Yeah. I was more talking about the Nat caucus. Even when they are trying to endorse her no-one can bring themselves to say they like her. It's always through gritted teeth.
Ha!- Over in Twitter land the conspiracy is Tova is batting for Labour, as all the leaks come from National. First she went after Simon, the Todd, and now Judith, National just can't get a break! So it goes. Maybe Labour just aren't leaking? & certainly not to O'Brien.
there's a real risk that if Collin's implodes National even further or goes down in a ball of flames that the left in turn will implode from the schadenfreude.
In the same vein Collins sounded really stupid on Checkpoint when she said she can't use the government's tracer app….and at the same time undermines it.
It is really easy to use ….she must be technologically challenged.
Those comments were very revealing of Collins' 'character', for want of a better word.
She can't (or won't) use the Government's tracer app, and then implies it's unnecessary to use it because "I thought the borders were secure, aren't they?"
These are irresponsible comments – Collins is virtually encouraging the team of nearly 5,000,000 to let their Covid-19 guard down, because community transmission would be a gift to the opposition National party's election campaign. DISGUSTING & DIRTY.
Would expect any opposition 'leader' to do during a global pandemic? There's Bridges/Muller for comparison – do their ethics compare favourably to Collins'? I think Muller's do, although admittedly there's not that much evidence to assess.
Then, once you have mastered the first identification challenge, the next challenge is identifying exactly which one is the original master lurking in amongst the sea of enthralled clones.
Last night Farrar ran a poll of his readers. He listed the six top contenders for the Nat leadership & invited them to choose their preference. He advised that the poll would close when caucus convened at 7pm last night. I just went & checked out the result:
UPDATE: Over 4,000 votes cast and the results are:
Judith Collins 67%
Simon Bridges 12%
Nikki Kaye 6%
Mark Mitchell 6%
Gerry Brownlee 4%
Amy Adams 4%
I'm surprised at how decisive respondents were in agreeing on the best contender and how huge the margin ahead of the also-rans she was. I thought it would be close. Goes to show my grasp of current rightist politics is rather ephemeral!
Dennis, it's not that surprising. IMHO Collins' views are far more closely aligned to traditional nat voters than either Muller or Brudges. Collins has always been popular with national's grass roots, just not it's caucus. How things change when people are looking at a career change!
Yes, the prospect of a Labour landslide sure did herd them in behind JC. Such evident unity will likely only persist if polls leading up to the election show National in with a chance. If not those in caucus who see her as divisive may start to brainstorm a plot or two. Or three. Depends if the faction divides run deep or not I guess. If she really does bridge the liberals & conservatives she may instead consolidate despite any plots.
IMHO there will be no attempt to bridge liberals and conservatives. Many of Collins ideas are actually very traditional national, but rather than being a 'wet' (like Muller – eg the MAGA hat back down), her approach is likely to be 'take it or leave'. Following the reaction to her elevation yesterday, I suspect she will galvanise centre right support, which was drifting to NZF/Act. But broad enough appeal to win an election?
I just can't see Judith Collins holding it together. She will never have faced the sort of pressure which is going to be applied over the next 8 weeks and she clearly doesn't have the emotional intelligence to weather that storm.
Collins doesn’t play to win in September, she plays to hurt Labour, in particular. Oppositions don’t win elections, Governments lose them. She has the advantage of being the underdog and has almost nothing to lose and everything to gain. I don’t think she has what it takes but my opinion doesn’t matter at all in this.
They tried nasty in Bridges, didn't work. They tried nice in Muller but that turned out nastier. Now they are desperate and are trying the nastiest of the lot.
I'll say it,It's bitch. No such thing as a female dog. We here in Dunedin have lawyers working for that council that thinks the use of bitch should be changed to female dog,woof wooof.
It's no so much about facing the pressure, IMO. It's more that she just loves the sound of her own voice, and will keep on talking and giving gifts.
Personally I'd like to see Labour accepting these gifts more, not by attacking her but simply quoting her. I know Ardern doesn't want to have "opposition research" and attack ads, but they can at least notice what she says.
Like the cheese thing above – a social media meme waiting to happen. No need for nastiness, just quote her own words. With a picture of a supermarket shelf, 2020. Done.
I thought earlier today that Collins most resembled Muldoon and you'd not be surprised if one day soon she was stopped by the media drunk, then proceeding to give it to reporters.
Being in NZ feels like being nicely hauled up inside on a cosy couch with a nice hot cuppa and the cat purring away while a winter storm is raging outside and battering the house. Don’t go outside if you don’t need to and open doors and windows very carefully or the wind will smash them wide open and cause major damage. Alert Level 1.
Judith Collins allows herself to be wound up by man-bun wearing Ryan Bridge.
"If Jacinda Ardern hasn't noticed that I'm here and leader of the National Party, then perhaps maybe she should stop being quite so woke and wake up a bit," she says.
"Jacinda Ardern knows fully well that I'm there, so I think she's just playing games. I'm not a kid, I don't play games."
"Of course I'll debate Jacinda Ardern on your show… I think that if she refuses to do so then she's probably running a bit scared."
To me, Collins comes across as easily the most capable and intelligent member of the National caucus. Even from the early years of the Key administration, she seemed like their only debater able to think on their feet, whether in the house or in interviews (I think that situation is even more pronounced now). That doesn't mean that she's good at anything other than using her replies to put people in their place, of course, but it wouldn't surprise me if she were. Her statements about Ardern there, though, look rather petulant, and suggest an insecure, "Look at me, please…" attitude that could actually damage her tough image. If she gets frustrated that easily, or even simply comes out with poor wording or inopportune phrases when trying to present her person, as opposed to the substance of an argument, it does not bode well for her at all.
A ray of hope for the future of natural environments and our civilisation, all without genocide. We don't have to maintain population numbers, or patterns of consumption.
"Our findings suggest that continued trends in female educational attainment and access to contraception will hasten declines in fertility and slow population growth. A sustained TFR [total fertility rate] lower than the replacement level in many countries, including China and India, would have economic, social, environmental, and geopolitical consequences. Policy options to adapt to continued low fertility, while sustaining and enhancing female reproductive health, will be crucial in the years to come." https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30677-2/fulltext https://episodes.buzzsprout.com/n7oh3nfooiuswhpux42zgxpl8j0b
Interesting about birth rates. The mental health of a society may be more affected by drops in wages and job numbers through replacement by technology. It is notice able that education is not as encouraged, in all its forms, as it used to be in NZ. It has been turned into a business, and so the poor get less concern, and have to pay for courses that were free. Why bother to educate our own when the masses from overseas will pay to come here and give the barons the business and profits.
The idea that education will save us and raise living standards was a 20th century truth that has been diluted by how we are brain washed by tv and other technology.
Also falling birth rates for women in China has turned females from being advanced people in a modern country to being sought after in rather dodgy ways. Chinese men are looking for wives, and now they are tending to go to the Philippinnes. These are things that have cropped up which I have noticed.
None of the official measures of child poverty improved in the year to June, 2024. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short, the top six things that stood out to me in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty in the week to Sunday, February 23 were:Stats NZreported on Thursday ...
1/ Join community / common cause organisations Find organisations you resonate with. Join them and/or donate. In the fight against the state, it’s critical we pool together in all cases. If you don’t have the financial resources, sign up for information & updates. Knowledge is power. These groups, and the ...
Long story short: Aotearoa-NZ now has to make some difficult and probably expensive decisions about how we work and trade with China and the United States, our two largest trading partners. That’s because Donald Trump just overturned 80 years of certainty about how the US deals with and protects the ...
People killin', people dyin'Children hurt, and you hear them cryin'Can you practice what you preach?And would you turn the other cheek?Father, father, father, help usSend some guidance from above'Cause people got me, got me questioningWhere is the love?Songwriters: will.i.am, Justin Timberlake, Taboo, apl.de.ap, Printz Board, Michael Fratantuno, George Pajon, Jr.Where ...
A Bully in a China Shop?It is a mystery what Donald Trump learned when he did his BA in economics at the University of Pennsylvania in the mid-1960s. The Ivy League college has a good economics reputation, but even had Trump been a top student – unlikely or he would ...
The conflict we can see echoing across the world is being imported directly into New Zealand by outside powers and monetary influences that we don't want in our politics. It makes our politics messy and confusing, but untangling the puppet strings can help make sense of how we got here.This ...
Questions1. The poem that offers the immortal words The boy stood on the burning deck is about what?a. Eskimo Nell’s younger brotherb. The Reichstag firec. One of Napoleon’s shipsd. Christopher Luxon’s first year as Prime Minister2. What happens to the boy in the poem?a. Goes on an absolute bender in ...
I decided not to bother listening to the Reserve Bank’s appearance at FEC yesterday morning. After all, the OCR decision had been much as expected and foreshadowed, the forecast tracks etc hadn’t changed much, and – with all due respect to some new FEC members – how searching was any ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedQuote of the day:Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published“Our primary duty, I believe, is to maintain our water, our lakes, our rivers in a form in nature that supports life, ecosystems, communities, and, indeed, it ...
NZ’s peaceful and historic Hikoi for Maori rights and bottom, London police arrest environmental protestorsPeaceful protesters around the world are being jailed for years for nothing more than turning up or planning a protestAusralian climate change protesters To continue to receive posts like this, consider becoming a free or paid ...
And mama said mmmmh, mmmmhWhy don't the newscasters cryWhen they read about people who dieAt least they could be decent enoughTo put just a tear in their eyesAnd mama saidIt's just make-believeYou can't believe everything you seeSo baby, close your eyes to the lullabiesOn the news tonightSongwriters: Jack Hody Johnson.The ...
Hi,With the United States of America currently going down in a giant ball of flames like the Hindenburg disaster, it seemed like a good idea to get on a blimp. That line is basically meaningless, but it sounded good in my head so I went with it as an opener. ...
(My apologies. The version sent earlier this morning had the audio of last week’s podcast attached. It was good, but not that good. I have now updated with this week’s podcast. This is my error and please accept my apologies.)The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including:, Helen Clark and on the week in geopolitics, including Donald Trump’s wrecking of the post-WW II politicial landscape; and, ...
Open access notables Long-lasting intense cut-off lows to become more frequent in the Northern Hemisphere, Mishra et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Cut-off Lows are slow-moving mid-latitude storms that are detached from the main westerly flow and are often harbingers of heavy and persistent rainfall. The assessment of Cut-off Lows ...
On Tuesday, the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority issued an extraordinary report, proposing a complete rewrite of protest law to enable the police to restrict public protests and ban them at a whim. While packaged with several complaints in an appendix, the focus of the "thematic review" was clearly the provision ...
Data released today by Statistics New Zealand showed the urgent problem facing Aotearoa New Zealand in tackling child poverty, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “Child poverty is estimated by Stats NZ on three measures – before housing costs, after housing costs, and material poverty. All three central ...
It is almost never an (unconditionally) good thing if an official policy interest rate (in our case the OCR) is being adjusted in large bites, whether that is (for example) 175 basis points of cuts in the last six months or 375 basis points of increases in just twelve months ...
Here are your morning catch ups in health, workplace, environment and politics.And then later, amust read critical piece from No Right Turn on the government’s attempt to expand police powers follows. ENVIRONMENTNew Zealand's glaciers have shrunk by 29% since 2000: The grim news - published in scientific journal Nature ...
And when we first came hereWe were cold, and we were clearWith no colours in our skinUntil we let the spectrum inSay my nameAnd every colour illuminatesWe are shiningAnd we will never be afraid againSongwriters: Florence Leontine Mary Welch / Paul Epworth.“What did Gerry say?”To be honest, with multiple people ...
Long story short, I spoke to Core Logic Head of Research Nick Goodall & Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) CEO Jen Baird for a 15 minute mini-Hoon last night after the Reserve Bank of New Zealandannounced it had cut the Official Cash Rate 50 bps to 3.75% ...
There is a widening fear in Wellington that the Cook Islands – China deal is in danger of becoming a foreign policy crisis. Foreign Minister Winston Peters yesterday delivered a blunt assessment of the situation saying that New Zealand wanted to reset and restate the formal parameters of the relationship ...
Good to see that this year, the New Zealand film societies are celebrating what would have been Sam Peckinpah’s 100th birthday with what they are calling “Peckinpah’s West” – a tribute consisting of screenings of The Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. That’s where the good part ...
Tomorrow afternoon, if things go really really badly, I may find myself down to one eye. People who used to sneer at me on Twitter will no doubt say So what's changed? Nothing, that's what, you one-eyed lefty.I don’t mean to be dramatic, it’s just a routine bit of cataract ...
A few weeks ago an invitation dropped into my email inbox to attend a joint Treasury/Motu seminar on recent, rather major, changes that had apparently been made to the discount rates used by The Treasury to evaluate proposals from government agencies. It was all news to me, but when ...
All your life is Time magazineI read it tooWhat does it mean?PressureI'm sure you'll have some cosmic rationaleBut here you are with your faithAnd your Peter Pan adviceYou have no scars on your faceAnd you cannot handle pressureSongwriter: Billy Joel.Christopher Luxon is under pressure from all sides. The reviews are ...
After seeing yet-more-months of political debate and policy decisions to ‘go for growth’ by pulling the same old cheap migration and cheap tourism levers without nearly-enough infrastructure, or any attempt to address the same old lack of globally conventional tax incentives for investment, I thought it would be worth issuing ...
The plans for the buildings that will replace the downtown carpark have been publicly notified giving us the first detailed glance at what is proposed for one of the biggest and best development sites in the city centre. The council agreed to sell the site to Precinct Properties for $122 ...
With the Reserve Bank expected today to return the Official Cash Rate to where it was in mid-2022 comes a measure of how much of a psychological impact the rate has. Federated Farmers has published its latest six-monthly farm confidence survey, which shows that profit expectations have fallen and risen ...
Kiwis Disallowed From Waiting Lists Based on Arbitrary MeasuresWellington hospital are now rejecting patients from specialist waiting lists due to BMI (body mass index).This article from Rachel Thomas for The Post says it all (emphasis mine):A group of Porirua GPs are sounding alarm bells after patients with body mass indexes ...
The Prime Minister says he's really comfortable with us not knowing the reoffending rate for his boot camp programme.They asked him for it at yesterday’s press conference, and he said, nah, not telling, have to respect people's privacy.Okay I'll bite. Let's say they release this information to us:The rate of ...
Warning 1: There is a Nazi theme at the end of this article related to the disabled community. Warning 2: This article could be boring!One day, last year, I excitedly opened up a Substack post that was about how to fight back, and the answer at the end was disappointing ...
This may be rhetorical but here goes: did any of you invest in the $Libra memecoin endorsed and backed by Argentine president and darling of the global Right Javier Milei (who admitted to being paid a fee for his promotion of the token)? You know, the one that soared above ...
Last week various of the great and good of New Zealand economics and public policy trooped off to Hamilton (of all places) for the annual Waikato Economics Forum, one of the successful marketing drives of university’s Vice-Chancellor. My interest was in the speeches delivered by the Minister of Finance and ...
The Prime Minister says the Government would be open to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine if a ceasefire was reached. The government has announced a $30 million spend on tourism infrastructure and biodiversity projects, including $11m spent to improve popular visitor sites and further $19m towards biodiversity efforts. A New Zealand-born ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler “But what about when the sun doesn't shine?!” Ah yes, the energy debate’s equivalent of “The Earth is flat!” Every time someone mentions solar or wind power, some self-proclaimed energy expert emerges from the woodwork to drop this supposedly devastating truth bomb: ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article I look into data on how well the rail network serve New Zealanders, and how many people might be able to travel by train… if we ran more than a ...
Hi,Before we get into Hayden Donnell’s new column about how yes, Donald Trump is definitely the Antichrist, I wanted to touch on something feral that happened in New Zealand last week.Members of Destiny Church pushed and punched their way into an Auckland library, apparently angry it was part of Pride ...
Despite delays, logjams and overcrowding in our emergency departments, funding constraints are limiting the numbers of nurses and doctors being trained. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, February 18 are:A NZ Herald investigation ...
Now that the US has ripped up the Atlantic alliance, Europe is more vulnerable now than at any time since the mid-1930s. Apparently, Europe and Ukraine itself will not have a seat at the table in the talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin that will ...
Olivia and Noah and Hana are going to the library!It is fun to go to the library. It has books and songs and mat time and people who smile at you and say, Hello Olivia, what have you been doing this morning?The library is more fun than the mall. At ...
New World Orders: The challenge facing Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins is how to keep their small and vulnerable nation safe and stable in a world whose economic and political climate the forty-seventh American president is changing so profoundly.IT IS, SURELY, the ultimate Millennial revenge fantasy. Calling senior Baby-Boomer and Gen-X ...
“This might surprise you, Laurie, but I reckon Trump’s putting on a bloody impressive performance.”“GOODNESS ME, HANNAH, just look at all those Valentine’s Day cards!”“Occupational hazard, Laurie, the more beer I serve, the more my customers declare their undying love!”“Crikey! I had no idea business was so good.” Laurie squinted ...
In 2005, Labour repealed the long-standing principle of birthright citizenship in Aotearoa. Why? As with everything else Labour does, it all came down to austerity: "foreign mothers" were supposedly "coming to this country to give birth", and this was "put[ting] pressure on hospitals". Then-Immigration Minister George Hawkins explicitly gave this ...
And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The Golden Age There has been long-standing recognition that New Zealand First has an unrivalled reputation for delivering for our older New Zealanders. This remains true, and is reflected in our coalition agreement. While we know there is much that we can and will do in this space, it is ...
Labour Te Atatū MP Phil Twyford has written to the charities regulator asking that Destiny Church charities be struck off in the wake of last weekend’s violence by Destiny followers in his electorate. ...
Bills by Labour MPs to remove rules around sale of alcohol on public holidays, and for Crown entities to adopt Māori names have been drawn from the Members’ Bill Ballot. ...
The Government is falling even further behind its promised target of 500 new police officers, now with 72 fewer police officers than when National took office. ...
This morning’s Stats NZ child poverty statistics should act as a wake-up call for the government: with no movement in child poverty rates since June 2023, it’s time to make the wellbeing of our tamariki a political priority. ...
Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson’s Consumer Guarantees Right to Repair Amendment Bill has passed its first reading in Parliament this evening. ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government on Sunday will pledge $8.5 billion for Medicare, declaring this would enable all Australians to have access to bulk billing by 2030. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will announce the policy at ...
By Gizem Nisa Cebi The BBC has removed its documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone from iPlayer after it was revealed that its teenage narrator is the son of a Hamas official. The broadcaster stated that it was conducting “further due diligence” following mounting scrutiny. The film, which aired ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – OPEN LETTER: By Hassan Abo Qamar Dear Mr Trump, I am writing to you as a Palestinian and a survivor of genocide, who was born and raised in Gaza — a city of love and resilience. I have read your ...
Pacific Media Watch One of the leading Middle East’s leading political and media analysts, Marwan Bishara, has accused President Donald Trump of applying a doctrine of ‘strategic coercion” and “economic blackmail” in his approach to the Gaza ceasefire. Bishara, senior political analyst of the Doha-based Al Jazeera global television network, ...
THE PRIME MINISTERWell look what I would like to say to you about the Man Up protest against a Pride event at an Auckland library on Saturday is that they went too far. You know, at the end of the day, let’s be honest, they went just a bit too ...
In a remarkable last-minute twist, the young immigrant mother at the heart of Fractured, Melanie Reid’s groundbreaking podcast on a case involving a baby’s injuries, has had her deportation order cancelled.Just days before she was set to be removed from the country, Associate Immigration Minister Chris Penk intervened, cancelling the deportation ...
Near-complete darkness. A savage shape to the hills. No words. Corinne presses the accelerator down, the road twisting and ducking before her. “We don’t have to go,” she says again, to Lizzie, in the passenger seat.Soon, the tarseal will turn to gravel, and the road will slip and slide like a ...
This podcast contains discussion about sexual assaultThe protest by Destiny Church at an Auckland Pride event has revisited a rhetoric that many in the rainbow community thought was dead and buried.Much of the response from the general public has been a lashing out against Bishop Brian Tamaki’s ManUp gang.Josiah Pasikale ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. This week has felt a lot like 2017. Remember when every other day there was a report of some guy saying something massively, comically, sexist (or worse, just being a flat-out abuser with few professional repercussions) and then out The Spinoff would ...
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is the fourth and final film in the series and gives our Bridge the fairytale ending she really, fucking deserves. It’s been 23 years since Bridget Jones’ Diary delivered one of the most iconic single gals in all of cinema (and literature). The world ...
The Junior Taskmaster host takes us through her life in television, from bingeing school holiday sitcoms to making Starstruck. In many ways, Rose Matafeo has been preparing for her role on Junior Taskmaster all her life. Not just because she is the daughter of a teacher, but because she has ...
On the lonely pain of miscarriage. It was my second pregnancy. I already had an 18-month-old toddler. We’d gone through anguish to have her. My daughter’s coming to being had started with a health hiccup that became an alarming question mark. The question had changed. It was no longer the ...
The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Symone Tafuna’i.All photos by Geoffery Matautia.Symone Tafuna’i does it all. At only 25, she is a champion sprinter, a sports ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack K. Clegg, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, The University of Queensland A thin crystal is bent elastically when pressed with a metal probe. UQ/QUT We are all familiar with elastic materials – just think of a rubber band which can return ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Changlong Wang, Research fellow in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Monash University D.Alimkin, Shutterstock Hydrogen was once sold as a universal climate fix — a clean, green wonder fuel for cars, homes, power grids and even global export. But reality has cooled ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia gpointstudio/Shutterstock Imagine you have just finished a workout. Your legs are like jelly, your lungs are burning and you just want to collapse on the couch. But instead, you pick yourself ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mia Schaumberg, Associate Professor in Physiology, School of Health, University of the Sunshine Coast You may have noticed that changes in weight are sometimes accompanied by changes in your period. But what does one really have to do with the other? ...
For too long, political and cultural ideologies have held our public service captive, fostering an environment of self-censorship and removing a vital tool for error correction: freedom of speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna M. Kotarba-Morley, Senior Lecturer in Museum and Curatorial Studies / Research Fellow, University of Adelaide Wikimedia/The Conversation Archaeologists in Egypt have made an exciting discovery: the tomb of Pharaoh Thutmose II, a ruler who has long been overshadowed by his ...
The new chair of the Electoral Commission (EC) says he has full confidence in the preparation for the next election, and guidance for selecting polling booth locations is being reviewed. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Partlett, Associate Professor of Public Law, The University of Melbourne A month in, and it is clear even to conservatives that US President Donald Trump is attempting to fundamentally reshape the role of the American president. Trump and his supporters ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Herrington, Futures Specialist, School of Cybernetics, Australian National University Thirty-four artworks created with artificial intelligence (AI) have gone up for sale at Christie’s in New York, in the famed auction house’s first collection dedicated to AI art. Christie’s says the collection ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk As French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls lands in New Caledonia tomorrow to pursue talks on its political future, the situation on the ground has again gained tension over the past few days. The local political spectrum is deeply divided between ...
The Defence Minister says she has not been entirely taken by surprise by the US's pivot away from security backstop to Europe towards the Indopacific. ...
A new poem by Kim Cope Tait. Not Waving But Dying The day we moved in to the house on the peninsula I stood before the picture window that faces the harbour. Oh, I said, I’m going to die here. It wasn’t macabre, no fantail arrived. And I wasn’t afraid. ...
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 Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House, $32) Wildly varying reviews over on the wild west ...
https://twitter.com/bex_stevenson/status/1282973047125762050
I was wondering how Tova always seemed to have a mic in the Nats caucus meetings, but this explanation makes more sense
Will Tova get a very high place on the List?
Tova is still receiving leaks (plural) from inside National's caucus, and doing her job, reporting them to us. Good.
True. I'd just prefer we got past the aggravated political model and then we'd have less terrier at the trouser leg journalism.
It highlights how absolutely nothing has changed in the National Party despite their spin machine claiming she is a game changer.
They are still fractured (probably even more so because absolutely no-one has a nice word to say about her) and leaking and in disarray.
What the hell is Judith Collins going to bring to the table except more bile, division and intolerance?
I've always been amazed at how varied the people are that profess to like her .
Fucked if I know why . But it's a worry.
Yeah. I was more talking about the Nat caucus. Even when they are trying to endorse her no-one can bring themselves to say they like her. It's always through gritted teeth.
Heh.
Ha!- Over in Twitter land the conspiracy is Tova is batting for Labour, as all the leaks come from National. First she went after Simon, the Todd, and now Judith, National just can't get a break! So it goes. Maybe Labour just aren't leaking? & certainly not to O'Brien.
Has Katie Bradford written about this thrilling development yet?
Katie doesn't do political reporting any more. She's based in Auckland and seems to be their business/industrial reporter.
It did occur to me that the Caucus which is claimed to be so capable, elected a man who only lasted a few weeks. Very capable lot don't you think?
Have they done it again with Collins?
there's a real risk that if Collin's implodes National even further or goes down in a ball of flames that the left in turn will implode from the schadenfreude.
Remember it was Collins who swung crucial votes behind Muller rather than Bridges. Maybe she could see exactly how competent he was?
A sort of evil masterplan perhaps? Surely not.
And would Hooton be party to that? Surely n-n-n…
Collins needs to be careful with her language saying she won't put up with Ardern's nonsense………….she runs the risk this sort of talk will back fire.
In the same vein Collins sounded really stupid on Checkpoint when she said she can't use the government's tracer app….and at the same time undermines it.
It is really easy to use ….she must be technologically challenged.
Those comments were very revealing of Collins' 'character', for want of a better word.
She can't (or won't) use the Government's tracer app, and then implies it's unnecessary to use it because "I thought the borders were secure, aren't they?"
These are irresponsible comments – Collins is virtually encouraging the team of nearly 5,000,000 to let their Covid-19 guard down, because community transmission would be a gift to the opposition National party's election campaign. DISGUSTING & DIRTY.
Yip a real leader would be getting kiwis to behave responsibly around covid . Attack on the other shit ,but covid is levels above bullshot politics.
KiwiBuild-19
That is closer to what you'd expect any opposition leader to do than most of her other behaviour.
Would expect any opposition 'leader' to do during a global pandemic? There's Bridges/Muller for comparison – do their ethics compare favourably to Collins'? I think Muller's do, although admittedly there's not that much evidence to assess.
Agree 100 per cent Drowsy.
In making the nasty and snide "I thought the borders were secure, aren't they?" comment she showed why she will never get elected as PM.
Have you watched the Natty caucus walking to the Death Star musical signature?
Very Darth and Jabba, with a menagerie of oddly-formed off-worlders in tow.
Know that I'm a bit slow but whose face is on the Caucus faces of top of the page "If Judy and Jerry are the……"
There is only one person of current interest that possesses eyebrows that can shatter glass at 40 paces like those in the image.
(if you need to zoom in on the image, on a desktop hit ctrl + to zoom in, then to go back to normal hit ctrl 0)
Then, once you have mastered the first identification challenge, the next challenge is identifying exactly which one is the original master lurking in amongst the sea of enthralled clones.
Thanks Andre. Sheep always cluster together under threat and try to be anonymous in a group, but sheep very seldom darken their eyebrows.
Last night Farrar ran a poll of his readers. He listed the six top contenders for the Nat leadership & invited them to choose their preference. He advised that the poll would close when caucus convened at 7pm last night. I just went & checked out the result:
UPDATE: Over 4,000 votes cast and the results are:
I'm surprised at how decisive respondents were in agreeing on the best contender and how huge the margin ahead of the also-rans she was. I thought it would be close. Goes to show my grasp of current rightist politics is rather ephemeral!
Dennis, it's not that surprising. IMHO Collins' views are far more closely aligned to traditional nat voters than either Muller or Brudges. Collins has always been popular with national's grass roots, just not it's caucus. How things change when people are looking at a career change!
Yes, the prospect of a Labour landslide sure did herd them in behind JC. Such evident unity will likely only persist if polls leading up to the election show National in with a chance. If not those in caucus who see her as divisive may start to brainstorm a plot or two. Or three. Depends if the faction divides run deep or not I guess. If she really does bridge the liberals & conservatives she may instead consolidate despite any plots.
A plot to do what?
They're stuck with her now, last card played.
That’s when the revolvers come out.
Kiwibog attracts righties with mummy issues, so no surprise there..
IMHO there will be no attempt to bridge liberals and conservatives. Many of Collins ideas are actually very traditional national, but rather than being a 'wet' (like Muller – eg the MAGA hat back down), her approach is likely to be 'take it or leave'. Following the reaction to her elevation yesterday, I suspect she will galvanise centre right support, which was drifting to NZF/Act. But broad enough appeal to win an election?
Similar numbers could probably be found on Kiwiblog for Don Brash, and the Standard for David Cunliffe, when they were leaders of the opposition.
Neither got to be PM.
So, did David take the results into the Caucus meeting?
Farrar hated Muller. Proof of that is the glaring lack of endorsement from him at any point in Muller's leadership.
Muller may not have had the stomach for nasty operators, hence his current position.
Collins thinks 1kg of cheese costs 4 or 5 dollars (Project, TV3). In touch with "real everyday Kiwis", eh?
good grief
The Oravida profit margins must be huge.
No wonder they think beneficiaries are living it up.
Collins is lapping it up and enjoying every minute of being the opposition leader.
Valse du petit chien by Frédéric Chopin.
I just can't see Judith Collins holding it together. She will never have faced the sort of pressure which is going to be applied over the next 8 weeks and she clearly doesn't have the emotional intelligence to weather that storm.
Collins doesn’t play to win in September, she plays to hurt Labour, in particular. Oppositions don’t win elections, Governments lose them. She has the advantage of being the underdog and has almost nothing to lose and everything to gain. I don’t think she has what it takes but my opinion doesn’t matter at all in this.
They tried nasty in Bridges, didn't work. They tried nice in Muller but that turned out nastier. Now they are desperate and are trying the nastiest of the lot.
Good luck with that.
In the old days there used to be words which specified gender, like 'actor' and actress.' The world has changed.
Is there a female word for underdog? To apply to Collins. Is there still a word for female dog?
Ir doesn't matter which way you stack it , the new National team is still YMCA – yesterdays muck cooked up again .
Rabid wolverine (HT to lurgee).
@Peter
I'll say it,It's bitch. No such thing as a female dog. We here in Dunedin have lawyers working for that council that thinks the use of bitch should be changed to female dog,woof wooof.
It's no so much about facing the pressure, IMO. It's more that she just loves the sound of her own voice, and will keep on talking and giving gifts.
Personally I'd like to see Labour accepting these gifts more, not by attacking her but simply quoting her. I know Ardern doesn't want to have "opposition research" and attack ads, but they can at least notice what she says.
Like the cheese thing above – a social media meme waiting to happen. No need for nastiness, just quote her own words. With a picture of a supermarket shelf, 2020. Done.
That's what I mean by pressure. Show the country her words in a calm way and Judith will double down. This will lead to reckless behaviour from her.
Is chien a dog?
Please translate.
Also it was Bastille Day in France on 14 July.
Let them eat cheese.
Literally, waltz of the small doggie AKA the minute waltz. It is short but not quite a minute short
Farrar watch:
You know things are bad for National when the attack lines from their pollster and blogger dry up and he is reduced to posting about Trump.
Awaiting fresh orders
You’d love the newly revamped party website.
I thought earlier today that Collins most resembled Muldoon and you'd not be surprised if one day soon she was stopped by the media drunk, then proceeding to give it to reporters.
This columnist makes the link to Muldoon.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-democracy-reporting/300058019/dont-give-me-culture-the-appeal-of-judith-collins
But in 1975 Muldoon was 54 and rising. In 2020 Collins is 61 and fading.
Have you seen Anne's comment at 12.1 Judith and Gerry are …
Yep I agree with you and Anne.
Drunk on politics.
Contradictory, weak-willed messages anyone?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018755012/judith-collins-on-her-plans-for-national
The government should have a field day with that.
Being in NZ feels like being nicely hauled up inside on a cosy couch with a nice hot cuppa and the cat purring away while a winter storm is raging outside and battering the house. Don’t go outside if you don’t need to and open doors and windows very carefully or the wind will smash them wide open and cause major damage. Alert Level 1.
Always at least one silly uncle who reckons the weather is just fine and you're oppressing his weiner by keeping the windows closed.
Judith Collins allows herself to be wound up by man-bun wearing Ryan Bridge.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-should-stop-being-so-woke-judith-collins.html
She's going down the wrong path using pejorative terms like 'woke'. It didn't work for Simon Bridges and to won't work for her.
I think Collins is a more reckless and less intelligent version of Bridges. The National Party caucus apparently agreed.
How pythonesque.
Those pesky kids…
To me, Collins comes across as easily the most capable and intelligent member of the National caucus. Even from the early years of the Key administration, she seemed like their only debater able to think on their feet, whether in the house or in interviews (I think that situation is even more pronounced now). That doesn't mean that she's good at anything other than using her replies to put people in their place, of course, but it wouldn't surprise me if she were. Her statements about Ardern there, though, look rather petulant, and suggest an insecure, "Look at me, please…" attitude that could actually damage her tough image. If she gets frustrated that easily, or even simply comes out with poor wording or inopportune phrases when trying to present her person, as opposed to the substance of an argument, it does not bode well for her at all.
A ray of hope for the future of natural environments and our civilisation, all without genocide. We don't have to maintain population numbers, or patterns of consumption.
"Our findings suggest that continued trends in female educational attainment and access to contraception will hasten declines in fertility and slow population growth. A sustained TFR [total fertility rate] lower than the replacement level in many countries, including China and India, would have economic, social, environmental, and geopolitical consequences. Policy options to adapt to continued low fertility, while sustaining and enhancing female reproductive health, will be crucial in the years to come."
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30677-2/fulltext
https://episodes.buzzsprout.com/n7oh3nfooiuswhpux42zgxpl8j0b
Collapso-praxis advocates and collapsonauts rejoice – this century is your time to shine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapsology
Interesting about birth rates. The mental health of a society may be more affected by drops in wages and job numbers through replacement by technology. It is notice able that education is not as encouraged, in all its forms, as it used to be in NZ. It has been turned into a business, and so the poor get less concern, and have to pay for courses that were free. Why bother to educate our own when the masses from overseas will pay to come here and give the barons the business and profits.
The idea that education will save us and raise living standards was a 20th century truth that has been diluted by how we are brain washed by tv and other technology.
Also falling birth rates for women in China has turned females from being advanced people in a modern country to being sought after in rather dodgy ways. Chinese men are looking for wives, and now they are tending to go to the Philippinnes. These are things that have cropped up which I have noticed.