Almost 3,000 children have been hit with hefty fines of up to $5,000 for minor Covid breaches in New South Wales, prompting a furious response from legal groups, who say the punishments are crushing disadvantaged families.
Data obtained by the Redfern Legal Centre under freedom of information shows fines worth $2.1m have been issued to 2,844 children aged 10-17 since the middle of last year.
Table of fines issued in the article.
Redfern Legal Centre’s police accountability solicitor Samantha Lee said she had seen examples of children with intellectual disabilities receiving fines.
The penalty amounts, she said, were disproportionately hurting those from disadvantaged areas, causing both financial burden and stress.
No worries in NZ with a potential Omicron outbreak (according to Bill, Open Mike) it's all OK. He sounds like the Tory government in New South Wales. Meanwhile, because of low vax rates in the third world, the virus couldn't give a shit what the armchair experts say and just keep evolving to stay ahead. NSW case rates and hospitalisation rates are now skyrocketing. Michael Baker is right. Keep Omicron out.
"No worries in NZ with a potential Omicron outbreak (according to Bill, Open Mike) it's all OK. He sounds like the Tory government in New South Wales."
No mention of skyrocketing hospitalisations in that article. [+30]
And since cases are merely positive test results, they really don't mean much – except insofar as skyrocketing case numbers with no corresponding skyrocket in hospital numbers would be a good thing.
From the article you linked to
“NSW reported 1742 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday…and…
There are now 122 confirmed Omicron cases in NSW (more in the pipeline)
Just like Delta, NZ can't keep the Omicron variant out forever, but imho it would be imprudent to usher it in (à la rabbit calicivirus) until 'we' know a bit more about it.
"Skyrocketing" cases could be explained by a lot of Aussies having had enough and now they're carrying on with their lives without the fear and propaganda.
Not sure whether the concept of "Aussies" has much relevance at the moment as each state/territory has been/is pursuing a different strategic pathway. Queensland has only just opened up to the southern states, with strict rules, still. Fear, propaganda? Don't think Queenslanders, WAers, Tasmanians, South Australians have suffered too much over the last nearly two years by isolating themselves from NSW and Victoria. The issue is that the virus will always have a chance to evolve in unpredictable ways until mass vaccination occurs worldwide giving the virus far less chance to circulate. Will that happen? Probably not.
Interesting history lesson, revealing the kiwi psyche, from Mike Grimshaw, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Canterbury…
The writer Bill Pearson’s essay, Fretful Sleepers, written in the wake of the 1951 waterside dispute, famously depicted his fellow citizens as what some might now call “sheeple”.
He warned there “is no one more docile in the face of authority than the New Zealander”, a condition he said arose from “a docile sleepy electorate, veneration of war heroes, willingness to persecute those who don’t conform, gullibility in the face of headlines and radio pep talks”.
But there’s another critique that, while not as well known, is arguably more balanced and nuanced. It can be found in an address to the Civil Liberties Council in 1955 by Arthur Prior, the greatest New Zealand philosopher of the 20th century.
In his speech, titled “The Threat to Civil Liberties in New Zealand, Today and Tomorrow”, Prior identified three “rather deep-seated national habits and weaknesses […] in our national temperament”. He argued these threatened our liberties more than any organised or systematic action by an individual or group.
Firstly, Prior identified “what might be called our habit of lazy and careless legislation” – laws that enter the statue books not because of any conspiracy but because “of a lack of concern and watchfulness”. He warned:
Something will be brought in during an emergency or supposed emergency – and at such times it is always liberty that suffers first – and then it just stays there, like a ‘temporary’ building, but with less justification.
Some warnings have been issued re covid-induced emergency powers. They didn't bother me. Yet.
Prior defined the second weakness as “unscrupulous party spirit” – what today we might call political tribalism – whereby “we cannot admit that sometimes our own bunch are wrong and the other bunch is right”.
We see this today in entrenched party political positions, where few or none are prepared to dissent publicly or vote against their own party.
The other element of this tribalism is the new populism… This combines traditionally left- and right-wing ideas in new, emotive ways that pitch “the people” against a claimed corrupt political and media “elite”.
This one is also a valid correspondence, in which group partisan loyalty defeats and suppresses truth within the partisan's mind.
Prior identifies the third weakness as “a certain excessive readiness to take offence which we New Zealanders exhibit”. As he put it:
For some reason it is only too easy for a person or organisation to go to the powers that be and say, ‘Look here, it hurts us to hear somebody saying so-and-so’, and the powers that be will reply, ‘Goodness me, I’m sorry to hear that – we’ll just stop them saying it then’.
Prior thought New Zealanders were “too touchy” and authorities too willing “to silence voices which this or that group not only does not want to hear, but does not want others to hear”.
This sounds similar to the rise of 21st century “cancel culture”, whether that be the “pile on” tendencies of the Twittersphere or the vexed intricacies of the proposed hate speech legislation.
You bet! Not just in Aotearoa though. The tendency towards monoculture kicks in whenever folks feel threatened by diversity of thought & belief.
So the sociologist has got the historical parallel right & the famous kiwi philosopher (who I'd never heard of!) deserves his reputation.
So. These philosophers, way back then, were kind of right about these issues & the lazy average Kiwi psyche that still persists but:
1. did they predict the Māori cultural renaissance & the Waitangi Tribunal?
2. do Māori fit that average Kiwi psyche nowadays?
I also seem to recall that we’ve had a couple of government-led statutory reviews looking for out of date regulations etc since the 1970s.
I have the distinct impression that the Covid-related loss of freedoms are very unlikely to be simply tolerated into the future without objection from average Kiwis.
Though I can see how vaccine passports could maybe too easily turn into the thin edge of the wedge of a future government population track & control system, they’re also a political meal for Opposition parties to feast on.
Yeah I share your broad overview. Re #1, almost certainly not. Re #2, I honestly have no idea to what extent if at all.
Since the turn of the millenium I've been critical of the Maori propensity to cling to their patriarchy (the sexist privilege apparently given to males evident in speaking rights on the marae) & when I did so onsite here some years ago a bunch of folks raised feeble objections to my doing so & issued unconvincing rationalisations for that traditional behaviour.
I also note that renaissance of traditional Maori culture has not included eating each other. Perhaps the missionaries were successful in suppressing that permanently, or perhaps the revivalists edited it out of the prescription. Also the selling of the heads of slaves to pakeha traders seems to have been discontinued. One could also cite slavery itself as a third tradition non-revived.
So although they make a big thing out of their cultural continuity, tacit denial of evolutionary progress is also a happening thing…
I realise these were more cultural conventions than mass psychology. Well, at least in retrospect. One thing I'm confident we do share with Maori is exemplified by the trad kiwi male expression `she'll be right'. A laid-back ethos.
Attempts by governments to extend vaccine passports beyond the duration of a pandemic, and/or morph them into other "track & control" systems, are likely to enjoy less support in NZ and elsewhere. Otoh – "Nothing to hide, nothing to fear."
Thanks Dennis for bringing this up. Both the article and making me aware of Arthur Prior.
The lazy legislation reminds me of Simon Power and the removal of Provocation as a defence following the murder of Sophie Elliot and conviction of her murderer.
I understand Provocation was used as a defence in the 1996 Seeds of Hope East Timor Ploughshares, where 10 women disarmed a Hawk jet that was going to bomb folk in East Timor.
The New Zealand Government backed a campaign by Kiwi beekeepers to prevent Australian rivals from using the word “manuka”.
They claimed they had the rights to the term, arguing that mānuka was a Māori word and was a distinctive product of New Zealand.
Britain’s Intellectual Property Office this week rejected the trademark application, saying there was no evidence the public believed the product was exclusively from New Zealand.
The Australian Manuka Honey Association, which fought the application in court, said it would have been deeply unfair and financially devastating to deny producers the right to use the term.
“This decision is the right decision and a fair decision. The term manuka has been used in Australia since the 1800s and the Australian industry has invested significantly for decades in manuka honey science, research and marketing,” chairman Paul Callander said.
The term manuka has been used in Australia since the 1800s
I guess most kiwis will be baffled by this decision, but it has some basis in truth. In the 1800's the two countries were in many ways even more socially connected than they are now and the use of the word manuka in Australia is not surprising.
And economically. Onsite here a year or two back I quoted from a colonial newspaper report reproduced in a history book I'd been reading out of the local library. One gentleman encountered another down by the Sydney docks.
"What's in your bag?" "The head of a New Zealander." He opened it and showed him, and explained he was taking it to a ship's captain on the way to London so it could be sold on the market there.
Apparently it was normal to call Maori folk New Zealanders in the early 19th century…
I thought the Frogs had successfuly prevented our sparkling wines producers from using the Champagne label, either in Court, or by threatening to see them there if they didn’t cease & desist?
The Treaty of Versailles, which brought an end to the war, is where the loophole was unintentionally opened that allows the continued existence of California Champagne. Article 275 of the treaty was designed – in part – to establish that only sparkling wine from Champagne could be labeled as Champagne:
Germany undertakes on condition that reciprocity is accorded in these matters to respect any law, or any administrative or judicial decision given in conformity with such law, in force in any Allied or Associated State and duly communicated to her by the proper authorities, defining or regulating the right to any regional appellation in respect of wine or spirits produced in the State to which the region belongs, or the conditions under which the use of any such appellation may be permitted; and the importation, exportation, manufacture, distribution, sale or offering for sale of products or articles bearing regional appellations inconsistent with such law or order shall be prohibited by the German Government and repressed by the measures prescribed in the preceding Article.
Although this article was inserted primarily because of a dispute between France and Germany over mislabeling of sparkling wines and brandies, the ultimate result was that the use of Champagne on sparkling wine labels was curtailed in all of the nations party to the treaty. We say party to, because although the United States signed the treaty, the Senate never ratified the treaty.
Despite the insistence by the French of a provision protecting her wines, that the U.S. never ratified the treaty was probably not a great concern in Reims and Épernay in 1919, as Prohibition was about to put California’s winemakers out of business. As the Paris Peace Conference came to a close, the French were likely more concerned with the loss of a large export market as this quote from the journal of an American participant illustrates:
The latest security issue to sweep the internet has a perfect 10 out of 10 score for badness. That is, the newly discovered vulnerability in Log4j is considered as bad as it gets and may see many cybersecurity experts cancelling Christmas.
“In the 15 or so years that I’ve been working in cybersecurity, this is probably the worst vulnerability I’ve seen,” said Adam Boileau, executive director of security testing and assurance at cyber security company CyberCX. “It’s one of the most interesting technically.
We are constantly surrounded by technology, and it’s all at risk of security flaws. As these flaws are identified, they’re assessed with a Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score from 0.1 (Pfft, whatever) to 10 (OMG! Everything is on fire!!).
Security issues with a CVSS score of 10 aren’t that unusual, but they usually pop up in somewhat obscure pieces of software where the impact is limited. They’re also often fixed before anyone even realises they exist.
But the new Log4j vulnerability is different. Firstly it is a “0-day” vulnerability, meaning the software’s makers have had zero days to fix it: the world found out about it at the same time the developers did. Secondly, it’s very widespread. In fact, it’s so widespread that no one really even knows how many products and services are affected.
Man, I never feel entirely safe & protected using any device to access the internet these days. When my files get auto-backed up to the Cloud, I don’t regard that as entirely safe either.
The writer makes the point that home systems are probably not so much at risk, but it seems someone can always figure how to get in to any system – and as time goes on they’ll probably just get even better at it, using AI.
– no more single family zoning – no more parking requirements – no more min. lot sizes – 3 stories everywhere – 6 stories near major transit & job centres
This is one of the most significant housing bills passed anywhere in the English speaking world https://t.co/CREBbBpXpf
So Omicron arrives in NZ at a MIQ facility. Will National now tear up that petition to close them down in favour of trusting self isolation.
They had made a big song and dance about this petition and have accused Labour of being too cautious, so had National been the Government at the start of COVID, where would we be now?
Don’t need to answer that obvious question. The real question is, will they take flak over this.
Don't need to answer but it's good to contemplate no lockdowns, no MIQ, no restriction on people coming into the country.
I'm still imagining what I heard the other night from a Nat. A million kiwis wanting to come home, should have simply just rolled in. Coming home because it's a safe haven. Which it would have been with no lockdowns, no MIQ, no masks of course.
Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters When early settlers came to the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers before the California Gold Rush, Indigenous people warned them that the Sacramento Valley could become an inland sea when great winter rains came. The storytellers described water filling the ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins has changed everything, and Labour is back ...
Over the last few years, it’s seemed like city after city around the world has become subject to extreme flooding events that have been made worse by impacts from climate change. We’ve highlighted many of them in our Weekly Roundup series. Sadly, over the last few days it’s been Auckland’s ...
And so the first month of the year draws to a close. It rained in Auckland on 21 out of the 31 days in January. Feels like summer never really happened this year. It’s actually hard to believe there were 10 days that it didn’t rain. Was it any better where ...
A ‘small target’ strategy is not going to cut it anymore if National want to win the upcoming election. The game has changed and the game plan needs to change as well. Jacinda Ardern’s abrupt departure from the 9th floor has the potential to derail what looked to be an ...
When Grant Robertson talks about how the economy might change post-covid, one of the things he talks about is what he calls an unsung but interesting white paper on science. “It’s really important,” he says. The Minister in charge of the White Paper — Te Ara Paerangi, Future Pathways ...
The clean up has begun but more rain is on the way. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Auckland’s floods over the last three days are turning into a macroeconomic event, with losses from Aotearoa’s biggest-ever climate event estimated at around $500 million and Auckland’s schools all closed for a week until ...
The clean up has begun but more rain is on the way. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Auckland’s floods over the last three days are turning into a macroeconomic event, with losses from Aotearoa’s biggest-ever climate event estimated at around $500 million and Auckland’s schools all closed for a week until ...
The news media were at one ceremony by the looks of things. The Governor-General, the Prime Minister and his deputy were at another. The news media were at a swearing-in ceremony. The country’s leaders were at an appointment ceremony. The New Zealand Gazette record of what transpired says: Appointment of ...
I n some alternative universe, Auckland mayor Efeso Collins readily grasped the scale of Friday’s deluge, and quickly made the emergency declaration that enabled central government to immediately throw its resources behind the rescue and remediation effort. As Friday evening became night, Mayor Collins seemed to be everywhere: talking with ...
They called it an “atmospheric river”, the weather bombardment which hit NZ’s northern region at the weekend. It exacted a terrible toll on metropolitan Auckland and the rest of the region. Few living there may have noted a statement from electricity generator Mercury Energy labelled “WET, WET, WET!” This was ...
I know, that is a pretty corny title but given the circumstances here in the Auckland region, I just had to say it. The more oblique reference embedded in the title is to the leadership failures exhibited by Mayor Wayne Brown and his so-called leadership team when confronted by the ...
How much confidence should the public have in authorities managing natural disasters? Not much, judging by the farcical way in which the civil defence emergence in Auckland has played out. The way authorities dealt with Auckland’s extreme weather on Friday illustrated how hit-and-miss our civil defence emergency system is. In ...
TLDR: Here’s the key news links and useful longer reads I’ve spotted since 4 am this morning, including:calls for a more ‘spongey’ urban infrastructure after Auckland’s floods;demands for an inquiry into Auckland Council’s communications failure;the latest on Chris Hipkins’ plans for Three Waters; inside the PR trainwreck that is Wayne ...
TLDR: Here’s the key news links and useful longer reads I’ve spotted since 4 am this morning, including:calls for a more ‘spongey’ urban infrastructure after Auckland’s floods;demands for an inquiry into Auckland Council’s communications failure;the latest on Chris Hipkins’ plans for Three Waters; inside the PR trainwreck that is Wayne ...
Mayor Wayne Brown, under fire for his communication failures, quietly visited the scene of the fatal Remuera slip on Sunday, with his staff taking photos for social media updates. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: The cleanup and the post-mortem have begun, even though the rain just keeps falling in Auckland after ...
Mayor Wayne Brown, under fire for his communication failures, quietly visited the scene of the fatal Remuera slip on Sunday, with his staff taking photos for social media updates. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: The cleanup and the post-mortem have begun, even though the rain just keeps falling in Auckland after ...
Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The recent leadership change in the governing Labour party resulted in a very strange response from National’s (current) leader, Christopher Luxon. Mr Luxon berated Labour for it’s change of leader, citing no actual change.As ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 22, 2023 thru Sat, Jan 28, 2023. Story of the Week New Study Reveals Arctic Ice, Tracked Both Above and Below, Is Freezing LaterClimate change is affecting the timing of both ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
The Government is maintaining its strong trade focus in 2023 with Trade and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visiting Europe this week to discuss the role of agricultural trade in climate change and food security, WTO reform and New Zealand agricultural innovation. Damien O’Connor will travel tomorrow to Switzerland to attend the ...
The Government has extended its medium-scale classification of Cyclone Hale to the Wairarapa after assessing storm damage to the eastern coastline of the region. “We’re making up to $80,000 available to the East Coast Rural Support Trust to help farmers and growers recover from the significant damage in the region,” ...
RNZ Pacific Journalist Victor Mambor, who is the chief editor of the West Papuan newspaper and websiteJubi, has received the Oktovianus Pogau Award from the Indonesian-based Pantau Foundation for courage in journalism. The foundation’s Andreas Harsono said Mambor’s decision to return to his father’s homeland and defend the rights ...
RNZ News Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick is brushing off concerns a temporary rent freeze in flood-hit Auckland would just see landlords hike rents even more when the controls were lifted — arguing they should stay permanently. More than 20 organisations have signed a letter urging Minister for Auckland Michael ...
Iwi leaders have accused National and ACT of "fanning the flames of racism", urging the prime minister to be brave and not walk away from partnership on three waters. ...
About this time last week it had become apparent that Auckland was in for a bit more than just a wet Friday. While the state of emergency remains in place for another seven days, it appears the worst should now be behind us. Last night, Niwa shared a fascinating thread ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra ShutterstockIndigenous Australians are respectfully advised that the following includes the names and images of some people who are now deceased. The Reserve Bank of Australia ...
The government has confirmed the money will be spent in Northland, including unlocking greenfields land and transport upgrades like a new bridge in Kamo. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW Sydney Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that sometime between August and November this year, the Australian people will go to a referendum for the first time since 1999. We’ll be asked whether we support ...
Viewers across the United States were today shown a slice of New Zealand, with a reporter for Good Morning America broadcasting live from Rotorua. Robin Roberts, a co-anchor for the popular morning TV show, has been touring the country this week. During her visit to Rotorua’s Te Puia centre, she ...
They can be environmentally unsound and are a symbol used to shame millennials, but everyone still loves an avo. I love avocados, always have, always will. The buttery golden-green flesh from a perfectly ripe avocado is a culinary blessing. Today I’d love to simply wax poetic about twisting open a ...
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.AUCKLAND1The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (Penguin Press, $50) The beautiful ...
A new poem by Robin Peace. To the kahikatea I see from my bed Thinking inside the square, the ellipse, the round of what life is, I only see the trees. Not only as if that were the only thing I see, but only as if the tree matters more. ...
A week ago, Elton John’s first Auckland show was called off at the last minute. What was it like getting there, being there, and trying to return home afterwards?Elton John has long been a blessing for our ears, but in recent years his Auckland shows have been cursed. His ...
For Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, sorry seems to be the hardest word to say The mayoral chains must have been heavy this week for Auckland’s Wayne Brown, as his response to last week’s flood garnered its own veritable torrent of scandals and media scrutiny. Almost exactly one week on from ...
For Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, sorry seems to be the hardest word to say The mayoral chains must have been heavy this week for Auckland’s Wayne Brown, as his response to last week’s flood garnered its own veritable torrent of scandals and media scrutiny. Almost exactly one week on from ...
Ours Not Mines is cautiously excited about reporting that the Government is drafting legislation to ban new mines on conservation land. The anti-mining group's spokesperson, Morgan Donoghue says: "The Government has been promising us some action for ...
People who enjoy the outdoors for recreation, fishing and hunting will lose rights under the Natural and Built Environments Bill. Fish & Game New Zealand chief executive Corina Jordan says the proposed replacement for the Resource Management ...
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has conceded he “dropped the ball” during last Friday’s major flooding event. The state of emergency in the super city has today been extended for a further seven days, though Brown said he expects it will be lifted early. After a week of defensiveness over his ...
As the reality TV juggernaut returns for a new season, Tara Ward steps into the minds of the show’s relationship experts to assess the compatibility of this year’s brides and grooms. Married at First Sight: Australia returns on Monday night, and by season ten, you’d think the show’s relationship experts ...
Auckland’s state of emergency is expected to be extended for another seven days, according to the Herald. It was due to expire overnight after being declared a week ago, the day of the worst flooding in the super city. While weather conditions have improved, the city is continuing to experience ...
Proposed pay equity claim settlements for school librarians and science technicians have been reached between the Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa, Secretary for Education, Iona Holsted and NZEI Te Riu Roa president, Mark Potter, announced ...
Members of NZEI Te Riu Roa negotiating on behalf of school librarians, library assistants and science technicians are excited to announce that proposed pay equity settlements are ready to be voted on by their colleagues. They include pay increases of up to ...
The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) is calling for Michael Wood, the Minister of Transport, and now Auckland, to cancel the light rail project immediately. Auckland Light Rail was never going to happen, as our group has repeatedly said dozens of ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has been asked to intervene following confirmation today that the Government plans to implement a ban on all extractive sector activities on the conservation estate. Wayne Scott, CEO of the Aggregate and Quarry Association, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Getty Images The heated (and often confused) debate about “co-governance” in Aotearoa New Zealand inevitably leads back to its source, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. But, as its long-contested meanings demonstrate, very little ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Hunter, Lecturer in Art and Performance, Deakin University Jodie Hutchinson/Red StitchReview: Wittenoom, directed by Susie Dee, Red Stitch Deep in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia, the town of Wittenoom lies empty, desolate … and contaminated. Wittenoom ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Oliver Bown, Postdoctoral fellow, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock The past few years have seen an explosion in applications of artificial intelligence to creative fields. A new generation of image and text generators is delivering impressiveresults. Now AI has also found ...
New Zealand’s egg shortage is hitting cruise ships too – forcing the crew of one vessel to hatch a poaching plan. This story was first published on Stuff. On the hunt for eggs, a crew from a luxury cruise ship got cracking and hatched a cunning plan. Earlier this week, Stuff ...
Now demolished, the First Church of Christ Scientist was a masterclass of architectural imagination. Kate Linzey visits the site on which it once stood, to learn more. The object is delicate and small. Small enough to sit in the palm of my hand and weighing less than 300 grams. It ...
When your food parcel arrives before the emergency alert, you know something’s not working properly.This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. I’ve spent the last week desperately and at times fruitlessly attempting to drain and then sweep my whānau home of knee-deep water, pull up ...
Drongo-gate continues for another day with the Herald reporting that Auckland’s mayor has been caught out using the slang term for a second time. It comes this time from a former minor mayoral candidate, Mike Kampkes, who said he received a message from Brown in response to a media release ...
How does Aotearoa stop relying so heavily on agriculture to prop up our economy? Online tax and accounting service Hnry just raised $35m to grow its software on-demand service across the globe. Bernard Hickey talks with AirTree partner Jackie Vullinghs about how venture capitalists are funding Aotearoa’s fastest growing, least-polluting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Guastella, Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Michael Crouch Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health, University of Sydney Shutterstock With childcare and schools starting the new year, parents might be anxiously wondering how their child will adapt in a new ...
I am delighted to announce the appointment of John Price ONZM as the new Director Civil Defence Emergency Management and Deputy Chief Executive Emergency Management for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). John has been a member of the ...
Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki are calling on the new Prime Minister and new Minister of Conservation Willow Jean Prime to immediately implement the 2017 promise to ban new mining activity on conservation lands. “ The mining industry group Straterra ...
How does Aotearoa stop relying so heavily on agriculture to prop up our economy? Online tax and accounting service Hnry just raised $35m to grow its software on-demand service across the globe. In the latest episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks with AirTree partner Jackie Vullinghs about how ...
There’s a fear that highlighting menopause will undermine women, especially at work. But what have centuries of secrecy achieved for us? Are you sick of hearing about menopause? Kim Hill is. The living legend of Aotearoa broadcasting told actor Robyn Malcolm (also a legend) on her Saturday Morning show on RNZ ...
Dunedin city council has reached an agreement to save Foulden Maar from commercial mining. The maar is the site of a crater lake from 23 million years ago with the diatomite of the lake preserving fossils and a climate record covering 100,000 years from that period. It is fantastic news for Otago University ...
Some are speculating whether the Auckland Mayor's leadership is circling the drain. James Elliott hopes they're right. There’s never been a week quite like it. It was the week when the rains came. All of them. Even the rain from Spain that was supposed to fall mainly on the plain, came. ...
The Bus and Coach Association supports the Government’s decision to continue half-price fares on public transport services. The fare reduction was set to expire on 31 March 2023, but will now continue to 30 June 2023. “Half-price fares have cost ten-times ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Hipkins’ bread and butter reshufflePolitical scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Chris Hipkins hires a lobbyist to run the BeehiveNew Zealand Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, speaking when Minister of Education, at NZEI Te Riu Roa strike rally on the steps of the New Zealand Parliament, 15th August 2018. Image; Wiki Commons. New Zealand is ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance todayCO-GOVERNANCE, WAITANGI, THREE WATERS Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Blowing Off The Froth: Why Chris Hipkins Must Ditch ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brian Tweed, Senior lecturer, Massey University Shutterstock/Renata Apanaviciene As we approach another Waitangi Day, we should be thinking again about what Te Tiriti o Waitangi means. As the late Moana Jackson commented, the meaning of Te Tiriti will be ...
Even prime ministers get caught in bad weather. It’s a week on from the devastating flooding that hit Auckland and Northland and Chris Hipkins has been forced to drive north for the start of Waitangi weekend commemorations after his plan was turned away from Kerikeri airport (twice). Today will see ...
Less than a year ago, co-governance had a future, at least as potentially accepted terminology. Now some iwi leaders want the label removed and replaced, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
“The decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to not replace the late Queen with Charles on the Aussie $5 note should indicate to our Reserve Bank that it’s time to change the NZ $20 note” said Lewis Holden, campaign chair of New ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Wolf, Associate Professor, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Australian National University Somchat Parkaythong/Shutterstock Black holes are bizarre things, even by the standards of astronomers. Their mass is so great, it bends space around them so tightly that nothing can escape, even ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Revell, Associate Professor in Environmental Physics, University of Canterbury Getty Images The ozone layer is on track to heal within four decades, according to a recent UN report, but this progress could be undone by an upsurge in rocket ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Clune, Honorary Associate, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney At the New South Wales election on March 25 a 12-year-old Coalition government will be seeking re-election. Hoping to return as premier is Liberal leader Dominic Perrottet – a political conservative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Trauer, Associate Professor, Monash University Anastelfy/Shutterstock The XBB.1.5 subvariant, known informally as “Kraken”, is the latest in a menagerie of Omicron subvariants to dominate the headlines, following increasing detection in the United States and United Kingdom. But there ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madeline Combe, Doctoral student, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock As the economist Herman Daly pithily said, the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment – not the reverse. Nature makes our lives possible through what scientists call ecosystem ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Jefferson, Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock Grit. Don’t quit. That’s the mantra many parents may have in mind when they, like me, spend what feels like years ferrying children to a seemingly endless variety of sports and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW Sydney Sam Shere/Wikimedia Commons A few weeks ago, Gautam Adani was indisputably India’s richest man. Now his fortune is slipping away as the stocks of his many companies crash, thanks to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Divna Haslam, Senior Research Fellow, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Have you ever found yourself scrolling through social media and noticed you felt a bit down? Maybe a little envious? Why aren’t you on a yacht? Running a startup? Looking ...
The science of ‘event attribution’ is growing, with researchers working to accelerate their assessments. A leading NZ climate scientist tells Toby Manhire how it works, how climate change impacted the ‘off the chart’ weekend downpours, and why we can’t put a number on it tomorrow. Brutal, unexpected, record-breaking, destructive, tragic. ...
Those lockdown vibes are back – and maybe they never really went away. We were supposed to be organised. For a while there, we were. A uniform, purchased across a frenzied weekend dashing between specialist stores, was spread out over our son’s bed. Tags removed, shirts folded, socks in balls, ...
Establishing a Truth, Reconciliation and Justice Commission and recognising Māori tino rangatiratanga are among several recommendations in two pivotal reports released today (Friday 3 February) by Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission. The ...
Losing her mum at an early age, Ivari Christie found strength in netball. The explosive teen midcourter has now burst into the Southern Steel, with help from a couple of Silver Ferns legends, Suzanne McFadden writes. It was the biggest moment in Ivari Christie’s netball career; just 18 years old ...
The latest Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list, described by Steve BrauniasFICTION 1 Kāwai by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99) Huzzah to Monty Soutar, huzzah to his publishers, and huzzah to the three wise judges of the fiction prize at the 2023 Ockham New Zealand national book awards for ...
James Shaw says his Labour colleagues need to work with him to plug the emissions gap created by extending the fuel tax cuts Less than a week after a climate-fuelled storm laid waste to wide swathes of Auckland, the Government resurrected fossil fuel subsidies in the form of an extension ...
Jacinda Ardern was treated like royalty at Waitangi with people coming from near and far to see her every February. Newly minted Prime Minister Chris Hipkins isn’t a familiar face in the Far North and will have his work cut out this weekend, writes political editor Jo Moir.Analysis: About ...
By extending the fuel excise duty cut, the Government is encouraging people to drive more, which will only worsen the climate challenges we face in the very near futureOpinion: By most accounts, the storms that have been wreaking havoc in Auckland and Northland are fuelled by climate change. The ...
Is a sponge city the answer to Auckland's flooding woes? The Detail finds out what the concept is all about. With the cleanup in full swing all over Auckland after this week's catastrophic flooding, people are starting to talk about throwing out the old building rules and "unengineering" our city - ...
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Australia fines minors for Covid rule breaches.
The Guardian – Almost 3,000 children in NSW hit with fines of up to $5,000 for minor Covid rule breaches
Table of fines issued in the article.
Covid under the hard right.
Much the same in Dan Andrew's Labour run Victoria.
Dan Andrews is living on borrowed time and is facing serious corruption changes just like Gladys in NSW.
The Australian Labor Party is right of NZ labour.
Big business is far more powerful in Australia and will have its way at all Cost's remember Harold Holt Gough Whitlam.
No worries in NZ with a potential Omicron outbreak (according to Bill, Open Mike) it's all OK. He sounds like the Tory government in New South Wales. Meanwhile, because of low vax rates in the third world, the virus couldn't give a shit what the armchair experts say and just keep evolving to stay ahead. NSW case rates and hospitalisation rates are now skyrocketing. Michael Baker is right. Keep Omicron out.
"No worries in NZ with a potential Omicron outbreak (according to Bill, Open Mike) it's all OK. He sounds like the Tory government in New South Wales."
Koff! Koff!
No mention of skyrocketing hospitalisations in that article. [+30]
And since cases are merely positive test results, they really don't mean much – except insofar as skyrocketing case numbers with no corresponding skyrocket in hospital numbers would be a good thing.
From the article you linked to
“NSW reported 1742 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday…and…
There are now 122 confirmed Omicron cases in NSW (more in the pipeline)
Just like Delta, NZ can't keep the Omicron variant out forever, but imho it would be imprudent to usher it in (à la rabbit calicivirus) until 'we' know a bit more about it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS-CoV-2_Omicron_variant
"Skyrocketing" cases could be explained by a lot of Aussies having had enough and now they're carrying on with their lives without the fear and propaganda.
Not sure whether the concept of "Aussies" has much relevance at the moment as each state/territory has been/is pursuing a different strategic pathway. Queensland has only just opened up to the southern states, with strict rules, still. Fear, propaganda? Don't think Queenslanders, WAers, Tasmanians, South Australians have suffered too much over the last nearly two years by isolating themselves from NSW and Victoria. The issue is that the virus will always have a chance to evolve in unpredictable ways until mass vaccination occurs worldwide giving the virus far less chance to circulate. Will that happen? Probably not.
Interesting history lesson, revealing the kiwi psyche, from Mike Grimshaw, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Canterbury…
Some warnings have been issued re covid-induced emergency powers. They didn't bother me. Yet.
This one is also a valid correspondence, in which group partisan loyalty defeats and suppresses truth within the partisan's mind.
You bet! Not just in Aotearoa though. The tendency towards monoculture kicks in whenever folks feel threatened by diversity of thought & belief.
So the sociologist has got the historical parallel right & the famous kiwi philosopher (who I'd never heard of!) deserves his reputation.
https://theconversation.com/priors-warning-what-would-nzs-greatest-20th-century-philosopher-have-said-about-civil-liberties-in-the-covid-age-173405
So. These philosophers, way back then, were kind of right about these issues & the lazy average Kiwi psyche that still persists but:
1. did they predict the Māori cultural renaissance & the Waitangi Tribunal?
2. do Māori fit that average Kiwi psyche nowadays?
I also seem to recall that we’ve had a couple of government-led statutory reviews looking for out of date regulations etc since the 1970s.
I have the distinct impression that the Covid-related loss of freedoms are very unlikely to be simply tolerated into the future without objection from average Kiwis.
Though I can see how vaccine passports could maybe too easily turn into the thin edge of the wedge of a future government population track & control system, they’re also a political meal for Opposition parties to feast on.
Yeah I share your broad overview. Re #1, almost certainly not. Re #2, I honestly have no idea to what extent if at all.
Since the turn of the millenium I've been critical of the Maori propensity to cling to their patriarchy (the sexist privilege apparently given to males evident in speaking rights on the marae) & when I did so onsite here some years ago a bunch of folks raised feeble objections to my doing so & issued unconvincing rationalisations for that traditional behaviour.
I also note that renaissance of traditional Maori culture has not included eating each other. Perhaps the missionaries were successful in suppressing that permanently, or perhaps the revivalists edited it out of the prescription. Also the selling of the heads of slaves to pakeha traders seems to have been discontinued. One could also cite slavery itself as a third tradition non-revived.
So although they make a big thing out of their cultural continuity, tacit denial of evolutionary progress is also a happening thing…
I realise these were more cultural conventions than mass psychology. Well, at least in retrospect. One thing I'm confident we do share with Maori is exemplified by the trad kiwi male expression `she'll be right'. A laid-back ethos.
There's a time (and place) for vaccine passports – this pandemic is such a time, imho.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine_passports_during_the_COVID-19_pandemic
Attempts by governments to extend vaccine passports beyond the duration of a pandemic, and/or morph them into other "track & control" systems, are likely to enjoy less support in NZ and elsewhere. Otoh – "Nothing to hide, nothing to fear."
Thanks Dennis for bringing this up. Both the article and making me aware of Arthur Prior.
The lazy legislation reminds me of Simon Power and the removal of Provocation as a defence following the murder of Sophie Elliot and conviction of her murderer.
I understand Provocation was used as a defence in the 1996 Seeds of Hope East Timor Ploughshares, where 10 women disarmed a Hawk jet that was going to bomb folk in East Timor.
https://wagingnonviolence.org/2015/10/seeds-of-hope-east-timor-ploughares-book/
The New Zealand Government backed a campaign by Kiwi beekeepers to prevent Australian rivals from using the word “manuka”.
They claimed they had the rights to the term, arguing that mānuka was a Māori word and was a distinctive product of New Zealand.
Britain’s Intellectual Property Office this week rejected the trademark application, saying there was no evidence the public believed the product was exclusively from New Zealand.
The Australian Manuka Honey Association, which fought the application in court, said it would have been deeply unfair and financially devastating to deny producers the right to use the term.
“This decision is the right decision and a fair decision. The term manuka has been used in Australia since the 1800s and the Australian industry has invested significantly for decades in manuka honey science, research and marketing,” chairman Paul Callander said.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/300479977/australian-beekeepers-win-manuka-honey-trademark-battle-against-new-zealand-producers
… … … … …
Well, I guess that’s that then. 😕
The term manuka has been used in Australia since the 1800s
I guess most kiwis will be baffled by this decision, but it has some basis in truth. In the 1800's the two countries were in many ways even more socially connected than they are now and the use of the word manuka in Australia is not surprising.
If this information is correct,it's a wonder NZ can use the term …Manuka Honey!
Australian Manuka Honey – The History and Origins of Australian Manuka (manukaaustralia.org.au)
more socially connected
And economically. Onsite here a year or two back I quoted from a colonial newspaper report reproduced in a history book I'd been reading out of the local library. One gentleman encountered another down by the Sydney docks.
"What's in your bag?" "The head of a New Zealander." He opened it and showed him, and explained he was taking it to a ship's captain on the way to London so it could be sold on the market there.
Apparently it was normal to call Maori folk New Zealanders in the early 19th century…
Well they have Australian Waygu beef…maybe they should have to call it…Australian Manuka.Do they have Australian Kiwifruit?
I guess we can have NZ Champagne,just so people are not confused!
I thought the Frogs had successfuly prevented our sparkling wines producers from using the Champagne label, either in Court, or by threatening to see them there if they didn’t cease & desist?
They've blocked the use of the name to describe sparkling wine not made in the Champagne region of France.
The yanks still get away with it somehow with sparkling wines made in California, I think I read somewhere.
Just the cheap shit.
The Treaty of Versailles, which brought an end to the war, is where the loophole was unintentionally opened that allows the continued existence of California Champagne. Article 275 of the treaty was designed – in part – to establish that only sparkling wine from Champagne could be labeled as Champagne:
Although this article was inserted primarily because of a dispute between France and Germany over mislabeling of sparkling wines and brandies, the ultimate result was that the use of Champagne on sparkling wine labels was curtailed in all of the nations party to the treaty. We say party to, because although the United States signed the treaty, the Senate never ratified the treaty.
Despite the insistence by the French of a provision protecting her wines, that the U.S. never ratified the treaty was probably not a great concern in Reims and Épernay in 1919, as Prohibition was about to put California’s winemakers out of business. As the Paris Peace Conference came to a close, the French were likely more concerned with the loss of a large export market as this quote from the journal of an American participant illustrates:
https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/loophole-california-champagne-legal/
A macron to note the provenance of Mānuka Honey?
The latest security issue to sweep the internet has a perfect 10 out of 10 score for badness. That is, the newly discovered vulnerability in Log4j is considered as bad as it gets and may see many cybersecurity experts cancelling Christmas.
“In the 15 or so years that I’ve been working in cybersecurity, this is probably the worst vulnerability I’ve seen,” said Adam Boileau, executive director of security testing and assurance at cyber security company CyberCX. “It’s one of the most interesting technically.
We are constantly surrounded by technology, and it’s all at risk of security flaws. As these flaws are identified, they’re assessed with a Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score from 0.1 (Pfft, whatever) to 10 (OMG! Everything is on fire!!).
Security issues with a CVSS score of 10 aren’t that unusual, but they usually pop up in somewhat obscure pieces of software where the impact is limited. They’re also often fixed before anyone even realises they exist.
But the new Log4j vulnerability is different. Firstly it is a “0-day” vulnerability, meaning the software’s makers have had zero days to fix it: the world found out about it at the same time the developers did. Secondly, it’s very widespread. In fact, it’s so widespread that no one really even knows how many products and services are affected.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/irl/16-12-2021/inside-the-security-breach-throwing-the-it-world-into-a-panic
Man, I never feel entirely safe & protected using any device to access the internet these days. When my files get auto-backed up to the Cloud, I don’t regard that as entirely safe either.
The writer makes the point that home systems are probably not so much at risk, but it seems someone can always figure how to get in to any system – and as time goes on they’ll probably just get even better at it, using AI.
Merry Christmas
great stuff! thanks Pat.
what a lovely find.
thank you.
Best news in ages… and the tweet is almost viral…
So Omicron arrives in NZ at a MIQ facility. Will National now tear up that petition to close them down in favour of trusting self isolation.
They had made a big song and dance about this petition and have accused Labour of being too cautious, so had National been the Government at the start of COVID, where would we be now?
Don’t need to answer that obvious question. The real question is, will they take flak over this.
Don't need to answer but it's good to contemplate no lockdowns, no MIQ, no restriction on people coming into the country.
I'm still imagining what I heard the other night from a Nat. A million kiwis wanting to come home, should have simply just rolled in. Coming home because it's a safe haven. Which it would have been with no lockdowns, no MIQ, no masks of course.
Any impact on housing?