"There are so many senior people within the Prime Minister's office and other senior ministers that know and knew the extent of it that it is inconceivable that [Ardern] wasn't told," Bennett told reporters.
Very senior members of Arderns office are named, along with Grant Robinson. If Ardern is to be believed (that no one told her) her closest advisors do not trust her ability to lead. She needs to purge her office to regain control.
Bennett is dishonest and so is her leader. Bennett is deceitful and she's attempting to project her own image on Jacinda Ardern. Bennett is spiteful and she should have resigned 10 years ago after she sought and released the personal information of two women who (politely) disagreed with her over the axing of night classes for solo mums who were trying to ready themselves for the workforce by gaining a qualification.
She's also a pernicious leaker… eg. the Winston Peters Super muck-up by Winz of which he had no way of knowing about.
Believing anything that woman says is like believing in the tooth fairy.
yep bennett is not to be trusted – she is completely amoral imo where personal information and political point scoring are concerned. She is not showering herself with glory.
To grant Robinson Crusoe his due, no man alone is an island. And no man walks alone in a foe cult society where everyone knows whether your name is Daniel or Michel.
This is getting very ugly for Labour. Sounds as if they all knew about it and it was someone right in amongst the politburo heirarchy good friends with them all. Talk about a cover up. Very very untidy #Laboursmetoomoment
[I have approved this comment because the system took it to come from a first-time user. However, I have good reason to believe that you are simply trolling here. Permanent ban – Incognito]
This whole “Labour sex scandal” smells like "dirty politics" revenge courtesy of Natz leading muck raker PB, aka dirt agent 000. Can't see this hurting the PM, quite the opposite as she will be seen to act decisively following receiving QC report…..and with a fizz the wee scandal melts into the beltway sunset.
Meanwhile Winston has a present for PB, and it ain't dead flowers.
Whatever one might say about Jamie Lee Ross’s ethics and morals, no one has suggested that it was non consensual. That is not the case in the present case.
While that was not a case of assault, which normally is judged in a court of law, it could be wondered how ethical and moral the spouses of the two MPs saw it when they found out what most of the National Party knew and they didn't?
You seem to be unable to see the situation Anne. It’s always Nationals fault. Or they have done worse things. What’s wrong with you and some of your like minded commenters. This is Labour’s fuck up not Nationals. If National make political capital out of this that’s politics. Labour is made up of the same sort of people as National. Different philosophy that’s all. The people are no better no worse. At best JA doesn’t know what’s going on in the Labour Party. Worst scenario she does. Take your pick. I had to listen to comments on the project tonight that insinuated that JA is a nice person so could not have known about the situation. If this was happening to National, SB would be called a lying Arse hole I suspect. I could be wrong of course!!? A bit of balance and realism in your comments would be great.
A bit of balance and realism in your comments would be great.
Aha, you hit the nail on the head. A bit of balance is exactly what I've been doing. At the moment it's a massive attack on Labour as if this situation has not occurred before. We've seen National go through exactly the same process in the past year without anything like the same hullabaloo.
The corporate media is behaving disgracefully and I will continue to bring some balance back into the picture whether 'newy viewy' likes it or not.
From what I have seen in the past two days it appears that the "media" are less interested in the "victim(s)", and those they sought to create, of this than their prospects, profiles and pay packets. From Bryce Edwards, to the Spin-Off and the cross matches of one of their writers to North and South the story has been spun, stretched and shared in many forms without any access or concern as to the facts.
The facts will come from the QC when they have them and have had the time to assess and seek any further details that are relevant. The disgraceful media as you rightly call them saw no need and had no interest in waiting for the truth, they are beyond belief and coming to an election year dangerous if they persist with this behaviour, they want and intend to get collateral damage any way they can.
Couldn't agree more Kat – it has all of the usual hallmarks of the political hit jobs that John Key's administration was very effective at, the fact that this ridiculous beat-up occupied Soimon's entire interview on Breakfast this morning when Haley lead us to believe they would be talking about Simon and former Chinese spy teacher Jian Yang chaperoning him in the mother country while Simon chatted to the Chinese Security service chief…but no, we had the agenda entirely set by those that would subvert it.
Jeez so you are telling me its a massive sting operation where young men and woman have gone under cover volunteering in the Labour party so they could invent a sex scandal as revenge for dirty politics.
Given our sex abuse statistics and rape culture i would say the story as it is being told is far more likely.
No small wonder we only have one active feminist author here…
I support the integrity of the Labour Party and believe that the flood of misinformation, allegations, inflated and conflated misinformation will hurt the instigators in the end.
Wouldn't it be great for the "victims" to meet the PM. Given the conflicting stories they would be free to explain eye to eye. (I read somewhere that the sexual victim said she was too scared to speak up about her problem.)
What comes around goes around I would hope for Bennett.
I think it was Iprent who wrote that those with a complaint such as assault should be shown that the Party cannot process such criminal matters. A victim of say a sexual assault might expect the President or Secretary to investigate and action but they cannot. What if such a victim believed that Harworth would just spring into action and fix everything. When he couldn't, imagine the victim disappointment.
What I understood Lynn to be saying was that the *legal actions available are via the Crimes Act and employment legislation and this is not something Labour can do. There is nothing to stop Labour from also doing its own internal investigation separate from anything that the police or parlimentary services may or may not do. This is what the victims were asking for imo, for Labour to take action about its own organisation, culture and policies. A complaint to the police or PS isn't necessary for that to happen.
It's also not true imo that Labour could do nothing about the staffer. They could for instance change his duties so he is not doing things like accompanying young members to events. It sounds like some of his job had already changed.
If you are interested in the Tasman District Council election. Meet the candidates in Richmond is currently being live streamed. Mayoral candidates are also there.
Why was it necessary to go to Paula Bennett about the alleged assaults and offences, instead of the police? Although I am not judging the complaints of the victims at this stage, not my place to do so, but really, Paula Bennett as the first port of call to seek help???
With Bennett's involvement, I'm getting a strong stench of dirty Blue politics permeating the air once more as the 2020 election approaches.
Agree the process is brutal for women/girls. I have been at the coal face supporting victims of abuse, it is just not a case of making a statement to the police that's the easy part (not that any part of the process is easy).
If Labour had listened and supported the victims/s then as you say weka no need to involve the opposition and media.
Yeah. The process at the police and the legal structures around it needs to be looked at.
I’d really like to find out what it is like now with the police handling of rape and sexual assualt cases – most of my referential anecdotes are now decades old. More in the Louise Nicholas era.
There is still a basic problem is that there has to be enough evidence to get the courts to be able to convict and that does require either some corroborating evidence or some kind of adversarial process. I can’t see too many ways that the latter can’t be brutal to the complainant when we’re looking at custodial sentences.
But I think that complaints or (at the very least) statements should always be made to the police because otherwise people are effectively just encouraging dickheads to do the same thing again. They should also make sure that there is a hard copy from the police about the interview. This keeps the police honest because they seem not file information on the persistent computer systems otherwise.
Normally this shows up as being done as part of job – then you can hit up their employers. The problem is (as I have been pointing out) the allegations made are that the person involved isn’t an employee of the NZLP and has been doing stuff outside of even party. Which makes this kind of complicated. But that would have been the good avenue – to approach Parliamentary Services if this was being a workplace issue.
Even if it was a party issue, then there is virtually nothing done lawfully without a clear smoking gun by the NZLP. Besides, they simply don’t have the required resources to even evaluate the evidence. Which is why sending it off to a QC was a mildly good idea.
Personally I’d like to just do some basic changes to the law.
Firstly to make confidential settlements a crime. As far as I am concerned they are just encourage awful behaviour by the affluent.
Secondly to make it so that anyone can report probable assaults and sexual assaults for the police to investigate. We already have laws about wasting police time so I don’t think that would be too much of an issue. But it’d probably help to increase the reporting considerably and help with the power imbalances. This is already the case for a number of crimes like murder and aggravated assaults that the complainant isn’t expected to be the victim.
I know that whenever I have run across some of these in the past (mostly when I was a barman) that my biggest problem is that I’d like to report it and to trigger an investigation because I knew damn well that the victim was unlikely to do so. I also knew that the arsehole perp would just do it again. It is one of the most irritating aspects of our justice system.
I’d really like to find out what it is like now with the police handling of rape and sexual assualt cases – most of my referential anecdotes are now decades old. More in the Louise Nicholas era.
Kirsty Johnston has done considerable work on this issue…
But I think that complaints or (at the very least) statements should always be made to the police because otherwise people are effectively just encouraging dickheads to do the same thing again.
Unless the laws are changed so that some other body apart from the police are entitled to and (in theory) required to track complaints and offenses about predators, the perpetrators of any kind of assault will just move, change jobs, and do it again. If they do get pulled up at some point, then they claim that it was a momentary problem and walk under some kind of diversion and/or name suppression.
One of the best bits of evidence for a court would be to show a history of previous complainants and have that admissible by the police / crown. It would clearly show a pattern of behaviour that needs to be dealt with.
In order for more women to take complaints to the police, the culture needs to change. Not just in the police and justice system, but wider. This is why, while I understand what you are saying about the current situation and that Labour can't do anything via the Crimes Act or employment law, I disagree that they can't do anything.
Had the processes and culture in Labour been different, it's possible that a formal complaint to either the police or parliamentary services may have followed. But to make a complaint when Labour are either making things harder from ignorance, or actively putting barriers in the way, that's too much to ask imo. Women know that going to the police is unlikely to do them good and will mostly likely harm them further, so there is a direct conflict between the wellbeing of victims and the wellbeing of society. That's not on women who have been assaulted to remedy. It's for everyone else to sort out.
There is an argument to be made that rape cases should have their own set of rules because it is unlike pretty much any other crime in important regards. To get any change to process and outcome in the justice system you need lawmakers that understand the dynamics of rape and why it is done, and how systems are complicit in that. The one thing about this case that gives me some hope is that if Labour do step up now and sort their culture out internally, there is potential for them to then foster good lawmakers in the future.
I haven't followed the story this week very closely, but it's clear that the allegations were handled badly. Not because Labour should have fired the staffer or whatever, but because they should have listened to and engaged with the people making the complaints in a way that protected them and gave them support so that a way to deal with the situation could have been worked out. Even the fact that Labour met with one of the victims on her own is a red flag for me. At the least someone should have been there and written up the meeting and made sure that copies were given to Labour and victim. That's just basic stuff.
Likewise the whole mess with the emails.
My advice to anyone engaging with any organisation that has power like this is to always take a witness to any conversation, preferably one that can take good notes. Hopefully now processes will develop/be adopted for getting confirmation that emails have been received (and that Labour will do this with regard for people making complaints, not just setting up systems to protect themselves).
The onus shouldn't be on the people making the complaint but on the organisation with the resources. That Labour didn't do these things suggests either incompetence or worse. I suspect its incompetence (esp given what Ardern has said), but I think it's also likely there has been some protection of Labour going on by some of the people involved.
Imagine counselling a victim of sexual assault and encouraging them to take their claims to court. The risk is a replay of vivid trauma and the reopening of psychological wounds still raw and tender.
The reward? A 50:50 shot at justice.
That's the reality for the few victims brave enough to take their case to court and front the alleged perpetrator of their pain.
Statistics show barely half of all sexual crimes taken through the judicial process in 2018 resulted in a conviction. In some years the rate has been much lower.
Ministry of Justice figures show the cases that end up in court are a tiny percentage of sex crimes, the great majority of which (up to 90 per cent) are believed to go unreported. Of that small catchment, less than 10 per cent make it as far as a courtroom.
Given this brutal distillation process, it would be fair to assume that any case left standing would involve robust evidence and the best possible opportunity for conviction. Sadly, the numbers tell quite a different story.
The figures suggest that, for every 100 sexual crimes in this country, 99 perpetrators escape justice, many without even needing to face their accuser in court.
One possible solution…
There is currently no incentive (due to the risk of imprisonment) for any perpetrator to acknowledge the sexual violence that occurred, nor is there any protection for those perpetrators who do wish to acknowledge what occurred and make redress," it noted.
Victims did not always want an intimidating court setting, and a prison sentence was not always the priority: in many cases, they wanted acknowledgement of the wrong done and appropriate treatment for the wrong-doer.
That would involve a significant shift in our understanding of what victims want, although clearly it would not be appropriate for the most serious cases.
It would also involve doing something even more challenging and significant: listening to victims and empowering them in the process.
One of the things she said was that cops weren't being critical enough when investigating sexual assault complaints, giving an advantage to the defense lawyers to present the evidence in a more critical light.
In a "my word against yours" trial, that means poking holes in the other person's testimony, saying they are unreliable, etc etc etc. And then emphasising "reasonable doubt".
I just can't help thinking that our adversarial system is particularly unsuited to determining the truth of these cases.
One idea I have heard of if that there is an independent authority that women can make complaints to but nothing is taken further until a certain number of other people make a complaint about the same person. That way the person making a complaint doesn't have to go it alone and the strength in numbers make a conviction more likely.
TBH – expecting there to be a good outcome from people with no/limited investigative powers, no expertise, experience and constrained by employment and privacy laws it a big ask.
On the victims side it can go from:
Lying, mistaken, offensive but not criminal, criminal offending occurred, criminal offending occurred with long-last consequnces
And on the alleged offenders it can go from:
Innocent, unintentional, offensive but not criminal, criminal, criminal with pycho/sociopathic tendancies
(And probably options I can't even think of. ) And each of those people can have honest differences about where the offending was on that spectrum.
If the justice system can only get it right in a small number of cases with all its resources, it's no wonder highly constrained amateurs are not going to be able to make decisions that are just even with the very best of intentions.
First link is behind the paywall that I can’t justify paying for.
Second link is good it sounds like they’re now at least starting to code sexual assault complaints as sexual assaults rather “not a crime” and it shows in the stats.
Third link is accessible and kind of alarming. 12 adult sexual assault detectives for the whole of Auckland? WTF…
It looks more like Bennett was a last resort after various attempts within Labour had been unsuccessful and re-traumatising.
In Parliament today Bennett said that a former chief of staff of Ardern's knew about the allegations, and also her chief press secretary. And two victims claim to have made a complaint around Christmas time to the director of the leader's office.
It is also well documented that they made submissions and had brief interviews with the investigation panel (comprising three people from the Labour Party council). And they claim to have had contacted the now resigned party president Nigel Haworth.
It seems to have taken getting Bennett involved to get an acceptance that Labour had done a very poor job for the complainants.
She put a bunch of questions to Ardern expecting to tie her in knots and all Jacinda did was answer "yes" or "no". It was all over in just over 2 mins. at which point Madam B had achieved nothing:
Maybe it wasn't Bennett's intent to achieve anything but set up a possible problem for Ardern. The final question and answer:
Hon Paula Bennett: Does she stand by her previous statements that victims should go to one of their line managers and that no senior people in her office had received a complaint?
Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: At the time that I made the statement, yes.
Soon after in General Debate Bennett claimed that two victims went to a line manager (about Christmas time). If Ardern "made the statement" after this she could have talked into a trap.
The sexual assault media damage just wipes out the momentum that Ardern had assiduously manufactured over the previous 10 days with a slew of announcements.
These include the suicide prevention launch, Te Reo Week, the freshwater NPS discussion document, the Team New Zealand boat launch, the DIRA draft legislation, and bunches of other smaller ones.
So I know they mean well.
But this lot have 8 months of government left before they are in full campaign mode for 2020.
It completely beggars belief to me that after 9 years in opposition and 2 years in power they are still generating little groups with think-pieces. It means when actual news hits such as sexual assault claims, there's very little public goodwill built up from delivering hard results to New Zealand, so the PM looks brittle again.
I'm less convinced that this is a government that is good for New Zealand.
I'm starting to think a massive clean out is needed to fix what is looking like a toxic culture.
I'm going to take the victims word and if their complaints had been covered up to the point where Jacinda Ardern was directly lied to by senior party officials (as it seems by her comments) things are very wrong.
Thinking about Auckland i was looking at the local political groups and read about City Vision and saw that Mike Lee is not seeking backing from them this time.
I wonder if he is still going on, he may be getting tired of the eternal roundabout.
They would be pretty much opposites in their views I take it. Pity about Mike Lee but he has been fighting battles for so long and seen the tatty results when he has lost that his winning opponents produced so I guess that has soured him.
Dirty politics is not going to help the person who has raised the sexual assault.
National failed all the children who were sexually assaulted in Social Welfare care and faith based care. At least Labour is trying to address the damage to then young lives and not sweep it under the carpet or expect people to not be affected .
What National did to people who had a sensitive ACC claim was disgusting for the 9 years they governed. I had to wait 8 years to resume my claim because of how little faith I had in the National government regarding a sensitive claim. The woman I spoke to at ACC understood. Basically the last government could not be trusted to understand the personal cost and I was not going to waste my precious energy on their bull shit.
Goodness gracious me! Health Select Committee grows some balls and delivers right (or is that more rightly 'left'?) royal bollocking to Pharmac, Medsafe and the Misery of Health.
It would seem that a common anti -depressant was replaced with a generic prompting 500 complaints of adverse effects. None of which raised safety or quality problems.
Members not happy, Chair Louisa Wall…
… questioned whether patients who were stable for years should have had their medications changed in the first place.
"It seems that for me some of the patients on these drugs, they've been used as guinea pigs, 'lets just switch them, lets just see what happens to them and if they're adverse maybe we can switch them back,' that's really unacceptable to be honest," she said.
and Michael Woodhouse was none too pleased…
"It's fair to say the Select Committee were disappointed with the lack of empathy from Medsafe and the Ministry of Health and the finger pointing that went on between three government agencies effectively that said that there were certain things that could been done, but it's not our responsibly.
"That's a frustration," he said.
Mr Woodhouse said the committee will make sure the right thing is done by the petitioner.
I am not a criminologist or organisational sociologist, so I cannot offer a data-driven opinion on the effectiveness of military-syle so-called ‘boot camps” when it comes to rehabilitating juvenile delinquents and youth offenders. They are popular in the US and … Continue reading → ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Austin, Lecturer in Theatre, The University of Melbourne There has never been an opening ceremony quite like it. For the first time in Olympic Games history, the ceremony took place outside a stadium arena. Despite a rainy and miserable Paris ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
"There are so many senior people within the Prime Minister's office and other senior ministers that know and knew the extent of it that it is inconceivable that [Ardern] wasn't told," Bennett told reporters.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12266753
Very senior members of Arderns office are named, along with Grant Robinson. If Ardern is to be believed (that no one told her) her closest advisors do not trust her ability to lead. She needs to purge her office to regain control.
certainly there are plenty in the LP that need to move on, This just might be a great opportunity for Ardern to clear the decks of some dross
By any chance do you mean the right-leaning neo-liberals that Chuck might approve of? Quelle horreure!
I would not trust anything Bennett says without independent verification.
Me neither.
Me neither.
The whole matter should not have been dealt with in such a political point scoring manner.
May those needing support now be receiving it.
+ 1
Bennetts source is the same Ardern relied on today to terminate her President.
[lprent: If you don’t want to comment related to the comment you are replying to, then you are trolling and don’t want to be here. Bye. ]
For clarity then, Bennett confirmed she was given the names and timelines by the complainants who came to her.
Verification is simply silence from the complainants i.e. Bennett accurately presented their information.
Would the complainant saying that she told Robertson in person be enough verification?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/09/complainants-reveal-details-of-how-much-grant-robertson-nigel-haworth-knew-about-sexual-assault-allegations.html
+1 mickysavage
Bennett is dishonest and so is her leader. Bennett is deceitful and she's attempting to project her own image on Jacinda Ardern. Bennett is spiteful and she should have resigned 10 years ago after she sought and released the personal information of two women who (politely) disagreed with her over the axing of night classes for solo mums who were trying to ready themselves for the workforce by gaining a qualification.
She's also a pernicious leaker… eg. the Winston Peters Super muck-up by Winz of which he had no way of knowing about.
Believing anything that woman says is like believing in the tooth fairy.
yep bennett is not to be trusted – she is completely amoral imo where personal information and political point scoring are concerned. She is not showering herself with glory.
"like believing in the tooth fairy"
But much less innocent.
Adern could of course do what Key did when it was discovered "dirty politics" was being run out of his office and LIE.
Key Key Key = Lie Lie Lie
Key the liar
Bennett the liar
And of course Bennett dropped those two citizens in hot tar by intentionally releasing their private personal details.
Appalling all round she is
To grant Robinson Crusoe his due, no man alone is an island. And no man walks alone in a foe cult society where everyone knows whether your name is Daniel or Michel.
Knowledge is power and power is not shared.
This is getting very ugly for Labour. Sounds as if they all knew about it and it was someone right in amongst the politburo heirarchy good friends with them all. Talk about a cover up. Very very untidy #Laboursmetoomoment
[I have approved this comment because the system took it to come from a first-time user. However, I have good reason to believe that you are simply trolling here. Permanent ban – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 6:10 PM.
This whole “Labour sex scandal” smells like "dirty politics" revenge courtesy of Natz leading muck raker PB, aka dirt agent 000. Can't see this hurting the PM, quite the opposite as she will be seen to act decisively following receiving QC report…..and with a fizz the wee scandal melts into the beltway sunset.
Meanwhile Winston has a present for PB, and it ain't dead flowers.
Yeah its all a national conspiracy. Get a grip there is a sexual pest in labour who needs to be delt with so kicu for #Metoo eh.
Did you get upset about the sexual pests in National?
Jamie Lee Ross is an alleged scumbag, this bloke is an alleged scumbag.
Only one has been turfed.
Turfed?? I understand he is still in parliament, still being overpaid as such.
I wish I could suffer such a 'turfing'.
Whatever one might say about Jamie Lee Ross’s ethics and morals, no one has suggested that it was non consensual. That is not the case in the present case.
So there is no equivalence.
While that was not a case of assault, which normally is judged in a court of law, it could be wondered how ethical and moral the spouses of the two MPs saw it when they found out what most of the National Party knew and they didn't?
Only one has been turfed – do you mean Mr Sabin?
You seem to be unable to see the situation Anne. It’s always Nationals fault. Or they have done worse things. What’s wrong with you and some of your like minded commenters. This is Labour’s fuck up not Nationals. If National make political capital out of this that’s politics. Labour is made up of the same sort of people as National. Different philosophy that’s all. The people are no better no worse. At best JA doesn’t know what’s going on in the Labour Party. Worst scenario she does. Take your pick. I had to listen to comments on the project tonight that insinuated that JA is a nice person so could not have known about the situation. If this was happening to National, SB would be called a lying Arse hole I suspect. I could be wrong of course!!? A bit of balance and realism in your comments would be great.
A bit of balance and realism in your comments would be great.
Aha, you hit the nail on the head. A bit of balance is exactly what I've been doing. At the moment it's a massive attack on Labour as if this situation has not occurred before. We've seen National go through exactly the same process in the past year without anything like the same hullabaloo.
The corporate media is behaving disgracefully and I will continue to bring some balance back into the picture whether 'newy viewy' likes it or not.
From what I have seen in the past two days it appears that the "media" are less interested in the "victim(s)", and those they sought to create, of this than their prospects, profiles and pay packets. From Bryce Edwards, to the Spin-Off and the cross matches of one of their writers to North and South the story has been spun, stretched and shared in many forms without any access or concern as to the facts.
The facts will come from the QC when they have them and have had the time to assess and seek any further details that are relevant. The disgraceful media as you rightly call them saw no need and had no interest in waiting for the truth, they are beyond belief and coming to an election year dangerous if they persist with this behaviour, they want and intend to get collateral damage any way they can.
you must have been on holiday when Nationals JLR hit the headlines. For weeks.
Couldn't agree more Kat – it has all of the usual hallmarks of the political hit jobs that John Key's administration was very effective at, the fact that this ridiculous beat-up occupied Soimon's entire interview on Breakfast this morning when Haley lead us to believe they would be talking about Simon and former Chinese spy teacher Jian Yang chaperoning him in the mother country while Simon chatted to the Chinese Security service chief…but no, we had the agenda entirely set by those that would subvert it.
Jeez so you are telling me its a massive sting operation where young men and woman have gone under cover volunteering in the Labour party so they could invent a sex scandal as revenge for dirty politics.
Given our sex abuse statistics and rape culture i would say the story as it is being told is far more likely.
No small wonder we only have one active feminist author here…
Even Bradbury on The Daily Blog mentions Ardern would seek process and then deal with or to.
That's been done.
It's getting harder to believe in a NZ that follows the innocent until proven guilty rule, esp in the media.
I support the integrity of the Labour Party and believe that the flood of misinformation, allegations, inflated and conflated misinformation will hurt the instigators in the end.
Wouldn't it be great for the "victims" to meet the PM. Given the conflicting stories they would be free to explain eye to eye. (I read somewhere that the sexual victim said she was too scared to speak up about her problem.)
What comes around goes around I would hope for Bennett.
whats up with “victims” in commas?
Its attitudes like that put sexual abuse survivors off making themselves heard.
It would be good for the PM and her team to meet these poor people and listen to their stories so we don’t have these issues again.
I think it was Iprent who wrote that those with a complaint such as assault should be shown that the Party cannot process such criminal matters. A victim of say a sexual assault might expect the President or Secretary to investigate and action but they cannot. What if such a victim believed that Harworth would just spring into action and fix everything. When he couldn't, imagine the victim disappointment.
I thought that McFlock's comment in OM at 10.2.1.1 was helpful in presenting a model that could have been followed.
What I understood Lynn to be saying was that the *legal actions available are via the Crimes Act and employment legislation and this is not something Labour can do. There is nothing to stop Labour from also doing its own internal investigation separate from anything that the police or parlimentary services may or may not do. This is what the victims were asking for imo, for Labour to take action about its own organisation, culture and policies. A complaint to the police or PS isn't necessary for that to happen.
It's also not true imo that Labour could do nothing about the staffer. They could for instance change his duties so he is not doing things like accompanying young members to events. It sounds like some of his job had already changed.
https://www.metromag.co.nz/society/society-politics/labour-sexual-assault-allegations-jacinda-ardern-morgan-godfery
Whatever the problem is here, it's pretty clear that Labour handled this badly at the process and natural justice level.
Mac1. How about this:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12266874
[link added. Getting sick of having to ask regulars to do this. If you are cutting and pasting/quoting, please provide the source – weka]
mod note
Simon Bridges upholding National's long promotion of rape culture, what a surprise.
ianmac. nonsensical first sentencesays it all. Direct quote.
"Simon Bridges says the resignation of Labour President Nigel Haworth the sex scandal gripping the party is just the start."
Paddy Gower on Weed 🕺
Tonight 8.30 pm TV3
https://www.threenow.co.nz/live-tv-guide/three
that's a rather disturbing image.
Lmao 🙂
It was a pretty awesome watch, am looking forward to part 2 tonight.
unfortunately I can't stand his whole 'pay attention! because I just discovered this important thing' schtick.
I hope he does some good with the debate.
If you are interested in the Tasman District Council election. Meet the candidates in Richmond is currently being live streamed. Mayoral candidates are also there.
Tune in here
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/115491064/live-richmond-ward-and-mayoral-candidates-meeting
Why was it necessary to go to Paula Bennett about the alleged assaults and offences, instead of the police? Although I am not judging the complaints of the victims at this stage, not my place to do so, but really, Paula Bennett as the first port of call to seek help???
With Bennett's involvement, I'm getting a strong stench of dirty Blue politics permeating the air once more as the 2020 election approaches.
they first went to Labour, got treated badly, so went to the media and opposition.
Lots of women don't take rape complaints to the police, because of low conviction rates and and often brutal process.
Agree the process is brutal for women/girls. I have been at the coal face supporting victims of abuse, it is just not a case of making a statement to the police that's the easy part (not that any part of the process is easy).
If Labour had listened and supported the victims/s then as you say weka no need to involve the opposition and media.
Yeah. The process at the police and the legal structures around it needs to be looked at.
I’d really like to find out what it is like now with the police handling of rape and sexual assualt cases – most of my referential anecdotes are now decades old. More in the Louise Nicholas era.
There is still a basic problem is that there has to be enough evidence to get the courts to be able to convict and that does require either some corroborating evidence or some kind of adversarial process. I can’t see too many ways that the latter can’t be brutal to the complainant when we’re looking at custodial sentences.
But I think that complaints or (at the very least) statements should always be made to the police because otherwise people are effectively just encouraging dickheads to do the same thing again. They should also make sure that there is a hard copy from the police about the interview. This keeps the police honest because they seem not file information on the persistent computer systems otherwise.
Normally this shows up as being done as part of job – then you can hit up their employers. The problem is (as I have been pointing out) the allegations made are that the person involved isn’t an employee of the NZLP and has been doing stuff outside of even party. Which makes this kind of complicated. But that would have been the good avenue – to approach Parliamentary Services if this was being a workplace issue.
Even if it was a party issue, then there is virtually nothing done lawfully without a clear smoking gun by the NZLP. Besides, they simply don’t have the required resources to even evaluate the evidence. Which is why sending it off to a QC was a mildly good idea.
Personally I’d like to just do some basic changes to the law.
Firstly to make confidential settlements a crime. As far as I am concerned they are just encourage awful behaviour by the affluent.
Secondly to make it so that anyone can report probable assaults and sexual assaults for the police to investigate. We already have laws about wasting police time so I don’t think that would be too much of an issue. But it’d probably help to increase the reporting considerably and help with the power imbalances. This is already the case for a number of crimes like murder and aggravated assaults that the complainant isn’t expected to be the victim.
I know that whenever I have run across some of these in the past (mostly when I was a barman) that my biggest problem is that I’d like to report it and to trigger an investigation because I knew damn well that the victim was unlikely to do so. I also knew that the arsehole perp would just do it again. It is one of the most irritating aspects of our justice system.
I’d really like to find out what it is like now with the police handling of rape and sexual assualt cases – most of my referential anecdotes are now decades old. More in the Louise Nicholas era.
Kirsty Johnston has done considerable work on this issue…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12042963
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12043031
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12146421
But I think that complaints or (at the very least) statements should always be made to the police because otherwise people are effectively just encouraging dickheads to do the same thing again.
Seriously?
Thanks, and yeah seriously…
Unless the laws are changed so that some other body apart from the police are entitled to and (in theory) required to track complaints and offenses about predators, the perpetrators of any kind of assault will just move, change jobs, and do it again. If they do get pulled up at some point, then they claim that it was a momentary problem and walk under some kind of diversion and/or name suppression.
One of the best bits of evidence for a court would be to show a history of previous complainants and have that admissible by the police / crown. It would clearly show a pattern of behaviour that needs to be dealt with.
In order for more women to take complaints to the police, the culture needs to change. Not just in the police and justice system, but wider. This is why, while I understand what you are saying about the current situation and that Labour can't do anything via the Crimes Act or employment law, I disagree that they can't do anything.
Had the processes and culture in Labour been different, it's possible that a formal complaint to either the police or parliamentary services may have followed. But to make a complaint when Labour are either making things harder from ignorance, or actively putting barriers in the way, that's too much to ask imo. Women know that going to the police is unlikely to do them good and will mostly likely harm them further, so there is a direct conflict between the wellbeing of victims and the wellbeing of society. That's not on women who have been assaulted to remedy. It's for everyone else to sort out.
There is an argument to be made that rape cases should have their own set of rules because it is unlike pretty much any other crime in important regards. To get any change to process and outcome in the justice system you need lawmakers that understand the dynamics of rape and why it is done, and how systems are complicit in that. The one thing about this case that gives me some hope is that if Labour do step up now and sort their culture out internally, there is potential for them to then foster good lawmakers in the future.
I haven't followed the story this week very closely, but it's clear that the allegations were handled badly. Not because Labour should have fired the staffer or whatever, but because they should have listened to and engaged with the people making the complaints in a way that protected them and gave them support so that a way to deal with the situation could have been worked out. Even the fact that Labour met with one of the victims on her own is a red flag for me. At the least someone should have been there and written up the meeting and made sure that copies were given to Labour and victim. That's just basic stuff.
Likewise the whole mess with the emails.
My advice to anyone engaging with any organisation that has power like this is to always take a witness to any conversation, preferably one that can take good notes. Hopefully now processes will develop/be adopted for getting confirmation that emails have been received (and that Labour will do this with regard for people making complaints, not just setting up systems to protect themselves).
The onus shouldn't be on the people making the complaint but on the organisation with the resources. That Labour didn't do these things suggests either incompetence or worse. I suspect its incompetence (esp given what Ardern has said), but I think it's also likely there has been some protection of Labour going on by some of the people involved.
Imagine counselling a victim of sexual assault and encouraging them to take their claims to court. The risk is a replay of vivid trauma and the reopening of psychological wounds still raw and tender.
The reward? A 50:50 shot at justice.
That's the reality for the few victims brave enough to take their case to court and front the alleged perpetrator of their pain.
Statistics show barely half of all sexual crimes taken through the judicial process in 2018 resulted in a conviction. In some years the rate has been much lower.
Ministry of Justice figures show the cases that end up in court are a tiny percentage of sex crimes, the great majority of which (up to 90 per cent) are believed to go unreported. Of that small catchment, less than 10 per cent make it as far as a courtroom.
Given this brutal distillation process, it would be fair to assume that any case left standing would involve robust evidence and the best possible opportunity for conviction. Sadly, the numbers tell quite a different story.
The figures suggest that, for every 100 sexual crimes in this country, 99 perpetrators escape justice, many without even needing to face their accuser in court.
One possible solution…
There is currently no incentive (due to the risk of imprisonment) for any perpetrator to acknowledge the sexual violence that occurred, nor is there any protection for those perpetrators who do wish to acknowledge what occurred and make redress," it noted.
Victims did not always want an intimidating court setting, and a prison sentence was not always the priority: in many cases, they wanted acknowledgement of the wrong done and appropriate treatment for the wrong-doer.
That would involve a significant shift in our understanding of what victims want, although clearly it would not be appropriate for the most serious cases.
It would also involve doing something even more challenging and significant: listening to victims and empowering them in the process.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/112634934/its-time-to-better-the-odds-for-victims-of-sexual-crime
Here is an article from last year focussing on a defence lawyer who had a string of acquittals for sexual assault trials.
One of the things she said was that cops weren't being critical enough when investigating sexual assault complaints, giving an advantage to the defense lawyers to present the evidence in a more critical light.
In a "my word against yours" trial, that means poking holes in the other person's testimony, saying they are unreliable, etc etc etc. And then emphasising "reasonable doubt".
I just can't help thinking that our adversarial system is particularly unsuited to determining the truth of these cases.
One idea I have heard of if that there is an independent authority that women can make complaints to but nothing is taken further until a certain number of other people make a complaint about the same person. That way the person making a complaint doesn't have to go it alone and the strength in numbers make a conviction more likely.
TBH – expecting there to be a good outcome from people with no/limited investigative powers, no expertise, experience and constrained by employment and privacy laws it a big ask.
On the victims side it can go from:
Lying, mistaken, offensive but not criminal, criminal offending occurred, criminal offending occurred with long-last consequnces
And on the alleged offenders it can go from:
Innocent, unintentional, offensive but not criminal, criminal, criminal with pycho/sociopathic tendancies
(And probably options I can't even think of. ) And each of those people can have honest differences about where the offending was on that spectrum.
If the justice system can only get it right in a small number of cases with all its resources, it's no wonder highly constrained amateurs are not going to be able to make decisions that are just even with the very best of intentions.
First link is behind the paywall that I can’t justify paying for.
![](https://bunny-wp-pullzone-vkc2vjtkjj.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/recorded-as-sexual-assault-cases.jpg)
Second link is good it sounds like they’re now at least starting to code sexual assault complaints as sexual assaults rather “not a crime” and it shows in the stats.
Third link is accessible and kind of alarming. 12 adult sexual assault detectives for the whole of Auckland? WTF…
Good series..
It looks more like Bennett was a last resort after various attempts within Labour had been unsuccessful and re-traumatising.
In Parliament today Bennett said that a former chief of staff of Ardern's knew about the allegations, and also her chief press secretary. And two victims claim to have made a complaint around Christmas time to the director of the leader's office.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/HansS_20190911_053250000/bennett-paula-mallard-trevor
It is also well documented that they made submissions and had brief interviews with the investigation panel (comprising three people from the Labour Party council). And they claim to have had contacted the now resigned party president Nigel Haworth.
It seems to have taken getting Bennett involved to get an acceptance that Labour had done a very poor job for the complainants.
If dealing with Bennett is the same thing as coming across as evasive I agree.
Mary A, I really wonder about that too, i.e. going to Paula Bennett….
Ardern dealt to Bennett today at QT.
She put a bunch of questions to Ardern expecting to tie her in knots and all Jacinda did was answer "yes" or "no". It was all over in just over 2 mins. at which point Madam B had achieved nothing:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=208737
Maybe it wasn't Bennett's intent to achieve anything but set up a possible problem for Ardern. The final question and answer:
Soon after in General Debate Bennett claimed that two victims went to a line manager (about Christmas time). If Ardern "made the statement" after this she could have talked into a trap.
The sexual assault media damage just wipes out the momentum that Ardern had assiduously manufactured over the previous 10 days with a slew of announcements.
These include the suicide prevention launch, Te Reo Week, the freshwater NPS discussion document, the Team New Zealand boat launch, the DIRA draft legislation, and bunches of other smaller ones.
So I know they mean well.
But this lot have 8 months of government left before they are in full campaign mode for 2020.
It completely beggars belief to me that after 9 years in opposition and 2 years in power they are still generating little groups with think-pieces. It means when actual news hits such as sexual assault claims, there's very little public goodwill built up from delivering hard results to New Zealand, so the PM looks brittle again.
I'm less convinced that this is a government that is good for New Zealand.
still better than anything else on offer, although I still hold out some hope that a L/G govt would bring out the best in Labour.
I'm starting to think a massive clean out is needed to fix what is looking like a toxic culture.
I'm going to take the victims word and if their complaints had been covered up to the point where Jacinda Ardern was directly lied to by senior party officials (as it seems by her comments) things are very wrong.
It's really sad.
An opportunity here for her to make some good changes, fingers crossed.
National being arseholes won't be helping that of course.
Auckland's mayoral 'race' continues to produce more crap than gold – as RNZ's Tuesday head-to-head between the two main candidates showed.
Reading the transcript is way better for the blood pressure than listening to the trainwreck, but only for the brave in any case: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018712681/auckland-mayoral-debate-phil-goff-v-john-tamihere
Thinking about Auckland i was looking at the local political groups and read about City Vision and saw that Mike Lee is not seeking backing from them this time.
I wonder if he is still going on, he may be getting tired of the eternal roundabout.
He and Christine Fletcher are two of the most bitter people I have ever met.
They were both not too bad in their day.
At Council meetings they are just destructive, but they will of course both get back in because their name recognition is strong.
They would be pretty much opposites in their views I take it. Pity about Mike Lee but he has been fighting battles for so long and seen the tatty results when he has lost that his winning opponents produced so I guess that has soured him.
Trump fired Bolton before he could resign, OK.
Dirty politics is not going to help the person who has raised the sexual assault.
National failed all the children who were sexually assaulted in Social Welfare care and faith based care. At least Labour is trying to address the damage to then young lives and not sweep it under the carpet or expect people to not be affected .
What National did to people who had a sensitive ACC claim was disgusting for the 9 years they governed. I had to wait 8 years to resume my claim because of how little faith I had in the National government regarding a sensitive claim. The woman I spoke to at ACC understood. Basically the last government could not be trusted to understand the personal cost and I was not going to waste my precious energy on their bull shit.
Sobering : https://www.rt.com/op-ed/468508-hong-kong-protests-violent/
Goodness gracious me! Health Select Committee grows some balls and delivers right (or is that more rightly 'left'?) royal bollocking to Pharmac, Medsafe and the Misery of Health.
It would seem that a common anti -depressant was replaced with a generic prompting 500 complaints of adverse effects. None of which raised safety or quality problems.
Members not happy, Chair Louisa Wall…
… questioned whether patients who were stable for years should have had their medications changed in the first place.
"It seems that for me some of the patients on these drugs, they've been used as guinea pigs, 'lets just switch them, lets just see what happens to them and if they're adverse maybe we can switch them back,' that's really unacceptable to be honest," she said.
and Michael Woodhouse was none too pleased…
"It's fair to say the Select Committee were disappointed with the lack of empathy from Medsafe and the Ministry of Health and the finger pointing that went on between three government agencies effectively that said that there were certain things that could been done, but it's not our responsibly.
"That's a frustration," he said.
Mr Woodhouse said the committee will make sure the right thing is done by the petitioner.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/398580/ministry-of-health-medsafe-grilled-over-med-brand-switch
It seems that Boris's suspension was unlawful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK8Dm7_YAko