If, on the other hand, investigations prove that Te Pati Maori did not misuse data that could have affected the outcome of that seat, then I hope they proceed with a defamation case against Seymour. Peters and Jones.
THe reason I commented was because I had just read Bryce Edwards of the Integrity Institute comments on the Marae voting issue.
If he is correct the odds that data was misused given the voting pattern are probably better than the 32 to 1 odds that NASA give for the YR4 asteroid hitting the earth.
Well, we would never have known that you were channelling Dr Bryce Edwards, but it does explain the level of unthinking.
The odds that a by-election will be held as a result of the “coming Police and SFO investigations” and that this will make any difference in Parliament are zero.
If you and Hipkins are dreaming of such event then you’re even less politically astute than Chris Luxon.
RNZ comment from rhe head of another marae organisation in South Auckland which also took part in the vote campaign. The even voice of commonsense.
Marae had to follow a process over handling government census and health data, which included mandatory privacy training. The protocols missed a step of formal signing of a statuatory privacy document by those who had already undergone privacy training. And cross-department data mixing and usage didn't have clear boundaries.
Luxon tutting about data privacy protocols at the marae associated wirh Tamihere and the Waiperera trust is a bit rich when his government has fired the Health IT team, leaving the health data of all NZers at risk. The PSA filed a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner on this a week ago.
And I betcha that NACT is looking into selling our health data to big tech, as the Tories did in the UK.
This is very much an attempt to take down Te Pāti Māori. Tamihere and ACT have had bad blood since the 2000s. There will be more to come, I am sure, a slow striptease drawn out until the election, to expose Tamihere and TPM as much brand damage as possible.
There are other possible explanations for the high TPM vote stats than illegal pressure in the paid-by-government voter registration drive.
A. The people canvassed were disengeged or never-registered voters. Labour just may never had cut the mustard with this cohort.
B. Waiparera Tust provides many free health and support services for West Auckland Māori, and Tamihere has a long association with the marae. Without overt political advertising, newly-registered voters using WT services may have put 2 and 2 together. And outside of the money for voter registration, the marae is free to politic.
TPM material on the marae is only illegal in the week before voting. The Manurewa marae has freedom of speech . Holding a feed on election day to encourage voters isn't political influence, outside of helping families who are struggling to feed their kids. And that part was okd for marae as part of the government funding.
The info outside of the government arm of the investigation has been handed to police. What would convince me is if interviews with voters registered by Manurewa marae workers said that, during the actual registration process, as contracted by the government, they were presented with TPM material, or encouraged to vote for Tamihere.
He's blowing his trumpet. Aiming to split the right! Must have formed the opinion that Dutton ain't enough of a blowhard…
Australian billionaire Clive Palmer launched on Wednesday a political party he said was directly inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump, months out from a nationwide federal election. Mining magnate Palmer said his Trumpet of Patriots party would "drain the swamp" in Canberra… Palmer was critical of mass immigration and said the party would only recognise two genders… Prime Minster Anthony Albanese is yet to announce the date of the poll, that could be as early as March after the country's central bank cut interest rates on Tuesday…
I've been calling our country Aotearoa for many years, so I'm with Ricardo on this. Everyone ought to call it whichever name suits them. If Brownlee lays down a dictum forbidding it, it'll be a good reason for declaring no confidence in him.
Winston Peters was posturing for media time for NZF.
1.as per, what referendum had occurred for there to be use of the name Aotearoa?
2.then casting aspersion about an immigrant using the name Aotearoa, as if it was of by and for those using the Maori language.
(indicating he knew the path to the official use of the name, but was playing dumb for populist reasons)***
Then had Shane Jones chime in with his now well practiced descent into an apology for an expert on all things Maori.
Maybe there is a reason why there is no S in the Maori language. Pause and reflection prevent the formation of a habitual bluster blouse mode, which is undignified for those of a supposed rangatira rank. The common is undignified.
Peters (adopting outrage mode about a foreigner as champion of Enzed assimilation) and Jones (trying to be edifying and Maori – all without mentioning what Peters already knows***) contributing to the spectacle.
Vaudevillian, they will take their show on the road again in 2026.
Clive Palmer spent $117mi in the 2022 Federal election, with little effect. That's for 20 mi people. Musk spent $225mi for 330 mi people. The Australian electorate has very little interest in Palmer's vanity projects.
Capability and capacity, which converge when both approach zero.
The Public Sector in many ways mirrors society in its complexity and connectivity of its many components and factors, so when one part, somewhere, fails to function optimally it starts to affect the other parts – it can lead to system collapse (crisis) akin the cascading and accumulative multi-organ failure that precedes the end-of-life.
Part of the body of text from The Wellbeing Economy Alliance email.
"So much in the world today is pulling us apart—divisions between people, movements, ideas. Yet, if we are to build a new economy—one that serves people and the planet— we must resist fragmentation.
We need plurality, not fragmentation. We must embrace many ways of knowing, doing, and being while staying connected in purpose. This is how we build an economy that truly serves life.
This WEAll Talk is about exactly that. How do we weave movements together? How do we strengthen the threads that bind us to each other, to place, and to the future we long for?
Join WEAll x Hajar, a storyteller and ecosystem weaver, for our first WEALL Talk for 2025.
This conversation will explore weaving as an act of resistance:
Mending relationships to strengthen collective impact
Bridging silos to build powerful, united movements
Planting the seeds of economies rooted in care, solidarity, and kinship
The old systems are breaking down. We feel it everywhere. But change doesn’t happen in isolation. This conversation is for anyone working for change—activists, policymakers, business leaders, educators, artists, community builders.
Whatever your role, you are part of this tapestry. Let’s weave something stronger, together."
This is to promote a talk by Hajar Tazi on February 25th.
"Hajar is an ecosystem weaver, storyteller, and systems-transformation catalyst at the service of planetary flourishing.
Drawing inspiration from the way natural ecosystems flourish, she cross-pollinates amongst regenerative projects and organisations to spread the mycelium of radical collaboration and usher in the Symbiocene."
There is a risk of GOP USA accepting Russia's multi-polar world preference. The problem with spheres of power is not everyone wants to be subordinate within one and where there are gaps between them, disputes emerge.
This is the end of of international law, as we have known it.
Trump's, Greenland would be nice, Canada can avoid being bullied by being a new state in the union – Gaza is going to be a pick up.
Normalising, the end of civilisation, that is constraint on the abuse of power.
In recent months, I have garnered copious amusement playing Martin, chess.com’s infamously terrible Chess AI. Alas, it is not how it once was, when he would cheerfully ignore freely offered material. Martin has grown better since I first stumbled upon him. I still remain frustrated at his capture-happy determination to ...
Every time that I see ya,A lightning bolt fills the room,The underbelly of Paris,She sings her favourite tune,She'll drink you under the table,She'll show you a trick or two,But every time that I left her,I missed the things she would doSongwriters: Kelly JonesThis morning, I posted - Are you excited ...
Long stories shortest this week in our political economy:Standard & Poor’s judged the Government’s council finance reforms a failure. Professional investors showed the Government they want it to borrow more, not less. GDP bounced out of recession by more than forecast in the December quarter, but data for the ...
Each day at 4:30 my brother calls in at the rest home to see Dad. My visits can be months apart. Five minutes after you've left, he’ll have forgotten you were there, but every time, his face lights up and it’s a warm happy visit.Tim takes care of almost everything ...
On the 19th of March, ACT announced they would be running candidates in this year’s local government elections. Accompanying that call for “common-sense kiwis” was an anti-woke essay typifying the views they expect their candidates to hold. I have included that part of their mailer, Free Press, in its entirety. ...
Even when the darkest clouds are in the skyYou mustn't sigh and you mustn't crySpread a little happiness as you go byPlease tryWhat's the use of worrying and feeling blue?When days are long keep on smiling throughSpread a little happiness 'til dreams come trueSongwriters: Vivian Ellis / Clifford Grey / ...
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ACT up the game on division politicsEmmerson’s take on David Seymour’s claim Jesus would have supported ACTACT’s announcement it is moving into local politics is a logical next step for a party that is waging its battle on picking up the aggrieved.It’s a numbers game, and as long as the ...
1. What will be the slogan of the next butter ad campaign?a. You’re worth itb.Once it hits $20, we can do something about the riversc. I can’t believe it’s the price of butter d. None of the above Read more ...
It is said that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. That may be an exaggeration but an even better response is to point out economists do know the difference. They did not at first. Classical economics thought that the price of something reflected the objective ...
Political fighting in Taiwan is delaying some of an increase in defence spending and creating an appearance of lack of national resolve that can only damage the island’s relationship with the Trump administration. The main ...
The unclassified version of the 2024 Independent Intelligence Review (IIR) was released today. It’s a welcome and worthy sequel to its 2017 predecessor, with an ambitious set of recommendations for enhancements to Australia’s national intelligence ...
Yesterday outgoing Ombudsman Peter Boshier published a report, Reflections on the Official Information Act, on his way out the door. The report repeated his favoured mantra that the Act was "fundamentally sound", all problems were issues of culture, and that no legislative change was needed (and especially no changes to ...
The United States government is considering replacing USAID with a new agency, the US Agency for International Humanitarian Assistance (USIHA), according to documents published by POLITICO. Under the proposed design, the agency will fail its ...
Hi,Journalism was never the original plan. Back in the 90s, there was no career advisor in Bethlehem, New Zealand — just a computer that would ask you 50 questions before spitting out career options. Yes, I am in this photo. No, I was not good at basketball.The top three careers ...
Mōrena. Long stories shortest: Professional investors who are paid a lot of money to be careful about lending to the New Zealand Government think it is wonderful place to put their money. Yet the Government itself is so afraid of borrowing more that it is happy to kill its own ...
As space becomes more contested, Australia should play a key role with its partners in the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) initiative to safeguard the space domain. Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States signed the ...
Ooh you're a cool catComing on strong with all the chit chatOoh you're alrightHanging out and stealing all the limelightOoh messing with the beat of my heart yeah!Songwriters: Freddie Mercury / John Deacon.It would be a tad ironic; I can see it now. “Yeah, I didn’t unsubscribe when he said ...
The PSA are calling the Prime Minister a hypocrite for committing to increase defence spending while hundreds of more civilian New Zealand Defence Force jobs are set to be cut as part of a major restructure. The number of companies being investigated for people trafficking in New Zealand has skyrocketed ...
Another Friday, hope everyone’s enjoyed their week as we head toward the autumn equinox. Here’s another roundup of stories that caught our eye on the subject of cities and what makes them even better. This week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Connor took a look at how Auckland ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking with special guest author Michael Wolff, who has just published his fourth book about Donald Trump: ‘All or Nothing’.Here’s Peter’s writeup of the interview.The Kākā by Bernard Hickey Hoon: Trumpism ...
Wolff, who describes Trump as truly a ‘one of a kind’, at a book launch in Spain. Photo: GettyImagesIt may be a bumpy ride for the world but the era of Donald J. Trump will die with him if we can wait him out says the author of four best-sellers ...
Australia needs to radically reorganise its reserves system to create a latent military force that is much larger, better trained and equipped and deployable within days—not decades. Our current reserve system is not fit for ...
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I have argued before that one ought to be careful in retrospectively allocating texts into genres. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) only looks like science-fiction because a science-fiction genre subsequently developed. Without H.G. Wells, would Frankenstein be considered science-fiction? No, it probably wouldn’t. Viewed in the context of its time, Frankenstein ...
Elbridge Colby’s senate confirmation hearing in early March holds more important implications for US partners than most observers in Canberra, Wellington or Suva realise. As President Donald Trump’s nominee for under secretary of defence for ...
China’s defence budget is rising heftily yet again. The 2025 rise will be 7.2 percent, the same as in 2024, the government said on 5 March. But the allocation, officially US$245 billion, is just the ...
Concern is growing about wide-ranging local repercussions of the new Setting of Speed Limits rule, rewritten in 2024 by former transport minister Simeon Brown. In particular, there’s growing fears about what this means for children in particular. A key paradox of the new rule is that NZTA-controlled roads have the ...
Speilmeister:Christopher Luxon’s prime-ministerial pitches notwithstanding, are institutions with billions of dollars at their disposal really going to invest them in a country so obviously in a deep funk?HAVING WOOED THE WORLD’s investors, what, if anything, has New Zealand won? Did Christopher Luxon’s guests board their private jets fizzing with enthusiasm for ...
Christchurch City Council is one of 18 councils and three council-controlled organisations (CCOs) downgraded by ratings agency S&P. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories shortest:Standard & Poor’s has cut the credit ratings of 18 councils, blaming the new Government’s abrupt reversal of 3 Waters, cuts to capital ...
Figures released by Statistics New Zealand today showed that the economy grew by 0.7% ending the very deep recession seen over the past year, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “Even though GDP grew in the three months to December, our economy is still 1.1% smaller than it ...
What is going on with the price of butter?, RNZ, 19 march 2025: If you have bought butter recently you might have noticed something - it is a lot more expensive. Stats NZ said last week that the price of butter was up 60 percent in February compared to ...
I agree with Will Leben, who wrote in The Strategist about his mistakes, that an important element of being a commentator is being accountable and taking responsibility for things you got wrong. In that spirit, ...
You’d beDrunk by noon, no one would knowJust like the pandemicWithout the sourdoughIf I were there, I’d find a wayTo get treated for hysteriaEvery dayLyrics Riki Lindhome.A varied selection today in Nick’s Kōrero:Thou shalt have no other gods - with Christopher Luxon.Doctors should be seen and not heard - with ...
Two recent foreign challenges suggest that Australia needs urgently to increase its level of defence self-reliance and to ensure that the increased funding that this would require is available. First, the circumnavigation of our continent ...
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According to RNZ’s embedded reporter, the importance of Winston Peters’ talks in Washington this week “cannot be overstated.” Right. “Exceptionally important.” said the maestro himself. This epic importance doesn’t seem to have culminated in anything more than us expressing our “concern” to the Americans about a series of issues that ...
Up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of "Climate Fresk" and at a guess, this will also be the case for many of you. I stumbled upon it in the self-service training catalog for employees at the company I work at in Germany where it was announced ...
Japan and Australia talk of ‘collective deterrence,’ but they don’t seem to have specific objectives. The relationship needs a clearer direction. The two countries should identify how they complement each other. Each country has two ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the OPC’s decision to issue a code of practice for biometric processing. Our view is that the draft code currently being consulted on is stronger and will be more effective than the exposure code released in early 2024. We are pleased that some of the revisions ...
Australia’s export-oriented industries, particularly agriculture, need to diversify their markets, with a focus on Southeast Asia. This could strengthen economic security and resilience while deepening regional relationships. The Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on ...
Minister Shane Jones is introducing fastrack ‘reforms’ to the our fishing industry that will ensure the big players squeeze out the small fishers and entrench an already bankrupt quota system.Our fisheries are under severe stress: the recent decision by theHigh Court ruling that the ...
In what has become regular news, the quarterly ETS auction has failed, with nobody even bothering to bid. The immediate reason is that the carbon price has fallen to around $60, below the auction minimum of $68. And the cause of that is a government which has basically given up ...
US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have dominated headlines in India in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Trump announced that his reciprocal tariffs—matching other countries’ tariffs on American goods—will go into effect on 2 April, ...
Hi,Back in June of 2021, James Gardner-Hopkins — a former partner at law firm Russell McVeagh — was found guilty of misconduct over sexually inappropriate behaviour with interns.The events all related to law students working as summer interns at Russell McVeagh:As well as intimate touching with a student at his ...
Climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has slammed National for being ‘out of touch’ by sticking to our climate commitments. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories shortest:ACT’s renowned climate sceptic MP Mark Cameron has accused National of being 'out of touch' with farmers by sticking with New Zealand’s Paris accord pledges ...
Now I've heard there was a secret chordThat David played, and it pleased the LordBut you don't really care for music, do you?It goes like this, the fourth, the fifthThe minor falls, the major liftsThe baffled king composing HallelujahSongwriter: Leonard CohenI always thought the lyrics of that great song by ...
People are getting carried away with the virtues of small warship crews. We need to remember the great vice of having few people to run a ship: they’ll quickly tire. Yes, the navy is struggling ...
Mōrena. Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom/$3, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, The Atlantic-$, ...
US President Donald Trump’s hostile regime has finally forced Europe to wake up. With US officials calling into question the transatlantic alliance, Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently persuaded lawmakers to revise the country’s debt ...
We need to establish clearer political boundaries around national security to avoid politicising ongoing security issues and to better manage secondary effects. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed on 10 March that the Dural caravan ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have reiterated their call for Government to protect workers by banning engineered stone in a submission on MBIE’s silica dust consultation. “If Brooke van Velden is genuine when she calls for an evidence-based approach to this issue, then she must support a full ban on ...
The Labour Inspectorate could soon be knocking on the door of hundreds of businesses nation-wide, as it launches a major crackdown on those not abiding by the law. NorthTec staff are on edge as Northland’s leading polytechnic proposes to stop 11 programmes across primary industries, forestry, and construction. Union coverage ...
It’s one thing for military personnel to hone skills with first-person view (FPV) drones in racing competitions. It’s quite another for them to transition to the complexities of the battlefield. Drone racing has become a ...
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Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, and British Prime Minister John Major signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in ...
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler(Image credit: Antonio Huerta) Growing up in suburban Ohio, I was used to seeing farmland and woods disappear to make room for new subdivisions, strip malls, and big box stores. I didn’t usually welcome the changes, but I assumed others ...
Myanmar was a key global site for criminal activity well before the 2021 military coup. Today, illicit industry, especially heroin and methamphetamine production, still defines much of the economy. Nowhere, not even the leafiest districts ...
What've I gotta do to make you love me?What've I gotta do to make you care?What do I do when lightning strikes me?And I wake up and find that you're not thereWhat've I gotta do to make you want me?Mmm hmm, what've I gotta do to be heard?What do I ...
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Whenever Christopher Luxon drops a classically fatuous clanger or whenever the government has a bad poll – i.e. every week – the talk resumes that he is about to be rolled. This is unlikely for several reasons. For starters, there is no successor. Nicola Willis? Chris Bishop? Simeon Brown? Mark ...
Australia, Britain and European countries should loosen budget rules to allow borrowing to fund higher defence spending, a new study by the Kiel Institute suggests. Currently, budget debt rules are forcing governments to finance increases ...
The NZCTU remains strongly committed to banning engineered stone in New Zealand and implementing better occupational health protections for all workers working with silica-containing materials. In this submission to MBIE, the NZCTU outlines that we have an opportunity to learn from Australia’s experience by implementing a full ban of engineered ...
The Prime Minister has announced a big win in trade negotiations with India.It’s huge, he told reporters. We didn't get everything we came for but we were able to agree on free trade in clothing, fabrics, car components, software, IT consulting, spices, tea, rice, and leather goods.He said that for ...
I have been trying to figure out the logic of Trump’s tariff policies and apparent desire for a global trade war. Although he does not appear to comprehend that tariffs are a tax on consumers in the country doing the tariffing, I can (sort of) understand that he may think ...
As Syria and international partners negotiate the country’s future, France has sought to be a convening power. While France has a history of influence in the Middle East, it will have to balance competing Syrian ...
One of the eternal truths about Aotearoa's economy is that we are "capital poor": there's not enough money sloshing around here to fund the expansion of local businesses, or to build the things we want to. Which gets used as an excuse for all sorts of things, like setting up ...
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In a recent presentation, I recommended, quite unoriginally, that governments should have a greater focus on higher-impact, lower-probability climate risks. My reasoning was that current climate model projections have blind spots, meaning we are betting ...
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Employers, unions and health and safety advocates are calling for engineered stone to be banned, a day before consultation on regulations closes. On Friday the PSA lodged a pay equity claim for library assistants with the Employment Relations Authority, after the stalling of a claim lodged with six councils in ...
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Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...
Te Pāti Māori welcomes the resignation of Richard Prebble from the Waitangi Tribunal. His appointment in October 2024 was a disgrace- another example of this government undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi by appointing a former ACT leader who has spent his career attacking Māori rights. “Regardless of the reason for ...
Police Minister Mark Mitchell is avoiding accountability by refusing to answer key questions in the House as his Government faces criticism over their dangerous citizen’s arrest policy, firearm reform, and broken promises to recruit more police. ...
The number of building consents issued under this Government continues to spiral, taking a toll on the infrastructure sector, tradies, and future generations of Kiwi homeowners. ...
Comment: It’s going to be a big few weeks for the Rt Hon Winston Raymond Peters.Fresh off the plane from Washington DC and a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he delivered his New Zealand First party’s state of the nation speech in Christchurch on Sunday.By week’s end, Peters ...
Parliament's recent inquiry and debate on climate change adaptation asked small questions, looked short-term and inched towards reactive solutions. ...
No news is good newsLord Breen of Seymour was taking the watersAt the Head in the Clouds Health Spa.A figure walked up the long, winding stepsTo his mountain top resort.It was the Court Surgeon.“What’s up, Sawbones?,” chuckled Lord Breen.“Why didn’t you fly up in the Royal Balloon?”“Lo,” said the Court ...
Asia Pacific Report Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick called on New Zealand government MPs today to support her Member’s Bill to sanction Israel over its “crazy slaughter” of Palestinians in Gaza. Speaking at a large pro-Palestinian solidarity rally in the heart of New Zealand’s largest city Auckland, she said Aotearoa ...
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lol
,,
That second tweet so ironic
His autocorrect changed trump to 60minutes
If the coming Police and SFO investigations prove the Maori Party misused data there should be a by-election to return the seat to Peeni Henare
If, on the other hand, investigations prove that Te Pati Maori did not misuse data that could have affected the outcome of that seat, then I hope they proceed with a defamation case against Seymour. Peters and Jones.
So, we will find out around the time when 2024 YR4 may hit Earth; I know which I’ll be ‘excited’ about more.
THe reason I commented was because I had just read Bryce Edwards of the Integrity Institute comments on the Marae voting issue.
If he is correct the odds that data was misused given the voting pattern are probably better than the 32 to 1 odds that NASA give for the YR4 asteroid hitting the earth.
Well, we would never have known that you were channelling Dr Bryce Edwards, but it does explain the level of unthinking.
The odds that a by-election will be held as a result of the “coming Police and SFO investigations” and that this will make any difference in Parliament are zero.
If you and Hipkins are dreaming of such event then you’re even less politically astute than Chris Luxon.
Bryce Edwards' articles/comments are consistently anti-left and should be read in that context.
Probably a snap election michael
RNZ comment from rhe head of another marae organisation in South Auckland which also took part in the vote campaign. The even voice of commonsense.
Marae had to follow a process over handling government census and health data, which included mandatory privacy training. The protocols missed a step of formal signing of a statuatory privacy document by those who had already undergone privacy training. And cross-department data mixing and usage didn't have clear boundaries.
Luxon tutting about data privacy protocols at the marae associated wirh Tamihere and the Waiperera trust is a bit rich when his government has fired the Health IT team, leaving the health data of all NZers at risk. The PSA filed a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner on this a week ago.
And I betcha that NACT is looking into selling our health data to big tech, as the Tories did in the UK.
This is very much an attempt to take down Te Pāti Māori. Tamihere and ACT have had bad blood since the 2000s. There will be more to come, I am sure, a slow striptease drawn out until the election, to expose Tamihere and TPM as much brand damage as possible.
tWig even Hipkins has come out :
Labour is no friend of TPM, either.
There are other possible explanations for the high TPM vote stats than illegal pressure in the paid-by-government voter registration drive.
A. The people canvassed were disengeged or never-registered voters. Labour just may never had cut the mustard with this cohort.
B. Waiparera Tust provides many free health and support services for West Auckland Māori, and Tamihere has a long association with the marae. Without overt political advertising, newly-registered voters using WT services may have put 2 and 2 together. And outside of the money for voter registration, the marae is free to politic.
TPM material on the marae is only illegal in the week before voting. The Manurewa marae has freedom of speech . Holding a feed on election day to encourage voters isn't political influence, outside of helping families who are struggling to feed their kids. And that part was okd for marae as part of the government funding.
The info outside of the government arm of the investigation has been handed to police. What would convince me is if interviews with voters registered by Manurewa marae workers said that, during the actual registration process, as contracted by the government, they were presented with TPM material, or encouraged to vote for Tamihere.
If I understand it right Tamihere called for the the police investigation himself so he must feel confident correct process was followed.
And you're right that the marae could address and convert voters up to a week before the voting
But it was an unwise move to have the voting at a marae where the boss was the candidate
That was an electoral commission decision, as described when The Herald interviewed Tamihere in Nov 23.
Convince, not convert.
I was thinking they were converted from labour to the Maori Party
He's blowing his trumpet. Aiming to split the right! Must have formed the opinion that Dutton ain't enough of a blowhard…
Winston doesn't believe that freedom of speech ought to prevail in parliament:
I've been calling our country Aotearoa for many years, so I'm with Ricardo on this. Everyone ought to call it whichever name suits them. If Brownlee lays down a dictum forbidding it, it'll be a good reason for declaring no confidence in him.
A New Zealand first passport, but not the way Winston likes it – what a dinosaur.
He should really get off his soap-box and stop being the solo-artist in his own soap-opera – the man is a legend in his own mind.
Winston Peters was posturing for media time for NZF.
1.as per, what referendum had occurred for there to be use of the name Aotearoa?
2.then casting aspersion about an immigrant using the name Aotearoa, as if it was of by and for those using the Maori language.
(indicating he knew the path to the official use of the name, but was playing dumb for populist reasons)***
Then had Shane Jones chime in with his now well practiced descent into an apology for an expert on all things Maori.
Maybe there is a reason why there is no S in the Maori language. Pause and reflection prevent the formation of a habitual bluster blouse mode, which is undignified for those of a supposed rangatira rank. The common is undignified.
Peters (adopting outrage mode about a foreigner as champion of Enzed assimilation) and Jones (trying to be edifying and Maori – all without mentioning what Peters already knows***) contributing to the spectacle.
Vaudevillian, they will take their show on the road again in 2026.
Clive Palmer spent $117mi in the 2022 Federal election, with little effect. That's for 20 mi people. Musk spent $225mi for 330 mi people. The Australian electorate has very little interest in Palmer's vanity projects.
Musk's $225m probably swung the vote for Trump who won 49.9 to 48.4 and actually ended up with a reduced majority in the House.
There is a good chance that Trump will lose the House in a year and a half. That may stymie some of his loony policies.
Running down capability across all sectors of governance is the NACT way – the worst government in our history exposed each and every day as inept.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/02/19/whistleblower-doubts-commission-has-enough-it-staff-to-run-an-election/
Capability and capacity, which converge when both approach zero.
The Public Sector in many ways mirrors society in its complexity and connectivity of its many components and factors, so when one part, somewhere, fails to function optimally it starts to affect the other parts – it can lead to system collapse (crisis) akin the cascading and accumulative multi-organ failure that precedes the end-of-life.
We’re in the Right hands of Dr Coalition.
Accidentally posted this on yesty's open mike…
Part of the body of text from The Wellbeing Economy Alliance email.
"So much in the world today is pulling us apart—divisions between people, movements, ideas. Yet, if we are to build a new economy—one that serves people and the planet— we must resist fragmentation.
We need plurality, not fragmentation. We must embrace many ways of knowing, doing, and being while staying connected in purpose. This is how we build an economy that truly serves life.
This WEAll Talk is about exactly that. How do we weave movements together? How do we strengthen the threads that bind us to each other, to place, and to the future we long for?
Join WEAll x Hajar, a storyteller and ecosystem weaver, for our first WEALL Talk for 2025.
This conversation will explore weaving as an act of resistance:
The old systems are breaking down. We feel it everywhere. But change doesn’t happen in isolation. This conversation is for anyone working for change—activists, policymakers, business leaders, educators, artists, community builders.
Whatever your role, you are part of this tapestry. Let’s weave something stronger, together."
This is to promote a talk by Hajar Tazi on February 25th.
"Hajar is an ecosystem weaver, storyteller, and systems-transformation catalyst at the service of planetary flourishing.
Drawing inspiration from the way natural ecosystems flourish, she cross-pollinates amongst regenerative projects and organisations to spread the mycelium of radical collaboration and usher in the Symbiocene."
More info/register https://weall.org/events.
FYI, I deleted your duplicate comment on OM.
Thanks, I love yr work
.
There is a risk of GOP USA accepting Russia's multi-polar world preference. The problem with spheres of power is not everyone wants to be subordinate within one and where there are gaps between them, disputes emerge.
This is the end of of international law, as we have known it.
Trump's, Greenland would be nice, Canada can avoid being bullied by being a new state in the union – Gaza is going to be a pick up.
Normalising, the end of civilisation, that is constraint on the abuse of power.
https://archive.li/pFOey#selection-6063.0-6063.135