Daily review 21/05/2025
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5:30 pm, May 21st, 2025 - 24 comments
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- The One Who Saw Too Much: Published
Back in September 2024, I had an acceptance for a Gothic Horror piece called The One Who Saw Too Much (3,600 words): https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2024/09/28/the-one-who-saw-too-much-accepted/ In a nice bit of news, it has now been published in audio format at the Tales to Terrify podcast (https://talestoterrify.com/): https://talestoterrify.com/episodes/698-daniel-stride-rachel-bolton-stoker/ As commented before, this one ...2 hours ago - Far from ruinous, the US AUKUS review is routine
News that the US Department of Defence has launched an AUKUS review has Canberra’s defence circles in overdrive, with familiar critics already proclaiming the pact is ‘sinking’. Yet this outbreak of anxiety poses a bigger danger than ...4 hours ago - On Complicity
Hi,I have left the United States. But it’s much less dramatic than it sounds.This is a trip I’d been planning for months, and it has taken me out of the US. I’m in Manchester, here to see my best friend Rosabel who’s working on a project here in the land ...7 hours ago - Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s response to Israeli strikes against Iran
Israel’s strikes against Iran will form the backdrop to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s upcoming trip to China. Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the strikes at a scheduled press conference on Friday, Luxon characterised the strikes by Israel as ‘potentially catastrophic for the Middle East’, observing ‘the last ...14 hours ago - Why Wellbeing?
The Government’s plans to remove the wellbeing provisions in the Public Finance Act represents a reversal of the way society is travelling. I welcomed the Ardern-Robertson’s Government decision to focus on wellbeing in its budgets. It went on to amend the Public Finance Act to require the government to state ...18 hours ago - Don’t talk about our weight
Australia must stop talking about being a middle power that punches above its weight. Talking about it is far less interesting to the rest of the world than Australia actually doing it. The occasion for ...19 hours ago
- Don’t panic: the US AUKUS review could strengthen the partnership
The Trump administration has ordered a review of AUKUS to be led by Undersecretary of Defense Policy Elbridge Colby. The review has some attendant risks, but also a potential upside for the three-way partnership. The ...19 hours ago
- Pre-emptive or preventative?
I do not mean to be pedantic about this sort of thing, but since it lies within my area of supposed “expertise,” here goes: Unlike what is being reported in the corporate media and by some defense officials, the Israeli strike on Iran was not “pre-emptive.” “Pre-emptive” means “a sudden ...20 hours ago - Goebbels’ favourite bird
1. What would you let David Seymour or the people he put on a board decide for you?a. Whether to order the chicken or the flounderb. Whether to watch Dept Q or Sirens on Netflixc. Whether to read Ayn Rand or smack my head with a frypand. Nothing, not one ...20 hours ago - The Patupaiarehe Concerto: Accepted
New story acceptance. My 2,000-word New Zealand folk-horror piece, The Patupaiarehe Concerto, has been accepted by Eternal Haunted Summer for their upcoming Summer Solstice issue, which has an overarching theme of music (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/). ... 21 hours ago - An open letter to Prime Minister Luxon – Will he listen?
Excerpt: Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Rt Hon Christopher LuxonRe: The Regulatory Standards Bill..This legislation would:Impose financial penalties on environmental action, making it a new and unprecedented expectation that the Crown would compensate corporations when laws to protect nature or the climate affect the ...22 hours ago - Ukraine war enters new stage – an anti-terrorist operation?
The post-coup Ukrainian government was the first to declare an anti-terrorist war – although their forces were the ones carrying ut terrorist acts against civilians in Eastern Ukraine. Russian politicians are starting to discuss the necessity of escalating the Russia-Ukraine war from a limited military operation into ...23 hours ago - Silent risk to net-zero commitment: climate policy meets national security
Australia faces a growing dilemma: in attempting to ease genuine climate challenges, it is creating national security vulnerabilities by embedding Chinese smart technologies in critical infrastructure. This includes solar inverters and batteries. Electric vehicles, too, ...24 hours ago
- Quigley, Orr, and the RB board: edition number 965
This morning as the Quigley/Orr/Board saga rumbles on I wanted to touch on three items: the latest comments from Board chair Neil Quigley (and the Minister’s comments on and to him) a reminder of where this all started, with the Board unanimously approving a budget last year far in ...1 day ago - Let’s diversify our space partnerships—and build some self-reliance
Australia’s long-term interests in space are best served by independent capability, diversified international partnerships and a civil-led strategy that reflects national priorities. As global competition intensifies, Australia must avoid tying its trajectory to the political ...1 day ago
- Bernard Hickey, Peter Bale, Cathrine Dyer, Robert Patman & Andrew Gunn ‘Hoon’ around the new...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts and talking with regular guests and about the week’s news in geopolitics and climate. This week’s Hoon featured special guest New Zealand freelance journalist Andrew Gunn speaking from Kyiv.The Hoon’s ...1 day ago - Chantelle Baker Gets a $100,000 Reality Check
It’s a rare day when the New Zealand courts deliver a sharp reminder to the right-wing that actions have consequences, even for those who’ve built a career on peddling disinformation. Chantelle Baker, the self-styled “citizen journalist” and darling of New Zealand’s anti-vax, anti-government fringe, has been ordered to pay a whopping ...1 day ago - The Bewildering World of Christopher Luxon – Back on Track…
..The latest two out of three polls for National are - to put it mildly - troubling.Fresh on the heels of Minister Nicola ‘NoBoats' Willis' austerity budget and the scrapping of thirtythree pay equity agreements to fund tax cuts for the already-rich, the public's appetite for this rightwing coalition government ...2 days ago - Trying to attract a stranded asset
Shane Jones is an outdated fossil of a minister. Born in 1959, his model of how our economy and society should look is stuck sometime in the late 70's: a dirty, fossil-fuel powered, racist, sexist, homophobic shitstain of a country which most of us never experienced, and most of those ...2 days ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #24 2025
Open access notables A Rapid Deterioration of the Transmissive Atmospheric Radiative Regime in the Western Arctic, Bertossa & L’Ecuyer, Geophysical Research Letters: The tendency for the atmosphere to reside in one of two radiative states (“transmissive” or “opaque”) is unique to the high latitudes. This phenomenon makes the Arctic climate ...2 days ago - You call that a defence industry?
Australia’s defence manufacturers are essentially a cottage industry, with the average supplier employing only 13 people and achieving net annual sales of about $2.2 million. These averages, drawn from the annual review of the industry ...2 days ago
- The Climate Catastrophe
Dr Robert Howell UN Secretary General: We are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe. In facing this wake up call, Dr Howell will describe the lessons to be learned from Wesfamers; the work of the External Reporting Board; the National Climate Change Risk Assessment for New Zealanders; and the Dasgupta Review.Dr Robert Howell ...2 days ago - Taiwan has 12 diplomatic partners left. Who’ll drop it next?
Beneath Taiwan’s high-profile fight for global recognition lies a parallel contest in capitals scattered across the Caribbean and the Pacific. This is Beijing’s relentless campaign to isolate Taiwan diplomatically—country by country—until Taipei is left with ...2 days ago
- Keep Perfectly Calm
There is no depression in New ZealandThere are no sheep on our farmsThere is no depression in New ZealandWe can all keep perfectly calmPerfectly calm…Songwriters: Donald Bain Mcglashan / Richard Paul Von Sturmer.The National Party and farmers go together like Vogels and Vegemite - a classic Kiwi combo, based on ...2 days ago - Short Term At All Costs: Tend Healthcare Wins & More
My Food Bag Co-Founders’ Tend Health approved to become a Government Primary Health Organisation (PHO)Opinion and analysis:In April, I wrote about My Food Bag Co-Founders James and Cecilia Robinson telehealth organisation, Tend, and its positive chances of securing government contracts.An industry contact wrote this in response to me at the ...2 days ago - The hole in Canada’s intelligence system is ASIS-shaped
A hardy perennial in Ottawa politics is whether Canada should create a foreign intelligence service equivalent to the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, aka MI6). If it does, ...2 days ago
- Thursday 12 June
Council of Trade Unions Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges has taken New Zealand’s pay equity fight to the International Labour Organisation conference in Geneva. Opposition parties say the government should be going much further, much faster in sanctioning Israel. Government ministers did not get advice on what the changes to pay equity ...2 days ago - Gaza’s Rising Death Toll Demands More Diplomatic Action
The recent sanctions placed on just two Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, by New Zealand, alongside Australia, Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom, mark a timid but critical step toward halting Israel’s relentless genocide.However, targeting these two for their vile incitement of violence against Palestinians is the bare ...2 days ago
- Why is Neil Quigley still RB board chair?
In my post yesterday, I documented a whole series of ways in which Neil Quigley, Reserve Bank board chair (appointed by the Minister of Finance) appeared to have actively misled the public (and overseen the misleading of Reserve Bank staff) on the day Adrian Orr’s resignation was announced. Some of ...2 days ago
- Recognising the economic potential of digital infrastructure resilience
Australia needs to coordinate national digital infrastructure investment and resilience or risk falling behind in security and missing economic opportunities. For the past decade, Australia has focused outward on projects such as funding regional telecommunications ...2 days ago
- The Monster You Know
Hi,I don’t think any Webworm readers will be surprised to know that I’m drawn to stories of narcissistic men getting away with terrible things for decades. Tickled was about a New Yorker pulling the strings from behind a computer. Mister Organ saw an over zealous parking attendant who liked to ...2 days ago - Adrian Orr Resigned Because of Nicola Willis’ Austerity
The abrupt resignation of Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr is a blaring siren that New Zealand’s economic foundations are being relentlessly jackhammered by Nicola Willis’ unyielding austerity obsession. Orr was effectively ousted after a fierce funding dispute with the Finance Minister, who appears determined to gut budgets left, right, and centre ...2 days ago
- A Cynic With the Heart of a Romantic: George R.R. Martin’s Reconstructive Deconstruction
My blog-post the other day alludes to the divergence between what J.R.R. Tolkien was, and what people think Tolkien was. And, while I was at it, to the similar divergence concerning George R.R. ... 2 days ago - Gordon Campbell On The Making Of King Donald
After decades of watching the US prop up dictatorships in Central America, South America and the Middle East, there’s a certain irony in seeing authoritarian rule play out on the streets of Los Angeles. No doubt, Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard – and the US Marines! – to ...3 days ago - Climate Adam: Is China Finally Changing Its Climate Ways?
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). To stop global warming, carbon emissions need to be cut to net zero as quickly as possible. And ...3 days ago
- Course correction: PAC-3 would be a better naval interceptor for Australia
The United States is moving to integrate its land-based PAC-3 surface-to-air missile onto warships. This effort presents an opportunity to enhance key Australian Defence Force capabilities and support sovereign R&D and industry—but quick work is ...3 days ago
- Treats for everybody
Surprises I will always greet with astonished delight:ChocolatesFlowersChocolate FishSeveral hundred lawyers suing the government for being absolutely useless about the climate crisis Two groups representing over 300 environment lawyers are suing the New Zealand government over its "dangerously inadequate" emissions reduction plan. They say the coalitio… Read more ...3 days ago - The Orr story (well, part of it anyway)
Months after various OIAs had been lodged on the question of Adrian Orr’s sudden departure on 5 March, we finally got a partial dump of documents this morning. (Sufficiently mishandled that at 10:04 this morning they’d send an email to OIA requesters saying they’d email out the response at 10:45 ...3 days ago
- With a new administration, South Korea should strengthen security ties with Australia
As South Korea’s new administration takes office, the country has the opportunity to recalibrate its alignments in the Indo-Pacific, especially around closer defence and technology cooperation with Australia. The strategic rationale for this becomes stronger ...3 days ago
- Doing less than the bare minimum
Last night, after nearly two years of genocide in Gaza, the New Zealand government finally began to do the right thing, and sanctioned two Israeli cabinet ministers for promoting genocide. Which is a good first step, but its not enough. Firstly, the sanctions are just a travel ban, saying "you ...3 days ago
- The problem is the regime, not MMP
There's an interesting article on The Spinoff, worried that with so many parties ruling out working with each other, MMP is collapsing back into left-right, "winner take all" politics. It points to a shift back to the pre-MMP elected dictatorship model of government by decree, "outsized" influence of small parties, ...3 days ago
- Ukrainian drone attack on Russian strategic bombers – why the concern?
The recent drone attacks on Russian strategic bombers were welcomed by many Western politicians but condemned by some US politicians. Why the controversy? After all, it is widely accepted that the Ukrainian military has a right to attempt to disable or destroy those Russian long-range bombers that are ...3 days ago
- Waiting…
So when you hear themMake claims of progressTake a good lookAnd see who isn't thereWe need a seat nowAt the tableSo please invite usOr don't pretend to care.Songwriter: Gaelynn Lea.Today’s newsletter is on Disability Support Services (DSS). It follows last week’s announcement by the Minister for Disability Issues, Louise Upston, ...3 days ago - Pay Equity – what did New Zealand women lose under the cover of darkness and without any prior war...
The law on pay equity was changed without any prior warning during the election campaign, without any select committee process. It has shocked New Zealand women and gutted fundamental rights Come and hear from pay equity experts including women whose claims have been cancelled and what the plan is from ...3 days ago
- David Seymour Does An Atlas Network Tour In London – Speaking For Junk Tanks Linked To “...
For paid subscribersIt’s 2023, and National have won the most votes in the New Zealand election. Their long cultivated coalition with ACT is assured, and to the chagrin of Christopher Luxon and David Seymour, their respective party leaders, they will have to invite NZ First along for the ride.Government party ...3 days ago - Australia and the EU should work with the South Pacific on AI
Australia and the European Union need to collaborate to promote the adoption of inclusive, safe and sustainable AI in the South Pacific. While the United States and China compete for global AI leadership, the EU ...3 days ago
- Another Bunch of Rightwing Propagandists
In New Zealand’s murky right-wing scene, a cast of propagandists peddles fear and division. From anti-vax crusaders to culture war stirrers, these figures exploit distrust, offering noise over solutions. Here’s another rundown of some key and bit players, exposing their tactics and selective outrage in New Zealand's polarised political landscape. Alia ...3 days ago
- How digital identities challenge traditional espionage
It used to be so simple. An intelligence officer could fly to a country, change passports and, with a false identity, emerge as a completely different person. But those days are long since over. Biometrics ...3 days ago
- Smoke in Little Tokyo
Hi,Late yesterday afternoon — after leaving the Metropolitan Detention Centre with puffy eyes and a scratchy throat — I’d wandered to Little Tokyo to get a cold drink. It tasted awesome.Tonight at around 9pm I went back there to find a very different scene. Little Tokyo was closed and the ...4 days ago - Nuclear war in Asia would be Australia’s problem, too. We must prepare
Australia must be prepared for limited nuclear war in the Indo-Pacific, be it over Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, or beyond. It should understand what such a conflict would mean for regional and global security, and ...4 days ago
- Sending in the Marines.
One of the basic foundations of democratic civil-military relations is that the active duty military is organised and trained to fight and defeat foreign enemies in combat–that is, by using organised lethal force until the enemy is defeated. Domestic security is a matter of national/federal, state and local law enforcement. ...4 days ago
- No New Zealander Left Alive!
A brand-new policy for a brighter New Zealand. ...4 days ago - Various ratbags in the frame
Frame OneInto LA go Trump's forces, and into LA go his lies.Modern politics is a framing war.It’s a system that keeps rewarding the wrong people.It’s a system that keeps rewarding the lie that tells people what they want to hear.It’s a system that Donald Trump instinctively understands.Never mind that the ...4 days ago - 22 years after RAMSI, Solomon Islands social, political fractures persist
History haunts Solomon Islands. More than two decades after the end of the Tensions of 1998 to 2003, the fractures that prompted ethnic conflict between Guadalcanal and Malaita communities remain deep in politics, society and ...4 days ago
- Winston Peters & Barriers To A Fairer Tax System
For paid subscribersSharing this proposal on a light work day -Winston Peters “reamed the pension” and then tried to sue once it was found out - costing taxpayers at least $1m in legal fees Read more ...4 days ago - Climate legal action necessary response to Government inaction
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi welcomes the legal action taken against the Minister of Climate Change by a coalition of legal experts as an important step in ensuring that Aotearoa meets its climate action obligations. “We strongly support legal action to ensure that the Government ...4 days ago
- Winston Peters Silent on National’s New Immigration Policy
The National-led government is once again trying to increase immigration with their Parent Boost Visa, a five-year, multi-entry scheme for parents of migrants who already live in New Zealand. This move, dressed up as a boost for “family unity” and “economic growth,” has sparked fury among right-wing groups, exposing the ...4 days ago
- Climate Change: Labour chickening out again
For the past 20 years, agriculture has been the glaring gap in our climate change policy. Responsible for 50% of our emissions, it was initially excluded from the ETS, and then - under Green Pressure - was to be slowly bought in at a 90% subsidy. But National repealed all ...4 days ago
- Nicola Willis Feigns Concern Over Michael Forbes Scandal
Like Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who claimed “shock” over his press secretary’s litany of misconduct, Finance Minister Nicola Willis proclaiming dismay today rings hollow. Michael Forbes, accused of illegally recording women, including sex workers, without consent, was allowed to resign rather than face dismissal.Nicola Willis’ claim that the “situation is ...4 days ago
- Union News 2024
December 2024 Wednesday 18 DecemberDecember 18, 2024The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut.… Read More »Wednesday 18 December Friday 13 DecemberDecember 13, 2024More public service ...4 days ago
- Tuesday 10 June
290 library workers across Christchurch will get a pay rise to reflect the “true value” of their work, despite the abrupt cancellation of their pay equity claim, due to a strong commitment to pay equity from Christchurch City Council. Care workers at the country’s largest provider of Māori-based support for ...4 days ago
- Harnessing NIC surveillance for better climate security outcomes
Australia’s National Intelligence Community could substantially enhance Australia’s climate security response. It could do so by applying its surveillance resources to the task. The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review lists transnational challenges—which includes climate change—as one ...4 days ago
- Electrifying?
I got chills, they're multiplyingAnd I'm losing control'Cause the power you're supplyingIt's electrifyingSongwriter: John Farrar.This morning Breakfast’s Chris Chang (CC) interviewed Chippy, and boy was he an enthusiast of your National-led government, if we can call them that.“‘Everyone Must Go’, remember that controversial tourism slogan the government spent $500,000 on ...4 days ago - Australia adrift. We must restore our merchant shipping fleet
Australia’s ports may be busy, but we have no way of ensuring that ships will keep coming to them in wartime. In an age of contested supply chains, strategic competition and rising instability, this absence ...4 days ago
- The Trump EPA tried to bury some good news
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The Trump administration has taken an ostrich-like approach to climate change. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is required to publish a report about the country’s sources of climate-changing pollution each year by April 15. This year, that didn’t happen. But the completed report ...4 days ago
- Of Fantasy Babies and Genre Bathwater: A Reply to The Second Story
Fantasy geeks might have at some point stumbled across a famous line from Terry Pratchett: “J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape ...5 days ago - Wee Chris did a boo-boo
New Zealand politician and Cabinet Minister, Chris Bishop, talks about his feelings. ...5 days ago
- Filthy riches
On the occasion of the publication of another Rich List, let us bow our heads, brothers and sisters, and remind ourselves of the saying: The only thing money proves is that you have money.It may also be proof of luck, or timing, or inheritance, or connections; but confusing wealth with ...5 days ago - The rich-list is a social failure
RNZ has a piece this morning on the latest NBR rich list, reporting that the ultra-rich are doing great (despite the government-induced recession). The 119 individuals and families listed are now collectively worth more than $100 billion - 40% of Aotearoa's annual GDP. Meanwhile, while they're revelling in their wealth, ...5 days ago
- Tear Gas & Rubber Bullets: The National Guard Has Moved In
Hi,Getting tear gassed by the National Guard fucking sucks. Everything stings, you can’t breathe, and you can’t see. You can hear just fine — the almost comical pop-pop-pop as more tear gas canisters are sent arcing over the crowd. It strikes you how everyone has their own unique cough; their ...5 days ago
- Civil War
Opinion and analysisThere’s a lot to cover, as usual, but I’d like to focus mostly on the risks to our democracy today.First -In New Zealand, ACT and National supporter Nick Mowbray1 wins in NZ’s richest stakes.Another ACT/National donor, Graeme Hart, comes second, $8b behind the Mowbrays — landing at $12b. ...5 days ago - These Sordid Scandals Should Have Sunk The Government
The stench of cover-ups from the current coalition Government reveals a grim truth: the right-wing establishment is more invested in protecting its own and saving face than upholding justice. The latest revelations about National MP Hamish Campbell’s deep ties to the Two by Twos cult, Chris Luxon’s disgraced press secretary ...5 days ago
- Monday 9 June
Parents of New Zealand citizens and residents will be able to access visas, with the government announcing a programme it says will bring families together. Simeon Brown has announced more investment to strengthen critical infrastructure at Auckland City Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre. A Māori business leader says urgent reform ...5 days ago
- LA Live #8 – town hall
Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.Get more from David Farrier in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app ...5 days ago
- Live in LA #7
Thank you , , and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.Get more from David Farrier in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app ...5 days ago
- Out of Sight, Out of Mana- Rotorua Lakes Council’s Callous Attack on Homeless Whānau
Te Pāti Māori Co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi, has slammed the Rotorua Lakes Council’s treatment of homeless whānau as “inhumane and disgraceful,” following the forced police removal of people sleeping outside the Salvation Army on Amohia Street yesterday. “Our most vulnerable whānau were woken by police, trespassed like ...2 days ago
- Biodiversity credit won’t fix damage done by Luxon Govt
The Green Party says the Government’s newly announced Biodiversity Credit scheme is a tiny positive that doesn’t undo the biodiversity harm caused by the Luxon Government. ...2 days ago - New report confirms Oranga Tamariki is failing tamariki and Government is failing Māori
A new report, ‘Outcomes for tamariki and rangatahi Māori and their whānau in the oranga tamariki system 2023/24,’ has confirmed that Oranga Tamariki is severely failing our most vulnerable Māori youth. ...3 days ago
- Government rightfully sued over illegal climate ‘plan’
Last week, world-leading climate scientists called out the Government’s approach to agricultural emissions. This week, climate lawyers have sued the Government because its Emissions Reductions Plans do not add up. ...4 days ago
- Te Pāti Māori Demands Safe Passage of Madleen to Gaza
Te Pāti Māori condemns the Israeli navy’s armed interception of the Madleen, a civilian aid vessel carrying food, medical supplies, and international activists to Gaza, including Greta Thunberg. Communications of the Madleen have been cut, and there is no knowing if the crew are safe and unharmed. This is the ...5 days ago
- Greens call for safe passage of Madleen and Government to sanction Israel
The Green Party is calling for the safe passage of the Madleen, a civilian aid vessel on course to Gaza, following the Freedom Flotilla being seized by the Israeli Military and urging the New Zealand Government to sanction Israel for its illegal occupation of Palestine. ...5 days ago
- Rich get much richer, driving inequality and poverty
The 2025 NBR Rich List makes immediately obvious the need for a fair tax system, says the Green Party. ...5 days ago
- Release: Manawatū Gorge replacement opens toll-free
Thanks to a successful community-led campaign backed by Labour, Lower North Island locals are today celebrating the toll-free opening of Te Ahu a Turanga – Manawatū Tararua Highway. ...5 days ago - Govt parent boost changes prioritise rich over poor
The Green Party is calling out the Government’s parent boost changes that benefit a wealthier minority while doing nothing to help reunite thousands of migrant families. ...6 days ago
- Release: Timid tariff response fails New Zealanders
The Government is failing New Zealanders by ‘being comfortable’ with a 10 percent tariff on all goods going into the US. ...1 week ago
- Green Party condemns decision to suspend Te Pāti Māori MPs
The Green Party condemns the unprecedented decision to suspend Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi for 21 days, and MP for Hauraki-Waikato Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke for 7 days. ...1 week ago
- Release: Reserve Bank predicts more job losses
The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Statement predicts a sluggish economy with higher inflation and more job losses. ...1 week ago
- Luxon must end climate denial speculation
The Greens welcome the open letter from world-leading climate scientists to the Prime Minister, urging his Government to abandon any plan to water down climate targets. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt’s budget balanced on the backs of low-income families
The Government is quietly leaving some of our poorest families hundreds of dollars worse off, ignoring warnings that changes to the accommodation supplement and public housing subsidies will disproportionately target disabled, older, Māori, Pasifika, and young people. ...2 weeks ago
- Democracy Denied: Te Pāti Māori Slam Govt for Silencing Māori and Tangata Tiriti on the Regulator...
Today, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi slammed the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee’s refusal to extend the public submission period for the Regulatory Standards Bill, calling it a deliberate act to silence whānau, hapū, iwi, and community voices. Waititi had urged the Committee to extend the submission period by ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Mental health cuts lead to overwhelmed EDs
Workforce shortages that mental health Minister Matt Doocey tried to hide are now resulting in increasing pressure on our emergency departments as people needing help have nowhere else to go. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori Call on Te Whatu Ora to immediately Publish Gender Affirming Care Guidelines
Te Pāti Māori join health professionals, medical bodies, and community organisations across Aotearoa in calling on Te Whatu Ora to immediately release the updated Guidelines for Gender Affirming Healthcare. The guidelines were developed by medical professionals with expertise in this form of care and approved by Te Whatu Ora’s National ...2 weeks ago
- National direction changes mark dark day for people and planet
Today’s sweeping changes to environmental protections paint a damning picture of a government hellbent on profit at all costs, openly allowing more environmentally harmful activities under the guise of progress. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National caves to ACT to ram through Regulatory Standards Bill
Once again National has caved to ACT by today agreeing to shorten the select committee process for the Regulatory Standards Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Pay parity back pedal a kick in the teeth for ECE kaiako
The Government’s latest move to unwind the ‘pay parity’ regime carefully negotiated between government and the sector is a kick in the teeth for already undervalued and underpaid kaiako. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt continues to undermine women
The Government is continuing its attack on women, this time targeting the pay of early childhood education (ECE) teachers. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Charter school failures clocking up
Public schools aren’t converting to charter schools at the rate David Seymour claimed they would. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt driving away Kiwi innovators and scientists
The Government continues to obliterate science and innovation in New Zealand. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call on Government to release gender affirming care guidelines
The Green Party echoes the call from health professionals, medical bodies, and community organisations for Te Whatu Ora to urgently release the guidelines for gender affirming care. ...2 weeks ago
- Speech: Barbara Edmonds Post-Budget
E nga mana nui E nga tapu nui No tāwahi No te kainga Tēnā koutou katoa ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Bugs on David Seymour’s school lunch menu
The latest shocker to come out of David Seymour’s school lunches is an insect being found in a student’s meal. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Nelson short-changed by hospital downgrade
National’s cuts to Nelson’s Hospital rebuild will leave the community with only half the number of new beds than the rebuild Labour planned. ...3 weeks ago
- Greens find over half-a-billion dollar hole in Govt Budget
The Green Party has found that the Government has not accounted for its own increased costs as an employer incurred by the KiwiSaver changes rushed through under Budget urgency last week. ...3 weeks ago
- Government Sacrificing Hapū, Iwi Tiriti rights for Offshore Profits
Te Pāti Māori is demanding to know how the government can justify fast tracking a replica of a seabed mining application that was already rejected by the supreme court in 2021. “Trans-Tasman Resources, a company with no operational experience, is back to the table with the same outdated and incomplete ...3 weeks ago
- Backing New Zealand’s native forest champions
Forestry Minister Todd McClay today congratulated the winners of the inaugural Growing Native Forests Champions Awards for driving real progress in native forest establishment and land use innovation. “This is what good land management looks like — native forests that support both the environment and the rural economy,” Mr McClay ...2 days ago - Operation Gallant Phoenix deployment extended
New Zealand has extended its commitment the Operation Gallant Phoenix multinational intelligence mission in Jordan, the Government announced today. The deployment of up to 10 New Zealand Defence Force and Police personnel has been extended for two years until June 2027. “This operation is essential to our commitment to a ...2 days ago
- New and improved radiology services for Auckland City Hospital
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today announced funding for the first stage of a major project to upgrade and expand interventional radiology services at Auckland City Hospital. “This project will significantly improve access to radiology services for patients across Auckland and beyond,” Mr Brown says. “A $41.2 million investment will ...2 days ago
- Government backs voluntary nature credits
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The case for simply assisting parents to set controls on the devices of their children, rather than a ban on access to social media.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360696519/jazz-thornton-slams-social-media-ban-warns-prime-minister-putting-children-risk
that's great for kids with parents that can be involved. But the kids at particular risk are likely to be the ones without that.
There's no reason why there can't be dedicated social media platforms for that age group. Just sane and safe ones rather than the free for all dumpster fire we currently have.
The logical place to make up the difference in households with parents present and parents not present is a well funded and bipartisan policy supported education system. But current political leadership is determined to remove this broad, levelling mechanism on sex and gender education, and now social media education.
how would a good education system prevent the harm of social media to under 16s?
By educating and re-enforcing social media practice in a common environment.
That’s what schools do.
social media is inherently harmful. You can't educate under 16s to avoid that. How to avoid being groomed etc is a different matter that can be taught but social media itself, by its very nature is a problem.
Plenty of good clinical studies agree.
We do it for alcohol, guns, marriage, smoking, driving, legal consent. We know the harm is massive. So regulate.
Exactly. I had assumed people knew this about SM, beyond the bullying, grooming etc issues, but I'm wondering now if it's not that well known.
I mean if people do understand, they can argue a harm minimisation approach I guess, but hard to do that for young teens and pre-teens.
The biggest issue is still technical and the privacy ethics.
That escalated quickly. None of those items are relevant to young people in the same was as digital communication. You don't partially marry, drink, drive, shoot and smoke under 16 but you do have to communicate digitally in some form.
Education and inclusion and improved equality, decent housing and wages is the way to mitigate digital social harm. A large part of which is pushing back against radical conservative content creators (Andrew Tate) and the platforms upon which they stand (UFC).
yes, all those things would help a great deal. They won't however happen in the next year.
You still haven't explained how the inherent damaging nature of SM can be mitigated. I already explained that there is no reason that non-damaging SM can't be created for under 16s, and thus meet the need for communication tools. No-one needs tiktok.
The culture war vultures whipped up by Winston Peters and his comrades Brian Tamaki and Posie Parker have roosted above the students of an Auckland school's tradition of supporting diversity, rainbow mental health, and sexual education for hundreds of high school students around the region.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/lil-gay-out-hobsonville-point-secondary-school-cancels-lgbtq-event-after-protest-threats/KZQW5YBLXFB6PK7S25C6MJYGYE/
Well done, nut jobs.
Fairly sure if AI was sent in to measure the political leanings of The Centrist the conclusion would be it is severely unbalanced:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/360697187/nominee-nzme-board-wants-political-leaning-nz-herald-stories-measured
The examples of foreign born Jim Grenon and Parmjeet Parmer punching down on the disenfranchised, vulnerable, and indigenous in their adopted country is a very worrying development.
I give Grenon about 18 months at NZME before he craps the bed and is thrown out.
What’s the point of measuring the political leaning (bias?) of individual (?) stories in the NZH measured? What does he aim to do with that (biased) information? It sounds like he’s looking for an excuse to impose his agenda.
Auckland thanks you, Nicola Willis:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/360697445/iconic-auckland-department-store-smith-caugheys-close-good
On Nicola’s watch:
It’s illustrative of how bad this finance minister is.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/05/21/smith-caugheys-to-close-its-doors-after-145-years/
You are joking aren't you?
If not there must be an incredible number of Finance Ministers who will have to blamed for the fact that the Department Store has almost universally died out in the last 30 or so years.
James Smith, DIC, Kircaldie and Stains, McKenzies, Radfords.
That is just Wellington. All gone because they had outlived their time. Auckland is now catching up.
James Smith (2015) and Kirks (2016) closed under finance minister Bill English. DIC (1991) under Ruth Richardson. McKenzie's (1980) under Muldoon.
What is your point, that National governments don't support conditions where retailers survive?
If that is your point it is very well made!
I guess I could point out that Radfords closed in 2006, when Cullen was in the chair, and David Jones in 2022 when I suppose we have to blame Robertson?
Of course we don't. The shops had outlived their time.
I was living in Melbourne when Georges closed. It was THE Department Store in the city. It was the centre for the very best in women's fashion and operated from 1880 to 1995. It was much more up-market than anything we ever had in New Zealand. They had a very good explanation for what happened. The then MD said that they had provided the very best of European fashion but now their clientele went to Europe two or three times a year and shopped in Italy and Paris directly.
Out of curiosity, how often did you go to Smith & Caughey?
You may care to read this story which quotes the then head of the business saying, in May 2024
"Caughey, the then chairman of Smith & Caughey’s (he has now left the role), led a meeting that week of about 240 staff, where he outlined the proposal to close the business after 144 years." and that "The company was now running at a loss, stemming from a 40% decline in revenue over the past five years.".
In other words it died under a Labour Government. I wouldn't blame Labour for that although it appears that you should, if you are going to be consistent in your opinions.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/companies/retail/smith-caugheys-to-close-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-grande-dame-of-queen-st-why-aucklands-famous-department-store-is-in-its-final-days/GHFUNNTYP5ETDEKKCZ4MV4ITAE/
If you read that story you will see that it has been dying for years and it has nothing whatsoever to do with Willis.
I'm perfectly consistent in my opinions. Smith & Caughey's closed under Willis. They kept going while there was still hope under the previous government, but Willis' policies killed them off for good.
@ MB, in reality, the Government (of either persuasion) had little to do with the demise of this store.
As has been seen in retail worldwide, when people can buy exactly the same stuff as the store, but get it on-line at a substantial discount it is rational for the consumer to shift their spend.
My family, for example, has done an annual poll over Christmas dinner about the shift in Christmas spend from physical to on-line. On-line passed the 50% mark four years ago.
The department store (or any shop) can say try and source product that no-one else sells in NZ, but the reality is that retail now operates in a global market and there is just no way they can compete against someone who trades without the physical overheads of a conventional retail shop.
So, dont be blaming the Government for this one, there is bugger all they can do to stop it.
And before you start, putting huge arbitrary tariffs on goods bought on-line a) Is stealing money from me to protect obsolete jobs, and b) exactly the behaviour you were slamming OMB for last month.
The days of high street and department store retail are gone. Done. Wont be back.
The inimitable Mihingarangi Forbes' MATA has a short documentary on David Seymour and ACT's ideological whakapapa, particularly around indigenous issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLOjiiC3P1Y&ab_channel=RNZ
Cheers for the heads-up arkie.
A good watch and Seymour looked rattled when Forbes confronted him at the press scrum. Seymour never looks rattled.
How know for this to get traction beyond us political tragics.
Thanks from me too, I started watching but got distracted by the budget.
BNH are going to do a show on it after the budget, I'll try and get a post up.
Thank you Arkie.