So the govt's credibility is being tested by the Waitangi Tribunal:
The government has long insisted it has not failed Māori in the Covid-19 response, and that Māori leaders, iwi and other organisations have been regularly consulted. But one of those iwi leaders, Mike Smith, described the level of engagement as insulting, calling it patsy consultation with pre-made decisions. The application for the hearing was brought by the Māori Council, arguing that the Crown had breached its obligations of partnership and protection under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/457343/covid-19-response-waitangi-tribunal-hearing-into-whether-te-tiriti-breached-begins
Today, Bloomfield's testimony seriously threatened the viability of the Maori cabal controlling Ardern thesis that got some traction the other day.
So cabinet over-ruled the Maori cabal?? Or did they fail to support Bloomfield? Will any political journalist in Aotearoa prove themselves on the ball by asking the right people these questions? Watch this space.
Not so much pandering to racists but scared of them.
When the issue was being explored in the media several months ago, I recall thinking… they (the Govt.) are scared to prioritise Maori because the middle classes (who in 2020 came over to Labour in droves) won't like it. And they were right. My middle class relatives have been banging on about Maori taking precedence over the restof us ever since. I argue the toss but get drowned out.
Sometimes being cautious does not pay off. They should have prioritised Maoriand to hell with what the the middle classes think.
I notice since the great new reset that TV news has become even more ‘ Labour Phobic’ almost on a par with the Western Russia phobic retric. Lots of arm twisting going on in our ‘free Press.
Maybe. Something unusual happened. 1ewes at 6 did a hit piece on Ardern tonite.
In an item about claims by, among others, The Greens – that Menendez March character – that benefit sanctions are harming children (something 1ewes covered previously a week or two ago, that made Sepuloni look impotent & captured by her Department which has done nothing to address the problem) they showed a senior MSD staffer at a Select Committee having absolutely no idea whether checks were made whether beneficiaries had children before sanctions were applied.
Then they showed clips of Ardern answering a tv reporter’s questions saying that she believed people with children were not sanctioned, & (IIRC) that she believed that this was checked. After her answers, 1ewes contradicted her with the actual facts, including that, in some cases, sanctions are in fact automatically imposed.
There will be serious grumpiness with TVNZ on the Beehive 9th floor tonite, methinks.
Have you caught up with the petition by Jan Logie on how ACC treats sexual abuse claims?
I would like an inquiry to be held into the process of psychologist and psychiatric assessments which are used to establish if a mental injury has occurred. Historical cases are hard to settle due to many being minimised when high level offending occurred.
would be nice if we got ahead of the curve on this one and explained to the people who don't yet know what mātauranga Māori actually is. The hard core racists will racist, it's the ones who currently don't get it that are going to be swayed by Peterson or Dawkin.
you seem to think that mātauranga Māori is science. It's not. It's the body of knowledge that arises out of Te Ao Māori, and that includes but is not limited to empirical processes of developing and testing knowledge of the physical world.
you seem to think that mātauranga Māori is science.
Nope. I'm vociferously arguing that it is not. It would seem we agree on that.
But then the persecution by the Royal Society of outstanding science experts like Prof Garth Cooper or the marginalising of world class figures such as Dr Michael Corballis tells us a quite different story.
Another 'no debate' smash down by the woke racists who have determined that because the scientific revolution first originates within a European setting – therefore it's irredeemable 'whiteness' must be eradicated. And because the STEM disciplines are now the last powerful bastion of reason standing against their insanities (such as 'sex doesn't exist) – it must be subverted to their cause.
Nope. I'm vociferously arguing that it is not. It would seem we agree on that.
Nope. Whether you argue for or against, if your starting point is that mātauranga Māori is/isn't science, you've missed the point. Which you patently have. Which leaves a bunch of strawmen blowing in the wind.
1.(noun) knowledge, wisdom, understanding, skill – sometimes used in the plural.
Ko ngā kaumātua e kaiponu ana i ngā kōrero e tika ana kia hāmenetia e mātou, e ngā tamariki, nō te mea he kōhuru tēnei i a mātou. Homai ngā kōrero me ngā mātauranga o mua hei taiaha mā mātou ki te patu i ngā Pākehā e kī nei he iwi kūare te Māori. Kaua e waiho mā ngā Pākehā e kōrero ngā tikanga Māori i roto i ngā nūpepa Pākehā, engari mā tātou, mā ngā Māori, e kōrero i roto i tā tātou nūpepa Māori, i 'Te Pipiwharauroa' (TP 10/1907:9). / It is right that the elders who are withholding information be censured by us, the children, because this is a treacherous abuse of custom against us. Provide us with the stories and the knowledge of the past as a weapon for us to combat the Pākehā who say that the Māori are an ignorant people. Don't leave it for the Pākehā to talk about Māori customs in English newspapers, but it's for us, the Māori, to talk about them in our Māori newspaper, 'Te Pipiwharauroa'. (From an article in Māori by Te Rangi Hīroa.)
2.(noun) education – an extension of the original meaning and commonly used in modern Māori with this meaning.
I te wā e tamariki ana koinā te mahurutanga o te tangata. Ko tēnā te wā hei whāwhātanga ki te mātauranga (TTT 1/2/1925:179). / During the time of childhood a person is untroubled. That's the time to tackle education.
But at the dawn of the scientific era we suddenly get this:
The Portuguese campaign of Atlantic navigation is one of the earliest examples of a systematic scientific large project, sustained over many decades. This program of study recruited several men of exceptional ability, had a well-defined set of objectives, and was open to experimental confirmation through the success or otherwise of subsequent navigations.
Yes they were solving the same problem, but the method was qualitatively different – producing over time technologies such as sextants, celestial tables, accurate maps, precision clocks and ultimately the modern GPS. This was not a foreseeable outcome of the Polynesian navigation model.
By the mid-1500's the Portuguese were reliably finding tiny remote and isolated islands like Reunion in the vast emptiness of the Indian ocean, by the late1700's European navigators could pretty much sail anywhere in the world. They had taken an ancient heritage of context specific navigational skills, and transformed them into a generalised formal method that solved the problem in a universal manner. One accessible to and repeatable by anyone.
You are still not getting it. The science that Māori were doing pre contact is a subset of Mātauranga Māori (in my limited Pākehā understanding).
You are still comparing science with mātauranga Māori, but it doesn't make sense to do that.
You are also arguing Western science, rather than science. As Felix explained, all peoples use the basic methods of empiricism to observe and understand the physical world.
Western science took that in a certain direction, you are right about that. You can argue that you want this body of knowledge and practice siloed off from other ways of doing and understanding science. But this is where the problems of racism come in. WS is so dominant, that to keep it segregated in this way while specifically excluding other ways of knowing from for instance the education system, will impact badly on Māori (and the rest of us also lose out imo).
You can also argue that you want it siloed off from culture, but that would be odd given that Western science is steeped in its own culture. Again, hugely problematic in terms of how not to be racist while doing that.
The other aspect here is that WS has made these incredible gains but hasn't been tempered by wisdom or a sane culture. Hence climate change, environmental destruction, harms via medical science and so on. Putting science within a larger body of knowledge (ways of knowing) would change that.
You can also argue that you want it siloed off from culture, but that would be odd given that Western science is steeped in its own culture. Again, hugely problematic in terms of how not to be racist while doing that.
The Chinese who train more STEM people on actual merit than anyone else in world would laugh themselves silly to read that. The scientific method is a universal – it transcends culture more thoroughly than almost anything else we've created as a species.
Quit telling me “I don’t get it”. You of all people should understand how important it is that the meaning of words is not hijacked for rotten purposes. And if you want to play the 'racist' card on this – I suggest you take it up with Prof Garth Cooper – who is Maori.
The Chinese who train more STEM people on actual merit than anyone else in world would laugh themselves silly to read that. The scientific method is a universal – it transcends culture more thoroughly than almost anything else we've created as a species.
Western science has a specific lineage that isn't universal (WS didn't arise spontaneously all over the world, it arrived in a specific time and place). That the Chinese knew how to integrate it and retain their traditional knowledge, and development them together, puts them far ahead of the West.
Scientists who cannot, or will not, acknowledge their cultural bias are part of the problem.
Quit telling me “I don’t get it”. You of all people should understand how important it is that the meaning of words is not hijacked for rotten purposes. And if you want to play the 'racist' card on this – I suggest you take it up with Prof Garth Cooper – who is Maori.
You are literally misinterpreting what mātauranga Māori is despite it having been explained to you. If the argument is over semantics, I have no problem with coining different language, hence my usage of Western science instead of science.
Did you make an argument re what the societies outside of the West were doing, pre the arrival of Western science, and why it wasn't science? Or did it just come down to it wasn't as good a science as what the West was doing?
That the Chinese knew how to integrate it and retain their traditional knowledge, and development them together, puts them far ahead of the West.
Such a generalisation is not justified. All the Chinese engineers I worked with this past year are thoroughly modern and paradoxically enough quite dismissive of cultural knowledge such as TCM.
And going the other way – it's not true that the West abandoned all of it's traditional bodies of knowledge either. There are plenty of people who sustain it in many domains.
Scientists who cannot, or will not, acknowledge their cultural bias are part of the problem.
Everyone has a cultural bias. It would be impossible for them not to have. This however reads as 'woke hatred for whiteness'.
You are literally misinterpreting what mātauranga Māori is despite it having been explained to you.
Your definition completely aligns with my description of humanity’s common heritage of observational knowledge as I described above at 9:33am below. I am not misinterpreting anything.
Knowledge is a very broad term, and it certainly forms a part of the scientific method you’re calling WS. Humans relied on this kind of knowledge for millennia just to survive – but it completely fails to explain the qualitative leap we call the scientific revolution and has led to you and I typing on the internet.
Western science has a specific lineage that isn't universal (WS didn't arise spontaneously all over the world, it arrived in a specific time and place)
The lineage is Greek,for example Newton took Pythagorus and extended space to three dimensions,and Einstein extended it to four dimensions.The equations being universal as the mathematics are an absolute truth.
Or did it just come down to it wasn't as good a science as what the West was doing?
Put bluntly yes.
If you persist in stretching the definition of 'science' to include 'all knowledge' the discussion is derailed because we're simply not talking about the same thing.
I have explicitly and repeatedly acknowledged that vast heritage of cultural and observational knowledge that millennia of human struggle has bequeathed us. It should be respected for two reasons, one is that it was what enabled any of us to be alive today, the other is that in many places it retains signposts to information that in our rush to a scientific modernity we have overlooked or forgotten.
But modern science as it evolved and first came to a recognisable form in the 1500's has taken humanity to a qualitatively different level. A better level that delivered better outcomes on the whole – and will continue to do so.
But those who would seek to demolish this astonishing legacy will first seek to define away the meaning of words. Also what Poission said.
Or did it just come down to it wasn't as good a science as what the West was doing?
Put bluntly yes.
Good, something concrete. So in your mind, Western science is better at observing and understanding the physical world than other forms of empiricism developed in other places/times.
If you persist in stretching the definition of 'science' to include 'all knowledge' the discussion is derailed because we're simply not talking about the same thing.
Red, I've just spent half a day saying 'science' doesn't include all knowledge. How are you missing that?
I have explicitly and repeatedly acknowledged that vast heritage of cultural and observational knowledge that millennia of human struggle has bequeathed us.
Here it is you that is conflating cultural and empiricism. If I understand you, you want it to look like this:
Western science is discrete and separate from other forms of knowing, including other forms of empiricism that use basic scientific method.
vs
All other knowledge, including non-WS empiricism, but also including religion, mythology, and social and cultural knowledge bases, tech and processes.
And that those two sets of things are both useful.
But modern science as it evolved and first came to a recognisable form in the 1500's has taken humanity to a qualitatively different level.
Yes, Western Science.
But those who would seek to demolish this astonishing legacy will first seek to define away the meaning of words.
What would be some examples of 'seek to demolish' so I can understand what you are referring to.
So in your mind, Western science is better at observing and understanding the physical world than other forms of empiricism developed in other places/times.
This is not a utopian claim, or that everything it has delivered is perfect. Quite the opposite, if anything the perpetual and necessary skepticism of the scientific method guarantees we will always be seeking better and improved pathways.
I'm aware that I'm struggling to convey properly what I mean by Modern Science; and I offer this really neat Veritassium video that starts in an arcane corner of mathematics – and arrives at the miracle machines you and I are typing on. You don't have to get all the details to appreciate the story – and it moves me beyond all reason:
That Modern Science has it's origins within Europe, and it's heroes are almost all 'dead white men' seems to be the real problem here. Well frankly I reject that as blatant woke racism.
I think your explanation is fine. Let's call it Modern Science (I'll still refer to it as Western as well). MS developed in a particular way and brings specific benefit. I don't think there is anything controversial in that.
We would differ in that I see ways of knowing in a circle and you probably see them in a hierarchy. And I would still use the word science to describe non-MS methodologies (and would reference the dictionary definitions at this point). But I think we are clear now.
Afaik, Māori are saying we can add to this body of knowledge (MS) from our own experience. They may also be saying that it should change to some degree.
If you have specific examples of how this damages MS, I'd be interested to hear them.
At this point I usually see the motte and bailey fallacy get trotted out. The motte – the easily defended position is:
Māori are saying we can add to this body of knowledge (MS) from our own experience. They may also be saying that it should change to some degree.
Well almost no reasonable person is going to disagree with this, and especially not put their career and reputation at risk over. Indeed:
The authors of the letter, ‘In Defence of Science’, were careful to say that indigenous knowledge was ‘critical for the preservation and perpetuation of culture and local practices, and plays key roles in management and policy’ and should be taught in New Zealand’s schools.
But then the bailey which triggered the Royal Society witch hunt is this:
But they drew the line at treating it as on a par with physics, chemistry and biology: ‘In the discovery of empirical, universal truths, it falls far short of what we can define as science itself.’
Or how about we get ahead of the curve and explain to those opposed to science what science actually is.
FFS the idea that Polynesian explorers were using something other than scientific techniques to navigate the pacific is not only scientifically and linguistically ignorant it's also blatantly racist and culturally ignorant too.
Humans everywhere were doing smart tough things to survive and thrive. Virtually all agriculture, animal husbandry, the building of things like pyramids, astronomy, mining and metal working, number systems, writing, political and military systems, medical models and so on – were notable features of societies everywhere. Consider the complexity and sophistication of traditional Chinese medicine as an example.
Or astonishing artifacts like the Antikythera Mechanism that pushed calendar and astronomical methods right up to the verge of fully modern ideas. The Ancient Greeks got to within a few conceptual steps of a full blown industrial revolution as did a number of civilisations. Maori were no different, nor especially unique. Their development of deep water navigation being a both obvious and necessary adaptation to their environment.
All of these pre-industrial observational knowledge systems were essential, valuable and can still inform us. But calling them science is yet another example of the deplorable woke trick of taking powerful words and stretching them into uselessness.
Perhaps I was too ambiguous. What I was trying to say is that there isn't another reliable repeatable way to discover what's true except by the scientific method. To the extent that ancient people discovered things that worked, they were practicing science. There isn't another repeatable way to do it. No doubt they also practiced lots of other non-scientific methods that didn't reliably or repeatably find out anything.
What I'm seeing people say is that they were actually practicing some other equally efficacious – or perhaps even superior sort of truth-finding that isn't scientific and that strikes me as a complete non-sequitur.
To the extent that ancient people discovered things that worked, they were practicing science.
That hijacks the word and blurs over a crucial historic distinction. In my view the word science is the explanation for this graph.
Economic growth is a very recent phenomenon – we already saw this in the data that we discussed earlier in this entry. It is true that in the pre-growth era some people were very well off – but this was the tiny elite of the tribal leaders, pharaohs, kings and religious leaders. Whilst global inequalities were lower in a world where sustained economic growth had yet to occur anywhere, economic inequality within pre-modern societies was extremely high and the average person was living in conditions that we would call extreme poverty today.
The destitution of the common man only changed with the onset of economic growth. The time when this change happened in various countries can be seen in these two charts. Economic prosperity was only achieved over the last couple of hundred years. In fact, it was mostly achieved over the second half of the last hundred years. The rise of global average incomes – global GDP per capita – shows that the world economy has moved from a zero-sum game to a positive-sum game.
This universal transformation happened for a reason – science. Airbrushing that away to appease woke racists intent on eradicating 'whiteness' is bullshit.
'Economic growth is a very recent phenomenon'-really -Portugal,Spain,England,France all had huge economic growth…with Empire.
'– but this was the tiny elite of the tribal leaders, pharaohs, kings and religious leaders.'-like the 1% today you mean.
-'and the average person was living in conditions that we would call extreme poverty today.-nothing much has changed except maybe locations,25,000 a day dying of starvation.
' global GDP per capita – shows that the world economy has moved from a zero-sum game to a positive-sum game.'-delusional,meaningless drivel'(imo)
The reality is that by 2021 around 85% of humanity had escaped absolute poverty – something utterly unimaginable in 1821. In most respects you live a much better life than even the 1% elites of that era.
nothing much has changed except maybe locations,25,000 a day dying of starvation.
Due almost entirely to political incompetence and ethnic conflicts.
As you know re data…lies,damn lies and statistics'.
If there are 100,000 billionaires in the world and 100,000 people with .50c …if we add the totals and ascertain the average of 200,000 people it comes out as quite…meaningless.
' it is a time in which the income of the average person grew immensely – from an average of £1051 incomes per person per year increased to over £30,000 a 29-fold increase in prosperity. This means an average person in the UK today has a higher income in two weeks than an average person in the past had in an entire year. Since the total sum of incomes is the total sum of production this also means that the production of the average person in two weeks today is equivalent to the production of the average person in an entire year in the past'
As I've mentioned before…what does this 29 fold increase buy ,adjusted for inflation!-line it up with house prices as an example.
This guy seems to be your go to…his analysis is so selective,to be ..useless-imo.
We've had this discussion before on correcting for inflation in monetary time series data. If you will not understand that then really you have no place in this discussion.
And how often have I seen this phrase “I stopped watching/reading at …”. It’s the hallmark signal of the cognitive dissonance that happens when data conflicts with fixed thinking.
This guy seems to be your go to…his analysis is so selective,to be ..useless-imo.
That's a genuine objection. I agree that incomes in the developed West started to fall behind productivity sometime in the 70's.
My response is that this coincides with the final major expansion of the post WW2 global trade order to fully embrace Asia, India and Latin America – which inevitably brought workers in Europe and the Anglosphere into direct competition with the developing world.
It also coincided with the early 80's overshadowing of Keynsian policy settings with the idiotic neo-liberal idea that because capitalist markets were good at solving some economic problems – they must therefore be good at solving all problems.
And finally the absence of a global governance system that might moderate and regulate these affairs has meant we lacked the tools to address the concerns you raise.
"to appease woke racists intent on eradicating 'whiteness' is bullshit."
Well that's interesting. We both disagree with the woke racists but from different angles. You think they're wrong for saying ancients did science, and I think they're wrong for saying the ancients' magic was just as good as science.
"That hijacks the word "
People are either using the scientific method or they're not. If they're reliably and repeatably discovering anything about reality then they must be using it, because there was never any other way that worked. The hijack is in reserving the word just for science that leads to your specific set of outcomes. That is starting from the conclusion and working backwards, and is not very scientific.
I also think that context matters here. If I were stuck in the Australian outback with no help coming, would I want to be with a group of local Aboriginal people who knew how to live on the land, or would I want to be with a hydrologist, botanist and zoologist?
I would actually want a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon).
But to answer your question in good faith – if I was in the outback yes the local people would have better knowledge of the outback. And if I was in the Arctic tundra I would definitely pick the local Inuit.
But if I did not know in advance where I might land up – in other words I had to deal with the general case – I would pick the group of scientists as far more likely to be able to discover what we needed to know to survive regardless of the setting. (I accept a few cans of baked beans to get us through while they worked it out would be a bonus.)
I'm not trying to be smart here – this is an important qualitative difference.
You think they're wrong for saying ancients did science, and I think they're wrong for saying the ancients' magic was just as good as science.
That works for me both ways. Happy to accept this point.
People are either using the scientific method or they're not. If they're reliably and repeatably discovering anything about reality then they must be using it, because there was never any other way that worked.
The crux of this is 'reliably and repeatedly'. Look back at the comparison I made above between Polynesian and Portuguese deep water navigation. One led to the GPS chart plotter, the other did not. One method was amenable to deeper levels of abstraction and generalisation, the other was not. One has become a universal tool, the other a cultural curiosity that's of niche appeal only.
So, parliament recognised the right to self-determination.
Green Party MP Dr Elizabeth Kerekere, a longtime advocate in the rainbow community, was in tears and had to pause to gather her emotions as she spoke in support of the Bill in the House.
I do empathise with victims of traditional social categorising, having experienced such victimhood myself in the distant past (longhaired male, cannabis etc). We all ought to have the legal right to express our identity in our own terms.
However, inasmuch as the new law may permit infringement of the civil rights of others, we could be exchanging one evil for another, eh?
If guys pretending to be women are empowered to invade women's spaces by this law, there could be harm done. Enabling any serious mysogynist to target women easily!
You can stop recycling the strawperson arguments now. Men already harm women without needing to change anything. This has been talked to death all year.
Clearly the parliamentarians are taking an evidence-based approach to the thing. We just need to wait for the opportunists to spot the opportunity, get in there & do their usual thing. Human nature always produces predators as offenders. Shouldn't take long for the reports to come in…
It's my take from the (unanimous?) decision. Evidence of harm. Potential abuse & consequent harm. In other words, the precautionary principle never entered into their thinking…
hard to assess evidence when you refuse to look at it and you are part of the movement to silence dissent.
And yes, why be cautious when you know there are no problems.
It doesn't make sense of course. International experts gave evidence via submissions, and that's all backed up by copious amounts of information and discussion online going back years now. So either one believes that NZ is somehow immune to the problems we should be cautious about compared to other countries, or one believes that women and kids are ok as collateral damage, or one is so immersed in the ideology that it's not possible to see outside of it anymore.
And let's not forget that there is immense pressure on people, women especially, to not speak out. I actually can't imagine any women in the Greens or Labour being able to speak out as a gender critical feminist and not put their career at risk. Ad and co can assert that all women MPs wanted this but this speaks to what I assume is his large ignorance or denialism about the impact that No Debate has and is still having.
But hey, we're supposed to just shut the fuck up now. Women, talking about women's business, are supposed to not talk or go away somewhere else. As if men get to tell women what to do. Lol, how do progressive men even rationalise that in their own heads?
Seems to me that the situation calls for a new phase of feminist politics. However I'm too remote from the experiential side of the issue & will have to await reaction from female activists in their twenties & thirties to get a sense of the potential for that.
one of the things that gives me the greatest hope at the moment is the rise of the gender critical feminist movement in the UK (aka Terf Island). This is largely older left wing or centre left feminists with long histories of political, social justice, activist and academic work. They are organising at the grassroots level and have been successful in changing government policy. Lots of battles being fought on many fronts, and not all wins, but the solidarity and sisterhood is something to behold. They also hold a lot of power in various ways.
And yes, there are plenty of young GCFs. From what I can tell Gen Z are more sceptical of the ideology than Millenials have been.
The detrans women's community is also growing in strength and producing its own body of knowledge that is important to the debate.
Sure, we should wait until women are harmed, then there will be a long string of excuses by left wing men about collateral damage.
As Sacha points out, it's all been discussed, so we know that some left wing men take the position that women already get sexually assaulted and harassed, so what's a few more women being raped, eh?
We know from international experience that housing trans women and other males via self-ID into women's prisons results in sexual assault of women prisoners, but who cares about them, trans women get raped too so women will just have to suck it up.
We know that the rate of men recording women in changing rooms and toilets is on the rise.
We know that the dignity and privacy and safety of women who are rape and sexual assault survivors, or who have religious restrictions on how they interact with men, is being surrendered for not just trans women, but other males for whom self-IDing as women gives them psychological and sexual satisfaction.
But sure, let's wait until self-ID in NZ is causing widespread harm and then I expect the left wing men currently supporting to do exactly nothing. Because NZ is special and can't possibly be like those other terrible places, or maybe it's just that we don't actually care that much about women's right to their own politics unless it aligns with what the men want.
Oh right, so you think that parliament gets to be the sole arbiter of society and women's politics. Just women's politics presumably, we are still allowed to challenge parliament on other things they get wrong.
Parliament gets to evaluate bills that become Acts, and that is their prerogative entirely. Not only was any evidence proposed against it unpersuasive, it was unpersuasive right across the entire political spectrum, every party, every woman, every man, and across every Member of Parliament.
Parliament gets to evaluate bills that become Acts, and that is their prerogative entirely.
Thanks Patronising Man. But we have a long, very important history of protest against government when it gets it wrong.
Not only was any evidence proposed against it unpersuasive, it was unpersuasive right across the entire political spectrum, every party, every woman, every man, and across every Member of Parliament.
It doesn't get more comprehensive than that.
Except for two things,
No Debate means that women are afraid to speak up for fear of losing their jobs, friends, social networks
The issues have yet to go to women generally in NZ for discussion and debate.
There's a term on social media called Peak Trans. It's problematic because it unfairly places emphasis on trans people rather than gender identity ideologists/activists, but it's essentially the process liberal and progressives go through when they realise that their young teen age girls will have to share changing rooms with intact males, or they learn what AGP is, or they read about the feminist academics in the UK losing their jobs for saying that biological sex is important, or that women prisoners are being raped by males who self-ID into women's prisons, or that lesbians are being sexually assaulted by trans identified males because lesbians are supposed to now like girl dick and are transphobes if they don't. Not a comprehensive list by any means.
Comprehensive was however also when men in parliament were refusing women the right to vote, or not be raped in marriage, or to own property. Like I said, none of what you are doing is new. It's old and tedious. We get it. Women’s rights and politics gets supported by men when it suits the men, not because women deserve their own political sovereignty.
Submissions to parliament were 73% against the proposed bill in its current form. That's not listening, Ad.
That does not mean that submitters were against the proposal for transgender recognition. In fact, many submissions supported that concept, just not in this particular form that has resulted in many issues in countries that have passed it.
With all due respect Ad I really think we are the ones who need to decide whether our cause is lost, not you.
If the women on this blogsite are anything to go by, we are only just beginning.
Once women start putting it together that the male in their change room is allowed to be there, because of this law, and the De-transitioners start to get more of a voice (yes that's right the 22,000 and counting young people whose bodies and fertitlity and ability to have an organism are compromised, then some of these politicians may regret their votes.
Personally I don't know how people can be taken in by this ideology.
what's your point SPC? If you are trying to tell me that there is no issue with left wing men's support for gender identity ideology against women's rights when I'm pointing right at it, I'd have to ask what you are on about.
Since when have left wing men (in democracy at least) been at the centre of opposition to womens rights?
In the 1960s and 70s left wing men told women to shut the fuck up about women's issues, so women went off and organised themselves into second wave feminism.
A more recent example would be two left wing male authors on TS blocked and basically did a hatchet job on the women's project that was trying to get more women authors and commenters on TS.
I still don't know what your point is. Maybe instead of asking questions and speaking obliquely you could just spell it out? Are you objecting to me talking about left wing men as being opposed to women's politics?
And one historic movement for (equal) gender rights ideology was the NOW. Which sort of neutralised them on the birth sex identity front.
Sorry, what? National Organisation of Women? What's their role in gender identity ideology and how does this relate to the discussion today?
Yep … looks very much like women from the Trans-Gender ID Feminist faction … eg Stephanie Rodgers / Jan Logie & so on … are the core supporters & promoters … & certainly the major propagndists on social media … sadly their adversaries (who I generally have some sympathy for) – the Gender Critical Feminists – are still stuck in the obsessive It's all down to Men dogma. An underlying misandry prevents them seeing the Wood for the Trees.
sadly the Gender Critical Feminists are still stuck in the It's all down to Men dogma
That's stupid. I was talking about men on TS, because it's an obvious pattern and a specific dynamic that causes issues for women. Nothing I have said implies that only lw men are responsible.
Many of the GCF women on TS have been criticising NZ women, just read the comments about the self-ID select committee process. I haven't seen NZ women offsite saying it's all on lw men either. But perhaps you haven't been reading what GCFs actually say.
I was/am not aware of TS's left wing author background issues (and do not need to …).
PS Above while editing a post in reply to one of yours I decided to delete it and start again (not knowing you had made a reply). I'll reboot that on today's DR.
Yes, it's not necessary to know the details of what's happened back end on TS (and there are limits on what I can say), but I wanted to give two examples from quite different times but including a contemporary example, that demonstrate that left wing male antipathy towards women's politics has form and outside of the gender identity fight.
will do Ad <img alt=”wink”
I’lllbe letting you know loud and clear.src=”https://thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png” title=”wink” />
For me this one was more difficult to make a determination on than the civil unions, PR and same sex marriages.
The claims made then by opponents that there would be harm resulting was not something to take seriously – and democracy is not about conformity to a world view imposed on society by some inter-generational order of God (whatever the faith of some/many of its citizens).
Both the transgender and women have a right to be safe and then there is the next level confusion when issues of identity, puberty and social and physical development inter-act with the role of the parent in the life of the child.
Both the transgender and women have a right to be safe and then there is the next level confusion when issues of identity, puberty and social and physical development inter-act with the role of the parent in the life of the child.
I don't understand what you are trying to say here.
Safeguarding of women and children is "not something to take seriously"
OK then.
"Next level confusion"
You got that right. Lies about fundamental aspects of human nature are at the centre of this ideology. Confusion is useful camouflage when you're trying to demolish biological reality in service of an abhorrent political project.
Firestone made a stunning prediction. She jubilantly declared that when biology was subdued and “transsexuality” became the legal and cultural norm, “the blood tie of the mother to the child would eventually be severed” and the triumphal “disappearance of motherhood” would follow.
Well given that over the past 3 – 4 generations fatherhood has been marginalised into virtual irrelevancy then we should not be surprised at this next level extension. And given this was always one of the open goals of marxism the dots start connecting in bold neon highlighter.
For those who think the man as head of the family is a cornerstone of society order and that atheistic socialism wants the state (of equal vote to male and female) to have power instead of the traditional patriarchy
(see the Frankfort School and The Rocky Horror Picture Show send up of it)
allowing women careers and ownership of property
equal pay for equal work
allowing contraception to women
allowing divorce
providing support to the solo mother
were just the beginning, next the Goddess will be an equal to God and priests will wear frilly undergarments.
For me this one was more difficult to make a determination on than the civil unions, PR and same sex marriages.
The claims made then by opponents that there would be harm resulting was not something to take seriously
To help your comprehension emphasis added. But it should have been obvious what the meaning was – it spoke to then – those past issues.
Your claim that this means not taking safety of women and children seriously is worse than the average strawman but a deliberate and calculated insult.
I can presume that because you were able to determine the meaning of the last paragraph – it is going to be even more difficult to parent children through those years than before. A child centred approach is fine but interaction between the state and parent is going to get complicated.
Was pleased to read that. Glad she's come through, and scans show NED.
(Might be of interest to note that breast cancer patients do not have scans after treatment. They are advised that they will become aware if the cancer returns, usually by the bone-deep pain they will experience. Although 1 in 9 women in NZ will get breast cancer, and I have friends and family that had gone through it, I wasn't aware this was the case.)
The Green Party shut down debate, within the party, about gender identity ideology and how it and self-ID impact on women. That's the Green Party with some of most democratic processes of any political party in NZ, and they refused to let it be discussed. Just so we are clear that the Greens have been part of No Debate, and that this is reflected in their position on the Bill.
I think it may impact on them in the long run, I'm not convinced it is happening yet. Most people don't know about debate being shut down in the party, and most people don't know what the gender critical/feminist arguments about self-ID are. We will see in time. It's possible people won't care. And there is the problem of who else would one vote for? It's not like Labour are any better.
Yeah but the shout is only audible to anyone listening. I've said it here many times before but repetition is often necessary in the comms process: the Green Party remains on the same level of popular support it had the year it was formed (7%). Any upward fluctuations are reciprocal to ebbing support for Labour.
The interesting question is why the Greens aren't ever trying to recruit centrists. Given that centrists always create election outcomes, you'd think the logic would be persuasive. My explanation has always been leftist political positioning – but I'm open to other views.
because the Greens want change not power, and being left of Labour is a better way to get change than trying to compete with Labour in the centre. They pulled Labour left on climate for instance.
the irony of course is that lots of lefties criticise them for not being left enough, but won't actually vote for them and pull them left 🤡
Mostly I just think the Greens know better than most about what works for them. I am disappointed in them not going hard on climate especially in terms of making waves about Labour's slow action, but we can't have it both ways. We either want them in government (kind of) and making change in the system, or we want them out and able to rabble rouse. If I saw NZers actually willing to make changes for climate I'd be more believing that the latter would work. I just don't see the evidence.
There were plenty of people in the Labour Party who understood the seriousness of CC back in the late 1970s and 80s weka. But I do agree with you that the parliamentary wing were well behind the ball game – not all of them but most of them.
I sometimes wonder if Norman Kirk had lived to complete two full terms at the helm whether Labour would have been higher on the CC awareness scale sooner.
It seems to me that they remain incapable of making themselves relevant to the majority….they appear obsessed with fringe issues to their own detriment.
If it continues it will ultimately cost them some of the support they currently enjoy.
I see them doing solid work in a number of areas, and making gains that fit with GP principles and values. I would guess that at this point in the election cycle, making those gains is a high priority. This will including stuff we don't see much about like how government departments are run.
Imo it's still impossible to tell how much of the GP's stuck vote is due to Ardern, and Labour's handling of the pandemic.
Recent polls have shown the GP trending upwards.
But I agree that they appear to be focused on issues that won't give them the heft to become a big player. We know that they got badly burned with the backlash against Turei's speech, so I'm not sure that the perpetual call from some on the left to do something radical is that useful.
Green Party MP for central Auckland Chlöe Swarbrick said it was clear the government did not have any intention of meaningfully fixing this.
"With the effective political guarantee of what the prime minister and minister of finance call 'sustained moderation' – that is continual growth in the price of these assets – we are not going to deal with this problem."
While there was no silver bullet, Swarbrick said New Zealand needed a "seismic shift" in how we see housing, including actually taxing wealth and capital gains.
"It's looking at things that are completely uncontroversial in other democracies and jurisdictions: the likes of rental warrant of fitness, landlord registers, property manager regulations and rent controls. That is a suite of tools that could really do something here."
ok Pat, you either won't say or you're just hand waving in a general direction of something vague. Yes, the Greens should do better. No-one is prepared to say how exactly.
Swarbrick and Menendez are doing awesome work, including putting out actual left wing ideas. But remember what happened when Turei did this as co-leader? It ended her parliamentary career.
So anyone saying the Greens should be bolder and do more needs to say how. We know what we want to happen, but the Greens still exist within NZ's conservative political culture.
I wonder how it would have played out had she been supported?
Supported by who? She was unequivocally supported by Shaw and the caucus apart from the two MPs who monkey wrenched GP process. But the MSM went viciously hard, including lefties like John Campbell. Nothing tells me more than this that the political classes in NZ are classist af. If someone like Campbell doesn't get it then there's no hope of the wider electorate either. NZ doesn't want a left wing govt, it's doesn't want to solve poverty or end the housing crisis. And that includes the larger proportion of the left. But sure, blame the Greens, who are actually left of Labour and have solid left wing policies.
"@Pat, so you want the GP to be Labour, good to know."
Meh….I want someone to be what Labour should be (and are obviously incapable of being, since Douglas)…if its the Greens then all good, and if they are as 'solid left wing' as you claim then it shouldnt be so difficult for them.
If we want more action on inequality, housing or the environment the evidence is in that the Labour party will not do it without a pull from the left. The Greens remain committed to actually trying to solve these issues and it’s clear Labour is only happy to work with them on their own terms. That the Greens are the ones to blame for this has always baffled me.
I want more action on inequality, housing and the environment and so to make sure this happens I support the Greens. That isn’t to say I agree with everything they do but this is MMP and I am hopeful that new and first-time voters understand this too.
On my cynical days I conclude that most NZ liberals in fact don't want action on those things. Hard core Labourites I can understand, but the people that want action but won't vote for the party that has the actual policies, this is beyond me.
then there's the fact that so many Labour voters own property /cynicism
Someone should do some research on that to see if it’s actually a thing. People won’t vote for the Greens because when it comes down to their personal wealth they’re protectionist, damn the poor.
The Greens don't talk about poverty much though, all we ever hear from them is gender identity, sexuality, hate speech, how everything and everyone is racist and occasionally they'll talk about weed or climate change.
The Greens have become a stand in for a left wing party like an alliance or a European socialist minor party because despite the poverty and wealth and housing inequality we don't seem to have the talent to create party focused soley on class. Mana was a decent attempt but it was a Maori nationalist party not specifically a class based party, the internet party was… A disaster. Since the alliance fell the greens have kind of been a stand in for that kind of party.
But The Greens are absolutely not the party or vehicle to achieve action on poverty or class issues because they are mostly an upper middle class outfit. The amount of Green voting NIMBYs is insane. The weird upper middle class identity politics and micro aggressions obsessions.
The greens are a party of the left but they can never be a party of the class left nor should they have to be, there is plenty of space for a die linke or an alliance style party and instead of demanding a party of mostly upper middle class to wealthy but nice and compassionate people represent poor people activists should work to create a party over many election cycles that can be a class party.
However failing that of the greens want to be an actual player they can learn how to do politics. If labour ever needs their votes and won't give them what they have the power to put labour in a minority govt and say they'll vote with them on a case by case basis. Give us what we want or we walk.
And in hindsight the greens shouldn't have done a deal with labour, it only benefits labour not having anyone to the left of them attacking them in the house. It makes the greens invisible they could potentially be polling on par with act right now as rabble rousers then again they might be polling the same but they could run in the next election as a change party where as now they are a party of the status quo with nothing to really show for the agreement other than some ministerial limos
As WMBAD pointed out, we need to organize, loose ourselves to a group, a cause. Then the Arderns, the Davidsons, Shaws, Robertsons will follow.
The first, obvious group is a union relating to work. I have been scratching my head as to the next type of group.
I have just recently joined a Biochar group. Already, I can see I am being a bit of a pain in the arse.
If, by making Biochar, you allow the smoke to escape the process, you are releasing CO, methane and other CC nasties. However, catching and condensing the smoke, you are left with awesome resources and a 'carbon negative' process.
Associate Professor Jennifer Lees-Marshment is from Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland and is an expert in political marketing:
Most people think advertising, big data or spin determines election results. But as Phillip Gould, a key advisor to former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, told me back in 2007, political marketing strategy is the most important factor in winning elections.
Not disagreeing with her, but how do they validate political marketing claims?? Marketing pros in the economy can validate with purchasing stats, due to buying & selling going on record. Does the analogy with voting patterns suffice?
Our recently published book Political marketing and management in the New Zealand 2020 election highlights how turbulent those political waters have been since the arrival of the Covid-19 crisis. Featuring perspectives of political practitioners including pollsters for both Labour and National, it makes clear how a crisis changes the political market and makes it more volatile. As Labour pollster David Talbot remarks: “Covid-19… represented a tectonic shift in the political landscape.” It made defunct any political product or policies created in response to market research before 2020, a major challenge to effective strategy in an election year.
The book also analyses survey data from the TVNZ 2020 Vote Compass which had 182,399 unique respondents during the campaign and a post-election survey with more than 24,000 respondents.
Interesting that she sees a downside for both major parties:
research on the 2020 election suggested hidden lessons behind the otherwise simple result. Despite Labour’s clear victory, and Ardern’s stellar likeability, it was built on shifting sands. The party’s brand communication was boosted by government communication over Covid management which is now backfiring with instructions to the public about levels, steps and lights no longer clear and the crisis growing in terms of time and impact. Ardern’s brand was tied to Covid-management by her own branding of the election as the “Covid election” and is therefore subject to damage as Covid is no longer banished from our shores.
Failures in delivery were masked by crisis management and polite populism, but this mask is slipping while members of the public have to wear theirs to go to work, school and the mall. We’ve seen the impact of this in recent polls showing a downward trend for Labour.
More obvious was that National trashed its own brand, but less well-known is how post-election Vote Compass data showing a complete reversal of previous strengths on perceived ability to govern, and the dissatisfaction came from their own supporters. Only 24 percent of National’s own supporters thought the party was capable of governing, with 55 percent saying it was not.
Check out her graph showing the switch from 2017 to 2020 – spectacular! Then her advice to National…
National can only win through reform and responsiveness. It needs to offer entrepreneurial policies to suit the new post-Covid environment and completely redesign its leadership and party brand.
I have been a cigarette smoker many years ago and tried to give up many times until I gave up giving up and strangely shortly after I gave up.
what I always thought would be best advice regarding cigarettes is for people who do smoke be registered through a GP who would distribute a weekly amount along with quitting advice to these registered smokers.
Cigarettes could then be banned from sale, that would put an end to future victims and eventually the registered would either successfully be helped to give it up or will die from it.
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 5, 2024 thru Sat, May 11, 2024. (Unfortunate) Story of the week "Grief that stops at despair is an ending that I and many others, most notably ...
Last night the largest solar storm in decades resulted in Aurorae being seen across Aotearoa, causing many to ask why?Why was the sky pink? What was all this stuff about the power grid? Have we, as so many have wondered since the election, reached the end of days?I had a ...
We have been on the road in England, squeezing down narrow lanes, flying up the M6, loving hedgerows and villages and cathedrals, liking the 21st century less.There have been moments when it’s felt like a movie trope. The pub in Exford, lovely seventeenth century bar, almost more dogs than people, ...
There’s a solar-storm on at the moment, and since the South Island is having a day and night with clear skies, that means Aurorae. I have just got back from a midnight visit to Tunnel Beach – southwards-looking over the Sea, and without the light pollution. Quite a few others ...
Michael Bassett writes – I’m not sure that it’s much comfort to anyone to know that the post-Covid surge in violent crimes, gang activity, ram raids, random shootings, thuggery and stabbings is occurring in other countries as well as New Zealand. These days, wagging school, out-of-control welfare and ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – Cast your mind back to mid-December. A new Prime Minister had just been sworn in, the new Government started its 100-day programme, and Christmas was only days away.Amid all the haste, a report landed that would have deserved our attention.I am talking about the ...
TL;DR: An unseasonally early icy blast at the same time as some long-overdue maintenance almost caused Aotearoa-NZ’s electricity system to black out this week. That’s because a quadropoly of gentailers1 have prioritised paying dividends from their rising profits and adding debt over investing in 1.5 GigaWatts of new wind farms ...
Hi,Before we crack into today’s Webworm, I wanted to acknowledge the fact that Israel is pushing into Rafah. Over 100,000 Palestinians are now attempting to flee the one place that was deemed “safe”.Trouble is, the place they’re fleeing to is already destroyed. Total annihilation is the end goal here.“Israel is ...
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
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. ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
Asia Pacific Report About 1000 people in Aotearoa New Zealand gathered for a two-hour rally in central Auckland today and marched down Queen Street and returned to Aotea Square to mark the Nakba three days early — and protest over Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. They called for an immediate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As it looks to an election next year when holding up Labor’s female vote will be vital, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has declared Tuesday will bring “a budget for mums and middle Australia”. “The primary ...
By Repeka Nasiko in Suva “Justice has won,” says Fiji’s acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku following the sentencing of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho. Speaking to The Fiji Times, Rabuku said that while they welcomed the judgment by acting Chief Justice Salesi ...
The foreign affairs minister has landed in Solomon Islands for the first leg of his Pacific tour, and an audience with the newly elected Prime Minister. ...
PNG Post-Courier New Zealand High Commissioner Peter Zwart and PNG Defence Minister Dr Billy Joseph welcomed a C-130 Hercules to Port Moresby this week to support Papua New Guinea’s response to the March 24 earthquake and recent severe flooding. “Papua New Guinea has requested New Zealand’s assistance to transport emergency ...
Grub Street King Luxon rode through the streets Of King’s Landing, and was troubled By the sight of hungry urchins in the mud. “Who would be the best of my Lords To deal with this negative optic?” He pondered. The answer came to him instantly. “Seymour!” he said to himself. ...
“The Bill does not provide environmental protection, good quality decision making, certainty, public participation or speed. It should be withdrawn.” ...
RNZ News Television New Zealand has breached its collective agreement with the E tū union when deciding on discontinuing programmes, the Employment Relations Authority has ruled. It was announced in March that 68 staff members who work for news programmes Midday and Tonight, consumer justice programme Fair Go, current affairs ...
Asia Pacific Report Barangay New Zealand’s Rene Molina has interviewed the country’s first Filipino Green MP Francisco Hernandez who was sworn into Parliament yesterday as the party’s latest member. This is the first interview with Hernandez who replaces former Green Party co-leader James Shaw after his retirement from politics to ...
An Australian Strategic Policy Institute report says Pillar Two could raise the industry to state of the art capability - or "crush" it "under the weight of the globe's biggest player". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marlene Longbottom, Associate Professor, Indigenous Education & Research Centre, James Cook University ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the violence experienced by First Nations people in encounters with the Australian carceral system. It also contains references to ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
The New Zealand comedy legend takes us through her life in television, including the time she hugged Elton John and the unshakeable legacy of a girl named Lyn. In 1981, Ginette McDonald stood on the stage of Auckland’s St James Theatre and directly addressed Queen Elizabeth II. It was a ...
An essay by Lily Duval from the just-released anthology Otherhood: Essays on being childless, childfree and child adjacent.I was 22 when my friend Alice gave birth in the living room of our pokey Addington flat. She laboured in the blow-up pool for hours. Garish fish swam along the inflated ...
Ella Borrie on the best books about motherhood she’s come across so far. Over the past few years I’ve been drawn to books about motherhood. I’m fascinated by the joys and horrors of becoming a parent. The question of children also feels more pressing than it used to. It’s like ...
Out of gift ideas for mum? You can’t go wrong with a bottle of toilet cleaner and a new squeegee. Emily Writes is the writer and editor of Emily Writes Weekly. This week marks five years since I published a post on The Spinoff about Mother’s Day marketing titled ‘A ...
My husband is posted overseas for 12 months and I’m armed with an expensive, newfangled vibrator. Will I miss him? The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.A few days after my husband leaves, a new sex toy arrives at the front door. Nestled ...
Jaimie Baird’s new book Here Today Gone Tomorrow is a record of four decades of graffiti and street art in Wellington, told through more than 1,200 photographs. He spoke with Joel MacManus about what inspired the book. How did you first get interested in photographing street art? I remember ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at a busy week where food of all political leanings dominated. Sometimes you’re just going about your week thinking you’ve got a good handle on what might be coming as far as news topics and then someone (usually a politician) says something so ridiculous that ...
In a week of cold rain and frost, the climate in courtroom four upstairs at the Invercargill courthouse was simmering with restrained indignation. At times it felt like the famous Mexican standoff scene from Reservoir Dogs, or, as someone watching the proceedings described it, there was so much throwing of ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
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 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
The club’s surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong… and a few other factors.“There’s no way that Wellington Phoenix play finals this year. I can’t see it happening at all.” Those are the words of Lachlan Raeside, an Australian football content ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By César Albarrán-Torres, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology Apple TV+ As one of billions of bilingual individuals in the world, it disappoints me when a film or TV show with characters of a non-English-speaking background is ...
The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Corderoy, Medical doctor and PhD candidate studying involuntary psychiatric treatment, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney shop_py/Shutterstock Picture two people, both suffering from a serious mental illness requiring hospital admission. One was born in Australia, the other in Asia. Hopefully, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Treby, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University P.j.Hickox, Shutterstock Peatlands store more carbon per square metre than any other ecosystem on Earth. These waterlogged, mossy bogs beat even dense rainforests for their ability to act as carbon reservoirs. Under the ...
So the govt's credibility is being tested by the Waitangi Tribunal:
Today, Bloomfield's testimony seriously threatened the viability of the Maori cabal controlling Ardern thesis that got some traction the other day.
So cabinet over-ruled the Maori cabal?? Or did they fail to support Bloomfield? Will any political journalist in Aotearoa prove themselves on the ball by asking the right people these questions? Watch this space.
Cabinet over-ruled every piece of expert advice they were given in the last year or two about Covid equity for Māori. Pandering to racists.
"Pandering to racists."
Not so much pandering to racists but scared of them.
When the issue was being explored in the media several months ago, I recall thinking… they (the Govt.) are scared to prioritise Maori because the middle classes (who in 2020 came over to Labour in droves) won't like it. And they were right. My middle class relatives have been banging on about Maori taking precedence over the rest of us ever since. I argue the toss but get drowned out.
Sometimes being cautious does not pay off. They should have prioritised Maoriand to hell with what the the middle classes think.
Scared is a feeling. Pandering is an action.
Cabinet have actively put Māori citizens in harm's way.
Only the true beltway troughers give a damn.
So?
I notice since the great new reset that TV news has become even more ‘ Labour Phobic’ almost on a par with the Western Russia phobic retric. Lots of arm twisting going on in our ‘free Press.
Maybe. Something unusual happened. 1ewes at 6 did a hit piece on Ardern tonite.
In an item about claims by, among others, The Greens – that Menendez March character – that benefit sanctions are harming children (something 1ewes covered previously a week or two ago, that made Sepuloni look impotent & captured by her Department which has done nothing to address the problem) they showed a senior MSD staffer at a Select Committee having absolutely no idea whether checks were made whether beneficiaries had children before sanctions were applied.
Then they showed clips of Ardern answering a tv reporter’s questions saying that she believed people with children were not sanctioned, & (IIRC) that she believed that this was checked. After her answers, 1ewes contradicted her with the actual facts, including that, in some cases, sanctions are in fact automatically imposed.
There will be serious grumpiness with TVNZ on the Beehive 9th floor tonite, methinks.
It is a bad week for Sepuloni.
Have you caught up with the petition by Jan Logie on how ACC treats sexual abuse claims?
I would like an inquiry to be held into the process of psychologist and psychiatric assessments which are used to establish if a mental injury has occurred. Historical cases are hard to settle due to many being minimised when high level offending occurred.
Interesting thread on matauranga Maori, after Peterson stuck his oar in
https://twitter.com/reasther/status/1468695933974040578?s=21
A line being pushed by foreign righties like Peterson should be enough warning.
https://twitter.com/KyleDChurch/status/1468821420482330624
would be nice if we got ahead of the curve on this one and explained to the people who don't yet know what mātauranga Māori actually is. The hard core racists will racist, it's the ones who currently don't get it that are going to be swayed by Peterson or Dawkin.
would be nice if we got ahead of the curve on this one and explained to the people who don't yet know what mātauranga Māori actually is.
I tell you what – I might pay attention when you can show me the Maori version of Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. The exact direct equivalent.
After that we can move say the biological differences between male and female.
you seem to think that mātauranga Māori is science. It's not. It's the body of knowledge that arises out of Te Ao Māori, and that includes but is not limited to empirical processes of developing and testing knowledge of the physical world.
you seem to think that mātauranga Māori is science.
Nope. I'm vociferously arguing that it is not. It would seem we agree on that.
But then the persecution by the Royal Society of outstanding science experts like Prof Garth Cooper or the marginalising of world class figures such as Dr Michael Corballis tells us a quite different story.
Another 'no debate' smash down by the woke racists who have determined that because the scientific revolution first originates within a European setting – therefore it's irredeemable 'whiteness' must be eradicated. And because the STEM disciplines are now the last powerful bastion of reason standing against their insanities (such as 'sex doesn't exist) – it must be subverted to their cause.
Nope. Whether you argue for or against, if your starting point is that mātauranga Māori is/isn't science, you've missed the point. Which you patently have. Which leaves a bunch of strawmen blowing in the wind.
you seem to think that mātauranga Māori is science. It's not.
Whether you argue for or against, if your starting point is that mātauranga Māori is/isn't science, you've missed the point.
Now I'm just confused.
I know, lots of people are. The mainstream debate is really confused. I've put the definitions of words below.
Pūtaiao is the Māori kupu for science.
https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=science
Mātauranga Māori means something else.
https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=matauranga
That definition completely aligns with my description of humanity's common heritage of observational knowledge as I described above at 9:33am below.
But it's not science.
Felix brought up the example of Polynesian navigation. One can absolutely admire and respect the techniques they evolved, as did numerous peoples throughout history.
But at the dawn of the scientific era we suddenly get this:
Yes they were solving the same problem, but the method was qualitatively different – producing over time technologies such as sextants, celestial tables, accurate maps, precision clocks and ultimately the modern GPS. This was not a foreseeable outcome of the Polynesian navigation model.
By the mid-1500's the Portuguese were reliably finding tiny remote and isolated islands like Reunion in the vast emptiness of the Indian ocean, by the late1700's European navigators could pretty much sail anywhere in the world. They had taken an ancient heritage of context specific navigational skills, and transformed them into a generalised formal method that solved the problem in a universal manner. One accessible to and repeatable by anyone.
That is science.
You are still not getting it. The science that Māori were doing pre contact is a subset of Mātauranga Māori (in my limited Pākehā understanding).
You are still comparing science with mātauranga Māori, but it doesn't make sense to do that.
You are also arguing Western science, rather than science. As Felix explained, all peoples use the basic methods of empiricism to observe and understand the physical world.
Western science took that in a certain direction, you are right about that. You can argue that you want this body of knowledge and practice siloed off from other ways of doing and understanding science. But this is where the problems of racism come in. WS is so dominant, that to keep it segregated in this way while specifically excluding other ways of knowing from for instance the education system, will impact badly on Māori (and the rest of us also lose out imo).
You can also argue that you want it siloed off from culture, but that would be odd given that Western science is steeped in its own culture. Again, hugely problematic in terms of how not to be racist while doing that.
The other aspect here is that WS has made these incredible gains but hasn't been tempered by wisdom or a sane culture. Hence climate change, environmental destruction, harms via medical science and so on. Putting science within a larger body of knowledge (ways of knowing) would change that.
You can also argue that you want it siloed off from culture, but that would be odd given that Western science is steeped in its own culture. Again, hugely problematic in terms of how not to be racist while doing that.
The Chinese who train more STEM people on actual merit than anyone else in world would laugh themselves silly to read that. The scientific method is a universal – it transcends culture more thoroughly than almost anything else we've created as a species.
Quit telling me “I don’t get it”. You of all people should understand how important it is that the meaning of words is not hijacked for rotten purposes. And if you want to play the 'racist' card on this – I suggest you take it up with Prof Garth Cooper – who is Maori.
Western science has a specific lineage that isn't universal (WS didn't arise spontaneously all over the world, it arrived in a specific time and place). That the Chinese knew how to integrate it and retain their traditional knowledge, and development them together, puts them far ahead of the West.
Scientists who cannot, or will not, acknowledge their cultural bias are part of the problem.
You are literally misinterpreting what mātauranga Māori is despite it having been explained to you. If the argument is over semantics, I have no problem with coining different language, hence my usage of Western science instead of science.
Did you make an argument re what the societies outside of the West were doing, pre the arrival of Western science, and why it wasn't science? Or did it just come down to it wasn't as good a science as what the West was doing?
That the Chinese knew how to integrate it and retain their traditional knowledge, and development them together, puts them far ahead of the West.
Such a generalisation is not justified. All the Chinese engineers I worked with this past year are thoroughly modern and paradoxically enough quite dismissive of cultural knowledge such as TCM.
And going the other way – it's not true that the West abandoned all of it's traditional bodies of knowledge either. There are plenty of people who sustain it in many domains.
Scientists who cannot, or will not, acknowledge their cultural bias are part of the problem.
Everyone has a cultural bias. It would be impossible for them not to have. This however reads as 'woke hatred for whiteness'.
You are literally misinterpreting what mātauranga Māori is despite it having been explained to you.
Your definition completely aligns with my description of humanity’s common heritage of observational knowledge as I described above at 9:33am below. I am not misinterpreting anything.
Knowledge is a very broad term, and it certainly forms a part of the scientific method you’re calling WS. Humans relied on this kind of knowledge for millennia just to survive – but it completely fails to explain the qualitative leap we call the scientific revolution and has led to you and I typing on the internet.
The lineage is Greek,for example Newton took Pythagorus and extended space to three dimensions,and Einstein extended it to four dimensions.The equations being universal as the mathematics are an absolute truth.
Or did it just come down to it wasn't as good a science as what the West was doing?
Put bluntly yes.
If you persist in stretching the definition of 'science' to include 'all knowledge' the discussion is derailed because we're simply not talking about the same thing.
I have explicitly and repeatedly acknowledged that vast heritage of cultural and observational knowledge that millennia of human struggle has bequeathed us. It should be respected for two reasons, one is that it was what enabled any of us to be alive today, the other is that in many places it retains signposts to information that in our rush to a scientific modernity we have overlooked or forgotten.
But modern science as it evolved and first came to a recognisable form in the 1500's has taken humanity to a qualitatively different level. A better level that delivered better outcomes on the whole – and will continue to do so.
But those who would seek to demolish this astonishing legacy will first seek to define away the meaning of words. Also what Poission said.
Good, something concrete. So in your mind, Western science is better at observing and understanding the physical world than other forms of empiricism developed in other places/times.
Red, I've just spent half a day saying 'science' doesn't include all knowledge. How are you missing that?
Here it is you that is conflating cultural and empiricism. If I understand you, you want it to look like this:
Western science is discrete and separate from other forms of knowing, including other forms of empiricism that use basic scientific method.
vs
All other knowledge, including non-WS empiricism, but also including religion, mythology, and social and cultural knowledge bases, tech and processes.
And that those two sets of things are both useful.
Yes, Western Science.
What would be some examples of 'seek to demolish' so I can understand what you are referring to.
Yes, the lineage of Western Science (part of it).
So in your mind, Western science is better at observing and understanding the physical world than other forms of empiricism developed in other places/times.
Yes. The proof I offer is this graph. The reason for this is Modern Science is founded in empiricism but evolved into a new and formal set of methods that have proven remarkably powerful and successful.
This is not a utopian claim, or that everything it has delivered is perfect. Quite the opposite, if anything the perpetual and necessary skepticism of the scientific method guarantees we will always be seeking better and improved pathways.
I'm aware that I'm struggling to convey properly what I mean by Modern Science; and I offer this really neat Veritassium video that starts in an arcane corner of mathematics – and arrives at the miracle machines you and I are typing on. You don't have to get all the details to appreciate the story – and it moves me beyond all reason:
That Modern Science has it's origins within Europe, and it's heroes are almost all 'dead white men' seems to be the real problem here. Well frankly I reject that as blatant woke racism.
I think your explanation is fine. Let's call it Modern Science (I'll still refer to it as Western as well). MS developed in a particular way and brings specific benefit. I don't think there is anything controversial in that.
We would differ in that I see ways of knowing in a circle and you probably see them in a hierarchy. And I would still use the word science to describe non-MS methodologies (and would reference the dictionary definitions at this point). But I think we are clear now.
Afaik, Māori are saying we can add to this body of knowledge (MS) from our own experience. They may also be saying that it should change to some degree.
If you have specific examples of how this damages MS, I'd be interested to hear them.
At this point I usually see the motte and bailey fallacy get trotted out. The motte – the easily defended position is:
Well almost no reasonable person is going to disagree with this, and especially not put their career and reputation at risk over. Indeed:
But then the bailey which triggered the Royal Society witch hunt is this:
It's evident there is an increasing disquiet among experienced and in some cases prominent people in seeing mātauranga Māori being placed in the driving seat, setting policy and funding priorities.
Or how about we get ahead of the curve and explain to those opposed to science what science actually is.
FFS the idea that Polynesian explorers were using something other than scientific techniques to navigate the pacific is not only scientifically and linguistically ignorant it's also blatantly racist and culturally ignorant too.
Humans everywhere were doing smart tough things to survive and thrive. Virtually all agriculture, animal husbandry, the building of things like pyramids, astronomy, mining and metal working, number systems, writing, political and military systems, medical models and so on – were notable features of societies everywhere. Consider the complexity and sophistication of traditional Chinese medicine as an example.
Or astonishing artifacts like the Antikythera Mechanism that pushed calendar and astronomical methods right up to the verge of fully modern ideas. The Ancient Greeks got to within a few conceptual steps of a full blown industrial revolution as did a number of civilisations. Maori were no different, nor especially unique. Their development of deep water navigation being a both obvious and necessary adaptation to their environment.
All of these pre-industrial observational knowledge systems were essential, valuable and can still inform us. But calling them science is yet another example of the deplorable woke trick of taking powerful words and stretching them into uselessness.
Perhaps I was too ambiguous. What I was trying to say is that there isn't another reliable repeatable way to discover what's true except by the scientific method. To the extent that ancient people discovered things that worked, they were practicing science. There isn't another repeatable way to do it. No doubt they also practiced lots of other non-scientific methods that didn't reliably or repeatably find out anything.
What I'm seeing people say is that they were actually practicing some other equally efficacious – or perhaps even superior sort of truth-finding that isn't scientific and that strikes me as a complete non-sequitur.
To the extent that ancient people discovered things that worked, they were practicing science.
That hijacks the word and blurs over a crucial historic distinction. In my view the word science is the explanation for this graph.
This universal transformation happened for a reason – science. Airbrushing that away to appease woke racists intent on eradicating 'whiteness' is bullshit.
'Economic growth is a very recent phenomenon'-really -Portugal,Spain,England,France all had huge economic growth…with Empire.
'– but this was the tiny elite of the tribal leaders, pharaohs, kings and religious leaders.'-like the 1% today you mean.
-'and the average person was living in conditions that we would call extreme poverty today.-nothing much has changed except maybe locations,25,000 a day dying of starvation.
' global GDP per capita – shows that the world economy has moved from a zero-sum game to a positive-sum game.'-delusional,meaningless drivel'(imo)
The data given with that article simply proves you wrong.
The reality is that by 2021 around 85% of humanity had escaped absolute poverty – something utterly unimaginable in 1821. In most respects you live a much better life than even the 1% elites of that era.
nothing much has changed except maybe locations,25,000 a day dying of starvation.
Due almost entirely to political incompetence and ethnic conflicts.
Does not matter what starvation is due to.
As you know re data…lies,damn lies and statistics'.
If there are 100,000 billionaires in the world and 100,000 people with .50c …if we add the totals and ascertain the average of 200,000 people it comes out as quite…meaningless.
Can you define this 'much better life'?
Does not matter what starvation is due to.
If you are not interested in the root causes, you probably are not interested in fixing the problem.
Nor does it seem to me you even bothered to read the article you're so airily dismissing.
Flawed analysis…stopped reading at this…
' it is a time in which the income of the average person grew immensely – from an average of £1051 incomes per person per year increased to over £30,000 a 29-fold increase in prosperity. This means an average person in the UK today has a higher income in two weeks than an average person in the past had in an entire year. Since the total sum of incomes is the total sum of production this also means that the production of the average person in two weeks today is equivalent to the production of the average person in an entire year in the past'
As I've mentioned before…what does this 29 fold increase buy ,adjusted for inflation!-line it up with house prices as an example.
This guy seems to be your go to…his analysis is so selective,to be ..useless-imo.
We've had this discussion before on correcting for inflation in monetary time series data. If you will not understand that then really you have no place in this discussion.
And how often have I seen this phrase “I stopped watching/reading at …”. It’s the hallmark signal of the cognitive dissonance that happens when data conflicts with fixed thinking.
This guy seems to be your go to…his analysis is so selective,to be ..useless-imo.
Attacking the messenger without bothering to find out anything about them.
I don't accept your criticism at all.
I have already pointed out specific flaws in his analysis.
Love to see what someone like Piketty would have to say.
I certainly understand he is taking inflation into account.That does not alter my query…food and shelter are vital to survival.
Alot of assumptions are relied on…define a 'much better life'!
29x increase….relate that to a comparative house price in London or a major city relevant to the time…frame he relies on.
I have already pointed out specific flaws in his analysis.
No you haven't. All you have done is claim that a comparison was not time corrected for inflation, without producing any evidence.
RL i think the problem here is your focus on global outcomes, while ignoring the experience of the western working class.
The Actuality of Marx’s Immiseration Thesis in the 21st Century – Regeneration Magazine
Let's play 'have/haven't' then.
1-'Economic growth is a very recent phenomenon'-really -Portugal,Spain,England,France all had huge economic growth…with Empire.'
Is 'recent' the get out clause?
@roblogic
That's a genuine objection. I agree that incomes in the developed West started to fall behind productivity sometime in the 70's.
My response is that this coincides with the final major expansion of the post WW2 global trade order to fully embrace Asia, India and Latin America – which inevitably brought workers in Europe and the Anglosphere into direct competition with the developing world.
It also coincided with the early 80's overshadowing of Keynsian policy settings with the idiotic neo-liberal idea that because capitalist markets were good at solving some economic problems – they must therefore be good at solving all problems.
And finally the absence of a global governance system that might moderate and regulate these affairs has meant we lacked the tools to address the concerns you raise.
Roblogic said the same thing I alluded to….with graphs!
"to appease woke racists intent on eradicating 'whiteness' is bullshit."
Well that's interesting. We both disagree with the woke racists but from different angles. You think they're wrong for saying ancients did science, and I think they're wrong for saying the ancients' magic was just as good as science.
"That hijacks the word "
People are either using the scientific method or they're not. If they're reliably and repeatably discovering anything about reality then they must be using it, because there was never any other way that worked. The hijack is in reserving the word just for science that leads to your specific set of outcomes. That is starting from the conclusion and working backwards, and is not very scientific.
👍
I also think that context matters here. If I were stuck in the Australian outback with no help coming, would I want to be with a group of local Aboriginal people who knew how to live on the land, or would I want to be with a hydrologist, botanist and zoologist?
I would actually want a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon).
But to answer your question in good faith – if I was in the outback yes the local people would have better knowledge of the outback. And if I was in the Arctic tundra I would definitely pick the local Inuit.
But if I did not know in advance where I might land up – in other words I had to deal with the general case – I would pick the group of scientists as far more likely to be able to discover what we needed to know to survive regardless of the setting. (I accept a few cans of baked beans to get us through while they worked it out would be a bonus.)
I'm not trying to be smart here – this is an important qualitative difference.
You think they're wrong for saying ancients did science, and I think they're wrong for saying the ancients' magic was just as good as science.
That works for me both ways. Happy to accept this point.
People are either using the scientific method or they're not. If they're reliably and repeatably discovering anything about reality then they must be using it, because there was never any other way that worked.
The crux of this is 'reliably and repeatedly'. Look back at the comparison I made above between Polynesian and Portuguese deep water navigation. One led to the GPS chart plotter, the other did not. One method was amenable to deeper levels of abstraction and generalisation, the other was not. One has become a universal tool, the other a cultural curiosity that's of niche appeal only.
So, parliament recognised the right to self-determination.
I do empathise with victims of traditional social categorising, having experienced such victimhood myself in the distant past (longhaired male, cannabis etc). We all ought to have the legal right to express our identity in our own terms.
However, inasmuch as the new law may permit infringement of the civil rights of others, we could be exchanging one evil for another, eh?
If guys pretending to be women are empowered to invade women's spaces by this law, there could be harm done. Enabling any serious mysogynist to target women easily!
You can stop recycling the strawperson arguments now. Men already harm women without needing to change anything. This has been talked to death all year.
Give a shout when the bill causes harm in New Zealand.
Wake us all up.
Clearly the parliamentarians are taking an evidence-based approach to the thing. We just need to wait for the opportunists to spot the opportunity, get in there & do their usual thing. Human nature always produces predators as offenders. Shouldn't take long for the reports to come in…
"Clearly the parliamentarians are taking an evidence-based approach to the thing."
How did you come to that conclusion? What evidence? What 'thing'?
It's my take from the (unanimous?) decision. Evidence of harm. Potential abuse & consequent harm. In other words, the precautionary principle never entered into their thinking…
Thanks, Dennis. Reading through the Regulatory Impact statement gives some weight to your perspective.
Harm cannot be seen, measured or avoided when you are deliberately not looking for it.
hard to assess evidence when you refuse to look at it and you are part of the movement to silence dissent.
And yes, why be cautious when you know there are no problems.
It doesn't make sense of course. International experts gave evidence via submissions, and that's all backed up by copious amounts of information and discussion online going back years now. So either one believes that NZ is somehow immune to the problems we should be cautious about compared to other countries, or one believes that women and kids are ok as collateral damage, or one is so immersed in the ideology that it's not possible to see outside of it anymore.
And let's not forget that there is immense pressure on people, women especially, to not speak out. I actually can't imagine any women in the Greens or Labour being able to speak out as a gender critical feminist and not put their career at risk. Ad and co can assert that all women MPs wanted this but this speaks to what I assume is his large ignorance or denialism about the impact that No Debate has and is still having.
But hey, we're supposed to just shut the fuck up now. Women, talking about women's business, are supposed to not talk or go away somewhere else. As if men get to tell women what to do. Lol, how do progressive men even rationalise that in their own heads?
Seems to me that the situation calls for a new phase of feminist politics. However I'm too remote from the experiential side of the issue & will have to await reaction from female activists in their twenties & thirties to get a sense of the potential for that.
one of the things that gives me the greatest hope at the moment is the rise of the gender critical feminist movement in the UK (aka Terf Island). This is largely older left wing or centre left feminists with long histories of political, social justice, activist and academic work. They are organising at the grassroots level and have been successful in changing government policy. Lots of battles being fought on many fronts, and not all wins, but the solidarity and sisterhood is something to behold. They also hold a lot of power in various ways.
And yes, there are plenty of young GCFs. From what I can tell Gen Z are more sceptical of the ideology than Millenials have been.
The detrans women's community is also growing in strength and producing its own body of knowledge that is important to the debate.
We tried, Sacha. But it was obviously past your bedtime.
Sure, we should wait until women are harmed, then there will be a long string of excuses by left wing men about collateral damage.
As Sacha points out, it's all been discussed, so we know that some left wing men take the position that women already get sexually assaulted and harassed, so what's a few more women being raped, eh?
We know from international experience that housing trans women and other males via self-ID into women's prisons results in sexual assault of women prisoners, but who cares about them, trans women get raped too so women will just have to suck it up.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/112432880/transgender-prisoner-investigated-for-sexual-assault-behind-bars
We know that the rate of men recording women in changing rooms and toilets is on the rise.
We know that the dignity and privacy and safety of women who are rape and sexual assault survivors, or who have religious restrictions on how they interact with men, is being surrendered for not just trans women, but other males for whom self-IDing as women gives them psychological and sexual satisfaction.
But sure, let's wait until self-ID in NZ is causing widespread harm and then I expect the left wing men currently supporting to do exactly nothing. Because NZ is special and can't possibly be like those other terrible places, or maybe it's just that we don't actually care that much about women's right to their own politics unless it aligns with what the men want.
The left wing men thing is getting tiresome.
tell me about it.
All feminists in Parliament vote for it.
All women.
All Greens.
So you can tell them.
They're not listening Ad, and apparently you're not either.
Left wing blokes telling women their politics aren't the correct women's politics is nothing new.
The whole of Parliament is telling you that they listened, and that your opinion has had no bearing at all.
Your cause is lost.
Oh right, so you think that parliament gets to be the sole arbiter of society and women's politics. Just women's politics presumably, we are still allowed to challenge parliament on other things they get wrong.
Parliament gets to evaluate bills that become Acts, and that is their prerogative entirely. Not only was any evidence proposed against it unpersuasive, it was unpersuasive right across the entire political spectrum, every party, every woman, every man, and across every Member of Parliament.
It doesn't get more comprehensive than that.
And the new gender religion is still false.
Thanks Patronising Man. But we have a long, very important history of protest against government when it gets it wrong.
Except for two things,
There's a term on social media called Peak Trans. It's problematic because it unfairly places emphasis on trans people rather than gender identity ideologists/activists, but it's essentially the process liberal and progressives go through when they realise that their young teen age girls will have to share changing rooms with intact males, or they learn what AGP is, or they read about the feminist academics in the UK losing their jobs for saying that biological sex is important, or that women prisoners are being raped by males who self-ID into women's prisons, or that lesbians are being sexually assaulted by trans identified males because lesbians are supposed to now like girl dick and are transphobes if they don't. Not a comprehensive list by any means.
Comprehensive was however also when men in parliament were refusing women the right to vote, or not be raped in marriage, or to own property. Like I said, none of what you are doing is new. It's old and tedious. We get it. Women’s rights and politics gets supported by men when it suits the men, not because women deserve their own political sovereignty.
Submissions to parliament were 73% against the proposed bill in its current form. That's not listening, Ad.
That does not mean that submitters were against the proposal for transgender recognition. In fact, many submissions supported that concept, just not in this particular form that has resulted in many issues in countries that have passed it.
With all due respect Ad I really think we are the ones who need to decide whether our cause is lost, not you.
If the women on this blogsite are anything to go by, we are only just beginning.
Once women start putting it together that the male in their change room is allowed to be there, because of this law, and the De-transitioners start to get more of a voice (yes that's right the 22,000 and counting young people whose bodies and fertitlity and ability to have an organism are compromised, then some of these politicians may regret their votes.
Personally I don't know how people can be taken in by this ideology.
The whole of parliament is telling us that they don't, and never have, had any respect whatsoever for the people they ostensibly represent.
Another stupid step down the road to Trumpism.
Left wing men do not have a majority in parliament or on any select committee or in society.
what's your point SPC? If you are trying to tell me that there is no issue with left wing men's support for gender identity ideology against women's rights when I'm pointing right at it, I'd have to ask what you are on about.
Yes, yes, #notallleftwingmen
In the 1960s and 70s left wing men told women to shut the fuck up about women's issues, so women went off and organised themselves into second wave feminism.
A more recent example would be two left wing male authors on TS blocked and basically did a hatchet job on the women's project that was trying to get more women authors and commenters on TS.
I still don't know what your point is. Maybe instead of asking questions and speaking obliquely you could just spell it out? Are you objecting to me talking about left wing men as being opposed to women's politics?
Sorry, what? National Organisation of Women? What's their role in gender identity ideology and how does this relate to the discussion today?
Yep … looks very much like women from the Trans-Gender ID Feminist faction … eg Stephanie Rodgers / Jan Logie & so on … are the core supporters & promoters … & certainly the major propagndists on social media … sadly their adversaries (who I generally have some sympathy for) – the Gender Critical Feminists – are still stuck in the obsessive It's all down to Men dogma. An underlying misandry prevents them seeing the Wood for the Trees.
sadly the Gender Critical Feminists are still stuck in the It's all down to Men dogma. Can't see the Wood for the Trees.
tut tut – you really were not supposed to say that out loud.
That's stupid. I was talking about men on TS, because it's an obvious pattern and a specific dynamic that causes issues for women. Nothing I have said implies that only lw men are responsible.
Many of the GCF women on TS have been criticising NZ women, just read the comments about the self-ID select committee process. I haven't seen NZ women offsite saying it's all on lw men either. But perhaps you haven't been reading what GCFs actually say.
You basically just made a bunch of stuff up.
as for misandry, it's not hateful to hold men to account for their behaviour. You of all people know about that.
I was/am not aware of TS's left wing author background issues (and do not need to …).
PS Above while editing a post in reply to one of yours I decided to delete it and start again (not knowing you had made a reply). I'll reboot that on today's DR.
👍
Yes, it's not necessary to know the details of what's happened back end on TS (and there are limits on what I can say), but I wanted to give two examples from quite different times but including a contemporary example, that demonstrate that left wing male antipathy towards women's politics has form and outside of the gender identity fight.
You don't think it may already have due to the #NoDebate stance, the disdain shown to questions by the MPs, and the farcical submission process?
will do Ad <img alt=”wink”
I’lllbe letting you know loud and clear.src=”https://thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png” title=”wink” />
For me this one was more difficult to make a determination on than the civil unions, PR and same sex marriages.
The claims made then by opponents that there would be harm resulting was not something to take seriously – and democracy is not about conformity to a world view imposed on society by some inter-generational order of God (whatever the faith of some/many of its citizens).
Both the transgender and women have a right to be safe and then there is the next level confusion when issues of identity, puberty and social and physical development inter-act with the role of the parent in the life of the child.
Both the transgender and women have a right to be safe and then there is the next level confusion when issues of identity, puberty and social and physical development inter-act with the role of the parent in the life of the child.
I don't understand what you are trying to say here.
Safeguarding of women and children is "not something to take seriously"
OK then.
"Next level confusion"
You got that right. Lies about fundamental aspects of human nature are at the centre of this ideology. Confusion is useful camouflage when you're trying to demolish biological reality in service of an abhorrent political project.
From your link (yes I do read many of them):
Well given that over the past 3 – 4 generations fatherhood has been marginalised into virtual irrelevancy then we should not be surprised at this next level extension. And given this was always one of the open goals of marxism the dots start connecting in bold neon highlighter.
The marginalisation of fatherhood is a open goal of Marxism? I assume you can back this assertion with a citation.
For those who think the man as head of the family is a cornerstone of society order and that atheistic socialism wants the state (of equal vote to male and female) to have power instead of the traditional patriarchy
(see the Frankfort School and The Rocky Horror Picture Show send up of it)
were just the beginning, next the Goddess will be an equal to God and priests will wear frilly undergarments.
To help your comprehension emphasis added. But it should have been obvious what the meaning was – it spoke to then – those past issues.
Your claim that this means not taking safety of women and children seriously is worse than the average strawman but a deliberate and calculated insult.
I can presume that because you were able to determine the meaning of the last paragraph – it is going to be even more difficult to parent children through those years than before. A child centred approach is fine but interaction between the state and parent is going to get complicated.
Great to hear Minister Allen is clear of cancer.
She's a good unit.
That is good news that she's in remission.
You have made my day . She is gold.
Was pleased to read that. Glad she's come through, and scans show NED.
(Might be of interest to note that breast cancer patients do not have scans after treatment. They are advised that they will become aware if the cancer returns, usually by the bone-deep pain they will experience. Although 1 in 9 women in NZ will get breast cancer, and I have friends and family that had gone through it, I wasn't aware this was the case.)
And the Births Deaths and Marriages Bill sails through Parliament's final vote, unanimously.
Self-identification A New Milestone In New Zealand’s History | Scoop News
Green Party celebrates wholeheartedly:
Green Party Celebrates Gender Self-ID Legislation Becoming Law | Scoop News
The Green Party shut down debate, within the party, about gender identity ideology and how it and self-ID impact on women. That's the Green Party with some of most democratic processes of any political party in NZ, and they refused to let it be discussed. Just so we are clear that the Greens have been part of No Debate, and that this is reflected in their position on the Bill.
Amidst a political reshufflling the Greens remain unable to break double figures…that should be shouting volumes.
I think it may impact on them in the long run, I'm not convinced it is happening yet. Most people don't know about debate being shut down in the party, and most people don't know what the gender critical/feminist arguments about self-ID are. We will see in time. It's possible people won't care. And there is the problem of who else would one vote for? It's not like Labour are any better.
Yeah but the shout is only audible to anyone listening. I've said it here many times before but repetition is often necessary in the comms process: the Green Party remains on the same level of popular support it had the year it was formed (7%). Any upward fluctuations are reciprocal to ebbing support for Labour.
The interesting question is why the Greens aren't ever trying to recruit centrists. Given that centrists always create election outcomes, you'd think the logic would be persuasive. My explanation has always been leftist political positioning – but I'm open to other views.
because the Greens want change not power, and being left of Labour is a better way to get change than trying to compete with Labour in the centre. They pulled Labour left on climate for instance.
the irony of course is that lots of lefties criticise them for not being left enough, but won't actually vote for them and pull them left 🤡
Mostly I just think the Greens know better than most about what works for them. I am disappointed in them not going hard on climate especially in terms of making waves about Labour's slow action, but we can't have it both ways. We either want them in government (kind of) and making change in the system, or we want them out and able to rabble rouse. If I saw NZers actually willing to make changes for climate I'd be more believing that the latter would work. I just don't see the evidence.
There were plenty of people in the Labour Party who understood the seriousness of CC back in the late 1970s and 80s weka. But I do agree with you that the parliamentary wing were well behind the ball game – not all of them but most of them.
I sometimes wonder if Norman Kirk had lived to complete two full terms at the helm whether Labour would have been higher on the CC awareness scale sooner.
It seems to me that they remain incapable of making themselves relevant to the majority….they appear obsessed with fringe issues to their own detriment.
If it continues it will ultimately cost them some of the support they currently enjoy.
I see them doing solid work in a number of areas, and making gains that fit with GP principles and values. I would guess that at this point in the election cycle, making those gains is a high priority. This will including stuff we don't see much about like how government departments are run.
Imo it's still impossible to tell how much of the GP's stuck vote is due to Ardern, and Labour's handling of the pandemic.
Recent polls have shown the GP trending upwards.
But I agree that they appear to be focused on issues that won't give them the heft to become a big player. We know that they got badly burned with the backlash against Turei's speech, so I'm not sure that the perpetual call from some on the left to do something radical is that useful.
Do something radical or do something relevant?
such as?
devote their energies to issues of concern to the wider public…..if they gain support then they have the power to address anything they desire.
Here's something:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/457597/auckland-housing-crisis-monumental-task-for-first-home-buyers-as-prices-continue-to-rise
Swarbrick is one of the few bright lights on the political horizon.
"Swarbrick is one of the few bright lights on the political horizon."
I wonder what she thinks about gender self-id. We already know how she votes.
I think it would be impossible for any Green MP to differ from the policy line they have taken.
Issues of concern to the wider public, such as?
Obviously not the issues they are focusing on
Identity Politics and Self ID?
When did Jan Tinetti join the Greens?
ok Pat, you either won't say or you're just hand waving in a general direction of something vague. Yes, the Greens should do better. No-one is prepared to say how exactly.
such as-
'Swarbrick said New Zealand needed a "seismic shift" in how we see housing, including actually taxing wealth and capital gains.'
https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2021-11/15th%20Ipsos%20New%20Zealand%20Issues%20Monitor_Report%20V2.pdf
With a Gov that’s losing support it shouldnt be too difficult for those seeking support to discover where their energies should be directed.
Swarbrick and Menendez are doing awesome work, including putting out actual left wing ideas. But remember what happened when Turei did this as co-leader? It ended her parliamentary career.
So anyone saying the Greens should be bolder and do more needs to say how. We know what we want to happen, but the Greens still exist within NZ's conservative political culture.
@Pat, so you want the GP to be Labour, good to know.
When she met me 🙂
Who actually ended Turei's career?…..Id suggest it was the Greens themselves.
I wonder how it would have played out had she been supported?
Supported by who? She was unequivocally supported by Shaw and the caucus apart from the two MPs who monkey wrenched GP process. But the MSM went viciously hard, including lefties like John Campbell. Nothing tells me more than this that the political classes in NZ are classist af. If someone like Campbell doesn't get it then there's no hope of the wider electorate either. NZ doesn't want a left wing govt, it's doesn't want to solve poverty or end the housing crisis. And that includes the larger proportion of the left. But sure, blame the Greens, who are actually left of Labour and have solid left wing policies.
"@Pat, so you want the GP to be Labour, good to know."
Meh….I want someone to be what Labour should be (and are obviously incapable of being, since Douglas)…if its the Greens then all good, and if they are as 'solid left wing' as you claim then it shouldnt be so difficult for them.
If we want more action on inequality, housing or the environment the evidence is in that the Labour party will not do it without a pull from the left. The Greens remain committed to actually trying to solve these issues and it’s clear Labour is only happy to work with them on their own terms. That the Greens are the ones to blame for this has always baffled me.
I want more action on inequality, housing and the environment and so to make sure this happens I support the Greens. That isn’t to say I agree with everything they do but this is MMP and I am hopeful that new and first-time voters understand this too.
same.
On my cynical days I conclude that most NZ liberals in fact don't want action on those things. Hard core Labourites I can understand, but the people that want action but won't vote for the party that has the actual policies, this is beyond me.
It is hard not to feel cynical about it, I agree.
then there's the fact that so many Labour voters own property /cynicism
Someone should do some research on that to see if it’s actually a thing. People won’t vote for the Greens because when it comes down to their personal wealth they’re protectionist, damn the poor.
The Greens don't talk about poverty much though, all we ever hear from them is gender identity, sexuality, hate speech, how everything and everyone is racist and occasionally they'll talk about weed or climate change.
The Greens have become a stand in for a left wing party like an alliance or a European socialist minor party because despite the poverty and wealth and housing inequality we don't seem to have the talent to create party focused soley on class. Mana was a decent attempt but it was a Maori nationalist party not specifically a class based party, the internet party was… A disaster. Since the alliance fell the greens have kind of been a stand in for that kind of party.
But The Greens are absolutely not the party or vehicle to achieve action on poverty or class issues because they are mostly an upper middle class outfit. The amount of Green voting NIMBYs is insane. The weird upper middle class identity politics and micro aggressions obsessions.
The greens are a party of the left but they can never be a party of the class left nor should they have to be, there is plenty of space for a die linke or an alliance style party and instead of demanding a party of mostly upper middle class to wealthy but nice and compassionate people represent poor people activists should work to create a party over many election cycles that can be a class party.
However failing that of the greens want to be an actual player they can learn how to do politics. If labour ever needs their votes and won't give them what they have the power to put labour in a minority govt and say they'll vote with them on a case by case basis. Give us what we want or we walk.
And in hindsight the greens shouldn't have done a deal with labour, it only benefits labour not having anyone to the left of them attacking them in the house. It makes the greens invisible they could potentially be polling on par with act right now as rabble rousers then again they might be polling the same but they could run in the next election as a change party where as now they are a party of the status quo with nothing to really show for the agreement other than some ministerial limos
This is very insightful commentary Corey.
'The amount of Green voting NIMBYs is insane'
Sue Bradford was a great loss from the Greens and Parliament. Metiria Turei would have filled the "class left" void.
But now, our “representatives” are all coiffurred neoliberals voting by focus group. Only the Maori Party offers a dim hope of something different.
As WMBAD pointed out, we need to organize, loose ourselves to a group, a cause. Then the Arderns, the Davidsons, Shaws, Robertsons will follow.
The first, obvious group is a union relating to work. I have been scratching my head as to the next type of group.
I have just recently joined a Biochar group. Already, I can see I am being a bit of a pain in the arse.
If, by making Biochar, you allow the smoke to escape the process, you are releasing CO, methane and other CC nasties. However, catching and condensing the smoke, you are left with awesome resources and a 'carbon negative' process.
Associate Professor Jennifer Lees-Marshment is from Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland and is an expert in political marketing:
Not disagreeing with her, but how do they validate political marketing claims?? Marketing pros in the economy can validate with purchasing stats, due to buying & selling going on record. Does the analogy with voting patterns suffice?
Interesting that she sees a downside for both major parties:
Check out her graph showing the switch from 2017 to 2020 – spectacular! Then her advice to National…
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/navigating-unknown-waters-political-marketing-and-the-2023-nz-election
Link please.
Inserted, thanks
Whats new about this…the role of Crosby Textor in election campaigns is well known,and their results speak for themselves.
Key said he wouldn't be using them and of course he…did.
Its all about perception and getting that perception in voters heads.
Thanks Dennis. All a matter of perception.
Sharon Weiss – just sayin'
Perspective.
https://twitter.com/LOCMaps/status/1468581131645857794
I have been a cigarette smoker many years ago and tried to give up many times until I gave up giving up and strangely shortly after I gave up.
what I always thought would be best advice regarding cigarettes is for people who do smoke be registered through a GP who would distribute a weekly amount along with quitting advice to these registered smokers.
Cigarettes could then be banned from sale, that would put an end to future victims and eventually the registered would either successfully be helped to give it up or will die from it.
Case solved.
Bill wrote a post about it once https://thestandard.org.nz/curing-tobacco/
"I gave up giving up and strangely shortly after I gave up."
Profound!
Fantastic news. Also, NZ in this map, lol.
https://twitter.com/BreezyScroll/status/1468815027608047618
Re the new cigarette ban announcement from Labour
https://twitter.com/cameronlord01/status/1468825489707986946?s=21
Doubt that many under 13's have ever been buying…houses.
the new smoking ban is that anyone who was born after 2008 won't be able to buy cigarettes. Ever.
The tweet about housing was a joke, but the same principle applies. People who are 13 years old now will never be able to buy a house, ever.
Be interesting to see if the smoking ban will work.
Seems like Prohibition=black,criminal market.
Liked the Dr's prescription idea better.
As for housing ,the damage to society from not addressing the crisis will be immense,its a disgrace.
Ardern has indeed become 'Tony Blair in high heels'!
NZ is a good place to trial the ban, because of our large sea border. But I haven't read the detail of the policy to see what they are planning.