Daily review 08/02/2022
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5:30 pm, February 8th, 2022 - 55 comments
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- Treasury warns deeper recession worsening Budget deficit
The gift that keeps giving: David Seymour has now opened a split in the coalition over the future of National’s promise to build a new medical school. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / TheKakaKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and ...7 hours ago - Weekly Roundup 22-November-2024
It’s another Friday and we’re inching closer to the end of the year. Here’s some of the stories that have caught our attention this week. This post, like all our work, is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and ...8 hours ago - Beyond Question?
Record Numbers: The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti, which began at the tip of the North, and the tail of the South, on 11 November, culminated outside Parliament on Tuesday, 19 November 2024, in one of the largest demonstrations in New Zealand’s political history.ACCORDING TO TE ARA, the Ministry of Culture ...8 hours ago - The Rush To Blame “The Activists”
Activists are such easy scapegoats. The right and center have been conditioned for decades to roll their eyes at all protests. The left are easily aggravated over students leading movements they see as belonging to grownups, who have more important concerns like the economy and whether the trains come on ...8 hours ago - Cutting Through An Inundation of Dipshit Racists
Hi,Watching New Zealand from afar offers a strange perspective. It can be a good thing — distance from Aotearoa helped keep me sane while I reported on abuse at New Zealand’s biggest megachurch over the course of a year. It helps fuel my silly podcast. But it can also be ...9 hours ago - This is bad news
The speech yesterday by Treasury’s Chief Economic Advisor warning that the books are in worse shape than forecasted looks like it’s part of a softening-up process for either more cuts or a longer wait to get back into surplus. The speech was a highly unusual public preview of Treasury’s Half-Yearly ...11 hours ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2024
Open access notables Projected increase in the frequency of extremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons, Lopez et al., Science Advances: Future changes to the year-to-year swings between active and inactive North Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) seasons have received little attention, yet may have great societal implications in areas prone to hurricane ...20 hours ago - Chicken Kiev
Chatting in the supermarket this morning, I found I needed to lunge for the chicken drumsticks.Coping mechanisms: who hasn’t felt a greater need for them lately?When it all gets too much, I turn to demonstrating handy butchery hacks.It wasn’t that she’d said anything wrong, our friend, not at all. We ...23 hours ago - The year is 2024 and it’s 1984
This is written in response to the highly significant open letter from a group of economists that was today addressed to Christopher Luxon. The year is 2024, and it’s 1984. The country is reeling from a record Olympic medal gold haul, while the globe grapples with the choice of the ...24 hours ago - The IPCA has failed
Back in 2022, RNZ took an in-depth look at the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority and its handling of killings by police. These are the most serious test of oversight, and you would expect the police's use of lethal force to receive the most severe scrutiny. But despite the police regularly ...1 day ago - Thursday 21 November 2024
The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti arrived at Parliament on Tuesday – the size is being debated but estimates range from 42,000 to 100,000. The Prime Minister is defending not attending due to some of the organisers being affiliated with Te Pāti Māori. The national gang patch ban came into force ...1 day ago - ‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’
I spoke to former Productivity Chair Nana this morning about the letter he and a group of other economists sent to PM Christopher Luxon to urge the Government to urgently suspend cuts to spending and investment for the sake of the economy, struggling businesses and the wellbeing of vulnerable ...1 day ago
- ACT’s Astroturfing & A Co-ordinated Attack on Te Pati Māori
Unity on the Streets / Unity at the TableAfter the Hīkoi, all three right wing Coalition leaders came together to push the idea that the 42,000 - 50,000 + strong Hikoi was somehow less potent and brave, and more illegitimate than the energy and crowd displayed.Prime Minister Christopher Luxon 20-November: ...1 day ago - Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for stabilizing temperatures
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink The world is emitting over 40 gigatons of CO2 per year, contributing to an accelerating warming of the planet. The world needs to cut emissions rapidly to be remotely on track to meet our Paris Agreement goals of limiting warming to well-below 2C, and we ...1 day ago
- I Love My Leather Jacket
I wear my leather jacket like a great big hugRadiating charm - a living cloak of luckIt's the only concrete link with an absent friendIt's a symbol I can wear 'till we meet againOr it's a weight around my neck while the owner's freeBoth protector and reminder of mortalityIt's a ...1 day ago - Throwback Thursday: Will “Auckland Transport” Survive?
With Auckland Transport’s future up in the air under Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposed CCO reform, we’ve dug way back into the archives, to unearth this post originally published in March 2010. As you’ll see, many of the debates that were being had when AT was first proposed continue to ...1 day ago
- Economists call on PM to suspend budget cuts for the sake of the economy
Nicola Willis’ budget cuts are under fire from economists for having no clear rationale and worsening the recession. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, November 21: The news at ...1 day ago
- The end of policing by consent
National has appointed a new police commissioner. And he explicitly rejects policing by consent: Asked if he subscribed to policing by consent, he said he did not. “I don’t talk about policing by consent. I talk about trust and confidence, and it is fundamentally important that the police have ...2 days ago
- The Treaty Principles Bill: A Who’s Who
David Horatio Waterbed SeymourFringe politician and dweeb transformed successfully by ThinkTank money into a well-oiled soundbite robot.Currently programmed to say: Equal rights for all New Zealanders Equal rights for all New Zealanders Equal rights for all New Zealanders Was previously programmed to say:I am a proud libertarian andI am a ...2 days ago - Kinleith mill closure shows need for industrial strategy
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is calling on the Government to deliver an economic and industrial strategy for regional manufacturing, rather than just expressing sympathy for job losses, following the announced closure of Kinleith mill in Tokoroa. “The closure Kinleith mill in Tokoroa is not just devastating for ...2 days ago
- 27% of kids going hungry, up from 21% in a year
One in four Kiwi children live in households where food runs out often or sometimes. Photo: Getty ImagesKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, November 20: The lead: The official annual Health Survey found sharp ...2 days ago - Transport modelling is an illusion
This guest post by Tim Adriaansen, an advocate for accessibility and sustainable transport, originally published on LinkedIn and cross posted here with permission. People prefer cars, right? Probably not. Here’s why. Granted, most people in English-speaking countries use a car to get around. This simple reality underpins our transport ...2 days ago
- Young Maori take over
Neither Wellington nor Parliament has ever seen anything like it before. The Police said there were more than 40,000 but however many there were, yesterday’s Hikoi to Parliament was a monumental event. It was almost three times the Foreshore and Seabed martch of 2004 and many,many times bigger than ...2 days ago
- Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Aftermath
The euphoria from yesterday’s hikoi may be transitory, but is no less valuable for that. It is pretty rare for the left to feel itself to be in the overwhelming majority, and speaking as the voice of the people. Lest that momentum be lost, the organisers will no doubt be ...3 days ago - Sabin 33 #3 – Solar panels generate too much waste and will overwhelm landfills
On November 1, 2024 we announced the publication of 33 rebuttals based on the report "Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles" written by Matthew Eisenson, Jacob Elkin, Andy Fitch, Matthew Ard, Kaya Sittinger & Samuel Lavine and published by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia ...3 days ago
- What’s the time Mr Seymour?
Mr David Seymour crawling up to the ceilingThe sun don't shine the sun don't shine the sun don't shine at allMamma Pappa say you should go to school, I don't know what forNow that I've grown up and seen the world and all its liesSong: Southside of Bombay"Ake, ake, ake" ...3 days ago - Submit to defend te Tiriti!
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on National's racist and constitutionally radical Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. Submissions can be made at the link above or by post, and are due by Tuesday, 7 January 2025. But I'd get in quick, in case National grows a spine ...3 days ago
- We need to talk about Kevin
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family has a Drunk Uncle Kevin in there somewhere. If your Kevin is anything like the ones I know, he was getting along happily enough without having to think too much about the Treaty Principles Bill apart from bloody good job, onya guys ...3 days ago - The hikoi
Like everyone else (everyone who wasn't there, anyway), I've spent the morning watching the hikoi march on Parliament. The pictures are astounding: parliament grounds and the surrounding streets are full, and there are still people backed up along Lambton Quay. The police are estimating 35,000 people, and that's a floor ...3 days ago
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3 days ago - How should we talk about change?
A better world isn’t just possible, it’s desirable. And that’s how we should frame a lot of our conversations around making a greater Auckland. As an example take urban climate action. A climate friendly Auckland: Is free from congestion Enables people to travel how they choose Is filled with ...3 days ago
- AMA + Holiday Webworm Merch!
3 days ago - Discount Code for Webworm Merch!
Hi,So there’s a bunch of new stuff on the Webworm store (www.webworm.store) — just in time for the Holidays. Read more ...3 days ago - Trying to defuse the tension
There were urgent moves yesterday at Parliament to try and defuse the tension building up over ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill. The Bill’s author, ACT leader David Seymour, told reporters that he understood the Justice Select Committee met yesterday to discuss how long it should take to consider submissions on the ...3 days ago
- An Irritable NZ Pawn – David Seymour Admits Treaty Principles Bill will clear the way for deve...
4 days ago - Gordon Campbell On The Hikoi Arrival, And Tyler Childers
Politicians like to bang on all about the need to heal society’s racial/economic divisions, but in their actions they’re more keen on stoking those divisions, with the Treaty Principles Bill being the classic example. The Bill seeks to dilute the Crown’s responsibilities to Māori at the same time as it ...4 days ago
- Socially Backwards and Fiscally Forwards: the False Ideological Divide and the “Conservative” Li...
4 days ago - Kaamos: Accepted
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Governments around the world face a conundrum. Virtually none are on track to meet their Paris climate commitments. That includes the United States, which committed to cut its emissions at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 but is only on track for 32-43% cuts ...4 days ago
- Unstoppable.
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- Katherine Trebeck – An Alternative Economic Narrative
The era of neoliberalism has been destructive on so many levels, with a huge growth in wealth and privilege for the one percent. A hollowing out of the state; fraying of the safety net; inadequate government investment in infrastructure; and continued environmental degradation has resulted in damage on a vast ...4 days ago - In a Manner of Speaking
In a manner of speakingI just want to sayThat I could never forget the wayYou told me everythingBy saying nothingOh, give me the wordsGive me the wordsThat tell me nothingOh, give me the wordsGive me the wordsThat tell me everythingSongwriter: Winston TongNext Tuesday, the subscription price for Nick’s Kōrero will ...4 days ago - Monday 18 November 2024
The NZNO have announced a nationwide strike for December over its pay dispute with Health NZ, who have put a 1 per cent cap on pay rises. The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti and Treaty Principles Bill remain front and centre in the media, with the impacts of the Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke-led ...4 days ago
- Shipley warns Seymour’s bill is ‘inviting civil war’
The divisive Treaty Principles Bill is not just a risk for the National Party, it’s a risk to civil order and unity, warns a National Party grandee. Photo: Getty ImagesKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on ...4 days ago - A clearer network for the City Rail Link?
This post was originally published on Linked In by Nicolas Reid. It is republished here with permission. Auckland is now just a year or so away from having the keystone of its urban rail network complete. As I wrote about here, the City Rail Link will be a literal game changer for ...4 days ago
- National’s support base is wobbling
If ACT leader David Seymour intended the Treaty Principles Bill to drive a wedge into National’s support base, he may well already be succeeding. By midnight on Thursday after the Maori Party haka in Parliament, National MPs were being deluged with emails and messages from their members calling them out ...4 days ago
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- Grifter Eftpos Tamaki at it again
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Self-appointed “Bishop” and proto-fascist, Brian Tamaki was at it again on 16 November, blocking Auckland’s southern motorway, SH1.This time, the target of his ire wasn’t the Civil Unions Act; covid lock-downs; mask mandates; or ...5 days ago - Rip up a bill, lead a haka are words to live by
I cannot stop grabbing people by the lapels, or shoulders, or similar, and raving at them about the tiny miracles in my ears.I can hear again! There could not be a more satisfied customer in all the world.In a noisy cafe I am even catching words that Karren cannot, she ...5 days ago - Unintended Consequences
Take the baitYou pay the priceIt's much too lateFor good adviceYou know and I know that our good things' throughBecause there's consequences for what we doConsequences for me and youWriters: Kevin Robert Hayes, David Nagier, Bonnie Adele Hayes.Fallout from the first readingOne News began last night by saying that tens ...6 days ago - Thank you, driver!
Today, Saturday 16th of November, is Auckland Transport’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day! Saturday 16 November marks the third annual Auckland Transport (AT) ‘Bus Driver Appreciation Day’, and this year we are encouraging all of New Zealand to thank their driver or let the bus go first if you are in ...6 days ago
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Hi,If I was to accurately sum up my mental state over the week, I’d just say that I got a huge fright from my own shadow.I’d nipped out for an 11pm neighborhood stroll, just to calm down after a day of stress and screens. The Cure and Fazerdaze’s new record ...6 days ago - We Are Not Listening
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
7 days ago - More lawlessness from National
On Tuesday, sick of government stonewalling, the Waitangi Tribunal issued a rare court order, ordering the Minister of Health to release unredacted documents within 48 hours showing its reasoning for disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority. The government's response to the lawful order of a court? Yeah, ...7 days ago
- National’s tyrannical “foreign interference” law
Yesterday, under cover the the biggest political fight of the year, National quietly - covertly, even - introduced anti-foreign interference legislation. The bill is the product of a years-long work-program aimed at countering shit like this and this, and there's unquestionably a need to do something to counter foreign states' ...7 days ago
- The Haka Represents The Best Of Us
A few months ago, I was in an audience watching a Haka-Kapa and as I watched children dance and sing and sway and shout and beat, I couldn’t help but think “The Haka represents the best of us.”Yes, yes - there will be a thousand voices that rush forth to ...1 week ago
- Adding up the climate cost
St Mary’s Bay housing left hanging: Climate risk is systemically underestimated in the climate scenarios used by central banks, and a new report warns 10,000 houses are set to become uninsurable in Aotearoa. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, here’s the top six news items of note in ...1 week ago
- Auckland chafing at Bishop’s housing intensification orders
One of the major problems the Government has in implementing its ‘going for housing growth’ strategy is that it isn’t giving much funding help to councils. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and ...1 week ago - Friday 15 November 2024
The Treaty Principles Bill continues to dominate political news, with it passing its first reading in the House. Parliament was briefly suspended and Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke suspended for 24 hours after leading a haka that was joined by opposition MPs and the public in the gallery. Willie ...1 week ago
- Weekly Roundup 15-November-2024
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- Are We The Waiting?
And screamingAre we we are, are we we are the waitingAnd screamingAre we we are, are we we are the waitingForget me nots, second thoughts live in isolationHeads or tails and fairy tales in my mindAre we we are, are we we are the waiting unknownThe rage and love, the ...1 week ago - The Hoon around the week to November 15
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- First Tea and Toast, now Milo — why do NZ’s best beverages need so much defending?
Only two months ago, Nicola Willis had to step in to stop Health New Zealand cutting tea and toast for post-birth parents, and now Lester Levy is riding to the rescue with a welcome message for all: our health workers can once again drink Milo, and will no longer need ...1 week ago - Gordon Campbell on the folly of making apologies in a social vacuum.
Day One of the Treaty Principles Bill…and everyone got what they wanted, and did what they liked. Heated words were exchanged. Culturally appropriate acts of outrage were performed. David Seymour got to play the victim card. Willie Jackson got kicked out of class. A comically red-faced Mr Speaker bellowed “Order, ...1 week ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #46 2024
Open access notables Microbial solutions must be deployed against climate catastrophe, Peixoto et al., Nature Communications [comment]: The climate crisis is escalating. A multitude of microbe-based solutions have been proposed, and these technologies hold great promise and could be deployed along with other climate mitigation strategies. However, these solutions have ...1 week ago
- The PM gets some extremely valuable legal advice for free
You can pay a great deal of money for the services of a KC. So just what would some peerless legal writing from 40 or so of them be worth, do you reckon?Priceless, that’s what. It’s not even the half of it, but this is my favourite part of the ...1 week ago - D-day for the government
The government's Treaty Principles Bill is up for its first reading today - bought forward in a rush in a desperate effort to avoid the hikoi which is currently marching on Wellington. But the Prime Minister won’t be there for it – he’s literally running away to Peru! But he ...1 week ago
- 97% of submissions did not want no-cause evictions, Trump chooses a Russian spy for US Intelligence ...
Good morning, and I’m sorry I’ve been away for a couple of days.I’ve been focusing on the Hikoi, and also testing out sentiment on the Treaty Principles Bill. It’s complicated, and the Treaty Principles Bill will be debated in the House today. The Government’s own lawyers have told them the ...1 week ago - Government must vote down ACT Members Bill that would undermine workers’ rights
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is calling on the Government to vote down an ACT Party Members Bill that would undermine workers’ rights by making it easier for employers to fire workers. Last week ACT MP Laura Trask’s Employment Relations (Termination of Employment by Agreement) Amendment Bill was ...1 week ago
- Seymour causes thousands of unjustified absences by forcing kids to fight for their rights instead o...
The State would like to remind you that they are in control. They manage your employment prospects, and can destroy the job market you and yours rely on by mass-cancelling construction projects, cutting funding, and firing a good chunk of our public servants. They wield the mechanisms that provide scrutiny ...1 week ago - The Weight of the World
As the weight of the world Hangs on your shoulders The weight of the world Starts to take over again And over again All that you once loved, now you hate So slowly relearn how to meditate To have and to hold And never let go Can you feel it ...1 week ago - Thursday 14 November 2024
The Treaty Principles Bill is set to have its First Reading in the House today, as the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti continues. More than 40 KCs have written to the Prime Minister and Attorney-General outlining their “grave concerns” about the substance of the Treaty Principles Bill, while an academic and ...1 week ago
- Trump’s return to White House brings the climate’s ‘find out’ phase closer
As we absorb the news of Trump's victory in the US Presidential election, here’s a wrap compiled just before the result of what it might mean for climate action: The UN Secretary General says the prospective departure of the United States would cripple the Paris Agreement, likening it to the ...1 week ago
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Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the City Centre Advisory Panel. The header image is from Walthamstow, London The city centre now has a few stretches of street where the space has been repurposed to a people and place focused design from full time traffic use. These are a great ...1 week ago
- An opportunity for a pro-growth tax switch
As the Hikoi against it swells into the tens of thousands, KCs call on National to kill off ACT’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. Photo: Getty ImagesKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, November 14: The ...1 week ago
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Targeted consultation on reinstating live cattle exports by sea won’t allow the New Zealand public to have their say. ...7 hours ago - NZ’s global climate rankings plummet as Govt removes agriculture from ETS
The Government has passed legislation to remove agriculture from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) while Aotearoa’s reputation on climate action plummets. ...22 hours ago - Failed boot camp experiment must end
As legislation to set up boot camps passed its first reading, the Green Party urged the Government to abandon this failed policy experiment for the good of our rangatahi. ...23 hours ago
- Gender-affirming care must centre evidence and health needs, not political posturing
The Ministry of Health has today released an evidence brief regarding the use of puberty blockers in gender-affirming healthcare, amid moves by the government to limit access. ...23 hours ago
- Release: National doesn’t care about manufacturing
The National Government is walking away from our manufacturing sector with constant reports of closures and job losses. ...1 day ago
- Release: David Parker speech – Piketty, Inequality and Climate Change
David Parker's speech from the University of Auckland's forum on Piketty, Inequality and Climate Change in September 2024. ...1 day ago
- Release: Youth mental wellbeing no longer a priority for Child Poverty Minister
Louise Upston has revealed her diminished vision for vulnerable youth against a backdrop of snubbed advice, scrapped priorities, shifted goal posts and thousands more children projected to fall into poverty. ...1 day ago
- Release: National’s lack of climate action taking NZ backwards
National Government’s backward-looking climate policy has seen New Zealand fall seven places on the Climate Change Performance Index to 41 out of 63 countries measured. ...1 day ago
- Release: Simple reason for drop in emergency housing
When the Government says it has reduced the number of people in emergency housing, what it means is it is stopping people from accessing it in the first place. ...1 day ago
- Govt’s child wellbeing strategy ‘shallow and shameful’
The Government is turning its back on children by not only weakening child poverty reduction targets, but also removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus in their Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. ...1 day ago
- Release: A historic win for Samoan communities
Labour warmly welcomes the Restoring Samoan Citizenship Bill as it passes its third reading, before becoming law. ...1 day ago
- Government plan to reinstate live animal exports a “national disgrace”
The Government has taken a giant step backwards by reinstating live animal exports. ...2 days ago
- Pasifika justice as Member’s Bill passes final reading
Teanau Tuiono’s Member’s Bill, the Citizenship (Western Samoa Restoration) Amendment Bill, has passed its third reading and will become law. ...2 days ago
- Release: Minister of Education thinks New Zealand ends at the Bombay Hills
The Minister of Education has shown complete disregard for rural communities and their school bus routes in Question Time today. ...2 days ago
- Economists sound alarm on Government’s slash-and-burn approach
A group of prominent economists has released an open letter to the Government, raising grave concerns about the far-reaching consequences of its fiscal policy. ...2 days ago
- Release: Smoking numbers up under Costello’s watch
National’s repeal of Labour’s smokefree legislation has taken New Zealand further away from achieving a Smokefree 2025 and a smokefree generation. ...2 days ago
- Release: Call for Palestine recognition by NZ, Australian and Canadian MPs
Parliamentarians from Australia, Canada and New Zealand have written an open letter to their respective Prime Ministers calling on them to recognise Palestine. ...2 days ago
- Justice Select Committee opens floor for Treaty Principles submissions
Today, the Justice Select Committee has decided to officially open submissions for the controversial Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 days ago
- Power of the people on full display as hīkoi approaches Parliament
Today, Hīkoi mō te Tiriti arrived in Wellington, with thousands gathering to march in unity against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 days ago
- Hypocrisy as Te Whatu Ora contractor bill balloons
Te Whatu Ora’s bill for contracting and consulting staff has ballooned by nearly 20 percent under the National Government, breaking a promise they made during the election campaign to cut contractors. ...4 days ago
- Release: Growing pressure to scrap Section 7AA Repeal Bill
The newly released Section 7AA Repeal Bill's select committee report is further evidence that the Government should scrap it. ...5 days ago
- Government’s move to monetise access to nature a slippery slope
The Green Party is voicing serious concerns over the Government’s proposal to charge for access to public conservation land, released today. ...1 week ago
- Green Party condemns the passage of Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party condemns the passing of the Treaty Principles Bill at first reading, and is clear that the fight is not over. ...1 week ago
- Stand Up for Te Tiriti
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our country’s founding document. It forms the basis of the relationship between Māori and the Crown – and the Aotearoa New Zealand we live in today. ...1 week ago
- Release: Over 15,000 sign Labour’s open letter to Luxon
As the hīkoi to Parliament continues, Labour has sent an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in a last-ditch attempt to get him to kill the Treaty Principles Bill. ...1 week ago
- Fast Track Bill threatens environment, climate and reputation
The fast-track legislation passing its second reading in Parliament is another step towards environmental ruin. ...1 week ago
- Greens join King’s Counsel in calling for Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned
The Prime Minister must answer the call from a group of senior lawyers of the King’s Counsel to abandon the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...1 week ago
- Chris Hipkins’ apology statement to state and faith-based care survivors
...1 week ago
- Release: Labour formally apologises to state and faith-based care survivors
Labour joins with the Government in unreservedly apologising for the abuse, neglect and trauma including torture in state and faith-based care and for ignoring the voices of survivors for too long. ...1 week ago
- Green Party stands in support of survivors of abuse in care
Today, the Green Party stands alongside the survivors of abuse in state care and faith-based care as the Government issues an historic apology. ...1 week ago
- Green Party calls for conscience vote on Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party has written to the Speaker of the House requesting he enable a personal vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt move to exclude journalist risks chilling effect
The Green Party is alarmed by the Government’s move to exclude a journalist from covering this week’s apology for the survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. ...2 weeks ago
- Without action, an apology will be empty air
For tomorrow’s apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care to hold any water, the Government must not pursue the same policies that drove the abuse in the first place. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Concerns remain over tobacco interference
Concerns about the tobacco industry’s ability to interfere in government policy making remain, despite the inability of the Office of the Auditor-General to investigate the Government’s decision to halve the excise tax on heated tobacco products. ...2 weeks ago
- Urgent wake-up call on climate
The Climate Change Commission’s latest advice indicates Aotearoa needs to be stepping up on climate action. ...2 weeks ago
- Green MP’s Meme-ber’s Bill set to save the world
Break out the punchlines and dust off your meme folder: Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter’s Copyright (Parody and Satire) Amendment Bill was pulled from the Ballot yesterday. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Poroporoaki: Ta Robert (Bom) Gillies
Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
- Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principles Bill
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
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The yank we all love to have NZ citizenship…supporting Trump candidates in mid terms
Interesting day in Welly. Glad I didn't have to go to work physically and then try to get to the bus station by parliament to get home.
Seemed a fair bit of aggro and yelling going on.
From a personal point of view, I tend to not really agree with mandates and forced stuff either. But tone it down.
Protesting is fine and everyone has a right to do it, but far out. Way to just annoy normal Wellingtonians.
"Protesting is fine and everyone has a right to do it, but far out. Way to just annoy normal Wellingtonians."
Good one Chris T.
I've just watched a young lady journalist on TV1 news describing her team's experience at the start of the news which caused the cancellation of the live cross. She told it like she saw it, politely and with confidence. I think she was upset and I salute her for being brave enough to describe what happened and with honesty.
If it comes up online I will link to it.
Yes, the new idea was the media is lying… but not the internet.. oh goddit!!
Can't see the link. Parliamentary security was present so they may have advised against it in case it incited violence.
In a nutshell. The TV crew were on a balcony filming a group of protestors for a live cross at 6pm. The remaining protestors became very aggressive and were yelling abuse at them. Security made the film crew leave because they believed their presence was "inciting" the protestors.
Pretty sad state of affairs when a TV crew are prevented from carrying out a legitimate function while a bunch of aggressive yobbos get off scot free intimidating and abusing them.
Yes, she did sound upset and a bit pissed off too. She also ridiculed the protesters, said one person held up a sign which said 'Masks cause cancer,' which she hastened to add, simply wasn't true.
Too many of these anti-mandate fools have disappeared down a rabbit hole.
Sounds like a good way to win friends and influence people. /sarc
Maybe the govt should introduce a ban on dickheads on parliament grounds. Then they would have something to complain about.
Nek minit, all protest is banned on parliament grounds by the next National govt.
We shouldn't joke about this, the UK government just tried to pass legislation that would allow banning protest on spurious grounds and it was only stopped by the House of Lords.
Irony is most of the protesters there are probably fully vaxed but the media coverage seems to portray them as anti-vaxers and not anti mandate, which is humorous. Their own fault though for not explaining them selves properly and they have stuffed my way to get to work so I find them annoying.
TBF. That isn't exactly true. Could walk up the Terrace. But annoying as.
I wonder how many of the arrest 'warrants' and search 'warrants' issued by the antivaxers over Waitangi weekend have been actioned. My pick is zero.
A good publicity stunt if that was the intention, a good gimmick. But you get the idea these mobs didn't view it as a gimmick or a publicity stunt, they actually believe they had some sort of authority to do so. there's nowt so queer as folk as the saying goes
TBF most seemed to be more anti-mandate than vax.
Which I can kind of understand.
She is a bit 1984
That's the other thing that irks me mildly – folks always screw up the dystopian reference.
It's not "1984". That was a system of thought control and secret police.
A scan delivering a "valid" or "invalid" return, and those who are "invalid" are second class citizens (well, as the parade of fools see it)? That's Gattaca, only the "valid/invalid" determination was based on features well outside the control of the individuals being tested. That's the main difference. Another is the effect that choice has on the rest of society.
Actually you are right Gattaca is a better analogy.
If you do not meet these standards you will be ostricised.
Dude just faked it though.
I mean seriously I don't actually care that much. Have a newly lamenated vax cert' as I had to get one to keep my job. But (and it might just me and my inner touchy feely) ain't that comfortable with excluding people from every day life stuff because a govt says you do this or you will be.
The odd thing to me is the left who I thought would be mostly the same, (freedom of choice and stuff) seem to be so the other way.
Guess it is one of those times because it is a Labour govt it is ok.
As I said. It looks more anti mandate than vax, as given 96% or something of people are vaxed. It seems to me to be manipulating their message.
It is only a temporary measure brought about by the Delta variant. Expires in May. I'm happy with it because it gives me the security of knowing that when I go to certain places I can feel reasonably assured that unvaccinated people will not be present. I'm a member of the elderly brigade and that assurance is important to us.
Fair point and I happen to be in a position where my wife unfortunately falls into the category of probably the most vulnerable if they get it.
I just find it an interesting thing to wonder what it would be like at this time if Labour were in opposition and the Nats were making mandates.
I don't think either should be doing it personally in some ways. I am vaxed.
And there is probably more chance of being king hit and brain dead or stabbed down Courtney Place these days at a weekend than getting Covid
@ Anne,,,Me to I travelled north at the time the convoy was travelling south and what a rag tag mob. I did note a large number of utes with sole male occupants of the age 30-50 who are the ones who seem intensely threatened by Jacinda Ardern as a youngish, smart, pleasant looking person who is doing a good job. very few trucks. No effort made to let trucks going about there jbs to get through when the lanes turned to one lane in parts…Police were out and may have got them though later.
When I returned I thought I would have a look. They have parked in the grounds of the Old Wooden Buildings, which is part of the University now and across median strips and up on the concrete around the Cenotaph Monument at the bottom of Bowen st. Molesworth st is blocked. I don't know how far up.
Not a mask to be seen. We have a meeting tomorrow night near the Cathedral which is across the road from Parliament. Oldies and younger ones go and we enforce masking. Many cannot walk long distances so hopefully they have not parked in the church grounds. I will check with the police in case we have to cancel.
These people looked a bit rough and ready and contrary to what they said there were anti vax signs,,,Jabcinda etc, save our children, stop poisoning our children, I call the shots with a needle picture. So a bit of bull kaka going on.
However as PM says this too will pass. I worry about the beautiful gardens and grounds around the Old Wooden Buildings, the monument and parliament though we have had smaller occupations in the grounds of parliament that have been moved on.
I must admit I was surprised that the Police let the vehicles come this close instead of funnelling them off into area around the stadium/wharf and then getting them to walk. Wellington has many 'walking' protests.
I hope they are going to leave when asked, though I somehow doubt it. They are a minority but a noisy lot. Hope they don't cause trouble for the residents who live across from Parliament. They will have had their vehicular access blocked.
There are two directions to go if the govt changes from the current, sensible, and specific to this situation public health measures: make everyone work under the current rules for unvaccinated people regardless of vaccination status, or let 'er rip.
96% of people not going to bars because some dickheads don't want a jab or a vax pass? Yeah that'll go down like a cup of cold sick.
Skyrocketing cases and admissions because we let unvaccinated people go to events, get drunk and yell at each other as if they're invulnerable to disease? Well, that would be stupid.
Any other bright ideas to satisfy the fringe percentages while killing as few people as possible? Because a largely overlapping crowd of folk don't like masks, either. So they'll have a wee convoy about that, then.
I just personally don't care going to a bar with 96% vaxed without having to have some sort of govt enforced pass to do it.
I am vaxed. I hang out with vaxed people, because I don't hang out with thick people.
I wouldn't be sitting any where near some dumb hick anti vaxer.
But I don't personally think they should be not allowed a haircut if wearing a mask, or buy a coffee, or picking up a takeaway if wearing a mask.
It is silly.
Just out of interest, You seem to be quite in agreement with the mandates. Do you mind explaining why they didn't include supermarkets given fruit and vege handling and bottle stores?
Mandates increase vaccination rates:
https://fortune.com/2021/12/14/covid-19-vaccine-mandates-passports-increase-jab-rates-lancet-study-finds/
That is fantastic thanks.
But it is currently 8/2/2022 and we have about 94-96% vaxed depending on sources.
Not 2 years ago when the govt were trying to get people vaxed.
Don't get me wrong. They did a good job.
But there are limits to peoples patience when it is obvious the politicians are now just doing it for PR
Edit: Sorry. 1 year ago
As you have been informed above, they are temporary measures, and as Omicron is a different beast and requires a round of booster vaccinations, things change.
So instead of being silly, the mandates are still being used to encourage booster uptake. Public health isn’t it.
Essential services. Even the liquor, in nz lol.
Frankly I don't think the govt goes far enough, but then I'm biased: I want the disease eliminated. For a start, no travel violation would be payable by fine: home D or incarceration. No fucking around with fines.
As for you not wanting to sit next to unvaxxed individuals in a bar, how would you know? The only sign is the vax pass. That's why they had to develop it.
"
As for you not wanting to sit next to unvaxxed individuals in a bar, how would you know? The only sign is the vax pass. That's why they had to develop it."
I think you missed my point.
Probably my fault not explaining well enough.
I wouldn't care.
I am vaccinated.
Same as walking past someone in a shop. On the street. Some one sneezing in front of me. Putting my recycling bin back in on a Monday morning someone toushed. Catching a cab or Uber. Catching a bus. Standing next to someone buying 5 corn cobs for 6 bucks from New World.Shaking hands in a work meeting. Touching your keyboard at work after cleaners were in first thing.
All fine. But hey. If you don't have a vax cert like me I can't give you a haircut or serve you a pint and chicken wings.
I actually find it quite laughable
Oh, so you just wouldn't sit next to them because they're dumb? Fair enough.
Again, what do you think the repercussions might be if the no-pass restrictions were loosened up? Would it "flatten the curve" or make the curve higher? Or no effect whatsoever?
I personally think we have kind of reached peak vaccinated.
Govt did a really good job.
No it might sound harsh, but now they have achieved it we just have to bite the bullet and roll with it.
There is going to be an inevitable number of people that die from the thing, but they will probably have prior conditions, and can't see the ECUs being overwhelmed now our vaccine levels are so high.
I know vulnerable people and realise the implications but we can't live life like that kid in the boy in the bubble movie from years ago.
Let me give you an example.
I don't see anyone having to have their kid have an official govt sanctioned certificate to let their kids play with other kids to prove they weren't stupid enough to refuse to give them the MMR vaccine
well at least you are honest about the 'let 'em die' position.
You do know we're in the middle of a major boost programme, aimed at protecting the health system from omicron overrune, right?
Roll with what? If we don't slow omicron, more people will die, the health system will be overrun, and more people will probably get long covid.
I'd really like this one explained. Why does a prior condition mean it's more ok for them to die?
Just as well no-one is saying live like the boy in the bubble. Literally no-one.
sorry, not quite true. Some people are in fact arguing that elderly and people with prior conditions should be more like the boy in the bubble.
And many – most of us – find it quite sensible.
Sorry. Reply button has done the disappearing act in later posts again.
Weka
I am not saying no more masks and precautions and promoting booster and stuff.
But what I am saying is businesses are literally dying. And with our number of now fully vaxxed to keep saying the hospitals will explode is getting tired. It had a point originally but has lost the impact.
And no offence, but you are putting words in posts I didn't say.
"Why does a prior condition mean it's more ok for them to die?"
That is not what I said. I am not ok with anyone dying. But we have this thing called realism.
I said there will be an inevitable amount of people that will die with prior conditions.
I mean what is it you lot want exactly? Cut off all ties with the western world? No over seas flights?
My Grandmother used to talk about growing up during the blitz in London and seeing bits of left over hands and feet hanging out of concrete and here we are on an internet forum talking about this crap.
EDIT: Apologies. Re-reading that it sounds a bit ranty. Didn’t mean it to be 🙂
More people have died in the UK from covid than died in the Blitz.
Several times the number if you want to play "with not from" with a hell of a margin for error.
Sorry I shouldn't have brought up that example. Just was something from memory.
It brings up too many arguments about population growth etc between each. And just gets annoying.
What I would say regarding the examples. We are a pimple on the arse end of the world. We have one of the hlowest population per area rates in the world.
And the current government did a very good job at initially cutting it off at the pass.
We are in a very privileged position compared to countries in Europe or India etc.
But we can't sit like quivering mice for ever. Given our vax rates at some stage we just need to get on with it.
It may mean someone I know dies. or even me. But it is that or the countries economy.
Why do we have an economy, if not for people? Sacrificing people for the economy is the wrong way around, imo.
People have been denigrating our covid controls for years, and it always comes down to being so very far away that few people come here so it's easy to eliminate, yet we're all slowly dying of economic stagnation because so many people came here before 2020 and now can't.
Seems to me to be a contradiction.
Post discussing research into vaccine mandates and their impacts. The studies find that vaccine mandates have had positive outcomes in terms of both lives saved and the state of the economy.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=49040
There is strong evidence that positive health outcomes are aligned with better economic outcomes, not that these are in opposition at all. I agree its more complex than this, but if your model of the economy concludes with these things being traded off then its clearly missing the economic point of how a country actually functions somewhere in its reasoning because they are positively correlated together.
Sorry Nic, but I am not discounting or arguing against your points.
But we are now at about 94-96% vaxxed. Which is awesome.
The things they did worked fantastic and we are one of the highest in the world
But enough is enough with the alienation of those that aren't.
I get politicians like Ardern like to prance numbers out but it is done as good as it will get.
Probably just a personal thing and know I am going on about it, but it is seriously getting on my tits having to hand over a piece of plastic covered paper to show I am allowed to buy fish and chips. Then walk next door to the dairy and just buy stuff, or go next to that to the supermarket and use a trolley someone may have just snotted over, then head over the road to the bottle store without doing it.
It is just stupid
But the evidence says that if we don't take all reasonable precautions more people will die, and the health system will be overrun, and probably more people will get covid. You seem to think that the two vaccinations protect well against omicron, but its the booster that is going to make the difference, alongside all the other tools we are using.
There are compelling reasons for taking public health caution.
I didn't ask "Why does a prior condition mean it's ok for people to die?" I asked this, a very specific question,
I'm asking why you feel the need to say this and qualify it with the prior condition thing.
What's the point of saying 'prior condition'?
Personally, I'd be happy if we don't reopen the borders to international tourism and we pivot to integrating covid response and climate action by changing our culture and societal expectations around international travel. This doesn't mean no flights and it doesn't mean cutting off ties with the western world (not sure why western matters). But it does mean for instance that flying to Sydney for the weekend for a shopping trip should stop.
We should be figuring out now how to transition business models and jobs because this won't be the last pandemic and the climate and ecology crises are going to cause much more disruption than the past few years.
Yeah, well my current mood is ffs, harden up, imagine of this was WW2 and people were complaining about not being able to go to concerts or whatever. Or they decided to act against the collective good and not cover their windows during the bombings.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/127674468/acts-david-seymour-mocks-red-queen-jacinda-ardern-in-stateofnation-speech
Patricia B ask a question about whether David Seymour Red Queen speech was pre, post or during polling for Reid Research which had Act on 8%. The poll ended on the 4th and Seymour’s speech was on the 3rd
Thanks Anker Much appreciated. So we don't yet have a measure of the impact as that is too late in the cycle.
Greens are revising their co-leader policy apparently.
If they end up with two male co-leaders, of whatever identity, I expect them to lose support.
Do you see the membership voting for that?
I can't remember what the proposed replacement policy is, it's not as straight forward as removing sex as a criteria, and might still protect women's places.
So I don't know what the membership would vote for, or even if it would go to the whole membership. Do you know?
I do know that the GP has suppressed and excluded gender critical feminists from some party processes.
I know that the co-leadership positions are voted on, and I find it hard to believe that such an arrangement would win in that vote.
This from a year ago, one potential is that at least one of the co-leaders has to be female.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/a-new-leadership-model-afoot-for-the-greens
The problem there is the push from identity activists internationally to define trans women as female. Which would present many problems in the party and in government.
Hopefully the Greens won't go down that track, but we know that internationally there are left parties with males in females positions.
well, while the German Greens still have a 'woman' as a co-leader, they do however have elected to males onto the women lists as they self identify as woman.
And who better to explain to women what women are then a bunch of blokes. Good times Weka, Good times. What ever rights the likes of us thought we had as a protected category, we no longer have. No longer equal, or even just at parity.
They will from me.
that was to be expected.
Just call them all knobheads-conferred ceremonial school leadership titles both acknowledge aspirational crawlers and archaic hierarchys.
You mean like captains of sports teams?
Poots gets his Khrushchev on.
https://twitter.com/DAlperovitch/status/1490754620129427459
https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/1490803772217507842
Ha ha, Vlad has checked mated Macron! Silly little Frenchman what was he expecting from Vlad?
To be impaled?
lprent thanks for the advice re the Amazon Fire. Hubby cleared out the device and somehow we managed to get today' date up and the red notice has gone.
Thanks for all you do on this site much appreciated. You and yours look after each other during the pandemic kia kaha