinking, something Webworm’s explored in the past.(The doc is available on TVNZ+, if you’re not in ...
The Government is leaving the entire construction sector and the community housing sector in limbo. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government released the long-awaited Bill English-led review of Kāinga Ora yesterday, but delayed key decisions on its build plan and how to help community housing providers (CHPs) build ...
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He’s Got The Moxie: Only Willie Jackson possesses the credentials to meld together a new Labour message that is, at one and the same moment, staunchly working-class, union-friendly, and which speaks to the hundreds-of-thousands of urban Māori untethered to the neo-tribal capitalist elites of the Iwi Leaders Forum.IT’S ONE OF THE ...
Tree-huggers may well accuse the Government of giving them the fingers, after Energy Minister Simeon Brown announced new measures to protect powerlines from trees, rather than measures to protect trees from powerlines. It can be no coincidence, surely, that this has been announced at the same as Fisheries Minister Shane Jones ...
Willie Jackson will participate in the prestigious Oxford Union debate on Thursday, following in David Lange’s footsteps. Coincidentally, Jackson has also followed Lange’s footsteps by living in his old home in South Auckland. And like Lange, Jackson might be the sort of loud-mouth scrapper who could take over the Labour ...
Barrister Gary Judd KC’s complaint to the Regulatory Review Committee has sparked a fierce debate about the place of tikanga Māori – or Māori customs, values and spiritual beliefs – in the law.Judd opposes the New Zealand Council of Legal Education’s plans to make teaching tikanga compulsory in the legal curriculum.AUT ...
Alwyn Poole writes – In New Zealand we have approximately 460 high schools. The gaps between the schools that produce the best results for students and those at the other end of the spectrum are enormous.In terms of the data for their leavers, the top 30 schools have ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be ...
Brian Eastonwrites – The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am ...
The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed Gantz out into the open. ...
On Thursday 17 May, the Mayoral Proposal for Auckland’s Long Term Plan 2024-2034 was passed by Auckland Council, 20 to 1. It is set to be formally adopted by the Governing Body at its June 27th meeting. The entire process took 8 hours, with the vast majority of that time ...
Pakanga o muaTukua, ka ngaroPuritia taku ringaNgaro ana te ara ki pae rauThere's a battle aheadMany battles are lostBut you'll never see the end of the roadWhile you're travelling with meLate yesterday morning I headed to Wynyard Quarter to see Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick give their pre-budget State of ...
Maybe the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister expected the worst, so they mounted a stout defence of the Budget tax cuts to their party faithful at a party conference over the weekend. In turn, they were greeted with applause, which, though it may have been less than wildly enthusiastic, ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 12, 2024 thru Sat, May 18, 2024. Story of the week “The legislation I signed today [will] keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and ...
TL;DR: Here’s six links that stood out to me in the last day in Aotearoa’s political economy to 6:06am on Sunday, May 19:Aotearoa-NZ is the seventh worst in the OECD’s homelessness rankings, just behind the United States and just ahead of Australia. BlackRock thinks rate hikes actually worsen inflation because ...
Halfway up a historic tower in York, we are neither up nor down. At the top you will have views of a city steeped in antiquity, made and remade by Romans, Normans, Vikings, Tescos. Below, you will find a retired minister happy to tell you all about this most astonishing ...
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 in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Does breathing contribute to CO2 ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: KiwiRail’s seemingly endless requests for more money is damning. At one point, KiwiRail assured Robertson when he was the Finance Minister that the worst-case scenario would be an extra $300 million before requesting $1.2 billion a few months later. Not what most people ...
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Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two week’s editions.Share More Than A FeildingBike bling, London Read more ...
Hi,I think we all made it through another week — congratulations. I’ve been digesting the new Arab Strap record, which is astonishing. In other news, I’m going to be doing a Webworm popup in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday July 13. I’ll bring a bunch of merch, and some other ...
The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am going to explore the Bill from the perspective of its proponents with their ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Associate Education Minister David Seymour is urging the PostPrimary Teachers Association to put learning ahead of ideology. He wants the union leaders to call off their teachers meetings around the country where they hope to muster the strength to undo the government’s plans to establish several ...
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Graham Adams writes that 20 years after the land march, judges are quietly awarding a swathe of coastal rights to iwi. Early this month, an hour-long documentary was released by TVNZ to mark the 20th anniversary of the land-rights march to oppose Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act. The account ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has passed an unpleasant milestone: she has now been absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year. Tana is on full pay while she is suspended, and will benefit from a ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is no coincidence that two Labour should-have-been MPs are making the most noise about public sector cuts. As assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons has been at the forefront of revealing where the next round of state sector job ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a ...
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Helen Clark joins the Hoon as a special guest talking whether Aotearoa should join Aukus II, and her views on the fast track legislation and how Luxon and the new Government are performing. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts ...
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When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
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It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
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Henry Ergas writes – When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
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Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
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This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
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The Government has yet again failed to do the one thing that needs to happen to ensure houses can be built – commit to ongoing funding, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick used this year's State of the Planet to call on the Government to prioritise people and planet as the delivery of the Budget approaches. A full transcript of their speeches can be found below. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
The Coalition Government’s Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which will improve tenancy laws and help increase the supply of rental properties, has passed its first reading in Parliament says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “The Bill proposes much-needed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 that will remove barriers to increasing private ...
Standing here in Cassino War Cemetery, among the graves looking up at the beautiful Abbey of Montecassino, it is hard to imagine the utter devastation left behind by the battles which ended here in May 1944. Hundreds of thousands of shells and bombs of every description left nothing but piled ...
I present a legislative statement on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill Mr. Speaker, I move that the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the Bill. Thank you, Mr. ...
The Bill to repeal Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has had its first reading in Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the care and safety of children in care, says Minister for Children Karen Chhour. “When I became the Minister for Children, I made ...
Kia ora koutou, good morning, and zao shang hao. Thank you Fran for the opportunity to speak at the 2024 China Business Summit – it’s great to be here today. I’d also like to acknowledge: Simon Bridges - CEO of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. His Excellency Ambassador - Wang ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing them ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing ...
The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. “Pharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
Tēnā koutou katoa. Da jia hao. Good morning everyone. Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran O’Sullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
Education is facing a bunch of changes, but the important ones are not banned cell phones or ‘woke’ foods. The Government has ordered teachers to adopt ‘structured literacy’ to get children reading. That means Reading Recovery, a system New Zealand pioneered and spread to the world, along with ‘whole language’, ...
What a difference a year has made for Caroline Powell. After coming last at the Badminton Horse Trials in 2023, Powell triumphed at this year’s event earlier this month, on board her sometimes-feisty Irish-bred mare Greenacres Special Cavalier – much to her astonishment. Now she hopes to succeed at the ...
The publishing sensation of 2024 is wartime memoir The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour and Jude Dobson, which tells the amazing story of a woman who operated behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France. Sales went through the roof as soon as it was published: in its first week it became ...
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, Wednesday 22 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Comment: NZ’s main political parties need to reach a consensus on how to adjust to China’s dominance and coercion The post Bridging the Aukus chasm appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: Jacinda Ardern’s leadership significantly enhanced New Zealand’s profile on the global stage. In the first five months of her second term of government, between December 2020 and April 2021, her name appeared 24 times in the Washington Post, 10 in the New York Times, 27 in the Times and ...
Comment: The public has seen the PM’s ruthless side, but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a member of the coalition faces the same punishment The post Christopher Luxon the disciplinarian appeared first on Newsroom. ...
By Maia Ingoe, RNZ News journalist A NZ Defence Force plane carrying 50 New Zealanders evacuated from New Caledonia landed at Auckland International Airport last night. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it would be working with France and Australia to ensure the safe departure of several evacuation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Snow, Research Scientist, CSIRO CSIRO How often do you check your local weather forecast? How about your local climate projections for 2050? For many farmers, the answer to the first question is all the time. But the answer to the ...
Pacific Media Watch A Māori supporter of Pacific independence movements claims the French government has “constructed the crisis” in New Caledonia by pushing the indigenous Kanak population to the edge, reports Atereano Mateariki of Waatea News. A NZ Defence Force Hercules is today evacuating about 50 New Zealanders stranded in ...
COMMENTARY:By Gordon Campbell The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed ...
Reacting to today’s Budget Speech from Labour’s Finance spokesperson, Barbara Edmonds, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “It is encouraging to see that one of Labour’s stated priorities is to focus on creating ‘a level ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Turner, System Lead, Sustainable Economies, Climateworks Centre atk work/Shutterstock In the budget last week, the government was keen to talk about its efforts to turn Australia into a renewable superpower under the umbrella of the Future Made in Australia policies. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Opposition Leader Peter Dutton might have done us a favour. As part of his budget reply speech on Thursday night he promised to stop foreigners buying existing Australian homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Maguire, Associate Professor in Human Rights and International Law, University of Newcastle The request by Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders is a significant step in the effort to ...
RNZ Pacific A New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region since the 1970s says liberation “must come” for Kanaky/New Caledonia. Professor David Robie sailed on board Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior until it was bombed by French secret agents in New Zealand in July 1985 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Renwick, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand Fonterra caught the business world by surprise last week with plans to sell off its consumer brands and businesses – including supermarket mainstays such as Anchor, Fresh’n Fruity and Mainland. The move ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Small, Senior lecturer, Above the Bar School of Educational Studies and Leadership, University of Canterbury With an air force plane on its way to rescue New Zealanders stranded by the violent uprising in New Caledonia, many familiar with the island’s history ...
A New Zealand government plane is heading to New Caledonia to assist with bringing New Zealanders home. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today confirmed it was the first in a series of proposed flights. Peters said the flight would carry around 50 passengers with the most pressing needs from Nouméa ...
Regional councils must focus on building meaningful and enduring relationships with iwi and hapū to support better freshwater management, says the Auditor-General in a new report. ...
Chris Glaudel, Deputy Chief Executive of Community Housing Aotearoa, sees the announcement as a step towards addressing New Zealand’s high and rising levels of homelessness by improving our approach and system to delivering affordable homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Mamouri, Research fellow, Middle East studies, Deakin University The death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash this week occurred during one of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s most challenging periods. Raisi, a prominent figure in the political elite, ...
The end of universal flu shot funding for under-12s is a step backwards for New Zealand child health, say experts from the University of Auckland and the University of Otago. New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent ...
The PSA is taking action to force the Ministry of Education to comply with its legal obligations to do everything it can to find other roles for staff it is laying off because of the Government’s spending cuts. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Waling, Senior Lecturer & Research Fellow, Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University Netflix There has been much excitement in the lead up to the first four episodes of Bridgerton’s season three, featuring leading couple Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa De Bortoli, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research Taylor Flowe/Unsplash, CC BY Australian teenagers have more disruptive maths classrooms and experience bullying at greater levels than the OECD average, a new report shows. But in better news, Australian ...
Poet, editor and former bookseller Jane Arthur’s debut children’s novel Brown Bird is the story of a shy, self-conscious 11-year-old – partly based on her childhood self – venturing out of her quiet comfort zone. Children’s books are close to my heart because mostly I believe that adults are rings ...
Peter Jackson is bringing Lord of the Rings back to Wellington, producing two new Gollum films in Wellington. Madeleine Chapman (Gollum) argues with Madeleine Chapman (Smeagol) about it. First of all, I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation. Of course it’s great news!I don’t know, it gives me ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a part-time media librarian and superannuitant explains how he spends and saves. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Male Age: 65 Ethnicity: EuropeanRole: Media librarian ...
The Government’s Environmental Select Committee is refusing to engage meaningfully when it matters the most over new fast tracking environmental legislation, says Ngāti Ruanui. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Marsh, Senior Research Fellow in Public Health, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Christoph Soeder/dpa New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent gains in uptake. And it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexis Anja Kallio, Deputy Director (Research), Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University Many young people in contact with the justice system come from backgrounds of extreme poverty, parental abuse or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education. These complex traumas often manifest as addictions ...
The agency was found to be underperforming and ‘not financially viable’, explains Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A damning report A government-ordered ...
Asia Pacific Report For more than 76 years, Palestinians have resisted occupation, dispossession and ethnic cleansing, culminating in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Yet in the midst of this catastrophic seven months of “hell on earth”, it is a paradox that there exists an extraordinary oasis of peace and nature. ...
You’ll never set foot in one. But its emissions still effect you. Shanti Mathias reports on a campaign to make private jet owners pay for their emissions in some way. The private jet passengers saunter down the red carpet, wearing sunglasses and heels; paparazzi cameras flash. The sky is blue, ...
Quality teachers back on the front line can only be a good thing. One of the difficult things we teach in senior English classes at secondary school is the development of an idea. This involves deepening your argument, without instead “going sideways” and merely adding examples while repeating the same ...
Opinion: People with certain types of health conditions are more likely than others to have their symptoms dismissed, minimised or disbelieved. These conditions are diagnosed based on the patient self-report of symptoms, where there is no definitive diagnostic test that can prove the existence of disease or demonstrate structural or ...
The intensity of it, ironically, can feel like bullying. Social media activism is reaching something of a peak with the war in Gaza, using the hashtag Blockout2024. It started at this year’s MetGala when influencer and model Haley Kalil was caught on video muttering ‘let them eat cake’ – suddenly ...
It’s 2011 and I am 43 years old. My partner, Christine, and I got together when I was 36. We had been friends for about 10 years before that. One of the first things I asked Christine was whether she wanted to have kids. I had just come out of ...
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Opinion: As an indication of the eye-watering sums involved for the mega-prison plans announced two weeks ago by Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell, consider that $932 million has already been spent on a separate facility due to open at Waikeria next year – that’s about $1.5 million for each of the ...
New Caledonia’s Tontouta International Airport remains closed, and Air New Zealand’s next scheduled flight is on Saturday — although it is not ruling out adding extra services. Air NZ’s Captain David Morgan said on Monday evening flights would only resume when they were assured of the security of the airport ...
Asia Pacific Report As Israel drives the Palestinians deeper into another Nakba in Gaza with its assault on Rafah, the Palestine Youth Aotearoa (PYA) and solidarity supporters in Aotearoa New Zealand tonight commemorated the original Nakba — “the Catastrophe” — of 1948. The 1948 Nakba . . . more than ...
Why is no one in the government claiming credit for this …
Is this and consequences for KO tenants, going to be the two things that the government will cite in 2026 as to improvements in the public service?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/04/immigration-nz-launches-new-crackdown-on-worker-exploitation.html
Test: needed page reloading and still buggy
The World's most moral army doing what it does best. Pricks.
//
World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza.
The WCK team was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle.
Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route.
“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore.
https://wck.org/news/gaza-team-update
As if we didn't need the moral standards of war lowered further, there's a 1961 Geneva Convention against attacking embassies of other countries. If other countries follow suit, the system of embassies will rapidly decline and with it the idea of diplomacy and diplomatic assistance for citizens of one country visiting another.
Occupation corrupts, more so when those who favour the annexation of territory become part of it.
The southern command declined under Gallant, when it applied the dahiya strategy – the collective punishment of civilians to coerce release of hostages. It failed to work then (they had to hand over a 1000 prisoners to get an IDF soldier back) and the same man, now Defence Minister returns to what he knows.
It was the southern command that failed to prevent the Hamas attack (despite intelligence of the plan a year earlier and then 6 months before of training to enact it).
A real command would have used the intelligence to rationalise a better defence formation, alert systems and gone big on training for an attack. The attackers would have been deterred.
Not being awake to a 50 year reprise of 1973 (after the shooting of people by the fence 1948-2018 provocation) is inexplicable.
Occupation armies are first corrupted and then become inept.
At that point it gets confused as to whether actions are deliberately corrupt (top down) or just manifestation of incompetence (and or casual amorality) at the lower level.
The defence review should end the term of their PM, and America will only continue to support its coalition including fascists if Trump becomes POTUS again.
I approve of some of the new government's policies, but the indiscriminate 6.5 % cut across so many ministries makes no sense to me. How can you cut 6.5% from health when we need more ICU capacity, for example? And how is DOC supposed to cope with a 6.5 % cut when they're already overstretched? On the other hand, why do we need a Ministry for Women at all in 2024? Don't all the other ministries deal with women?
They haven't even started on NZTA yet. And the aim is 7%.
The question you're really asking is who uses public services. And the answer: it's mostly the poor, old, and powerless. That's why we have agencies for disability rights, veterans, the Office for Seniors, women's rights, HRC for human rights, MPac for pacific islanders, Te Puni Kokiri among others for Maori, settlement services in Immigration for refugees, and so on.
If you've ever been done in by MSD or others, you need some help and those are the kinds of agencies you turn to.
Luxon isn't going for a full austerity budget, but if Act get a few more percentage points next time, you could well see the governing legislation of many of those get reversed, and those entities disestablished. And you would save fuck all for tax cuts in doing so.
Our current work programme includes:
https://www.women.govt.nz/about-us
Or are you suggesting that each government department sets up a specialist women's affairs unit?
Some time last Century I was on NACEW. There were women there representing working women from every part of the spectrum. From the Employer's Assn to the CTU. It was a multi disciplinary group with a focus on improving women's access to the workforce and to employment equity and safety.
We made recommendations to the Minister for Women, the Dept of Labour, Immigration etc.
I found it very worthwhile.
Thanks for the question and the info provided. No, I'm not suggesting each department have a specialist women's affairs unit. Do they have specialist men's affairs units?
You list a lot of activities carried out by the Ministry for Women. I'm more interested in the results of said activities – what do we have to show for the money spent? For example, is there evidence that Te Aorerekura has had any impact on family and sexual violence?
And why do we need gender analysis across government? Why do we need a special advisory unit on the employment of women? Why not a special advisory unit on the employment of very short people? Or very tall people? And why do we need research on key issues affecting women and girls? Surely there must also be "key issues" affecting boys and men – are there any parallel initiatives for them? Why do women need special support to apply to public sector boards and committees?
Why do we need an Equal Pay Taskforce, or the inquiry into "pay transparency"? The so-called "gender pay-gap" is not the result of men being paid more than women for performing the same role – that's illegal. And why would anyone do it? The so-called "gender pay-gap" reflects the different priorities of men and women on average, related to significant average psychological differences. For example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3149680/
I suspect sexual selection is also involved. Many women want high-status men with access to resources. As a result, men compete fiercely to be top-dog. Employment status and salary have no comparable sexual payoff for women, because men are focused primarily on other attributes in their female partners.
It looks to me like most of the activities carried out by the Ministry for Women's Affairs are based on the premise that women as demographic are "oppressed". But what is the evidence that women are in fact "oppressed" in 21st century NZ? Without proper evidence, it's pure ideology. You can of course cite domestic violence statistics – it would be disengenous to deny that this is primarily male on female violence, but it is highly likely that female on male violence is underreported, because of the shame attached to it. I could respond with plenty of stats showing that women are doing better than men in many areas, or that women are treated better than men by society. For example, women get lighter sentences than men for the same offence (https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/gender-differences-sentencing-felony-offenders), and men make up 89% of workplace deaths (https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/27/2/124)
I think contemporary feminism in the West is a racket that mostly serves the interests of ambitious middle-class professional women. I might take contemporary feminism more seriously if I saw feminists pushing for women to be better represented in less glamorous male-dominated areas like forestry or waste management.
In summary, you haven't convinced me we need a Ministry for Women.
Funny, I was just listening to a gender critical feminist pointing out that the reason there is no push for women to be bin men is because of the physiological differences between women and men.
It doesn't however explain why men don't do their fair share of cleaning toilets.
"It doesn't however explain why men don't do their fair share of cleaning toilets."
They don't?
Bastards!
and with comments like that, you can't complain about being called sexist either.
Nor misunderstood, neither.
Fortunately for New Zealand women, as opposed to say women in Afghanistan, we currently don't have to convince sexist men about the need for a Women's Ministry. Most other people already know why it matters.
And prithee tell, why does it matter? Maybe most people don't question the need for a women's ministry because for several decades now, feminists and other "progressives" have had inordinate influence over our state education system. And implying I'm a "sexist" isn't actually an argument.
You quote-mark progressives as though they are a bad thing?
Yes, I see little to recommend in "progressivism". It's frighteningly self-righteous, authoritarian and untethered from reality. I wish the left would drop identity politics, and be more evidence-driven, more practical, and focused on core tasks like strengthening our public health and education systems and developing our infrastructure (which was so neglected by Key et al).
I would add that I also see little to recommend in neoliberalism. Election time means deciding which dead rat is least intolerable.
"…strengthening our public health and education systems and developing our infrastructure…"
That sounds good, and progressive, to my ear 🙂
What particular infrastructure to you wish was focused upon?
Two examples.
We need more medical school capacity. For years now we've been happy to poach doctors from India, which is a bit crap really. We've been turning away many non-Maaori students with good marks, simply because there isn't the capacity to train them. That's likely to change in the near future – though frankly it might more sense to expand the Otago and Auckland med schools rather than creating a new one at Waikato.
I think it's clear our drinking water infrastructure also needs investment. The issue isn't so much water quality as the losses to leakage. And no, 3/5 Waters was not a bona fide infrastructure project – David Seymour's description of it as a "treaty settlement disguised as an infrastructure project" was pretty close to the truth. If the previous government had been serious about a sustainable improvement to our water infrastructure, they could have reached out across the aisle and negotiated something that wouldn't be scrapped at the next change of government. Instead, despite knowing they were likely to lose the 2023 election, they tried to coerce the (probable) future government by signing long-term contracts for 3/5 Waters employees within a few weeks of election day.
I'm not implying you're sexist, I'm calling you sexist to your face. Any halfwit can look up stats on how women fare in society, so I can only assume your sexism is intentional and wilful. If you don't want to be seen like that, then maybe don't make long sexist comments 🤷♀️
I'm not troubled by your accusation of "sexism" – it's just a lazy truncheon word. I'm just pointing out that you've resorted to it because you're unable to refute my arguments.
dude, I've been in hard core feminist debates spaces online for years. I've also been blogging on feminism in that time as well. It's not that I can't make the argument, it's that I have better things to do with my time when clearly you have a sexist position against the interests of women rather than trying to understand why women have particular needs in NZ society.
We've been turning away many non-Maaori students with good marks.
I see you're a racist plonk as well otherwise you would have just said students. It used to be you pretty much only got into med school if you were the child of a doctor. If you couldn't get in via that route you got your child to be a chemist as chemists' children were next off the rank.
As most doctors were already European then Maori never stood a shit show. That is exactly why affirmative action policies are needed. Even with that we've only gone from 2.3% of doctors being Maori to 4.7%. They make up 16% of the population.
I've worked in workplaces where all the management and high level positions were men. Women simply were not considered for those positions. The men however used to do the interviews for the lower positions where they held up scorecards behind the interviewees back rating them out of 10 – blond hair and large breasts always got higher ratings.
More recently worked with a group of women all employed at the same time where someone had accidently emailed everyone the pay rates. All the men started on $20,000 more than the women. They felt they needed to improve their negotiating skills – I said no they didn't the only person who knew the starting salaries was the manager and they had deliberately paid all the women less saving in the process $100,000 per year for however many years they worked there. The men of course thought it was really funny. The manager was just an arse. Many of the women had much more experience than the highest paid male.
There are better ways of setting salaries than by men.
Hospital cleaners play a vital role in the workings of our healthcare facilities. Not only do they clean hospitals and help maintain standards of hygiene to protect against infection but they also contribute towards wider health outcomes. The importance of these cleaners is often underestimated and undervalued in the way they are paid and treated.
We estimated, however, that for every £1 they are paid, over £10 in social value is generated.
Although the role of an advertising executive has high status, the impact of the industry has always been a point of controversy. It encourages high consumer spending and indebtedness. It can create insatiable aspirations, fuelling feelings of dissatisfaction, inadequacy and stress. In our economic model we estimate the share of social and environmental damage caused by overconsumption that is attributable to advertising.
For a salary of between £50,000 and £12 million, top advertising executives destroy £11 of value for every pound in value they generate.
https://neweconomics.org/2009/12/a-bit-rich
And you thought I was a problem 🙂
I'll revise my opinion when I see you making arguments for women's rights 🙂
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/infrastructure/im-pretty-worried-bishop-on-kiwirail
Are roads economic?
Are roads economic?
In 2022, the situation regarding road damage was that trucks caused 80% of the damage and contributed 23% of the cost.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2212/S00111/trucks-do-the-most-damage-on-our-roads-but-pay-the-least-towards-fixing-them.
Who pays for the upkeep of the railways?
I'm about to start paying RUC for my EV. Fair enough, though there is a n argument for incentives.
When will the trucking companies pay their true cost?
They'd pass it on, anyway, in their charges and then there's be competition between rail and road, pressure on truckers to be as least damaging as they can, and lots more money in the pot to address the roading issues.
Has anyone actually costed the decision to allow trucks on roads in NZ that were too heavy for the actnal design strength? Who made it? What did it actually cause?
Test : cursor in place ok
Thanks mac1 for linking that article.
It gets my blood boiling when I hear the likes of Nick Leggat, Willis and others
lie talk about trucking and/or rail.Which then gets me beating my other favourite drum, lobbying's influence, especially the trucking lobby.
To weka..that irony thing again..
It won't let me reply to your replies question..@ 3/4..
And if your question is do I know how to press the reply button at others comments..the answer is yes..
If you don't mean that..the answer is no..