RNZ Checkpoint asked for interviews with Todd Muller, Michelle Boag, Hamish Walker, Peter Goodfellow and the Helicopter Trust chairman, but they all declined.
Not very open or transparent. Maybe the entire National Party is having a cuppa (or a stiff drink) and a lie-down.
Anyone who believes Hamish Walker was the only person in receipt of the Boag list is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. I'll bet a bridge she sent it out to several people at the least and left it up to them to sort out how they would use it to discredit the government.
That way, if something went wrong she could plausibly deny having been a party to whatever went wrong. Nice one Michelle dear.
I'm afraid Michelle B brings out the cat in me. A bully and a loud mouth who cannot cope with being wrong about anything. Her apologies are Clayton's apologies because she genuinely believes she knows best. She doesn't know what the word humility means.
Some 150 writers, academics and activists – including authors JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood – have signed an open letter denouncing so-called cancel culture. They say they applaud a recent "needed reckoning" on racial justice, but argue it has fuelled stifling of open debate.
The letter denounces "a vogue for public shaming and ostracism" and "a blinding moral certainty". Cancel culture refers to online shaming of individuals who cause offence.
"The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted," says the letter.
US intellectual Noam Chomsky, eminent feminist Gloria Steinem, Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov and author Malcolm Gladwell also put their names to the letter, which was published on Tuesday in Harper's Magazine. The appearance of Harry Potter author Rowling's name among signatories comes after she recently found herself under attack online for comments that offended transgender people. Her fellow British writer, Martin Amis, also signed the letter.
Perhaps the woke are attempting a re-run of McCarthyism??
Editors are fired for running controversial pieces; books are withdrawn for alleged inauthenticity; journalists are barred from writing on certain topics; professors are investigated for quoting works of literature in class; a researcher is fired for circulating a peer-reviewed academic study; and the heads of organizations are ousted for what are sometimes just clumsy mistakes.
I doubt the woke really do see themselves as a privileged caste. I suspect their collective narcissism is totally unconscious. Like the National Party rabid faction, the woke are just trying to see what they can get away with…
Yeah well and good but everyone has off days when you just want to grumble about everything. I tend to keep to myself on such days and grumble to myself. At least myself is the only one who gets bored.
Amis and Rowling were both involved in the brutal and degrading campaign of vilification of Jeremy Corbyn. If anyone knows about cancel culture, it's those two despicable individuals.
Too bad JK Rowling wasn't that vocal about 'cancel culture' when Harry Potter books were being burned in the Bible Belt.
Gloria Steinem — She must have amnesia given that the ERA she marched in favour of was 'cancelled' by the GOP at Phylis Schafely's insistence.
Margaret Attwood — Really?
They dont seem to realise that the true 'cancel culture', the true enemy, is not a few purple haired college students, it is Donald John Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, Viktor Orban and their Christian Taliban,
I doubt the woke really do see themselves as a privileged caste.
Oh they do … exclusivity's right at the heart of their enterprise. For all the performative talk of Oppressed Identities, it's an ideology of extreme privilege … disproportionately influential in the elite Universities of Britain & the US. First & foremost, an Elite White status-positioning activity (jockeying for status among one another) … with all the implied exclusivity (& desire for power) that you'd expect. Critical Theory is to the Intersectional Cult what L Ron Hubbard's ramblings are to Scientologists … exclusive "wisdom" that guarantees membership of a special little Priestly Caste. Archbishops Crenshaw, Butler, Hooks & Bishop Emeritus DiAngelo know best. Rote learning of Sacred Texts.
Hillarious – the number of Woke Twitter accounts that have begun with Pinned Tweets saying: "I don't see why I should have to do all the emotional labour of explaining Theory to the ignorant" (or words to that effect) … Pure Unadulterated Exclusivity.
And, of course, The Oppressed very much include ex-Boardingschool Girls from remarkably privileged backgrounds (apparently the raison d'être of the Left is to propel them into powerful & highly lucrative positions) … but apparently doesn't include Lower Income Whites (including women) … who (certainly in the NZ context) look set to become the unofficial Scapegoats for a Colonisation process that Woke elites disproportionately – and I mean massively – benefited from.
So Elitist & Self-Interested in so many more ways than one.
Could be the jungian shadow in their group collective psyche: overtly an oppressed minority (identity politics), covertly elitist (moral superiority in their subconscious).
I mean they never actually come out and say "Social justice warriors are superior humans." Perhaps they'd earn more respect if they were that honest(?). 🙄
"Animal Farm… tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon. According to Orwell, the fable reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era
Orwell wrote the book between November 1943 and February 1944, when the United Kingdom was in its wartime alliance with the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany, and the British intelligentsia held Stalin in high esteem, a phenomenon Orwell hated.
Time magazine chose the book as one of the 100 best English-language novels (1923 to 2005); it also featured at number 31 on the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels, and number 46 on the BBC's The Big Read poll. It won a Retrospective Hugo Award in 1996 and is included in the Great Books of the Western World selection.
Unusual for a political allegory to achieve such long-term resonance & traction in the public mind, eh? Mass psychology at work! Ideals of equal rights come up against political psychology in real life. Some people are more equal than others! The woke are onto that! Collective narcissism driven by covert elitism is likely to make them as popular a sub-tribe as the communists…
The problem is that the overarching research endeavour abandoned truth and logic (during the literary criticism phase). Once that is gone then there is no basis to the chronology of research except appeal to authority. So it becomes all about who is referenced and not the truth of what is written.
guarantees membership of a special little Priestly Caste.
Yes. It's striking how the secular mind seeks transcendence, even when it avows it isn't. This however is a cult that demands fear without love, and guilt with no possibility of redemption.
Dang, no way? Same fella? Noooooo way. Hard case. I remember going to a jam and peace talk that he gave maybe three or four years ago. Brilliant musician.
Edit….. facepalms…. he’s Billy TK Senior’s boy… ok… I was like wow a shave has taken years off him. But it’s his son that’s leading the party. Dang I’m a donut sometimes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9vf4DmLW-M
One in the Bay of Plenty (shaken, embarrassed and bewildered but defiantly insisting he's still in charge), one in Southland (now in social isolation), and one on Waiheke Island (shunned by all decent citizens, shamed, still obviously toxic, and will never appear on RNZ's pisspoor light chat show The Panel ever, ever, ever again.)
More Cods Whalop from Muller, everyone knows he and his party are incompetent bumbling fools, you only need to look at the events of the last few weeks, Keystone Cops stuff
I think it is time for me to be a bit positive about Muller and his Band (The Wailers?). It is important that National keep on keeping on as we need them so we can have an election and win. There would be no fun in winning by default.
Oh oh. Michelle Boag reckons she was sent the data by email routinely.
National Party stalwart Michelle Boag has said the Ministry of Health regularly sent her personal email address details regarding Covid-19 patients.
She believed all emergency services, including police, would have received the same…..
…"I've said I am not going to discuss my motivations [for sending the information to Walker] because that is for the inquiry, but it is a statement of fact that at the beginning they started sending out this data by spreadsheet," Boag said.
I doubt there was any "sneaking". Cock-ups usually explain better than conspiracies.
Somebody's job was to send out the daily updates. Many organisations would be on the mailing list. When Boag was asked for an e-mail address, she provided her private one. Alarm bells didn't ring at the MoH (probably should have but she was an acting CEO of a vital emergency service, supposedly respectable and reliable).
An honourable person would have e-mailed back saying "Should you be sending me this stuff?". But it was Boag, so … no.
Having done one or two email lists around wee corners of the health sector (NEVER with patient data, though), that sounds pretty reasonable. Many folk are wearing three hats, and some "organisations" are umbrella MOUs without actual concrete addresses or sometimes staff. Emails can be random compared to orgs, and
So this was a covidian exigent circumstances practise, and Boag accepted her personal email as valid for ARHT by forwarding the messages repeatedly and not correcting the senders. And she was CEO of the organisation, and in that role she got the information to the intended recipient groups.
I suspect there's a lot of employment court case law about conducting work on personal emails.
But this also goes to Lprent's recent article about why business people are shite at politics: most people who genuinely deal with confidential information know when to say "I shouldn't have this access". The thought of refusing it, referring them to the correct email, asking the proper recipients to sort the issue… none of it seems to have crossed her mind.
Business people often think the boss should be able to know everything as a matter of routine. That is an enemy to information security.
Boag told Stuff she received information of Covid-19 patients throughout the pandemic response from the Ministry of Health – in an “unsolicited” email to her personal email address – but only once decided to leak to her National Party colleagues.
Oh, that's alright then. Your honour, I murdered one person, but I could have killed so many more, that counts for something, right?
The first 18 covid emails were forwarded without leaking, but covid-19 went south…
Do you think that multiple people were sent spreadsheets like the ones Boag received? Surely by now there would have been people popping up all over saying. "Me too."
Or was she singled out by a MOH leaker spreading mischief?
It probably wouldn't have been just for ARHT – especially given the covid cases in southern dhb. We have choppers too.
Probably other orgs, as well. I'm not sure Boag had the right end of the stick on why it was distributed – if there are covid cases in a community, there's no need for names. But if they get called to Jim Jimmies' address because he had a heart attack, that's when "currently covid positive" might be very useful information to have beforehand.
I'm sure there are nat voters in the Ministry of Health, but I'm not sure that they'd risk the career-ending prison time they'd get for spraying patient records all over the place. MoH and StatsNZ tend to take that stuff hyper-seriously. MSD… well, they do them, I guess.
As for people saying "I also got that information", why would they? They're not after the headlines, they maybe needed it to do their jobs, and some nat might have fucked this up for all of them.
All people with covid-19 are in quarantine except for the two women in Lower Hutt who are no longer active cases anyway – noone else has been allowed out since then. Once people are out of isolation or quarantine, I assume, there are no restrictions on where they live or where they go in NZ. If so, a list of where these people are is of no use to emergency services because people may no longer be there anyway. All they need is a list of the isolation/quarantine hotels and they should be treating every person there as infectious anyway – no matter what their last known status was.
I suspect it was started at or before L4 was imposed, when community transmission was evident and was expected for the long term (meaning you could be called to any address and if might have positive cases there) – and it didn't have clear "off" criteria.
It might even have been automated.
But it was going to the relevant services as part of infectious disease management – the "leak" began with Boag.
jfc, what a mess. So the MoH was regularly sending spreadsheets with the names and other details of the people in quarantine to Boag's personal email address, and then Boag was giving that to the ARHT as needed?
ARHT were a bit sly with their statement then. Obviously they just wanted to formalise that they didn't pass information to Boag and that their systems were secure, but I have to wonder if they knew that Boag was going to clear things up today.
It's quite possible that the trustees had no knowledge of the covid email when they made the statement, if the CEO was forwarding operational info to the people who actually needed to know it. As far as they're concerned, she had no access to their patient management system or any of that stuff. It's possible that none of the people on the list were people they had treated, i.e. had ever even been patients of the ARHT.
This isn't an IT compromise.
It's not even a particularly catastrophic screw up with the email addresses, as long as whoever manages her email is reasonably competent. And if that was the email address supplied by Boag or the ARHT to MoH as a high-level contact email, that's on whomever supplied the address.
Sure, there are "learnings" (as managers like to say at these times), but it's not gobsmackingly terrible – the emails went to the CEO of the organisation, and the CEO forwarded it to the people who needed to know. It wasn't posted online by accident, or went to some analyst's softball league team list, or accessible via a web kiosk at reception. I'd even go so far as to say it barely rates a news report.
Assuming that she didn't reply to each and every email with "this is a personal email address and completely inappropriate for patient information, please send it to [relevant address]", the real fuckup is employing someone that corrupt in the health sector.
All those decent, sane, and balanced Republicans like Karl Rove, John Bolton, and William Kristol. The "resistance" ads just keep getting better all right.
All the way to victory with the Rebel Republicans in the vanguard.
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Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],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, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Today, Todd Muller finally became relatable:
He refused a radio interview because "he's having a cup of tea and a lie-down".
Two things I enjoy whenever I can. Vote Nats for Naps!
RNZ Checkpoint asked for interviews with Todd Muller, Michelle Boag, Hamish Walker, Peter Goodfellow and the Helicopter Trust chairman, but they all declined.
Not very open or transparent. Maybe the entire National Party is having a cuppa (or a stiff drink) and a lie-down.
They may have broken out the Chinese meth.
Anyone who believes Hamish Walker was the only person in receipt of the Boag list is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. I'll bet a bridge she sent it out to several people at the least and left it up to them to sort out how they would use it to discredit the government.
That way, if something went wrong she could plausibly deny having been a party to whatever went wrong. Nice one Michelle dear.
I agree Anne. As Nash said manyNat finger prints over this.
I'm afraid Michelle B brings out the cat in me. A bully and a loud mouth who cannot cope with being wrong about anything. Her apologies are Clayton's apologies because she genuinely believes she knows best. She doesn't know what the word humility means.
& he wants to lead the country?
Woke lynch-mobs on social media have been bullying celebs, and now the celebs are organising a fight-back: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53330105
Perhaps the woke are attempting a re-run of McCarthyism??
I doubt the woke really do see themselves as a privileged caste. I suspect their collective narcissism is totally unconscious. Like the National Party rabid faction, the woke are just trying to see what they can get away with…
"I suspect their collective narcissism is totally unconscious." – I suspect you're right – "just trying to see what they can get away with…"
You may have backed a winner Dennis; ‘totally unconcious narcissism‘ is trending now.
“You may be an Unconscious Narcissist or you may know one.”
http://wendykeller.com/unconscious-narcissism/
I had to check it out 😉
Yeah well and good but everyone has off days when you just want to grumble about everything. I tend to keep to myself on such days and grumble to myself. At least myself is the only one who gets bored.
Yup, had me right up to ..signed by New York Times op-ed contributors David Brooks and Bari Weiss..fucking whinging petals….
Yep, Joe90, absolutely. "Cancel Culture", up there with "antifa" made up boogiemen. BS.
Oh God, it gets worse. I noticed only the names of those third-rate scribblers J.K. Rowling and Martin Amis. Brooks and Weiss as well?
Brooks has long been nothing more than a joke; Weiss is his younger equivalent….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpurFfcSNfU&t=64s
Amis and Rowling were both involved in the brutal and degrading campaign of vilification of Jeremy Corbyn. If anyone knows about cancel culture, it's those two despicable individuals.
Too bad JK Rowling wasn't that vocal about 'cancel culture' when Harry Potter books were being burned in the Bible Belt.
Gloria Steinem — She must have amnesia given that the ERA she marched in favour of was 'cancelled' by the GOP at Phylis Schafely's insistence.
Margaret Attwood — Really?
They dont seem to realise that the true 'cancel culture', the true enemy, is not a few purple haired college students, it is Donald John Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, Viktor Orban and their Christian Taliban,
Oh they do … exclusivity's right at the heart of their enterprise. For all the performative talk of Oppressed Identities, it's an ideology of extreme privilege … disproportionately influential in the elite Universities of Britain & the US. First & foremost, an Elite White status-positioning activity (jockeying for status among one another) … with all the implied exclusivity (& desire for power) that you'd expect. Critical Theory is to the Intersectional Cult what L Ron Hubbard's ramblings are to Scientologists … exclusive "wisdom" that guarantees membership of a special little Priestly Caste. Archbishops Crenshaw, Butler, Hooks & Bishop Emeritus DiAngelo know best. Rote learning of Sacred Texts.
Hillarious – the number of Woke Twitter accounts that have begun with Pinned Tweets saying: "I don't see why I should have to do all the emotional labour of explaining Theory to the ignorant" (or words to that effect) … Pure Unadulterated Exclusivity.
And, of course, The Oppressed very much include ex-Boardingschool Girls from remarkably privileged backgrounds (apparently the raison d'être of the Left is to propel them into powerful & highly lucrative positions) … but apparently doesn't include Lower Income Whites (including women) … who (certainly in the NZ context) look set to become the unofficial Scapegoats for a Colonisation process that Woke elites disproportionately – and I mean massively – benefited from.
So Elitist & Self-Interested in so many more ways than one.
Could be the jungian shadow in their group collective psyche: overtly an oppressed minority (identity politics), covertly elitist (moral superiority in their subconscious).
I mean they never actually come out and say "Social justice warriors are superior humans." Perhaps they'd earn more respect if they were that honest(?). 🙄
Unusual for a political allegory to achieve such long-term resonance & traction in the public mind, eh? Mass psychology at work! Ideals of equal rights come up against political psychology in real life. Some people are more equal than others! The woke are onto that! Collective narcissism driven by covert elitism is likely to make them as popular a sub-tribe as the communists…
The problem is that the overarching research endeavour abandoned truth and logic (during the literary criticism phase). Once that is gone then there is no basis to the chronology of research except appeal to authority. So it becomes all about who is referenced and not the truth of what is written.
guarantees membership of a special little Priestly Caste.
Yes. It's striking how the secular mind seeks transcendence, even when it avows it isn't. This however is a cult that demands fear without love, and guilt with no possibility of redemption.
A new political party drawing large crowds – The New Zealand Public Party
https://www.nzpublicparty.org.nz/about
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FTeAoWithMoana%2Fvideos%2F390456811929751%2F&show_text=0&width=560
Split the anti 1080 and 5G vote even finer. Can see it going really well once he's put under any scrutiny.
NZ Pee Pee? Mind you, did have regard for some of the aims of the Progressive Party.
Jeebers. At a glance, anti-vax, anti-abortion, anti-fluoride, anti-1080, anti-5G. All in the one party.
Not a rabbit for every pot, but more a rabbit hole for every rabbit.
Billy Te Kahika, aka Billy T K. Great guitarist. Interesting ideas…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_TK
Dang, no way? Same fella? Noooooo way. Hard case. I remember going to a jam and peace talk that he gave maybe three or four years ago. Brilliant musician.
Edit….. facepalms…. he’s Billy TK Senior’s boy… ok… I was like wow a shave has taken years off him. But it’s his son that’s leading the party. Dang I’m a donut sometimes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9vf4DmLW-M
He's a demon on that guitar! Impressive.
Yep, turning the stoner vote into wasted votes.
Someone decided to go through all the rural NZ town's Facebook groups and collate it all into a party manifesto.
So, every time a National MP self-destructs their Leader promises to build a road 😀
At the current rate, by 19 September they will have promised to tarseal the whole of NZ, four lanes wide, and three meters thick.
Bit like Bridge's bridges. I believe one did finally get built.
I think National had better start praying their supporters only stay home on election day and not go and vote for the opposition.
Three more victims of Covid-19 today
One in the Bay of Plenty (shaken, embarrassed and bewildered but defiantly insisting he's still in charge), one in Southland (now in social isolation), and one on Waiheke Island (shunned by all decent citizens, shamed, still obviously toxic, and will never appear on RNZ's pisspoor light chat show The Panel ever, ever, ever again.)
Justice, almost
More Cods Whalop from Muller, everyone knows he and his party are incompetent bumbling fools, you only need to look at the events of the last few weeks, Keystone Cops stuff
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/todd-muller-says-governments-everyday-glitches-putting-recovery-back-after-auckland-isolation-breaches
This obsession with the quarantine means the Nats aren't focussed on the economic policy which they are supposed to be so good at.
Another win for Labour.
How can you think of the economy at a time like this when some minor event could possibly cause something ??! Now is not the time to be positive!
I think it is time for me to be a bit positive about Muller and his Band (The Wailers?). It is important that National keep on keeping on as we need them so we can have an election and win. There would be no fun in winning by default.
I like the sound of Todd Muller and the Wailers.
One silver lining: it's now easy for the gov't to send the Covid returners to Queenstown for their isolation.
If the locals aren't happy, they can always complain to their local MP.
It's probably been nixed by the DHB anyway, not much more than primary healthcare in Queenstown, and 2-4 ours by road or 1 hour by air to nearest.
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown/govt-urged-avoid-queenstown-isolation
Which was the right argument to take all along, not one about Country of origin.
They'll like Invercargill much more, staying inside will be more appealing.
Harsh, Gabby, too harsh!
You always look on the bright side Gabby.
Oh oh. Michelle Boag reckons she was sent the data by email routinely.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12346635
So now Boag is saying that the MoH sent her the material because she was chair of Rescue Helicopiter thing…
Why would MoH do that? Who in the MoH would have sneaked her onto the list?
I hope they unravel this, but it may be difficult.
The good thing is that Boag is now mud regardless.
Edit – Quicker than me, Ianmac. It will be interesting to find out if she is right – every Tom, Dick and Harry was being sent this privileged info. ??
I doubt there was any "sneaking". Cock-ups usually explain better than conspiracies.
Somebody's job was to send out the daily updates. Many organisations would be on the mailing list. When Boag was asked for an e-mail address, she provided her private one. Alarm bells didn't ring at the MoH (probably should have but she was an acting CEO of a vital emergency service, supposedly respectable and reliable).
An honourable person would have e-mailed back saying "Should you be sending me this stuff?". But it was Boag, so … no.
That could very well be the story they cook up.
I'd suggest it's very probably what happened.
Politics junkies get excited about the prospect of moles and leaks. Routine office work, not so much.
I am not so sure Observer. It would be very easy for a mole to add Boag to the list.
i think it highly unlikely clinical details sent to a CEO. They would need to go to the clinical lead.
anyway Boag is surely done for. Reputation tarnish
[Fixed error in e-mail address]
Having done one or two email lists around wee corners of the health sector (NEVER with patient data, though), that sounds pretty reasonable. Many folk are wearing three hats, and some "organisations" are umbrella MOUs without actual concrete addresses or sometimes staff. Emails can be random compared to orgs, and
So this was a covidian exigent circumstances practise, and Boag accepted her personal email as valid for ARHT by forwarding the messages repeatedly and not correcting the senders. And she was CEO of the organisation, and in that role she got the information to the intended recipient groups.
I suspect there's a lot of employment court case law about conducting work on personal emails.
But this also goes to Lprent's recent article about why business people are shite at politics: most people who genuinely deal with confidential information know when to say "I shouldn't have this access". The thought of refusing it, referring them to the correct email, asking the proper recipients to sort the issue… none of it seems to have crossed her mind.
Business people often think the boss should be able to know everything as a matter of routine. That is an enemy to information security.
with an extensive history in the upper circles of National she will not be allowed to face the full consequences of her actions….ce la vie
ah oui, et merde..
La vie en Waiheke Rosė. Salut!
Lol the DR photo, good choice. Maybe tomorrow will be chickens coming home to roost.
The guy with covid-19 who went out of isolation and then went shopping – to add insult to injury took selfies while in the supermarket.
What passes as mitigation in the minds of the entitled tory:
Oh, that's alright then. Your honour, I murdered one person, but I could have killed so many more, that counts for something, right?
The first 18 covid emails were forwarded without leaking, but covid-19 went south…
Do you think that multiple people were sent spreadsheets like the ones Boag received? Surely by now there would have been people popping up all over saying. "Me too."
Or was she singled out by a MOH leaker spreading mischief?
It probably wouldn't have been just for ARHT – especially given the covid cases in southern dhb. We have choppers too.
Probably other orgs, as well. I'm not sure Boag had the right end of the stick on why it was distributed – if there are covid cases in a community, there's no need for names. But if they get called to Jim Jimmies' address because he had a heart attack, that's when "currently covid positive" might be very useful information to have beforehand.
I'm sure there are nat voters in the Ministry of Health, but I'm not sure that they'd risk the career-ending prison time they'd get for spraying patient records all over the place. MoH and StatsNZ tend to take that stuff hyper-seriously. MSD… well, they do them, I guess.
As for people saying "I also got that information", why would they? They're not after the headlines, they maybe needed it to do their jobs, and some nat might have fucked this up for all of them.
All people with covid-19 are in quarantine except for the two women in Lower Hutt who are no longer active cases anyway – noone else has been allowed out since then. Once people are out of isolation or quarantine, I assume, there are no restrictions on where they live or where they go in NZ. If so, a list of where these people are is of no use to emergency services because people may no longer be there anyway. All they need is a list of the isolation/quarantine hotels and they should be treating every person there as infectious anyway – no matter what their last known status was.
I suspect it was started at or before L4 was imposed, when community transmission was evident and was expected for the long term (meaning you could be called to any address and if might have positive cases there) – and it didn't have clear "off" criteria.
It might even have been automated.
But it was going to the relevant services as part of infectious disease management – the "leak" began with Boag.
jfc, what a mess. So the MoH was regularly sending spreadsheets with the names and other details of the people in quarantine to Boag's personal email address, and then Boag was giving that to the ARHT as needed?
ARHT were a bit sly with their statement then. Obviously they just wanted to formalise that they didn't pass information to Boag and that their systems were secure, but I have to wonder if they knew that Boag was going to clear things up today.
It's quite possible that the trustees had no knowledge of the covid email when they made the statement, if the CEO was forwarding operational info to the people who actually needed to know it. As far as they're concerned, she had no access to their patient management system or any of that stuff. It's possible that none of the people on the list were people they had treated, i.e. had ever even been patients of the ARHT.
This isn't an IT compromise.
It's not even a particularly catastrophic screw up with the email addresses, as long as whoever manages her email is reasonably competent. And if that was the email address supplied by Boag or the ARHT to MoH as a high-level contact email, that's on whomever supplied the address.
Sure, there are "learnings" (as managers like to say at these times), but it's not gobsmackingly terrible – the emails went to the CEO of the organisation, and the CEO forwarded it to the people who needed to know. It wasn't posted online by accident, or went to some analyst's softball league team list, or accessible via a web kiosk at reception. I'd even go so far as to say it barely rates a news report.
Assuming that she didn't reply to each and every email with "this is a personal email address and completely inappropriate for patient information, please send it to [relevant address]", the real fuckup is employing someone that corrupt in the health sector.
Who would get this info? Police? GPS ? Hospital EDs? Ambulance……
The helicopter people have distanced themselves from her, so it may be news to them she was getting this information.
is it possible Boag herself requested to be on the list
These just keep getting better..
https://twitter.com/JonnyGeller/status/1280555059424776192?s=20
All those decent, sane, and balanced Republicans like Karl Rove, John Bolton, and William Kristol. The "resistance" ads just keep getting better all right.
All the way to victory with the Rebel Republicans in the vanguard.
https://media3.giphy.com/media/ioeQEPFDeS8s8/giphy.gif