Herald Digipoll

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, October 24th, 2008 - 72 comments
Categories: polls - Tags:

The latest Herald Digipoll presents quite a different picture to last night’s 3 News poll. While TV3 had the Left and Right blocs neck-and-neck with the Maori Party as kingmaker, the Herald has National still able to govern alone at 50.4% and 63 seats.

You can argue all you like over whether this result is plausible (personally I think it’s bollocks), but what’s clear is that something funny’s going on with the major polls. As 08wire puts it:

One of these polls is assuredly wrong.

It seems there are two camps. One the one hand we have Colmar Brunton/TVNZ and Herald/Digipoll, who are showing no major change during the campaign, and a likely solid National victory. Roy Morgan and TNS/TV3, on the other hand, show a tightening horse race between Labour and National, and a Maori Party dependent government.

From my experience and what I’m hearing from others on the ground the race is much tighter than the Herald Digipoll suggests, and a lot of soft National voters are swinging back to Labour, the Greens and even NZ First as the election nears.

Of course, that’s just anecdotal, but given this and what I’m hearing from my backchannels about internal polling, I wouldn’t put too much stock in polls that continue to put National at 50%.

72 comments on “Herald Digipoll ”

  1. vidiot 1

    Roll on Nov 9th, and then the actual result will/shall/might/hopefully be known*

    * excluding any electoral petitions that may or may not be lodged.

  2. higherstandard 2

    Indeed

  3. DeeDub 3

    It is indeed hard to fathom the major difference between this result and TV3s poll?!
    Someone has surely got it very wrong… could be the most interesting election in years.

  4. higherstandard 4

    “could be the most interesting election in years.”

    No.

  5. Lampie 5

    “Someone has surely got it very wrong”

    some research companies are good at statistics some are not. Just remember that about something like 0.6% of the population can actually do statistic correctly. Research New Zealand on their website actually don’t seem to have a statistican in their research team, hmmm go figure when their head researcher said a sample is like a blood sample in a human body…. ummmm actually that is a bad example to use.

  6. “And a lot of soft National voters are swinging back to Labour,”

    None of my ‘soft’ National voting mates are.

  7. If we’re to judge the Fairfax and the Herald polls by the standards of the newspapers they produce, then we really shouldn’t take those polls seriously at all. The Herald stepped over the line a lone time ago, from being an actual daily newspaper to becoming purely a proganda mechanism. Fairfax is notorious for its low standards. To think that more than 50% of New Zealanders support National is pure fantasy.

  8. Pixie 8

    At what stage will these irreconcilable discrepancies undermine the credibility of all polling results once and for all? Almost every day there is a new set of data. Each one take up an inordinate amount of media time and yet none of them, individually or collectively, is able to tell us, the public, anything of substance.

    Which leads to the question, what message is the average citizen (as opposed to the small clique of political junkies, media included) expected to glean from the continual publishing of polling results? Surely it really doesn’t matter how everyone else expects to vote – the only vote that matters is our own. It’s simply crystal-ball gazing.

    Why doesn’t the media give up reporting these non-stories and devote its limited resources on details that do in fact help us all to make an INFORMED choice on polling day. Either that or bring in the Sensing Murder team who may be just as likely to predict the 8 Nov outcome as the polling companies.

  9. lprent 9

    The polls would be better if we could get reasonable polls of polls. However there are only 5 polls published regularly in NZ. It is simply too small to iron out methodology problems between companies.

    I’ve been pointing out since this site began that the polls are only interesting for trends. I’m with hs on this. The only one that counts and is accurate is the nov 8th one.

  10. brklyn08 10

    I get the strong feeling that the Greens are doing a lot better than the Herald poll suggests. Their campaign is resonating with voters and being reflected well in the media. I think Lockwood Smith’s comments went down like a lead balloon with Pacific Island voters, and any sense of underlying prejudice doesn’t go down well with the NZ public, as a whole, including most conservatives. South Auckland will again remain with Labour due to the effectiveness of its ‘get out the vote’ machine, and the election will be decided by coalition and support deals.

  11. toms 11

    Tim Murphy clearly believes his own polls, if the self-satisfied editorial in todays Herald is any guide.The bosses over at the Granny clearly thinks that they’ve done enough to deliver a National government.

    I’ll be frank about this, I want a Labour victory just so I can get a nice bicuit and a pot of tea and luxuriate in shoving it down the Herald’s throat.

  12. Lampie 12

    “Why doesn’t the media give up reporting these non-stories and devote its limited resources on details that do in fact help us all to make an INFORMED choice on polling day.”

    Agree with that Pixie, right on the nail.

  13. Lampie 13

    toms, I’ll join you on that big dump exercise

    Think ZB could be shared with that experience

  14. the sprout 14

    “Why doesn’t the media give up reporting these non-stories”

    1. they generate cheap, easy copy.

    2. they can be used to ‘validate’ news outlets’ editorial stances (polls that don’t do this are either misinterpreted or disgarded).

    3. they can be used, a la push polling, to manipulate so-called opinion.

    4. they provide a pretense of msm interacting with their audiences.

    Polls are valuable tools for the commercial and propaganda interests of msm, so they won’t be dropping them any time soon. Thankfully the more they push their dodgey polls, the more the public begins to suspect their publishers’ credibility, but the msm also knows there are still more than enough inumerate and gullible people out there to make publishing polls worthwhile.

  15. Doug 15

    How is Labour’s internal polling going?
    Greens said only a few days ago they will go with Labour.

    http://www.odt.co.nz/election-2008/the-nation/28784/greens-consider-national

  16. Rosa 16

    It is hard to draw any firm conclusions from the polls but it seems very unlikely that there will be a government-either left or right- with fewer than 4 parties involved. In previous elections the voters have moved towards the smaller parties as the election grew closer. I don’t believe National will get more than 45% of the vote.

    If Winston gets over the 5 % mark my money is on a National, Act, United Future, NZ First coalition. John Key will negotiate with Winston if he needs to- if all that stands between him and power is Winston then Key will do what he needs to do. And although the Nats seem to hate Winston, and direct a good deal of vitriol towards him, Winston doesn’t seem to hold grudges against National- the 1996 election showed that.

  17. toms 17

    Lampie: ZB audiences consist of a nutjob fringe group of Leighton Smith acolytes and some people who spend large parts of the day in the car and are looking for something which will simultaneouusly give them a laugh and reaffirm their sense of general intellectual superiority.

    The Herald has always touted itself as an antipodean Times, but like the old Thunderer it has fallen under the spell of false Gods.

    I spy this over at pundit.co.nz: “…Australian Provincial Newspapersthe publishers of the New Zealand Herald newspaper and website and the Listener amongst other titleshas announced it’s making “a small number of staff reductions”. I’m told that means three or four journalists from the Herald and one from the Listener…”

    The real lesson of the sorry state of the Herald and the collapse of the Listener as a serious journal is the danger of having no media laws, and treating an important part of our democracy as if it were no different from widget manufacturing. We allow monopoly or duopoly foreign ownership of our fourth estate, and allow the profiting of Australian shareholders to be the driver behind gutting our media.

    We need reform of the media ownership laws ASAP.

  18. T-rex 18

    “and a lot of soft National voters are swinging back to Labour”

    Actually the polls are aligned on Labours support, the difference is between National, Greens, and NZF.

    This actually makes some sense to me – I quite like it. People who are pissed with Labour and want to express this have finally worked out that they don’t need to cut off their noses to spite their faces.

    [Tane: Dude, you cut out half my sentence. Also, it’s not clear that because one party goes up and another down that they’re bleeding support to each other. The picture is far more complex, assuming the polls are even accurate and there’s no margin of error going on.]

  19. higherstandard 19

    Indeed Toms we should have state control of all media as soon as possible as that would undoubtedly produce less bias.

  20. Lampie 20

    We need reform of the media ownership laws ASAP

    yeap

  21. Tane 21

    HS, please don’t tell me you don’t understand the difference between regulating the media to ensure it is properly resourced to fulfil its democratic function and, um, Stalinism. You’re smarter than that.

  22. T-rex 22

    I know I cut out half the sentence – I agreed with the other half!

    I think you’re probably right, Labours polling has been improving dramatically (thought that could just be the result of polling methodology giving poor reads), and it’s safe to assume that the improvement has come at Nationals expense, just wanted to point out that the inconsistency between the two polls under discussion is not “National vs Labour” but “National vs Green/NZF”.

  23. higherstandard 23

    Tane – I may possibly have been taking the piss.

    During election time people tend to rail against “the media” based on their latest story and whether it fits their political leanings our media is far less biased than it is superficial and reliant on fluffy pieces which masquerade as real news.

  24. Ben R 24

    “South Auckland will again remain with Labour due to the effectiveness of its ‘get out the vote’ machine, and the election will be decided by coalition and support deals.”

    Was this ever in doubt? South Auckland has been a Labour stronghold for decades.

  25. gobsmacked 25

    We’ve done this before, many times.

    *throws pen at inattentive students*

    What do we look for, people? Yes, thank you, Jeanette … it”s Trends. Have a gold star.

    The polls from different organisations are very different. But the trends are the same. Even in this one.

    For homework, write out one hundred times “I must learn to look for the trends”.

    Class dismissed. Rodney, see me.

  26. Tane 26

    HS. I think a lot of the problem is lack of depth and substance, both of which are consequences of the corporate media’s running down of journalism in the pursuit of profit. Like toms said, the news media is our fourth estate. We shouldn’t treat let the media corporations treat it like widget production.

  27. forgetaboutthelastone 27

    “We need reform of the media ownership laws ASAP.”

    we do – but first we need something to force the issue such as a Labour Land-slide victory that no-one in the MSM has come close to predicting.

    re: soft support for national:

    “Prime Minister and Labour leader Helen Clark has improved in the preferred Prime Minister stakes, by 2.3 points, putting her fractionally ahead of National leader John Key, 45.4 per cent to 44.8 per cent. It is the first time she has been ahead since January.”

    Can the assumption be made that 6% (50.4 – 44.8 = 6ish) of National voters prefer Helen Clark as Prime Minister? Or is this just a reflection of the small difference between the left and right blocks? If so why is this not reflected in the main poll? Would people vote for a party when they would prefer a prime minister from the opposing side?

  28. Paul 28

    what’s missing from ALL the polls is a count of the ‘undecided’ if one pollster’s managed to get half of them to commit while the other hasn’t then the polls mean different things

  29. higherstandard 29

    Tane

    1. It’s a business it should be run as such
    2. Do you really think pouring money into these companies in the form of journalists or researchers would give better reporting and coverage or just more of the same vapid cak.

  30. Lampie 30

    “what’s missing from ALL the polls is a count of the ‘undecided’ if one pollster’s managed to get half of them to commit while the other hasn’t then the polls mean different things”

    THAT is the missing variable we need to know, it does make a difference

  31. Tane 31

    1. It’s a business it should be run as such

    I think that’s where we fundamentally disagree. I don’t see why our news media should be run on purely commercial lines any more than our police, our judiciary or our education system should be.

    2. Do you really think pouring money into these companies in the form of journalists or researchers would give better reporting and coverage or just more of the same vapid cak.

    Yes. Better research and more journalists means better reporting and more in-depth and investigative journalism. That means a stronger and better informed democracy.

  32. ak 32

    Anyone else smell a big fat rat in this poll bizzo? Not only the huge disparity in results (err.. it’s a science, people) but now twice in a fortnight Labour-favouring polls have been immediately followed by tory-leaners. The tories have long appreciated the huge influence and “self-fulfilling prophesy” aspect of polls – hence the massive emphasis and beat-up given them in the Herald and other propaganda organs.

    Scoop in here for some keen young investigative reporter I feel (any that haven’t been sacked or sidelined by now) – I’d start with the ownership/affiliations of the polling companies, the political “lean” they have produced over years, and the correlation thereof with those who commission them. Could be very revealing…….especially if a former employee was willing to talk….

  33. Felix 33

    Paul,

    Yep. And you can’t really extrapolate from the decided voters what the undecideds are likely to do, as undecided means a lot of things to different people.

    e.g. voters undecided between nat – lab will have a big effect on the final result when they decide. Those undecided between green – lab or nat – act very little effect.

  34. Matthew Pilott 34

    1. It’s a business it should be run as such

    Further to Tane’s comment, do you believe the role for the Fourth Estate is purely to maximise profits to shareholders and always act in its own self-interest?

  35. Matthew Pilott 35

    Oh – the NZHerald poll has a comment:

    * The DigiPoll survey of 750 respondents was conducted from October 15 to 22. Undecideds were 12.4 per cent. The margin of error is 3.6 per cent.

    Here.

    12.4%… I don’t think you can assume undecideds are ones who won’t vote, as I believe Tim Ellis suggested in another thread. Those would be the unknown quantity: Refused.

  36. Ben R 36

    “Do you really think pouring money into these companies in the form of journalists or researchers would give better reporting and coverage or just more of the same vapid cak.”

    Indeed. I think this article, putting aside the religious emphasis, makes some good points about the problems with daily news in general:

    “Why is dailiness a problem? Sommerville offers several reasons. First, the daily nature of the news (which means that publishers have to sell their product on a daily basis) encourages journalists to create a sense of crisis or tragedy.

    Another problem with dailiness is that it discourages the placement of issues and events into a larger or deeper context. “The very survival of the news business depends on our seeing life as jumpy and scattered,” says Sommerville, rather than as falling into a historical pattern or embodying some philosophical outlook…

    The news industry’s concentration on excitement and gossip exacerbated by the need to sell product daily likely causes it to ignore events which history will deem the most important of our time.

    The impact of the daily news on our system of government is also disturbing. Again, because of the voracious appetite of the news industry for new events on which to report, journalists desire political change above all else.

    What is Sommerville’s solution? To abandon the daily news outright in favor of reading periodicals and books. The very reason that Sommerville concentrates on dailiness rather than on the usual complaints, such as bias, commercialization, censorship, incompetence, etc. is to emphasize that the news industry is irretrievably flawed and must be discarded.”

    http://www.boundless.org/2000/departments/pages/a0000322.html

  37. higherstandard 37

    MP

    No.

  38. Lew 38

    Tane/MP: Perhaps the media should not be run as commercial enterprises putting profit ahead of everything, but that’s a decision for their owners to make.

    The point is that they are run as businesses. The nature of the interaction between audience and advertiser and media means that if the quality of their output drops, they’ll lose audience and therefore revenue. It’s in their best interests to service business needs by acting as a robust fourth estate. So what they should be run like is somewhat irrelevant – unless you plan to compensate them for lost revenue when they stop giving the audience what it wants. It’s what they are run like which counts.

    L

  39. Tane 39

    Lew, fully aware of that. Clearly a distinction made between descriptive and normative statements. I’m not naive enough to think business will run at reduced profits for some social good – they are what they are. I’m suggesting we change the system.

  40. Lew 40

    Tane: And as part of the blogosphere, in a way you are.

    L

  41. Tane 41

    Perhaps, but only at the margins. A campaign for another day, I think.

  42. the sprout 42

    “We need reform of the media ownership laws ASAP”

    so true, but we all know what kind of media coverage any politician or political parrty that espouses that truth will get. the truth is msm are more powerful than any particular political party.

    the Fourth Estate, once meant as a check on powerful institutional interests, now ARE the powerful institutional interests, and have in reality become defunct as a structural component of democracy.

    re. Vote Cannabalizing and Undecideds

    I think a lot of the shift in polls is coming not from preference shifts but from Undecideds starting to decide, that’s why talk of votes coming from X and going to Y don’t add up.

  43. Lew 43

    Right, it’s a sedimentary process, not a seismic one, because the industry itself can’t be changed – only the audience can be changed. Currently the reason many media focus on what you characterise as such trivia is because that’s what they’ve been led to expect – by the formats, their conventions and history, their sources and their own internal distortions. Change audience expectations and you change the industry which caters to them.

    L

  44. randal 44

    lew what a load of tripe. the industry has been going for a long time and its not going to change one iota. they are not obliged to explain themselves and its the job of the “people” to figure it out for themselves. dig? apart form that al the other tricks are in play. send $100 and I’ll tell you what nearly happende to me this weekend. nasty! better than a cheap novel.

  45. Lew 45

    randal: Of course they’ll change. They’re businesses, they’ll change when their audience demands something different from what they’re offering. The media does exert a great deal of control over what people demand, but that control isn’t complete. We’re already seeing the beginnings of decentralised, virtualised publication (though not ownership), and that’ll continue as the dead trees, sit-down-at-6-o-clock-and-watch formats continue to be replaced by more flexible and interactive formats. The audience – who advertisers will follow wherever they lead – is quite literally the only force in the world which will legitimately change the media industry. I say `legitimately’ because I don’t consider mass nationalisation of media interests to be legitimate – and even if it were, as the sprout alludes to, it would never ever fly (and nor should it).All things considered I’d rather have my media run by corporations who can be relied upon to maximise profit than by capricious governments.

    What the media industry DOES need for these changes to really take hold is stronger powers for regulatory authorities such as the Press Council, more proactive courts prepared to prosecute,and stronger anti-monopolisation measures. But ultimately it’s the people who’ll decide.

    L

  46. Matthew Pilott 46

    HS – what, then? How does one reconcile the commercial nature of the MSM with the democratic necessity of an effective free media?

    It’s in their best interests to service business needs by acting as a robust fourth estate.

    This equates the best media to being the most widely read, and the most profitable, Lew. Is that really the best measure?

    A brief hypothetical. Investigative journalist turns up a scandal that unseats a government, shakes up a nation and results in wide-spread law changes. The paper in question isn’t all that popular, has a brief spike in sales and then fades back into obscurity.

    The lame polling/personality politics that we have now also occur in this hypothetical scenario, and are also what seems to sell.

    Turns out the big story wasn’t good journalism after all…

    if the quality of their output drops, they’ll lose audience and therefore revenue

    I think this statement is pretty far from the truth. Perhaps I have a different perspective on ‘quality’, but doesn’t the Truth outsell SST and HoS? Women’s Weekly trumps North and South for sure…

  47. higherstandard 47

    MP

    “How does one reconcile the commercial nature of the MSM with the democratic necessity of an effective free media?”

    Apparently pretty much by doing what they are currently – unless you are suggesting that the media in NZ is either not commercially viable or not free.

  48. Lew 48

    MP: “Perhaps I have a different perspective on ‘quality’, but doesn’t the Truth outsell SST and HoS? Women’s Weekly trumps North and South for sure ”

    Yes, this is the point: the measures of media success ultimately come down to who’s judging. Market measures of success don’t measure quality in some objective academic sense – they measure the ability to entice audience members to consume advertising. Quality of journalism (in the sense you describe), adherence to truth and ethical journalistic practice and so on are important – or their appearance is important, but only inasmuch as it enables a publisher to retain or promote its reputation.

    So the problem is that you’re trying to measure the media industry by a yardstick which is relevant to them only in a collateral sense. Yes, there ARE good media outlets – and most media outlets strive to be good in the sort of sense you’re talking about, but there are a whole lot of structural, material and industry factors – even within public media who aren’t constrained by advertisers – which interfere with that pure quest for the impartial truth.It was this fact which led to the establishment of the Centre for Public Integrity.

    In a sense the problem when looking to regulate a media industry is `who do you get to determine which media are good and which aren’t?’, because the answer to that question will determine which media some new regulation scheme or incentive scheme or whatever will favour.

    L

  49. Pixie 49

    Gobsmacked: it may be all about “trends” but you have to hunt high and low for a considered analysis of these so-called trends from the msm. What did we use to do without the blogosphere, I ask myself?

    Instead, each story tends to be devoted to “the latest poll” and its own, “unique” perspective. The small print gives some inkling of how this poll differs from the last one. If you’re lucky, the newsgroup concerned may even refer to a competitor’s poll, but usually only to note that they do or don’t match up.

    However, not one to shy away from a challenge, I’ve considered the latest TV3 and Herald polls for trends:

    National TV3: +0.1; Herald: -1.0.
    Labour TV3: -1.6; Herald: +1.3.
    Greens TV3: +2.0; Herald: +0.5.
    NZF TV3: +1.8; Herald: -0.7.
    Act TV3: -0.1; Herald: +0.2;
    Maori TV3: -0.2; Herald: +0.5.

    Gap between Labour and National
    TV3: 7.7 (+1.7); Herald: 13.4 (-2.3)
    Gap between Labour/Greens and National/Act
    TV3: 0.6 (-0.4); Herald: 9.2 (-2.7)

    The only common “trends” between the two polls is increased support for the Greens (ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 points) and a narrowing of the gap between Labour/Greens and National/Act (ranging from 0.4 to 2.7 points)

    Oh, and in the preferred PM stakes where TV3 has a dead heat and the Herald has Helen Clark fractionally ahead of John Key. Interesting…

  50. the sprout 50

    i see the Herald is still diligently ignoring the Hide-Jones Scandal.

    meanwhile they’ve just posted this gem on Key’s latest show of increasing desperation

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-election-2008/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501799&objectid=10539279

  51. gobsmacked 51

    Pixie

    I agree, the MSM analysis is generally poor. Your findings are more useful.

    The narrowing gap between the Lab/Green and Nat/ACT blocs is a pretty clear trend, because it is supported by other polls. Ironically, the Morgan poll (out this afternoon) may buck that trend, because it was ahead of the game last time.

  52. John Stevens 52

    A 5 or 4 headed monster with Mickey in control will really take NZ forward, yeah right. The Greens are economic flakes, they don’t care about peoples hip pocket, they want the state to have the money to re distribute.

    The ETS will also kill us financially and this will be rammed even harder on us with Greens having a significant say on this. Tax will increase dramatically even though there has been no warming for 7 years. (From their CO2 god’s data, NASA).

  53. Matthew Pilott 53

    John, why don’t you email those quotes directly to Lynn (for his automated-troll project), I’m sure he’s the only one who will appreciate them. in fact, for what he’s doing, your material is gold, pure troll. Random comments, clearly parroted from the media or kiwiblog, a bit of classic right-wing propaganda and some discredited pap to pad out the vacuosity.

    You can tell the dumb ones, they can’t even pretend to try to be be on topic.

    [lprent: Bloody hell – I only just let him off moderation because he was starting to get coherent.]

  54. the sprout 54

    good echoing of Key’s “5 Headed Monster” line there John Stevens.

    yep a single party Govt with Key at the helm would be much better than an MMP coalition representing a diversity of views and interests. good luck selling that line mate.

  55. Matthew Pilott 55

    The National Party front bench is a 5-headed monster in its own right (excluding the Pretty Face That Will Be Gone By Lunchtime), clearly.

  56. Billy 56

    Matthew thinks Lockwood is pretty. Matthew and Lockwood up a tree…

  57. Pat 57

    I’d like to lay a cyber-fiver that Key will retain the Nat leadership, whether or not he wins the election.

    See me in 3 years to pay up/collect.

  58. randal 58

    the national party front bench is an oxymoron. they are yestrerdays men without ever having been todays men. they will be consigned to the dustbin of history very soon. byeeeeeeeeee!

  59. forgetaboutthelastone 59

    roy morgan poll is out.

  60. the sprout 60

    i’ll see your cyber-fiver Pat.
    Key won’t hang around for another 3 years of ridicule being called the Man that Lost National’s Best Chance of Winning an Election. He’ll be off, but not like Goff.

    Will meet you at the Bust Stop to collect my winnings, we won’t have to wait 3 years – maybe 3 months. You will be able to recognise me as the vegetable wearing a hat.

  61. the sprout 61

    here’s the Roy Morgan link

    http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2008/4330/

    now watch all those who last week said RM was balls suddenly turn around and say how perceptive RM is.

  62. DeeDub 63

    And with the Greens at 11.5% in this poll it’s still not good news for the Nats. Looks like some drift from labour to National but it’s with the MOE. PLus just wait till the fallout from the Lockwood saga and I wonder if Rodney will be punished for his crime at the EC? I feel good about the possibility of a grand coalition of the left.

  63. the sprout 64

    yes the strong support for Greens and NZ First will make it harder for the right to crow about this poll.

  64. forgetaboutthelastone 65

    NZ First on 4.5% go winny!

  65. higherstandard 66

    Sprout anyone who mentions polls again between now and the election should give themselves a quick uppercut.

    That being said I can’t see why anyone who would change their vote from voting Labour to voting Green.

  66. the sprout 67

    agreed on both counts HS.

  67. brklyn08 68

    Ben R, the point I was making was that any Pacific Island voter that may have been considering voting National (and there would have been a few, based on Christian opposition to Labour’s social/moral agenda), will likely now return to Labour, nullifying JK’s recent attempts at garnering support in South Auckland. A brief flirtation torpedoed.

  68. Ben R 69

    “Ben R, the point I was making was that any Pacific Island voter that may have been considering voting National (and there would have been a few, based on Christian opposition to Labour’s social/moral agenda), will likely now return to Labour, nullifying JK’s recent attempts at garnering support in South Auckland. A brief flirtation torpedoed.”

    If they’re opposed to the social/moral agenda I doubt National would be going to overturn anything in that area. Better to vote for Destiny or Taito Philip Field’s party.

  69. outofbed 70

    ^That being said I can’t see why anyone who would change their vote from voting Labour to voting Green*
    Its because of the cute girl on the ads.
    And maybe our positive and principled politics
    I like this poll 14 Green MP’s
    Three from the top of the South
    Yeah

  70. higherstandard 71

    OOB

    Perhaps we should have Green led government for a term then after the economy is ruined and we’ve had to resort to burning our own dung to keep warm they would disappear back into anonymity.

  71. Lampie 72

    now watch all those who last week said RM was balls suddenly turn around and say how perceptive RM is.

    lol, yeah agree there

    “PLus just wait till the fallout from the Lockwood saga”

    the tolls the tolls as well 🙂 Wasn’t a good week for Nats

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    Chris Trotter writes –  MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 hours ago
  • The Hoon around the week to April 19
    TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • The ‘Humpty Dumpty’ end result of dismantling our environmental protections
    Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • Nicola's Salad Days.
    I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    8 hours ago
  • Study sees climate change baking in 19% lower global income by 2050
    TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-April-2024
    It’s Friday again. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week on Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered at the government looking into a long tunnel for Wellington. On Wednesday we ran a post from Oscar Simms on some lessons from Texas. AT’s ...
    9 hours ago
  • Jack Vowles: Stop the panic – we’ve been here before
    New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’.  The data is from February this ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    11 hours ago
  • Clearing up confusion (or trying to)
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    12 hours ago
  • How to Retrieve Deleted Call Log iPhone Without Computer
    How to Retrieve Deleted Call Log on iPhone Without a Computer: A StepbyStep Guide Losing your iPhone call history can be frustrating, especially when you need to find a specific number or recall an important conversation. But before you panic, know that there are ways to retrieve deleted call logs on your iPhone, even without a computer. This guide will explore various methods, ranging from simple checks to utilizing iCloud backups and thirdparty applications. So, lets dive in and recover those lost calls! 1. Check Recently Deleted Folder: Apple understands that accidental deletions happen. Thats why they introduced the Recently Deleted folder for various apps, including the Phone app. This folder acts as a safety net, storing deleted call logs for up to 30 days before permanently erasing them. Heres how to check it: Open the Phone app on your iPhone. Tap on the Recents tab at the bottom. Scroll to the top and tap on Edit. Select Show Recently Deleted. Browse the list to find the call logs you want to recover. Tap on the desired call log and choose Recover to restore it to your call history. 2. Restore from iCloud Backup: If you regularly back up your iPhone to iCloud, you might be able to retrieve your deleted call log from a previous backup. However, keep in mind that this process will restore your entire phone to the state it was in at the time of the backup, potentially erasing any data added since then. Heres how to restore from an iCloud backup: Go to Settings > General > Reset. Choose Erase All Content and Settings. Follow the onscreen instructions. Your iPhone will restart and show the initial setup screen. Choose Restore from iCloud Backup during the setup process. Select the relevant backup that contains your deleted call log. Wait for the restoration process to complete. 3. Explore ThirdParty Apps (with Caution): ...
    14 hours ago
  • How to Factory Reset iPhone without Computer: A Comprehensive Guide to Restoring your Device
    Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
    21 hours ago
  • How to Call Someone on a Computer: A Guide to Voice and Video Communication in the Digital Age
    Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
    21 hours ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #16 2024
    Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications: Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
    22 hours ago
  • Where on a Computer is the Operating System Generally Stored? Delving into the Digital Home of your ...
    The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
    22 hours ago
  • How Many Watts Does a Laptop Use? Understanding Power Consumption and Efficiency
    Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
    22 hours ago
  • How to Screen Record on a Dell Laptop A Guide to Capturing Your Screen with Ease
    Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
    22 hours ago
  • How Much Does it Cost to Fix a Laptop Screen? Navigating Repair Options and Costs
    A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
    22 hours ago
  • How Long Do Gaming Laptops Last? Demystifying Lifespan and Maximizing Longevity
    Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
    22 hours ago
  • Climate Change: Turning the tide
    The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    23 hours ago
  • How to Unlock Your Computer A Comprehensive Guide to Regaining Access
    Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
    1 day ago
  • Faxing from Your Computer A Modern Guide to Sending Documents Digitally
    While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
    1 day ago
  • Protecting Your Home Computer A Guide to Cyber Awareness
    In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
    1 day ago
  • Server-Based Computing Powering the Modern Digital Landscape
    In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
    1 day ago
  • Vroom vroom go the big red trucks
    The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • Jones finds $410,000 to help the government muscle in on a spat project
    Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Again, hate crimes are not necessarily terrorism.
    Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    1 day ago
  • Despair – construction consenting edition
    Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Coalition promises – will the Govt keep the commitment to keep Kiwis equal before the law?
    Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • An impermanent public service is a guarantee of very little else but failure
    Chris Trotter writes –  The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • What happens after the war – Mariupol
    Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
    1 day ago
  • Babies and benefits – no good news
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three.  ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Should the RBNZ be looking through climate inflation?
    Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links
    The top six news links I’ve seen elsewhere in the last 24 hours, as of 9:16 am on Thursday, April 18 are:Housing: Tauranga residents living in boats, vans RNZ Checkpoint Louise TernouthHousing: Waikato councillor says wastewater plant issues could hold up Sleepyhead building a massive company town Waikato Times Stephen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the public sector carnage, and misogyny as terrorism
    It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
    1 day ago
  • Meeting the Master Baiters
    Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 day ago
  • How extreme was the Earth's temperature in 2023
    This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blog In 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
    2 days ago
  • Backbone, revisited
    The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Ministers are not above the law
    Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago
  • What’s the outfit you can hear going down the gurgler? Probably it’s David Parker’s Oceans Sec...
    Buzz from the Beehive Point  of Order first heard of the Oceans Secretariat in June 2021, when David Parker (remember him?) announced a multi-agency approach to protecting New Zealand’s marine ecosystems and fisheries. Parker (holding the Environment, and Oceans and Fisheries portfolios) broke the news at the annual Forest & ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Bryce Edwards writes  – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Matt Doocey doubles down on trans “healthcare”
    Citizen Science writes –  Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • A TikTok Prime Minister.
    One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Texas Lessons
    This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links at 6:06 am
    The top six news links I’ve seen elsewhere in the last 24 hours as of 6:06 am on Wednesday, April 17 are:Must read: Secrecy shrouds which projects might be fast-tracked RNZ Farah HancockScoop: Revealed: Luxon has seven staffers working on social media content - partly paid for by taxpayer Newshub ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Fighting poverty on the holiday highway
    Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • Bernard's six-stack of substacks at 6:26 pm
    Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • At a glance – Is the science settled?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    3 days ago
  • Apposite Quotations.
    How Long Is Long Enough? Gaza under Israeli bombardment, July 2014. This posting is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
    3 days ago
  • What’s a life worth now?
    You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Howling at the Moon
    Karl du Fresne writes –  There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Newshub is Dead.
    I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Seymour is chuffed about cutting early-learning red tape – but we hear, too, that Jones has loose...
    Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Was Hawkesby entirely wrong?
    David Farrar  writes –  The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • PRC shadow looms as the Solomons head for election
    PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time. A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Climate Change: Criminal ecocide
    We are in the middle of a climate crisis. Last year was (again) the hottest year on record. NOAA has just announced another global coral bleaching event. Floods are threatening UK food security. So naturally, Shane Jones wants to make it easier to mine coal: Resources Minister Shane Jones ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • Is saving one minute of a politician's time worth nearly $1 billion?
    Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Long Tunnel or Long Con?
    Yesterday it was revealed that Transport Minister had asked Waka Kotahi to look at the options for a long tunnel through Wellington. State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the ...
    3 days ago
  • Smoke And Mirrors.
    You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • What is Mexico doing about climate change?
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
    4 days ago
  • State of humanity, 2024
    2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • Govt’s Wellington tunnel vision aims to ease the way to the airport (but zealous promoters of cycl...
    Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • The case for cultural connectedness
    A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Useful context on public sector job cuts
    David Farrar writes –    The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated.   While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On When Racism Comes Disguised As Anti-racism
    Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
    4 days ago
  • Govt ignored economic analysis of smokefree reversal
    Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • True Blue.
    True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Who is running New Zealand’s foreign policy?
    While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #15
    A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 7, 2024 thru Sat, April 13, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week is about adults in the room setting terms and conditions of ...
    5 days ago
  • Feline Friends and Fragile Fauna The Complexities of Cats in New Zealand’s Conservation Efforts

    Cats, with their independent spirit and beguiling purrs, have captured the hearts of humans for millennia. In New Zealand, felines are no exception, boasting the highest national cat ownership rate globally [definition cat nz cat foundation]. An estimated 1.134 million pet cats grace Kiwi households, compared to 683,000 dogs ...

    5 days ago
  • Or is that just they want us to think?
    Nice guy, that Peter Williams. Amiable, a calm air of no-nonsense capability, a winning smile. Everything you look for in a TV presenter and newsreader.I used to see him sometimes when I went to TVNZ to be a talking head or a panellist and we would yarn. Nice guy, that ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • Fact Brief – Did global warming stop in 1998?
    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Did global warming stop in ...
    6 days ago
  • Arguing over a moot point.
    I have been following recent debates in the corporate and social media about whether it is a good idea for NZ to join what is known as “AUKUS Pillar Two.” AUKUS is the Australian-UK-US nuclear submarine building agreement in which … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    6 days ago

  • $41m to support clean energy in South East Asia
    New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    52 mins ago
  • Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder list
    The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 hours ago
  • Judicial appointments announced
    Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in Singapore
    Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa.  The summit is co-hosted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Value of stopbank project proven during cyclone
    A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visit
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  • Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
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    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.   Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
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  • Antarctica New Zealand Board appointments
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    4 days ago
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  • New Zealand condemns Iranian strikes
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    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board.   “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti.  “I have asked her to ...
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  • Navigating an unstable global environment
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  • NZ welcomes Australian Governor-General
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  • Joint US and NZ declaration
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