Funny, they weren't fussed about the break-ins at the Labour Party and Alliance Party headquarters in the mid 1990s, nor the hacking of Labour's computers around 8-10 years ago.
But I'm sure the police will pull out all stops this time. When it happens to National hell that's bad, but if its Labour well, ho hum so what…
Can you provide references for you claims of break-ins and computer hacking?
The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers. That was Cameron Slater and Graeme Edgeler at least though that no crime was committed.
"The question then is: does Cameron Slater have authority to access the server that hosts the Labour Party website? Well, it’s a publicly available website, that they put up there so that people can go to their website and download stuff from that server into their cache to read on their browsers. If Cameron doesn’t have authority (because, for example, it’s not express authority), I don’t see how any of us can lawfully look at it."
Both burglaries occurred in the lead up period to the 1996 election. Yes, I know who was behind them, but can't confirm the identities of the actual thieves who carried out the burglaries.
The Labour Party hack is well documented. Yes, there was controversy over whether it constituted a hack or not but that was just a distraction. Information was stolen from the Labour Party and the police did f**k all. In fact further down the track they actually had the gall to target Nicky Hager as a 'suspected accessory to a crime' while ignoring the criminal activities with which National’s Cameron Slater was associated.
Police bias when it comes to politically motivated criminal activity over the years has been a disgrace.
And don't forget the illegal raid on Kim Dotcom? What's happened to him?
No I am not. I have never heard of these break-ins of the Labour and Alliance Offices and I am curious what they were about. It may of course, if they were in the early part of the decade, simply be because I wasn't living here at the time.
Asking for a reference for something stated by a contributor does not seem, to me, to be in anyway a statement that you are lying. I just want to see what the story is about. I always supply, when asked, links to statements I have made. This was I thought precisely why the second paragraph of the rules for the site seems to require that justification for comments should be available.
Now are there any available links to these stories, please. I would love to see what it was that the Police refused to investigate.
Well. I apologise for jumping to conclusions. The two break-ins in 1996 were the Auckland Central Alliance Party regional headquarters and the Auckland Central Labour Party electorate office. They were linked of course and the aim of the exercise was to gather information about their campaigns. It isn't likely links are available online because of the passage of time.
And I know who ordered the break-ins.
I didn't say they "refused" to investigate but they didn't try very hard – if they tried at all. They're very good at ‘not trying’ when they don’t want to.
Thank you. As I suggested, I wasn't living in New Zealand in 1996 so it is not surprising I hadn't heard of them. I was, from early 1995 until early 1997 touring the West Island. All of it, and boy that is a lot of territory.
I shall have to track the story down offline. As you say, once you get into last century there is very little available to Googles gaze.
Stop your stalking of me and your childish venom. If I say I know who ordered the break-ins then I know who ordered the break-ins.
And yes, I had a good idea who actually did the job but couldn't be 100% sure so no, I did not go to the police. I don’t have a high opinion of the police when it comes to political criminal activity – and for very good reason that neither you nor anyone else here is privy to.
Oh, and btw you'll be delighted to hear it wasn't anyone in the National Party.
What has that got to do with the price of fish? A break-in is a break-in no matter when it happens.
Not only is it useful to compare the difference in responses, but those break-ins were politically motivated and that was a dangerous precedent and should have been taken more seriously by the police at that time.
... the raid was not illegal.
Well something was considered unlawful. I thought it was the raid itself.
You are right, an aspect of the raid was illegal, I think it was the preceding surveillance.
As for the relevance of 25 years, it is because these events are hardly quite the huge things the partisans make them out to be. So something of relatively modest consequence 25 years ago is close to being ancient history. For instance while I might have a very clear memory of what it was like on selection night in North Shore in 1995, for everyone else it is old history.
Be that as it may Wayne but while it is "ancient history" in the eyes of most people, the difference in police responses is still pertinent.
When individuals stole material/equipment for political purposes from Labour and the Alliance Party by way of unlawful entry to their premises it was no mere "modest consequence". It was dirty politics carried out with hostile intent, and caused the victims just as much consternation and anxiety as it would today.
But it was not regarded as important 23 years ago and I venture to suggest that was in part because it was… only Labour and the Alliance Party personnel who were affected.
Anyway, it is a flawed conversation now, because it looks like National’s break-in was part of opportunist burglaries in the area targeting mainly laptops.
"The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers."
Not this again. Lay people routinely use the word hack to refer to things that tech people don't. It is normal in English for this to happen (tech vs lay language usage).
As for comparisons, most people who give their personal details to a political party don't expect those details to be accessed by political opponents for political gain. In other words, it was wrong. Let's not forget that Slater went on to orchestrate an attempt at hacking TS, amongst his many other dubious activities.
I’m unconvinced that my argument flies as well. I was thinking out loud. The arguments against it (for example, the one from lawyer Felix Geiringer in response to my comment) have quite a bit going for them. I don’t think it is clear cut.
When you put an internal link in a comment via a straight cut and paste, the system changes that to the name of the post (without all the URL detail). Your link still works.
Ok. Thanks. It just looks funny and I thought I must have screwed it up somehow. I assume this is only if the URL is the same as the place where you are posting it, which is of course what I was doing here?
I must revert to my old habit of clicking on any link I put up as soon as I post it. I always used to do it but I have gotten lazy. As you say it actually works just fine.
TS has some newish linking changes (happened while I was away). The other main one is that if you cut and paste a link to a TS comment, the link will revert back to the post (rather than the comment). The way around that is to use the html tags to insert a link.
The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers.
The ignorant tend to call data theft "hacking" and imagine highly skilled coders wearing hoodies in dark rooms coming up with fancy ways to bypass security protocols. In reality, most of it is exactly like the example above: someone screws up and data that should have been protected is left exposed to the unscrupulous and unethical, who put time and effort into finding such exposed data. Whether you call data theft under those circumstances "hacking" or not depends on your enthusiasm for drama, but it's still data theft. If it's not illegal under our legislation, that's a problem with our legislation, not an endorsement of the theft.
But Slater is poisonous and a complete failure. His was a career in corrupt and criminal activity and that has been proven time and time again, so why on earth would anyone be fussed that he was hacked.
It's a good thing that Slater has been crushed because it rids NZ of a particularly odious form of cancer.
Solid public interest defence for publishing information derived from that theft, but didn't the hacker admit at the time it was illegal?
By contrast I've never seen Master Slater admit doing anything wrong – indeed he has wasted many a judge's time claiming absolute purity of thought and deed.
Just don’t tell Simon that Police officers are having coffees with MPs or emotional junior staffers from the electorate offices. The poor guy’s already worried sick about top cops having cups of coffee with Ministers.
I think most systems switched off 32bit and to 64 bit unix epoch times quite a long time again. I know I did. And that is even on the little Arm 32bit processors.
Most things I work on tend to use struct timeval. 64bit seconds since the unix epoch, and 64 bit micro seconds.
so according to the orange menace no one was hurt during the little bombing raid on their Airbase in Iraq by Iran.
well funny that, cause this is the second article now that speaks of wounded soldiers being evacuated due to injuries sustained during the attack.
The first eleven were evacuated to Ramstein Airbase in Germany with 'concussions' and now this diddy about 16 being evacuated to Saudi Arabia with severe injuries.
i consider the orange menace to be as competent as i considered ronald reagan to be competent, and both were/are currently adivised by the same people. its a bit the iran/contra affair redux. the iranians will be still there when america has nuked itself.
in the meant time its the boots on the ground that die.
And there was me thinking that "fatal" was like, y'know – dead?
"16 US military men with fatal injuries sustained during Iran's retaliatory missile strikes on Ain Al-Assad base earlier this month have been taken to a hospital…"
I did give the article another few secs of reading, but gave the fuck up with the Kuwaiti paper supposedly relying on "quoted [anonymous] informed sources as saying"
There were no injuries (let alone fatalities) because Iran gave prior notice of their retaliation precisely to avoid giving the US a 'go to' excuse for fucking war.
there is not one person in this admin that wants to go on record, not even the press secretary. tells you lot does it not? as for the no fatalities. yeah, right, tui.
These guys supposedly were in the hangar with the drones blahblahblah.
They had casualties and they had injuries. I am not the betting kind, but i bet you a pint.
There is a fucked up mix of war mongering "permanent state" actors and Democratic "cold war" warriors sitting right behind the US admin's "rapture" fundamentalists right now. The Iranian government is too rational and smart to offer them up an easy pretext to rain down destruction.
You really think the US wouldn't have been parading "dead babies" and getting on its moral high horse skeletal war horse given half a chance?
So yes, i think they will try to hide very much any dead bodies they may have found in the rubble, and will declare anything less then deadly injuries a 'concussions' and such.
The Iranians raised a point. Its simply “for those of us you kill we are able to take a few of yours”. Your turn.
I don't think thew White House would keep it quiet – that place leaks like a seive.
Whether the military would tell the white house anything that could be a c. belli is up for grabs – especially if the story about dolt45 choosing the artificial "worst option" of openly killing a sitting Iranian general is true.
The US military needs a break to retrain, recover, and refocus. Organisationally they're exhibiting classic overwork signs: navy ships are failing at basic things like navigating waterways without colliding with other ships, air crew are being killed because training hours are so low, soldiers are being deployed from combat theatre to combat theatre without a break in between.
Policy is one thing, the military-industrial complex is another, but admirals and generals know that if they're the ones in charge when something hits the papers that can seriously affect their post-military careers. Oh, and some of them probably care about their organisations, as well.
tl;dr: the US military wants to get ready for a near-peer confrontation, not another counter-insurgency in ME. This might affect whether they report precisely to the war-mongering white house injuries as being of US service personnel (vs contractors) occurring as a direct result of enemy action (no it was flying glass splinters and air pressure problems wot done it) and even (although I think this one is slightly farther-fetched) "no the attack was in Iraq and this soldier died in Saudi Arabia".
edit: although the US military is not really a monolith, either, so who knows
essentially the problem of poor recruiting and quality of recruit. Instate the draft and throw a bit of money to training and voila a little soldier is created to go kill kill kill.
and yes, the pentagon is gonna lie about this, in a way. They admit to people hurt but its only a bit of 'headache' a concussion so its nothing. And frankly who would care about Jonny and Jane Sixpack from somewhere US. No one. They get injured and die every other day currently in Iraq and Afghanistan and no one gives a care. These guys are nothing but tiny little blibs. There, gone. Kanonenfutter .
It's not even a recruiting problem as such – like any machine, every so often chunks of it need down-time for preventive maintenance. But yeah, if you step on the accelerator you burn through more fuel, and people are the fuel of armed forces.
Three service members were flown to a facility at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and the others were sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany after displaying signs of concussions, defense officials said Thursday. Jonathan Hoffman, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said Friday that al Asad is not outfitted with an MRI machine or other tools necessary for advanced brain injury examinations.
As a standard procedure, all personnel in the vicinity of a blast are screened for traumatic brain injury, and if deemed appropriate are transported to a higher level of care,” Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a prepared statement.
Kinda like how they do for 'sonic attacks' being unleashed on embassy staff on small Caribbean islands? (Oh. And China too…not to forget being microwaved by pesky Russians…) 🙄
You don't think that a skeletal presence was maintained following Iran telling Iraq where and when missiles were going to strike? Because just maybe there was some precautionary thing around equipment or what not being left around an entirely abandoned base? Maybe 11 or so volunteers holed up in bunkers/shelters to give an instant evaluation of damage? Maybe given a "once over" for possible effects of percussion from blasts?
I've had considerable personal contact with various Iranian people, they are widely misrepresented and misunderstood in the West. I'm assuming the Western media has fucked up this latest episode as usual.
Peeps will no doubt make of this what they will…in spite of what's actually being said.
Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Setareh Sadeqi, a PhD candidate at the University of Tehran who lost family friends in the tragic Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crash. Anya and Setareh discuss recent protests in Iran sparked by the crash, which western media have framed as an popular anti-government uprising. They also talk about the recent crackdown on Iranian news and social media accounts online, including the censorship of Press TV UK.
All I know for certain is the theocratic Iranian regime are not people whom the liberal left in the west should entertain as 'allies' in any sense of the word. No matter how anti-American they may be.
I dunno … maybe it was when I was standing next to the Iranian on the phone to his family back home, when they were explaining to him how much the government was charging them for the bullets used to execute his father. But that was a few decades ago now; maybe the leaders of this regime have transformed themselves into really nice people since.
But I tell you what, you engage with the cite I gave, and I'll give your one a go.
No it was in 1981 in the immediate aftermath of the Revolution, when members of the Baha'i Faith were executed. One of them was my flatmate at the time.
The bringing of fire to the Canadian Inuit was later …
I did engage with the cite 🙄 you gave. It's junk. The very first sentence is a bit of give away – referring to the assassination of Soleimani simply as "the death of", before going to on and attempting to turn corporate media reporting upside down (I haven't seen evidence of corporate media lionizing Soleimani as claimed in that link)…and he didn't foster instability in "Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen" as claimed. Neither did he lead "a group of armed thugs"…and that's just the first fucking paragraph!
But hey. I guess when the author of the piece is a former case officer who conducted operations against nuclear proliferation and terrorism for the CIA's National Clandestine Service , then a leetle bias might be par for the course, aye? 😉
You read any of his other stuff? The guy's a bit of a hoot.
Anyway. I gave you a link to an Iranian student living in Iran giving her perspective on recent events. Now I know she ain’t no ‘Bana of Aleppo’ and therefor unlikely to be courted by western media or western opinion, but hey…
Well using the same logic I feel zero obligation to trust your source either. I mean at least you can know who mine is, this student you reference, who knows?
So you just read stuff and other stuff and it's all stuff and you haven't equipped yourself of any critical faculty that might help you discern if agendas may, are, or are not in play? And so can't navigate information…
So what do you do?
Are you akin to those liberals who smear anyone not adhering to "the script" that comes down from on governmental/corporate high?
Given the gaslighting in response to my initial comment, I guess that might be the case, aye?
Correct me if I'm wrong please, but I've read you as being consistently anti-American for a very long time. Your immediate response to dismiss any source who has previously worked in American intelligence is indicative of this. And you are certainly not alone in this bias, there are plenty of other lefties here who routinely fulminate on the putative evils of American empire.
Like all empires it has certainly had it's inglorious moments. But the notion that it's record is nothing but evil incarnate is a nonsense. What none of ever do is ask the simple question "compared to what?". What other post-WW2 counterfactual empire would have been any better by comparison? The idea that absent the Americans the world might have been a peaceful nirvana is entirely unsupported by any reasoned interpretation of history at all.
And yes all sources have their bias. It's knowing what it is that's useful.
As for good analysis coming from ex-intelligence community types and such like, well…there's Snowden and Gen Lawrence Wilkerson, and Scott Ritter just off the top of my head. And of course, there are others (ex military etc) whose names aren't coming to mind right now.
And I've no idea why you reckon I think the world would be shangri-la if the US empire was no more.
So your happy with the hard right militant Salafist Islamist crowd then Redlogix? Because that is what the US has been supporting, and that is a problem. But my real issue with you logic, is to kill the guy who helped knock off ISIS, is a real kick in the teeth to anyone who supports the rights and freedoms of people.
The left should align with people not governments on that we can agree?
Because the reality on the ground is the US is an empire, and Iran is not, no matter how shit their government is. If we support empire and empire games we are no better than the imperialist of the past – who were always the enemy of the economic freedom and rights of people at large.
So your happy with the hard right militant Salafist Islamist crowd then Redlogix?
What on earth would make you think that? I'm on record here for years as being highly critical of zealots and fundamentalists of all kinds.
But my real issue with you logic, is to kill the guy who helped knock off ISIS, is a real kick in the teeth to anyone who supports the rights and freedoms of people.
Does this mean that the enemy of enemy is always my friend? For example was the West supposed to then cuddle up to the mass murderer Stalin in the aftermath of WW2?
If we support empire and empire games we are no better than the imperialist of the past
Again I’m consistently on record as being opposed to empire and the only regular here who has constructively proposed an alternative future without it.
For example was the West supposed to then cuddle up to the mass murderer Stalin in the aftermath of WW2?
No, but the west acted in a similar manner, and Iran is a good example of that. The west established a far right government which eventually gave rise to the islamic revolution. Let's talk central america, how much mass murder with the support of the west?
The west is not pure here, and the elephant in the room is the US has acted more and more like Imperalist arseholes since WW2.
Again I’m consistently on record as being opposed to empire and the only regular here who has constructively proposed an alternative future without it.
I think you think to much of your opinion. I hardly found your solutions reasonable nor constructive, some yes – but many of you suggestions are just the same old, same old, with a big dose of sleight of hand.
Like everyone else your own ideological prejudice get in the way. Hey I'm no different in that regard. We all do it.
Back to the point, all sides are lying – but the side with the ability to wipe the other side off the face of the planet is the one I want to hold the preverbal gas light to. The one in the more powerful position has more of a responsibility to act in good faith, and it's not.
For example if I had 100kg of TNT around your house and started a fight with you – is it my responsibility to not light the TNT because I'm angry or is it yours?
I hardly found your solutions reasonable nor constructive, some yes – but many of you suggestions are just the same old, same old, with a big dose of sleight of hand.
I didn't ask you to agree with them, just to acknowledge my consistent track record in proposing a detailed vision beyond 'the age of the nation state empire'.
There really is only one path forward from here, a universal vision of a united humanity, a global moral horizon and a political framework to implement this at the same scale.
That the same Dershowtitz "respectable" liberal intelligentsia have been happy enough to give a pass to as long as he was smearing Jewish critics of Israel as antisemites? That Dershowitz?
also at least one opinion piece about how lowering the age of consent to 15 and maybe even fifteen and no claims of anything irrespective of how old the partner is. Oh gosh golly me. And he was friends with someone who liked his girls very young. Good grief. But hey Harvard or something.
It varies a lot. Age of consent laws can be quite complex, but 14 is not uncommon, Germany and China being two examples. 16 is probably the most common age, while at the other extreme is South Korea at 20.
the insurance companies must be quaking in their boots. I would like to see some numbers on total write offs, etc. It is just one thing after the other.
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Irish voters went to the polls on Saturday in parliamentary elections, and perhaps delivered a political revolution. Since independence, Irish politics has been dominated by two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Basicly patronage networks with indistinguishable policies, their cleavage isn't ideology, but who killed whose father or grandfather in ...
Once again the Aotearoa Bike Challenge is on us, and once again I’m participating. In principle this is not hard because it does not represent a significant switch in behavior for me. I already bike nearly every day. The Bicycle The fascinating thing about cycling is the realisation that this ...
Lately there has been a great deal of misinformation regarding the origins and purpose of Skeptical Science. As John Cook wrote nearly a decade ago, Skeptical Science is primarily a website that debunks climate misinformation with peer-reviewed science. Despite the ever-worsening impacts from climate change, with record after record being broken in ...
Under Attack: By sacking not only RNZ Concert’s presenters, but also its producers and librarians, and reducing the station to an automated purveyor of classical music in-between parliamentary broadcasts, RNZ’s CEO, Paul Thompson, wasn’t simply announcing an operational shake-up, he was declaring war on one of the most important guardians of ...
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Australian smoke plume sets recordsThe recent wildfires in Australia sent one of ...
The Global Protest to #FightInequality was powerful – thankyou and what next? Dear allies, We started the decade with a huge protest to #FightInequality that was heard around the world, including the 1% at Davos. Watch and share the highlights on facebook and twitter. A huge thank you. Together we ...
The Ministry of Health have announced a package that might ensure NZ will never experience another measles epidemic. While at the time of writing the details are still limited it appears that the important limitations in our current programme have been acknowledged and the intent is to address them. Great ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly summarise our assessment of the highly uncertain new coronavirus threat. Given its potential to become a severe and prolonged global pandemic, a precautionary response now means activating all components of our pandemic plan, with a particular focus on ‘keep ...
When Labour was running for election, Jacinda Ardern famously said that climate change was "my generation's nuclear free moment". The implication was that her government would take the problem seriously, and act swiftly to reduce emissions. The reality:New Zealand will emit a million more tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2020 ...
James Renwick is Professor of Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied at Canterbury and the University of Washington and has worked on diverse aspects of climate science, including global atmospheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice. In December 2019 he was appointed to the New Zealand Climate Change ...
by Philip Ferguson Exit polls are showing a three-way virtual tie between the main parties in the south of Ireland. Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are all on just over 22%. FG on 22.4, SF on 22.3, FF on 22.2. Exit polls indicate that over 30% of 18-24 ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 2, 2020 through Sat, Feb 8, 2020 Editor's Pick New Report Details How Fossil Fuel Industry's Climate Destruction Also Exacerbates Human Rights Abuses"Even in the face of the ...
In a previous post I described briefly when and how the Starlink satellite chains – recent launches by Space-X in a scheme to bring 5G internet connectivity to the whole globe – could be seen from New Zealand with the naked eye. Here I provide an update and predictions for ...
Keeping The Faith: This Government’s broad, new, heavily moderated, progressive faith does not require a prime minister with the powers of a medieval pope. Jacinda’s regime has no need of subterranean torture chambers to ensure compliance. A gift for diplomacy and the ability to inspire her fellow human-beings is all ...
Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has penned a column which chastises the left wing of the Labour party for daring to retain principles and ideals, qualities - it seems - that should be jettisoned in pursuit of power.Never mind that Freedland was an ardent Remainer, that is to say, one ...
Tonight’s news suggests the coronavirus outbreak may have originated from pangolins. Details are very sketchy, almost nothing at all beyond a claim of high similarity. My impression is this claim comes from a press release by South China Agricultural University. Initial discussion online suggests this is a more likely candidate ...
by Susanne Kemp The Fire and Emergency service (FENZ) has recently asked firefighters in Auckland Areas 3, 4 and 5 to take on an additional duty that has rather ominous implications. Namely, to collect names and addresses of everyone on the premises of fires they attend. The firefighters’ union, the ...
Part of the story of the Nazis' rise to power in Germany was the willingness of mainstream right-wing parties to work with them to keep out the left. Because of this, one of the fundamental rules of postwar German politics has been "do not work with Nazis". As a result, ...
There has long been a truism in public broadcasting: don't mess with Concert FM. The theory was that although the station has been in a long-term audience decline, and that audience is steadily ageing out, it has powerful establishment support – and any threat to it would provoke a fury.As ...
This is a re-post from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The heat absorbed in Earth’s oceans reached a new record in 2019, found a recent study published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. Despite the fact that this has been the case for almost every year over the past decade, this information ...
We are confronted with the spectre of Simon Bridges making clear he cannot, will not, trust Winston Peters – the oft-cited “King Maker” in New Zealand politics.Supporters are lauding it as a master stroke, naturally, because in their eyes, it prevents him being the tail that wags the dog. ...
by Don Franks Under a government claiming empathy with the fine arts, Radio New Zealand ( RNZ) is poised to cut back its classical music station, RNZ Concert. The plan is replacing it on FM radio with music “for a younger audience” as part of a new multimedia music brand. ...
More Thwaites This past week we heard disturbing news about Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier. Helping to fill in the longer term history of Thwaites' behavior and especially helpful in interpreting results of the recent drilling project and what it may say about the future of this unstable mass of ice is Revealing the ...
Inaccuracies are very common in scientific paper abstracts. Image credit:Science in the Abstract: Don’t Judge a Study by its Cover I have come to accept anti-fluoride campaigners will never stop cherry-picking research and findings ...
“The scene is set, the players met…”. And what players they are in this farce of an Election coming up in the United States this year. There is a multi-faceted anger in the broader situation the world finds itself in, in which the false promises of so-called “moderates” find themselves ...
A few years ago, a company lowballed a contract to dispose of toxic waste from the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. So, they dumped it in a disused paper mill in Mataura, then went into liquidation - effectively dumping the problem on local councils. The waste is dangerous - it releases ...
Unhappy with the demonisation of Iran in Western media, I was fortunate to have the Australian Institute of International Affairs invite me to write an alternative analysis for their on-line journal Australian Outlook. I did, and they serialised it into two parts. The essays are short, so I did not ...
Over on The Good Society, Max Rashbrooke suggests that its time to start directly taxing wealth:A wealth tax would be levied on net wealth – that is, the value of people’s assets once their debts have been subtracted. Such a tax would be highly redistributive. Levied at 1% on wealth ...
The quarterly labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has dropped to 4%. There are now 111,000 unemployed - 15,000 fewer than when Labour took office. Its not the performance we had under Clark (when unemployment was ~3.3%), but its still a reasonable improvement over prevailing conditions under National. ...
Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick Wilson, Louise Delany, Prof Richard Edwards, Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanThe current national measles epidemic in New Zealand is amongst the largest we have experienced in the last 40 years. It can be linked to the problems created by long-term erosion and fragmentation of national public health ...
I’m about to start teaching science communication to tertiary students, which is equally hilarious and terrifying to me. (Hi to my students who have Googled me and found this post.) I loved English at high school, but we spent most of our time reading The Outsiders, discussing the differences between metaphors and ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
Up to 110 new EV chargers nationwide in cities and regions 50 electric vehicles for ride-sharing The Government is helping deliver more infrastructure and options for low emissions transport through new projects, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. Tauranga, Nelson, Levin, New Plymouth and Oamaru are just some ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
Clear requirements for ensuring customers are treated fairly by banks, insurers and other financial service providers are included in new financial conduct legislation that passed its first reading today. “The recent reviews, by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, into the conduct of banks and ...
Applications are now open for the fifth round of the Regional Culture and Heritage Fund Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Grant Robertson announced today. “I am delighted to open this year’s fund which has some $7 million available to support performing arts venues, galleries, museums and whare ...
The Minister of Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta today congratulated Associate Professor Amokura Kawharu on her appointment as the next President of the Law Commission. “Amokura Kawharu will be a standout in her new role, leading in an innovative and forward looking approach to the law reform process. She will ...
Auckland University legal academic Amokura Kawharu has been appointed as the next President of the Law Commission, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Associate Professor Kawharu will take up her new appointment on 11 May 2020. “I would like to congratulate Associate Professor Kawharu on her appointment,” Andrew ...
A programme for employers to help them engage effectively with younger employees was launched today by Minister of Employment, Willie Jackson. The Youth Ready Employer Programme contains a range of on-line templates that employers can easily access to help with employing and retaining young people in their businesses. The programme ...
Budget 2020 will be delivered on Thursday 14 May, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “This year’s Budget will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also preparing the economy for the future. “Those challenges and opportunities cannot be resolved in one budget, ...
I move, That this House place on record its appreciation and thanks for the devoted and distinguished service to New Zealand by the late Rt Hon Michael Kenneth Moore, member of the Order of New Zealand, a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, an Honorary Member of the ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Northland as an adverse event for the primary sector, unlocking $80,000 in Government support. “This is recognition that the extreme and prolonged nature of this dry spell is taking its toll on our farmers and growers and additional support ...
The Minister of Police says an operation to smash a trans national drug smuggling ring today will make a significant impact on the methamphetamine trade fuelling harm in our communities. Police have announced 10 arrests and the seizure of up to five million dollars’ worth of illicit drugs after an ...
The Government’s books are in a strong position to withstand global headwinds, with the accounts in surplus and expenses close to forecast, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown accounts for the six months to December. The operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) was above ...
Race courses can improve safety with this year’s second round of funding from the Racing Safety Development Fund. Minister for Racing Winston Peters has announced the second funding round of 2019/20 is open with $347,875 available for distribution. “The racing industry is integral to the economic and social fabric of ...
The Government is committing $300,000 to fund research to update behavioural information to make sure HIV and STI prevention services are targeted appropriately in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson made the announcement at today’s Big Gay Out in Auckland. “There is much talk about ...
The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has announced work will begin on a business case to assess the viability of forming a new public media entity. “The Government must ensure New Zealanders have a strong independent public media service for decades to come, which means ensuring public ...
Minister of Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare announced today that the Government will contribute $100,000 to the Southland regional Mayoral Relief Fund, to support communities impacted by the recent flooding in Southland. Mr Henare says this week’s flooding has caused significant disruption to communities in the lower South Island. ...
Heritage buildings throughout New Zealand will benefit from the $1.1 million in Heritage EQUIP funding grants announced today. “These grants for seismic strengthening projects help private building owners get the advice they need to start building work or to get the work completed,” Grant Robertson says. “Timaru’s Grosvenor Hotel has ...
A new survey has found New Zealand’s game development sector has grown beyond expectations and is on track to becoming a billion dollar industry in 2025, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford says. “New Zealand’s interactive media sector grew by 42 per cent in last financial year to $203.4 million, according ...
Te Tii, the lower marae at Waitangi, is among more than 70 marae now connected to broadband internet thanks to the Provincial Growth Fund’s marae connectivity scheme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said today. In February 2019, the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) allocated $21 million to connect rural towns ...
The West Coast has had a funding injection of over $1.2 million from the Provincial Growth Fund, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika today. The PGF projects announced are: $800,000 to Development West Coast for a Grey District Regional Digital Hub ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters will keep his Ministerial portfolios as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigates the New Zealand First Foundation. ...
Here's how the Government could force you to sell your house for state housing; and impact of drought, coronavirus could lead to recession - economist. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentNZ First donations scandal Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Jacinda Ardern right to let Winston Peters’ keep his head over donations ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners is calling on Police Minister Stuart Nash to front up and explain, after releasing new figures showing that since 2011, Police employees have been caught 244 times for unauthorised use of confidential and sensitive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute Young Australians are abandoning private health insurance in droves. And the overall decline in the percentage of the population with private coverage is continuing. New data for the three months to the end of 2019, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, University of Melbourne As the brutal reality of climate change dawned this summer, you may have asked yourself a hard question: am I well-prepared to live in a warmer world? There are many ways we can ready ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eva Plaganyi, Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Currents are strong around the Torres Strait Islands, lying between Australia’s northern-most tip and Papua New Guinea. When the tidal conditions are right and the waters relatively still, though, up to 230 islanders – a sizeable ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Fahey, PhD Candidate, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University General Motors has announced the Holden brand will be “retired” in 2021. This week’s announcement has been a long time coming. The Holden brand has been in a state of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra An “unholy coalition” is attacking the planned increase in the superannuation guarantee, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says in his latest “vision statement”, pledging to resist any attempt to stop the legislated rise to 12% going ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, let the cat out of the bag this week when he lambasted Canberra over its decision to exclude Huawei from the build-out of Australia’s 5G network. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thami Croeser, Research Officer, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University The idea that we should decentralise our population has come up many times in Australia. Recently, the National Farmers’ Federation president pushed the notion, calling for a shift to the regions. And ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Fresh developments around in the political donations saga, the Chinese ambassador speaks out, and some troubling poll numbers for advocates of cannabis law reform.The Serious Fraud Office is formally investigating the operations of the NZ First Foundation. The confirmation came in ...
ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias interviews Dr Gwendoline Smith about how terrible it is to think too much.Certainly I overthink things, in the sense that I worry and fret and angst, but not in the sense that I actually think very deeply or intelligently. It’s more ...
A major report by the Auditor-General on how New Zealand's drinking, storm and waste waters are managed finds a conflicting, disorganised and stagnant system ill-prepared for climate change. Dileepa Fonseka reports. ...
Manchester City and the Houston Astros are latest inductees into the sports hall of shame. Dirty, rotten cheats. Calculated, cynical, premeditated, habitual, recidivist, despicable cheats. Committed cheats. Add Manchester City and the Houston Astros to a gallery of shame occupied for all eternity by Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, Ben Johnson, ...
The 10-year-old girl from Tawa who cherished a cricket bat signed by her 2000 World Cup heroes, now wants to spur a new crop of cricketers through her own swashbuckling deeds. In a recent column looking ahead to the T20 World Cup starting in Australia this week, Sophie Devine wrote that she “hoped to inspire ...
Transforming diseases into foes and therapies into battles isn’t the best way to face contagion. Annemarie Jutel asks: When did panic and catastrophe help anyone organise anything? Public anxiety and nations’ responses to coronavirus (COVID-19) have been shaped by the hyperbolic metaphors surrounding its discussion. Even the usually sedate and measured ...
Overworked and stressed teachers, overcrowded classrooms and substandard nutrition have ECE at crisis point. ECE teacher Susan Bates explains why everyone should care. If you want to know what NZ society might look like in the future, look into the eyes of the young children in your neighbourhood. Ask yourself ...
The pressures on the state budget of a rapidly ageing population must be acknowledged, and treated holistically and with nuance, write Susan St John and Dr Claire Dale The latest three-yearly 2019 Retirement Incomes Review takes a refreshingly holistic view of retirement policy and is welcomed by the Retirement Policy and ...
The dreaded pea weevil is no more in the Wairarapa, after a successful eradication effort. So why does this matter? OK, what on earth is a pea weevil?It’s a type of leaf beetle, so not actually a weevil after all, but the name is the name. Basically it gets into pea ...
Controversial Australian philosopher Peter Singer is coming to New Zealand in June. While he believes in reducing suffering for all humans and animals, his views on disability have sparked widespread alarm and condemnation.Utilitarian and moral philosopher Peter Singer is best known by many for the parable of the drowning child, ...
Sharon Brettkelly gets a rare look at the internal workings of Immigration New Zealand - and we look at what's holding up visa applications. Immigration New Zealand's Henderson office is like any other, with rows of workers at their computers. But in this workplace the lives of tens of thousands ...
Alex Casey delivers her seventh power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where a group of intruders have herniated the competition’s intestines forever. Click here for previous instalments. Welcome back to The Bachelorette NZ, where everything is made up and every man is suddenly named Mike. Intruders! Five of them! A whole ...
By Felipe F. Salvosa II in Manila Solicitor-General Jose Calida asked the Supreme Court today to issue a gag order against ABS-CBN, claiming the Philippines’ largest television network was engaging in “propaganda” to sway the justices in the quo warranto case seeking to void its franchise. Calida filed the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karen R Fisher, Professor, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for young children with disability is not equal across Australia. Where you live can hinder access to information about disability support, assistance to apply for ...
The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations applauds the changes to the Residential Tenancies Act released by the government yesterday but does not believe that they go far enough to improving the rights of renters. The power imbalance in the current ...
The Prime Minister will take no action against Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, after confirmation of a Serious Fraud Office investigation. ...
Eamonn Marra’s debut novel makes a study of the mundane: sanding a fence, heating baked beans, three pizzas for $29.99 delivered. Alie Benge reckons it belongs somewhere between Sally Rooney and Elena Ferrante. It was about page three of 2000ft Above Worry Level. A feeling burst inside me: the joy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzie Gibson, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Charles Sturt University The gothic developed as a European architectural phenomenon in 12th-century France, where awe-inspiring cathedrals reflected a world drenched in religious piety and superstition. Its veneration was revisited in 18th-century English literature, when ...
Financial services company Heartland Bank has reported a solid lift in its first-half profit driven by increased lending despite a squeeze on margins and rising costs. ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, e-bikes are now just a tap away! Josie Adams reviews the latest disruption in transport culture.When Lime launched in 2018, New Zealand’s transport culture got the electric shock it needed. For too long we’d ...
Ministers love to bray about the seizing of illegal drugs. Customs statistics on seizures last year – albeit “preliminary” statistics – therefore were irresistible to Customs Minister Jenny Salesa. They gave her a platform to remind us of her existence as a Minister while acknowledging the work of her officials. ...
The rise of ‘plant-based’ diets seems like a win for those who decry eating meat. But some vegan groups claim the halfway step of vegetarianism is ineffectual if you really care about animal cruelty, climate change, or your own personal health.An article in the Guardian last year asked “Why do ...
FIRST Union General Secretary Dennis Maga says that this morning’s comments from National Party Finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith that the party would consider scrapping the Government’s proposed minimum wage increases if elected ...
The State Housing Action Network (SHAN) is deeply disappointed that the Government’s recently announced Aotearoa Homelessness Action Plan fails to provide for increases in the state housing stock which are essential for addressing the homelessness crisis. ...
Electricity retailers will no longer be able to entice former customers with steep and exclusive discounts, the Electricity Authority has announced. ...
The National Party leader Simon Bridges says it came as a surprise to him that the Serious Fraud Office prosecution relates to two $100,000 donations to the party. ...
National Party leader Simon Bridges says it came as a surprise to him that a Serious Fraud Office prosecution relates to two $100,000 donations to the party. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne The federal court’s rejection of the ABC case against the Australian Federal Police raid on its Sydney headquarters in June 2019 reveals two issues of great importance to ...
Zero waste campaigners are petitioning the Government to take a more active stance in tackling Aotearoa New Zealand’s waste crisis, with a comprehensive ban on single-use disposable plastic food and drink serviceware, and a phasing in of accessible, reusable ...
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Daily review 20/01/2020 
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Re- the burglary of the National Party regional headquarters:
The blame game has started – just inferences at this stage. But it's sinister folks. It's politically motivated at the start of election year:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/video.cfm?c_id=280&gal_cid=280&gallery_id=216055
Funny, they weren't fussed about the break-ins at the Labour Party and Alliance Party headquarters in the mid 1990s, nor the hacking of Labour's computers around 8-10 years ago.
But I'm sure the police will pull out all stops this time. When it happens to National hell that's bad, but if its Labour well, ho hum so what…
Can you provide references for you claims of break-ins and computer hacking?
The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers. That was Cameron Slater and Graeme Edgeler at least though that no crime was committed.
"The question then is: does Cameron Slater have authority to access the server that hosts the Labour Party website? Well, it’s a publicly available website, that they put up there so that people can go to their website and download stuff from that server into their cache to read on their browsers. If Cameron doesn’t have authority (because, for example, it’s not express authority), I don’t see how any of us can lawfully look at it."
Was that what you had in mind?
What were the Break-ins of the Offices you talk about?
edit. I can’t seem to get the link correct. It was a story here on the Standard but my cut and paste seems to lose the first part of the link.
David Cunliffe’s electorate office.
Ah yes. Forgot about that. From memory police did nothing about that one either.
So, you are inferring I'm lying are you alwyn?
Both burglaries occurred in the lead up period to the 1996 election. Yes, I know who was behind them, but can't confirm the identities of the actual thieves who carried out the burglaries.
The Labour Party hack is well documented. Yes, there was controversy over whether it constituted a hack or not but that was just a distraction. Information was stolen from the Labour Party and the police did f**k all. In fact further down the track they actually had the gall to target Nicky Hager as a 'suspected accessory to a crime' while ignoring the criminal activities with which National’s Cameron Slater was associated.
Police bias when it comes to politically motivated criminal activity over the years has been a disgrace.
And don't forget the illegal raid on Kim Dotcom? What's happened to him?
"So, you are inferring I'm lying are you alwyn".
No I am not. I have never heard of these break-ins of the Labour and Alliance Offices and I am curious what they were about. It may of course, if they were in the early part of the decade, simply be because I wasn't living here at the time.
Asking for a reference for something stated by a contributor does not seem, to me, to be in anyway a statement that you are lying. I just want to see what the story is about. I always supply, when asked, links to statements I have made. This was I thought precisely why the second paragraph of the rules for the site seems to require that justification for comments should be available.
Now are there any available links to these stories, please. I would love to see what it was that the Police refused to investigate.
Well. I apologise for jumping to conclusions. The two break-ins in 1996 were the Auckland Central Alliance Party regional headquarters and the Auckland Central Labour Party electorate office. They were linked of course and the aim of the exercise was to gather information about their campaigns. It isn't likely links are available online because of the passage of time.
And I know who ordered the break-ins.
I didn't say they "refused" to investigate but they didn't try very hard – if they tried at all. They're very good at ‘not trying’ when they don’t want to.
Thank you. As I suggested, I wasn't living in New Zealand in 1996 so it is not surprising I hadn't heard of them. I was, from early 1995 until early 1997 touring the West Island. All of it, and boy that is a lot of territory.
I shall have to track the story down offline. As you say, once you get into last century there is very little available to Googles gaze.
Fair enough alwyn. 🙂
Note in my response to James I clarified it was nobody in the National Party.
So someone who was not with the Nats wanted to know what Labour and the Alliance were planning?
Think back to 1996.
And look at the electorate mentioned in my comment @ 7:47pm.
Ah. Some things never change.
"Yes, I know who was behind them, but can't confirm the identities of the actual thieves who carried out the burglaries."
So if you cant confirm the identities – then you 'think' you know who it is.
Else go to the police. But I would guess you have zero idea at all.
Stop your stalking of me and your childish venom. If I say I know who ordered the break-ins then I know who ordered the break-ins.
And yes, I had a good idea who actually did the job but couldn't be 100% sure so no, I did not go to the police. I don’t have a high opinion of the police when it comes to political criminal activity – and for very good reason that neither you nor anyone else here is privy to.
Oh, and btw you'll be delighted to hear it wasn't anyone in the National Party.
Anne,
Without commenting on the merits of the issue, 1996 is nearly 25 years ago.
And as Kim Dotcom, he is awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court. Incidentally the raid was not illegal.
…1996 is nearly 25 years ago.
What has that got to do with the price of fish? A break-in is a break-in no matter when it happens.
Not only is it useful to compare the difference in responses, but those break-ins were politically motivated and that was a dangerous precedent and should have been taken more seriously by the police at that time.
... the raid was not illegal.
Well something was considered unlawful. I thought it was the raid itself.
You are right, an aspect of the raid was illegal, I think it was the preceding surveillance.
As for the relevance of 25 years, it is because these events are hardly quite the huge things the partisans make them out to be. So something of relatively modest consequence 25 years ago is close to being ancient history. For instance while I might have a very clear memory of what it was like on selection night in North Shore in 1995, for everyone else it is old history.
Be that as it may Wayne but while it is "ancient history" in the eyes of most people, the difference in police responses is still pertinent.
When individuals stole material/equipment for political purposes from Labour and the Alliance Party by way of unlawful entry to their premises it was no mere "modest consequence". It was dirty politics carried out with hostile intent, and caused the victims just as much consternation and anxiety as it would today.
But it was not regarded as important 23 years ago and I venture to suggest that was in part because it was… only Labour and the Alliance Party personnel who were affected.
Anyway, it is a flawed conversation now, because it looks like National’s break-in was part of opportunist burglaries in the area targeting mainly laptops.
"The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers."
Not this again. Lay people routinely use the word hack to refer to things that tech people don't. It is normal in English for this to happen (tech vs lay language usage).
As for comparisons, most people who give their personal details to a political party don't expect those details to be accessed by political opponents for political gain. In other words, it was wrong. Let's not forget that Slater went on to orchestrate an attempt at hacking TS, amongst his many other dubious activities.
Besides,
When you put an internal link in a comment via a straight cut and paste, the system changes that to the name of the post (without all the URL detail). Your link still works.
Ok. Thanks. It just looks funny and I thought I must have screwed it up somehow. I assume this is only if the URL is the same as the place where you are posting it, which is of course what I was doing here?
I must revert to my old habit of clicking on any link I put up as soon as I post it. I always used to do it but I have gotten lazy. As you say it actually works just fine.
TS has some newish linking changes (happened while I was away). The other main one is that if you cut and paste a link to a TS comment, the link will revert back to the post (rather than the comment). The way around that is to use the html tags to insert a link.
That doesn't apply if you put the link in line with some text, but if you put it in its own line it won't work.
The only thing I am aware of was that the Labour Party had left their membership details unprotected, which seems a bit different to the actual theft of computers.
The ignorant tend to call data theft "hacking" and imagine highly skilled coders wearing hoodies in dark rooms coming up with fancy ways to bypass security protocols. In reality, most of it is exactly like the example above: someone screws up and data that should have been protected is left exposed to the unscrupulous and unethical, who put time and effort into finding such exposed data. Whether you call data theft under those circumstances "hacking" or not depends on your enthusiasm for drama, but it's still data theft. If it's not illegal under our legislation, that's a problem with our legislation, not an endorsement of the theft.
Sign Martyn Bradbury's petition to remove Dr Jian Yang from the National Party list.
https://www.change.org/p/national-party-nz-we-the-undersigned-demand-that-chinese-spy-jian-yang-be-removed-from-national-party-list-before-election-2020
Did that yesterday.
Me too!
Interesting that Goldsmith said the 'party' part of the office was where the laptops were, not the 'electorate' part of the office.
That suggests that the Chinese spy was the target.
You wern't that fussed when WhaleOil was hacked either.
* weren't (not often used in formal writing).
But Slater is poisonous and a complete failure. His was a career in corrupt and criminal activity and that has been proven time and time again, so why on earth would anyone be fussed that he was hacked.
It's a good thing that Slater has been crushed because it rids NZ of a particularly odious form of cancer.
Solid public interest defence for publishing information derived from that theft, but didn't the hacker admit at the time it was illegal?
By contrast I've never seen Master Slater admit doing anything wrong – indeed he has wasted many a judge's time claiming absolute purity of thought and deed.
Pretty sure that office is right next to a Police station.
Checked and yes…
Paul Goldsmith's office – 107 Gt South Road, Epsom.
Police Eastern Area HQ – 111 Gt South Road, Greenlane.
So yeah.
So it was the police wot done it.
OK. for the likes of James and co. I'm joking.
Edit: the Nats like to park their offices next to police stations. Maggie’s North Shore office is next door to the Takapuna station.
Woodhouses is on the same block as Chipmunks (the kids indoor playground).
Seymour must be envious.
Interesting how the suburb name changes..
It's called keeping up with the Joneses. Epsom is more upmarket sounding than Greenlane.
Maggie's office in Takapuna is on the second storey of the building so that she can look down on the cops next door.
Just don’t tell Simon that Police officers are having coffees with MPs or emotional junior staffers from the electorate offices. The poor guy’s already worried sick about top cops having cups of coffee with Ministers.
111 Great South Rd, Epsom is currently Presbyterian Support, not Police.
Google Streetview suggests that has been the case since at least 2015. Last image showing Police was in 2012.
One for @lprent – Y2k redux on the way (click tweet for thread):
I think most systems switched off 32bit and to 64 bit unix epoch times quite a long time again. I know I did. And that is even on the little Arm 32bit processors.
Most things I work on tend to use struct timeval. 64bit seconds since the unix epoch, and 64 bit micro seconds.
Thank goodness
so according to the orange menace no one was hurt during the little bombing raid on their Airbase in Iraq by Iran.
well funny that, cause this is the second article now that speaks of wounded soldiers being evacuated due to injuries sustained during the attack.
The first eleven were evacuated to Ramstein Airbase in Germany with 'concussions' and now this diddy about 16 being evacuated to Saudi Arabia with severe injuries.
https://en.abna24.com/news//16-us-troops-flown-to-kuwait-hospitals-with-severe-injuries-after-irans-missile-strike-paper_1003700.html
That slap in the face was a fist on the nose it seems.
Trump is a weak President who makes hollow threats. Iran's Supreme Leader must me pissing himself laughing at Trump's impotence.
i consider the orange menace to be as competent as i considered ronald reagan to be competent, and both were/are currently adivised by the same people. its a bit the iran/contra affair redux. the iranians will be still there when america has nuked itself.
in the meant time its the boots on the ground that die.
And there was me thinking that "fatal" was like, y'know – dead?
"16 US military men with fatal injuries sustained during Iran's retaliatory missile strikes on Ain Al-Assad base earlier this month have been taken to a hospital…"
I did give the article another few secs of reading, but gave the fuck up with the Kuwaiti paper supposedly relying on "quoted [anonymous] informed sources as saying"
There were no injuries (let alone fatalities) because Iran gave prior notice of their retaliation precisely to avoid giving the US a 'go to' excuse for fucking war.
there is not one person in this admin that wants to go on record, not even the press secretary. tells you lot does it not? as for the no fatalities. yeah, right, tui.
These guys supposedly were in the hangar with the drones blahblahblah.
They had casualties and they had injuries. I am not the betting kind, but i bet you a pint.
There is a fucked up mix of war mongering "permanent state" actors and Democratic "cold war" warriors sitting right behind the US admin's "rapture" fundamentalists right now. The Iranian government is too rational and smart to offer them up an easy pretext to rain down destruction.
You really think the US wouldn't have been parading "dead babies" and getting on its
moral high horseskeletal war horse given half a chance?i think the dumbarse realised that he is in over his head when it comes to Iran. Its one thing to hold people / country hostage in order to make a bit of coin or to get some dirt on someone, its a completely different thing to start a proper war in the middle east, block the straight of hormuz, have the gallon go to 5+ bring home thousands of body bags and maybe have some cleric issue a fatwah on the fat fuck in the shitty house and his family. So yeah, i think someone might have picked up a phone and explained Donnie just what the fuck he was gonna tweet next. 'https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1214739853025394693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1214739853025394693&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fdonald-trump%2Ftrump-tweets-all-well-after-iranian-missile-attack-targeting-u-n1112211
So yes, i think they will try to hide very much any dead bodies they may have found in the rubble, and will declare anything less then deadly injuries a 'concussions' and such.
The Iranians raised a point. Its simply “for those of us you kill we are able to take a few of yours”. Your turn.
I don't think thew White House would keep it quiet – that place leaks like a seive.
Whether the military would tell the white house anything that could be a c. belli is up for grabs – especially if the story about dolt45 choosing the artificial "worst option" of openly killing a sitting Iranian general is true.
The US military needs a break to retrain, recover, and refocus. Organisationally they're exhibiting classic overwork signs: navy ships are failing at basic things like navigating waterways without colliding with other ships, air crew are being killed because training hours are so low, soldiers are being deployed from combat theatre to combat theatre without a break in between.
Policy is one thing, the military-industrial complex is another, but admirals and generals know that if they're the ones in charge when something hits the papers that can seriously affect their post-military careers. Oh, and some of them probably care about their organisations, as well.
tl;dr: the US military wants to get ready for a near-peer confrontation, not another counter-insurgency in ME. This might affect whether they report precisely to the war-mongering white house injuries as being of US service personnel (vs contractors) occurring as a direct result of enemy action (no it was flying glass splinters and air pressure problems wot done it) and even (although I think this one is slightly farther-fetched) "no the attack was in Iraq and this soldier died in Saudi Arabia".
edit: although the US military is not really a monolith, either, so who knows
essentially the problem of poor recruiting and quality of recruit. Instate the draft and throw a bit of money to training and voila a little soldier is created to go kill kill kill.
and yes, the pentagon is gonna lie about this, in a way. They admit to people hurt but its only a bit of 'headache' a concussion so its nothing. And frankly who would care about Jonny and Jane Sixpack from somewhere US. No one. They get injured and die every other day currently in Iraq and Afghanistan and no one gives a care. These guys are nothing but tiny little blibs. There, gone. Kanonenfutter .
It's not even a recruiting problem as such – like any machine, every so often chunks of it need down-time for preventive maintenance. But yeah, if you step on the accelerator you burn through more fuel, and people are the fuel of armed forces.
No injuries?
Three service members were flown to a facility at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and the others were sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany after displaying signs of concussions, defense officials said Thursday. Jonathan Hoffman, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said Friday that al Asad is not outfitted with an MRI machine or other tools necessary for advanced brain injury examinations.
https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/eleven-us-troops-flown-to-hospitals-from-al-asad-air-base-in-days-after-iran-missile-attack-1.615158
uh-huh
As a standard procedure, all personnel in the vicinity of a blast are screened for traumatic brain injury, and if deemed appropriate are transported to a higher level of care,” Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a prepared statement.
Kinda like how they do for 'sonic attacks' being unleashed on embassy staff on small Caribbean islands? (Oh. And China too…not to forget being microwaved by pesky Russians…) 🙄
Not injured., but deemed to be in need of a higher level of care following TBI screening.
Righto….
You don't think that a skeletal presence was maintained following Iran telling Iraq where and when missiles were going to strike? Because just maybe there was some precautionary thing around equipment or what not being left around an entirely abandoned base? Maybe 11 or so volunteers holed up in bunkers/shelters to give an instant evaluation of damage? Maybe given a "once over" for possible effects of percussion from blasts?
In the meantime while segments of the Western press were happy to frame Quassem Soleimani as the loss of a deeply beloved hero, while in Iran itself the regime is widely hated and ordinary Iranian's struggle with deteriorating living conditions.
I've had considerable personal contact with various Iranian people, they are widely misrepresented and misunderstood in the West. I'm assuming the Western media has fucked up this latest episode as usual.
Peeps will no doubt make of this what they will…in spite of what's actually being said.
Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks with Setareh Sadeqi, a PhD candidate at the University of Tehran who lost family friends in the tragic Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crash. Anya and Setareh discuss recent protests in Iran sparked by the crash, which western media have framed as an popular anti-government uprising. They also talk about the recent crackdown on Iranian news and social media accounts online, including the censorship of Press TV UK.
All I know for certain is the theocratic Iranian regime are not people whom the liberal left in the west should entertain as 'allies' in any sense of the word. No matter how anti-American they may be.
Gaslighting? Really? That all you got in lieu of engagement with or response to shared third person info/perspective?
I dunno … maybe it was when I was standing next to the Iranian on the phone to his family back home, when they were explaining to him how much the government was charging them for the bullets used to execute his father. But that was a few decades ago now; maybe the leaders of this regime have transformed themselves into really nice people since.
But I tell you what, you engage with the cite I gave, and I'll give your one a go.
Was this before or after you single-handedly brought fire to the Inuit of Canada?
No it was in 1981 in the immediate aftermath of the Revolution, when members of the Baha'i Faith were executed. One of them was my flatmate at the time.
The bringing of fire to the Canadian Inuit was later …
That should read of course "The son of one of them …"
I did engage with the cite 🙄 you gave. It's junk. The very first sentence is a bit of give away – referring to the assassination of Soleimani simply as "the death of", before going to on and attempting to turn corporate media reporting upside down (I haven't seen evidence of corporate media lionizing Soleimani as claimed in that link)…and he didn't foster instability in "Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen" as claimed. Neither did he lead "a group of armed thugs"…and that's just the first fucking paragraph!
But hey. I guess when the author of the piece is a former case officer who conducted operations against nuclear proliferation and terrorism for the CIA's National Clandestine Service , then a leetle bias might be par for the course, aye? 😉
You read any of his other stuff? The guy's a bit of a hoot.
Anyway. I gave you a link to an Iranian student living in Iran giving her perspective on recent events. Now I know she ain’t no ‘Bana of Aleppo’ and therefor unlikely to be courted by western media or western opinion, but hey…
Well using the same logic I feel zero obligation to trust your source either. I mean at least you can know who mine is, this student you reference, who knows?
Back to square one for both of us.
So you just read stuff and other stuff and it's all stuff and you haven't equipped yourself of any critical faculty that might help you discern if agendas may, are, or are not in play? And so can't navigate information…
So what do you do?
Are you akin to those liberals who smear anyone not adhering to "the script" that comes down from on governmental/corporate high?
Given the gaslighting in response to my initial comment, I guess that might be the case, aye?
Correct me if I'm wrong please, but I've read you as being consistently anti-American for a very long time. Your immediate response to dismiss any source who has previously worked in American intelligence is indicative of this. And you are certainly not alone in this bias, there are plenty of other lefties here who routinely fulminate on the putative evils of American empire.
Like all empires it has certainly had it's inglorious moments. But the notion that it's record is nothing but evil incarnate is a nonsense. What none of ever do is ask the simple question "compared to what?". What other post-WW2 counterfactual empire would have been any better by comparison? The idea that absent the Americans the world might have been a peaceful nirvana is entirely unsupported by any reasoned interpretation of history at all.
And yes all sources have their bias. It's knowing what it is that's useful.
You're wrong. Are you now standing corrected?
As for good analysis coming from ex-intelligence community types and such like, well…there's Snowden and Gen Lawrence Wilkerson, and Scott Ritter just off the top of my head. And of course, there are others (ex military etc) whose names aren't coming to mind right now.
And I've no idea why you reckon I think the world would be shangri-la if the US empire was no more.
So your happy with the hard right militant Salafist Islamist crowd then Redlogix? Because that is what the US has been supporting, and that is a problem. But my real issue with you logic, is to kill the guy who helped knock off ISIS, is a real kick in the teeth to anyone who supports the rights and freedoms of people.
The left should align with people not governments on that we can agree?
Because the reality on the ground is the US is an empire, and Iran is not, no matter how shit their government is. If we support empire and empire games we are no better than the imperialist of the past – who were always the enemy of the economic freedom and rights of people at large.
So your happy with the hard right militant Salafist Islamist crowd then Redlogix?
What on earth would make you think that? I'm on record here for years as being highly critical of zealots and fundamentalists of all kinds.
But my real issue with you logic, is to kill the guy who helped knock off ISIS, is a real kick in the teeth to anyone who supports the rights and freedoms of people.
Does this mean that the enemy of enemy is always my friend? For example was the West supposed to then cuddle up to the mass murderer Stalin in the aftermath of WW2?
If we support empire and empire games we are no better than the imperialist of the past
Again I’m consistently on record as being opposed to empire and the only regular here who has constructively proposed an alternative future without it.
For example was the West supposed to then cuddle up to the mass murderer Stalin in the aftermath of WW2?
No, but the west acted in a similar manner, and Iran is a good example of that. The west established a far right government which eventually gave rise to the islamic revolution. Let's talk central america, how much mass murder with the support of the west?
The west is not pure here, and the elephant in the room is the US has acted more and more like Imperalist arseholes since WW2.
Again I’m consistently on record as being opposed to empire and the only regular here who has constructively proposed an alternative future without it.
I think you think to much of your opinion. I hardly found your solutions reasonable nor constructive, some yes – but many of you suggestions are just the same old, same old, with a big dose of sleight of hand.
Like everyone else your own ideological prejudice get in the way. Hey I'm no different in that regard. We all do it.
Back to the point, all sides are lying – but the side with the ability to wipe the other side off the face of the planet is the one I want to hold the preverbal gas light to. The one in the more powerful position has more of a responsibility to act in good faith, and it's not.
For example if I had 100kg of TNT around your house and started a fight with you – is it my responsibility to not light the TNT because I'm angry or is it yours?
I hardly found your solutions reasonable nor constructive, some yes – but many of you suggestions are just the same old, same old, with a big dose of sleight of hand.
I didn't ask you to agree with them, just to acknowledge my consistent track record in proposing a detailed vision beyond 'the age of the nation state empire'.
There really is only one path forward from here, a universal vision of a united humanity, a global moral horizon and a political framework to implement this at the same scale.
This explains a lot.
That the same Dershowtitz "respectable" liberal intelligentsia have been happy enough to give a pass to as long as he was smearing Jewish critics of Israel as antisemites? That Dershowitz?
Go on! Who'd have thunk it!!
All piss and vinegar. Been a tough day, sport?
lol
also at least one opinion piece about how lowering the age of consent to 15 and maybe even fifteen and no claims of anything irrespective of how old the partner is. Oh gosh golly me. And he was friends with someone who liked his girls very young. Good grief. But hey Harvard or something.
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/dershowitz-responds-after-1997-statutory-rape-is-an-outdated-concept-op-ed-resurfaces/
But hey Harvard or something.
Boom. (I'll throw in a smiley, because, you know, charges of "piss and vinegar") 🙂
have some beer. Some call it piss, but i like beer. Prost.
slàinte mhath
and even to fourteen.
edit ran out.
It varies a lot. Age of consent laws can be quite complex, but 14 is not uncommon, Germany and China being two examples. 16 is probably the most common age, while at the other extreme is South Korea at 20.
totally seasonal weather for OZ, totally.
https://twitter.com/tamsinroses/status/1219075347662004224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1219075347662004224&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailykos.com%2Fstory%2F2020%2F1%2F19%2F1912647%2F-Overnight-News-Digest-January-19-2020
this is just normal.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/19/australia/australia-hail-dust-storm-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
yeah, right Tui, is just not cutting it anymore.
A different link. Holy heck those Aussies are copping it.
yep.
the insurance companies must be quaking in their boots. I would like to see some numbers on total write offs, etc. It is just one thing after the other.
Lev Parnas starte his work for the Trumps with Fred "The elder" Trump. But the orange menace has never met him,
yeah, right Tui.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalHumor/comments/er1930/i_dont_know_who_lev_parnas_is/
fwiw, this last three years have been an excellent soap opera. Who needs TV when you can have politics.
How amusing. The moment David Seymour uses the name Aotearoa his fans revolt in the way only far right wing nut jobs can.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12301946
It must be tough being a one-man band trying to please all the racist alt-right fuckwits. Seymour's trying really hard though.
Seymour and ACT are playing us and their supporters like a banjo: https://www.act.org.nz/cn_news
The media play the chorus, of course.
I note the ACT website was created by 'nationbuilder'. Acknowledging Aotearoa is a maga step towards that.