Gender Critical Disputes

Written By: - Date published: 1:23 pm, February 5th, 2023 - 34 comments
Categories: feminism, gender, gender critical feminism, identity - Tags: ,

Recent months have seen a rise in conflict in online spaces between different aspects of what is broadly called the gender critical movement (the wide range of views and politics that share in common the idea that biological sex is dimorphic, or binary, and that this matters in human affairs). Gender critical views come from the whole political compass (left, right, libertarian, authoritarian).

In the UK, arguably the forefront of gender critical progress, gender critical feminism is largely left wing and socially progressive. The following set of essays has been produced by radical and socialist feminists, and is linked here for all sides of the debate to further understanding, including the fundamentally left wing nature of gender critical feminism and what that means. 

The full PDF of essays, Gender Critical Disputes, is available for free from The Radical Notion.

THE RADICAL NOTION was founded in 2020 to create a space for the resurgent wave of feminist thinking and activism.

We are committed to the materialist analysis of sex-based oppression, and to challenging the material and symbolic structures of male dominance. This moment is a historic opportunity to deepen and widen the analysis of all aspects of women’s political condition, and its foundational role in all systems of extraction and domination. We welcome words and images from women of all nationalities, classes, ethnicities and back- grounds to illuminate the meaning of feminist politics in their lives, and to create a global picture of this political moment. Our current battle, and the social, political and environmental unravellings we see all around us, are, at their root, crises of patriarchy. We want to seize this moment to speak that truth.

We recognise that recent political disagreements have been extremely painful for many on all sides, and that is a source of much regret. We maintain, however, that there are substantive political issues at stake here, that efforts to stifle discussion are politically unhealthy, and that we remain committed to the right of all women to voice their political opinions. Just as with the critique of trans ideology, we have tried to explain our position as clearly and thoroughly as possible. We know many will disagree, and don’t expect any immediate political effect, but we think it important for our analysis to be placed on the record. We hope this work can be taken as it is intended: as a genuine political contribution to a movement which is profoundly significant for us all, and for women and girls.

From the Editorial:

Patriarchy is not universal, and it is not inevitable. It was developed by people through historical processes for the material purpose of controlling and appropriating women’s bodies and labour. And, since it was developed by people, so it can be undeveloped. As we learned from Max Dashu in Issue Six, there have been societies that are not patri- archal.1 Another way is possible.

Gender-identity activists claim that feminism must centre the needs of male people, and they persuade some women to join them in this crusade. This ‘feminism’ is not about women’s interests, and thus ‘being a feminist’ becomes an identity quite separate from a commit- ment to women’s liberation from patriarchy.

Redefining ‘feminism’ to include people who support patriarchal power is a way to make it harder for women’s liberationists to find each other and or- ganize together. When our words are taken from us we cannot speak the truth, so it is a very effective patriarchal weapon.

In circumstances in which ‘feminism’ is claimed as an identity divorced from women’s political interests, understanding what is and is not in our interests is crucial for directing our energy. Thinking, talking, and writing about what women need, the ways we are oppressed, and how we might resist is necessary for enabling effective struggle against patriarchal power. It is no coincidence that women’s thinking is a site of misogynistic attack against us. In 1983, Andrea Dworkin wrote, “Men hate intelligence in women … Intelligence is a form of energy that pushes itself out into the world … The intelligence of women is traditionally starved, isolated, imprisoned … Intelligence is not ladylike. Intelligence is full of excesses.”2

THE RADICAL NOTION aims to provide a space where we can push our energy out into the world, in all its excesses. Here we have a place to leave ‘ladylike’ behind and become what we are capable of. And through that process we develop the thinking, understanding, and power necessary to resist the crushing weight of the beast.

Feminism is the movement against patriarchy, based on the radical notion that women are people. People who think, make, act, move, feel, speak, write, love, build, create. People who are agents of change. Onward sisters. There is much to do.

The essays:

  • Rose Rickford: Editorial 
  • Rose Rickford: Feminism and Femalism: We Are Not the Same Movement
  • Blob’s Corner: Sex, Death, and Identitarianism
  • Jane Clare Jones: Feminism Is Not Identity Politics: Transactivism, Gender-Critical Populism, and the Culture War
  • Kay Green: Both/And: Women’s Rights and Trans Rights
  • WDI and WDI UK Statement: Our Response to Jayne Egerton’s Comments About Our Work in Her Article in THE RADICAL NOTION
  • Esmée Streachailt: Extra-Feminist: Populism, Backlash(es), Feminism
  • Jeni Harvey:The Fairer Sex Fights Back: ‘Sex-Realist Feminism’ and Other Nonsense
  • Marina Strinkovsky: The Dangerous Appeal of Evolutionary Psychology
  • Jane Clare Jones: Feminism, Liberal, Individualism, and Collective Political Action

34 comments on “Gender Critical Disputes ”

  1. SPC 1

    The organising slogan of patriarchy is order out of chaos. They associate chaos (human intelligence) with women (their prophet Jordan Peterson does this, he also calls God the highest value created by man for the order of societyCamille Paglia, who now identifies as a transgender man says, God was man's greatest creation).

    The flood of judgment was supposed to restore order.

    Basically the empires of men are political alliances between the God patriarchy (social order – Taleban/Teheran/Riyadh for the openly obnoxious form without the sophistication required with democratic governance) and mammon (economic order).

    The USA security regime has at its heart a fear of egalitarianism (social and economic) because that involves change to the political order. Their nation was formed by those who owned slaves and who designed an order of rule to preserve their privilege. It was modelled on the British constitutional system – whereby the power elites always remained in power (Christian throne Crown and City of London).

    New Zealand's place in such a regime (no state church or religion and dependent on foreign capital – see the 1975 election campaign, the 1984 regime capitulation, the Kiwi Saver/NZ Super/KiwiBank resistance etc) is questionable. We have a Treaty (an indigenous people with birthrights) and women have had the vote for 130 years.

    Of course the American right have used imperial security leadership, not to secure the rights of women (Biden said protecting the women of Afghanistan was not part of their forever war), but the interests of global capitalism. This regime of mammon uses group identity politics (the white race and its God patriarchy) to protect itself from social justice advocates within the democracy – and thus sees feminism as a threat. In this, mammon and religion (created by men) are in lockstep.

    Dividing the resistance is part of their methodology (both CIA and FBI), and they use psychological warfare operations (and high tech – remote neural monitoring and bio electro magnetic fields) as standard gangstalking and gaslighting practice (as did the East Germans).

    And like the Soviets, they have used the psychiatric profession as part of their gulag. The MK Ultra Project Monarch Mind Control research was not closed down in the 1970's, it just went wireless (long arm of the law). They first indicated their capacity to use public health research as a weapon when at the very last minute a new mental health condition was formally sanctioned into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 1952 (when homosexuality was classified as a "sexual deviation" within the larger "sociopathic personality disturbance" category of personality disorders. The sexual deviation diagnosis included "homosexuality, transvestism, pedophilia, fetishism and sexual sadism as examples).

    Of course the connection between incels (MAGA cap misogyny) and the transgender movement is obvious (see cissy girls online porn, if you have a strong stomach). Broken Windows defenestration (of women from power – see Jehu OT and the glorification of Jehu Ministry in American religious culture) involves not just Jan 6 events but also intrusion into feminist solidarity.

  2. Visubversa 2

    Lots of "political orphans" in UK politics.

    "The Tories now join a disunited Labour Party, divided down the middle over the issue of trans rights – or, rather, the rights of male-bodied transwomen to invade women-only spaces."

    https://juliebindel.substack.com/p/uk-politics-is-in-a-fugue-state-over

  3. For those of us who engaged the debate, it is perplexing why so many have abandoned the basic aims of the left-wing project and taken such intransigent positions around the transgender banner. This short opinion piece in Scotland's Sunday Post summarises a completely unnecessary and embarrassing situation that the SNP has brought upon itself

    Joan McAlpine: Gender ID is a personal passion for the FM and any harm will be her personal responsibility (sundaypost.com)

    What a hill to die on. That’s the most common refrain I hear from supporters of independence, perplexed at the Scottish Government’s insistence on going to constitutional war with Westminster to defend a policy most Scots oppose.

    The SNP’s founding purpose, written into its constitution, is defending Scotland’s interests and promoting Scottish independence. To achieve the latter, the party needs to make its case and there’s no shortage of issues to rally around from the cost of living crisis to the hangover of Boris Johnson’s sleazy administration and the continuing damage of Brexit and denial of Scottish democracy.

    But, instead of striving to unite Scots, the government divides us by prioritising a cause best described as niche: the right of any man, including rapists, to declare themselves legally female with no safeguards whatsoever. […]

  4. This is just bizarre mob behaviour. The Zoomer generation lives online, the messy realities of meatspace should not interfere with their lovely fantasies.

    https://twitter.com/TwisterFilm/status/1622293940002066432?s=20

    • Corey Humm 4.1

      While I think the way gender critical women are treated is disgusting and biological women have a right to their own spaces.

      That same "LGBTQ lobby " has had all its safe spaces from gay bars and pride to recently Grindr, totally taken over by heterosexual cis women.

      Gay bars used to be our safe places where we could meet each other without fear of death. Straight women selfishly decided they felt safer in gay bars so forced themselves in, demanded we cater to them, brought their straight male friends with them who would call us slurs or worse if we hit on them in our own bars, disrespected our rules and pretty soon gays stopped going to gay bars (we're now told gay bars are dying cos gays don't need them, no gays won't go cos drunk straight chicks have ruined them) so we moved away from bars and started organizing our own gay drinks nights at other bars, as soon as the straight women found out they highjacked them too.

      Straight people then started treating our punk rock rebellious pride parades as parties to just get shit faced in and demanded they be increasingly desexualized so they can take their kids and get pics taken of how enlightened they are

      Then there are the women who sue gay sex clubs to allow them inside so they can watch gay men have sex.

      And now, straight cis women think they are being modern by highjacking Grindr, the one safe gay app where we can meet each other without fear of violence, bigotry or death, straight females now think they are being worldly going on our dating apps looking to turn the gay men they fetishize, or say they simply want "gay bff's" or to meet bi guys or turn us. All of these reasons are Disgusting they can do that anywhere 99.9% of society is designed for heterosexual dating but they still take our safe spaces and with straight women comes straight men, increasingly you see profiles that say "no f#gs women only" ON GRINDR and not mention all the heteros who think they can sell drugs on Grindr.

      When told to gtfo our apps and bars entitled straight women freak out about how we're misogynists for not wanting vaginas in our spaces.

      Gay men regularly get killed simply for trying to meet other gay men and straight women thinks it's a big laugh to totally ruin our spaces just so they feel safer.

      Gay men love straight women, but not in our bars, our saunas, our apps, our festivals and we're never ever going to sleep with them so stop fetishizing us.

      Straight women fetishizing and appropriating and highjacking gay spaces is not new, not a rare event and never gets talked about cos the owners of our spaces don't wanna rock the boat or risk legal action for being discriminatory, or just greedy.

      And while I'm on the subject gay men and women never have their own spaces anymore it's always full on LGBTQ spades (despite the T being able to have their own safe spaces) we can never have just our own thing, and when we try straight women call us out for not being inclusive to other groups.

      Everyone including straight men and straight women and trans and gay men and women deserve to be safe and have places where we can talk about our problems and socialize with each other.

      People need to learn the words separate but equal.

      • Anker 4.1.1

        I agree Corey, people need to learn we are separate but equal.

        I have not heard of straight women taking over gays bars and gay dating apps. I am not doubting you, but do you have any links about this? I think gay people should have their spaces protected.

        I would say however I think it is unlikely that heterosexual women come into your spaces insisting that they are really gay men and that you are being sexist or some such thing if you don't go along with such a fiction.

        • weka 4.1.1.1

          seemed a pretty credible first hand account of what is happening in gay men's spaces. I have no trouble believing that women call gay men sexist when being refused. That behaviour sounds like classic liberal feminist positioning (and some gay men are sexist so there’s bound to be some push back done in sexist ways).

          • Anker 4.1.1.2.1

            Well Joe 90, I have read some of the links. In one it said that bachelorette parties going to drag shows helps with the income stream.

            I understand that gay people would want these spaces for themselves, I really do.

            Is there some human rights issues preventing the spaces becoming gay male or lesbian only? Or is it commercial?

            Now Joe, as I remember you are one of the commenters on this site who have shown no support for GC women's concerns about trans women (ie men ) in their spaces. Quite the opposite. So I want you to now imagine if these straight gate crashers started called the men who objected to their presence in gay bars a nasty slur, ie an equivalent to terf. Imagine you are one of those gay men who simply wants the gay bar to yourself and you are accused of mysogymy for doing so. Imagine that the Government decides to get involved and makes a law to say these het women cannot be eluded. Imagine if the govt then threatens a hate speech law that would mean that if you speak up against these het women, you could be acused of a hate crime. Imagine you try and hold a series of meetings in public libraries about these laws and the problems you are experiencing and the libraries shut your meeting down, because these het women use the library and it needs to be a safe space for them. Imagine if you have to go to the High Court to ensure your meeting is held. Imagine if you start posting about this on this left wing site, where you would expect straight people here to be sympathetic to gay people's need for separate spaces. Imagine if you found on this site not only did you get no support, but you got called a bigot for not wanting these women in your spaces.

            I do have some sympathy for what is happening with this. But I also want to say a huge "now you know how we feels". And I am afraid the issue for gender critical women is worse. We are gaslighted with the f…g ridiculous line "trans women are women". At least you are not being told that sexual orientation is a social construction and meaningless. Oh and also when gay men visit the AIDS clinic (if they have the misfortune to do so) they are not greeted with changes to their language e.g people who have sex with other people. Or penis havers having sex with each other.

            • weka 4.1.1.2.1.1

              Is there some human rights issues preventing the spaces becoming gay male or lesbian only? Or is it commercial?

              You're probably aware that in Tasmania the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner has said that it's a breach of law to run lesbian events.

              And that many online dating sites for lesbians include males and lesbians get banned if they state female only.

              The pressure now from gender ideology is such that I'm not sure how one would differentiate commercial from cancel. But we know that lesbian and gay bars used to function for lesbians and gays respectively, and now they don't. It's not because there aren't lesbian and gay people wanting those spaces.

              I'm hearing lesbians saying they now meet in secret. That's mind blowing.

              • Anker

                Yes indeed Weka, I am aware of the situation in Tasmania. I wonder what Corey and Joe 90 think about that?

      • weka 4.1.2

        that's an eye opener, didn't know it was happening like that outside of the LGBT stuff. Pretty fucked up and disrespectful.

        Molly and I had a conversation recently about whether it was ok for black people to put on theatre that was for black audiences only(Molly no, me yes). The argument is that beyond safety and dignity there should be no separation. I disagree, because I know there is such a thing as women's culture that exists even when we are safe and I want to retain that. I've seen this with lesbians as well and assume it's true for gay men. In addition to the safety/dignity reasons, sometimes we want to gather for our own purposes that are wholly about positive reasons. It's something that's getting lost in the GCF debate spaces because the boundaries have been pushed so far against safety and safeguarding.

        I also think men are entitled to their own spaces, they just need to sort out the patriarchal accumulation of power and privilege bit.

        • Molly 4.1.2.1

          "Molly and I had a conversation recently about whether it was ok for black people to put on theatre that was for black audiences only(Molly no, me yes). "

          My issue was related to it being a National Theatre and taxpayer funded.

          I don't care about private businesses or organisations.

      • roblogic 4.1.3

        Thanks for that perspective. There needs to be a lot more listening on both sides of these debates IMO. There are the trolls (Matt Walsh, Libs of TikTok,…) that obsess over what evil thing "teh gh3ys" are doing; and on the other side there's Owen Jones and other activists who appear to be projecting thinly disguised misogyny.

        Smearing and vilifying seems to get more traction on social media. But as a society we need less heat and more light. We don't have to like each other or approve of others beliefs or lifestyles. But we have to figure out a way to share this planet without acting like tribal chimps throwing turds at each other.

        Too many of these online pundits rely on manufactured outrage. The pictures they paint are a caricature, not reality.

      • SPC 4.1.4

        Straight women going to gay clubs was sort of well known, that it had become a problem for gay community, not so much.

        • Anker 4.1.4.1

          I was often out with gay friends and we would all go into the gay nightclub. Some specified gay men only and of course we respected that

      • Anker 4.1.5

        sorry Corey, there is no such thing as a CIS women. If you are born with the capacity to produce large gametes then you are a women (you more than likely have xx chromosome and secondary sexual characteristics of being female.

        If you are born with the capacity to produce sperm, then you are male. Most likely you will have male genitalia (penis and testacles). You will never be able to carry a child or give birth.

        If you told me ten years ago I would be writing this on a blog site where the people ar supposedly intetelligent, I would have laughed.

        There are no CIS women. Just women. And girls.

        Sex isn't assigned at birth. The idea is utterly ludricrious.

        On this site people who rejected the vaccine, many for reasons to do with bizzare unscientific theories are no crazier than the people on this site who believe sex is assinged at birth. The term I would use is science deniers.

        • SPC 4.1.5.1

          In law, sex is assigned at birth.

          The birth certificate lists birth sex and the options are male or female.

          The cis was of a design to distinguish between those who identify with a gender in accord with their birth sex and “others” (such as transgender).

          Of course, of late, part of the self ID activism also involves the claim of a right to change the birth sex recorded on the birth certificate.

          • weka 4.1.5.1.1

            In law, sex is assigned at birth.

            citation needed for that. Afaik, sex is observed and recorded sometime between conception and the immediate post-partum period. Many foetuses have their sex recorded at a scan.

            The cis was of a design to distinguish between those who identify with a gender in accord with their birth sex and “others” (such as transgender).

            Whatever the original intent, for the people who don't have a gender but only have a sex, the term cis is offensive because it forces them into gender roles that they find harmful.

            I don't like it because it says seeks to redefine the terms woman and man and that's happening in a context where women are losing our rights including our language and ability to talk about our own bodies and politics.

            • SPC 4.1.5.1.1.1

              In law, sex is assigned at birth.

              citation needed for that.

              Do you know of a period before birth when someone is a born citizen? And sex (even if determined in the womb) is thus formally assigned at birth.

              Whatever the original intent, for the people who don't have a gender but only have a sex, the term cis is offensive because it forces them into gender roles that they find harmful.

              How, the point was to remove expected gender conformity to birth sex?

              I don't like it because it says seeks to redefine the terms woman and man and that's happening in a context where women are losing our rights including our language and ability to talk about our own bodies and politics.

              That pertains only to the transgender side of it (which has disrupted the traditional born male or born female separation within society), and in particular the self ID development (sans the health system and legal pathways that once managed that).

              • roblogic

                Weird how transgender lobbyists claim to be disrupting gender roles but then encourage young people not to accept their natural bodies, but to go for opposite sex hormones and surgeries to conform to, you guessed it, a perceived gender.

                The alphabet soup lobby tries to pigeonhole butch women or effeminate men into the opposite gender, and any kind of nonconformity needs its own flag and pronouns. This isn't freedom, it's magical thinking akin to astrology.

                Whereas women have been fighting actual sex-based oppression (gender roles) for millennia.

                • SPC

                  Some males and females (some of whom easily pass as within the gender stereotype of their birth sex) will find the concept of gender ID useful. There are many options – agender, bi-gender, non binary, gender queer, genderfluid, gender variant, third gender, twospirit without reference to being transgender.

                  It's just being more able to identify as they really are – part of the modern acceptance of difference (and moving from mono-cultural to multi-cultural society), as per same sex marriages.

                  Whether people take up the option of identifying other than cisgender is up to them (and someone at some point will find an alternative to cisgender – maybe same gender as birth sex).

                  People try and pigeon hole others in all sorts of ways, but people still get to choose secretly, who they vote for and also how they identity their gender, their sexuality, their faith, their ethnicity – on a census form and also in more personal (private lives) and or public ways.

                  Historically there has been the male in the female role on stage, then the transvestite part of theatre (and the sex industry) while more recently there has been the chemical assistance and surgery to enhance male and or female stereotype body form and the presentation of such on social media – with some negative (psychological impact) on adolescent youth and single adults.

                  From that world has come the transgender – which some are connecting to the wider concept of transhumanism

                  philosophical and scientific movement that advocates the use of current and emerging technologies—such as genetic engineering, cryonics, artificial intelligence (AI), and nanotechnology—to augment human capabilities and improve the human condition.

                  This is but the beginning.

                  • roblogic

                    Another reality of the human condition, is suffering and mortality. Most do not have the luxury of ascending Maslow's hierarchy of needs and exploring exotic identities. Many people are carrying some kind of trauma, and dissociation from their own bodies and minds is a natural defence mechanism.

                    But a basic tenet of mental health is acceptance of reality "as it is, not as I would have it".

                    • SPC

                      Most do not have the luxury of ascending Maslow's hierarchy of needs and exploring exotic identities

                      It is however part of being young and today's individuals have more capability to shape their lives than in past times.

                      Society once imposed a reality on its citizens

                      – a ban on same sex relationships

                      – gender role conformity

                      – religious conformity

                      – acceptance of autocratic rule (largely organised by the insider haves over the have nots)

                      Emancipation has led to the end of an imposed reality/order out of chaos, human dominion is now formed by empowered people – individuals even.

                      Which we can note opens up all sort of opportunities (social media informs youth of them), which makes more pressure on development – as to their reality and the lifestyles of others.

                      Sure there is a commonality in terms of aging and or illness or adverse life circumstance resulting in suffering. And acceptance is a way of coping. But youth have yet to identify who they are and what they want. Acceptance can be a fraught concept because it dampens hope and expectation which is important for aspiration.

                    • roblogic

                      They might be young people exploring possibilities, or they could be traumatised adolescents dissociating from their bodies, especially girls who don't want to become objectified by porn addled boys and seek a way out.

            • Anker 4.1.5.1.1.2

              Interesting though Weka, I don't recall hearing Cis man used much at all. Only cis woman.

  5. Anker 5

    Those who are protesting in Scotland to support the idea that men who identify as women should be kept in womens prisons have lost their minds to a cult. There is no other explanation for such a frightening idea, especially given what has happened in jails where transgender women (i.e. men) have been placed.

    I am waking for the left wing and the likes of the NZ Labour Party to wake up.

    Thanks for posting the article Weka.

    • roblogic 5.1

      Yes the movement has the hallmarks of a nascent secular religion. As one wag tweeted, the plethora of "identities" is about as useful as the Zodiac, but has less scientific basis 😂

      Another writer likens the trans movement to Gnosticism (an ancient Christian heresy)

      And this is a fascinating trip down a rabbit hole tracing the philosophical roots of "Wokeism" in general.

      • weka 5.1.1

        “Trans women are women, trans men are men” is a gnostic statement.

        How is he using the word gnostic there?

        Was Descartes a Gnostic?

        • SPC 5.1.1.1

          Theo Jordan is a critic of Emerson

          Like his British Romantic contemporaries, Emerson saw a direct connection between man, nature and God. Historian Grant Wacker describes Emerson's belief: "God was best understood as a spirit, an ideal, a breath of life; everywhere and always filling the world with the inexhaustible power of the divine presence.

          As he put it (Emerson) : 'history is an impertinence and an injury'; 'our religion, we have not chosen, but society has chosen for us' and 'Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. ' We must, he argued, live from within, trusting nothing but our own intuitions.

          Theo Jordan connects the dots of this (when it comes to gender and sexuality free will) to gnostic thought, as per the idea of the "human body being a prison" (conforming to nature of human birth dominion).

          It's a stretch. Human males and females have societal/cultural (religious heritage God order out of chaos) expectations of them. As to being born males and being male gender, or born female and being female gender and expectations of a "natural" heterosexuality. But human life is more diverse than that.

          Theo Jordan appears to be a traditionalist, Emerson believes in progressive change – thus towards greater social justice and freedom, and not required conformity to an established order.

      • SPC 5.1.2

        Francis Aaron, another acolyte of Henry Makow (born a Jew and determined to save the men of Western Civilisation from socialism and its alliance with feminism and black lives matter against religious patriarchy, aided by of course by Jordan Peterson).

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    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    9 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    10 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    23 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
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