How Activism Dies

Written By: - Date published: 9:33 am, March 4th, 2023 - 40 comments
Categories: act, activism, climate change, Environment, labour, national, Politics, science - Tags:

If anything progressive is to come out of this current government other than disaster recovery, really focused protest must prevail. It isn’t.

This week we had the worst of all political worlds. At the beginning of the week one of our most highly qualified public servants was fired for expressing an opinion about National Party policy concerning a flagship policy of the Labour Party that they had worked on for many years, with an opinion that everyone left or right could see was correct (agreeing for different reasons of course). At the end of the week we had a student march of several thousands with no effect at all and no consequences for any policy change at all.

Neither changed anything, but united and to common purpose and effect they might have had a shot at it.

It is not that hard to identify the right targets for such common purpose. Right in the middle of the week we got a snapshot of how deep and strong the institutional bias is within the public service against mode shift in transport.

Target acquired.

In the middle age end, leftie leaders like Steve Maharey as Chair of ACC and Chair of Pharmac and Chair of Education New Zealand was easily allowed to directly criticise both National and Act in January 22 this year:

Indeed, it is hard not see the National Party in the same light as the Republicans in the US, Liberals in Australia or Conservatives in Britain. They seem more interested in the past than the future.”

ACT has pointed this out already as it worries National in government would revert to type and do nothing. This is a view perhaps reinforced by the list of large donors to National’s election coffers. Nothing about them suggests they want change. They made their money under a system that favoured them.”

Not so Rob Campbell. He was fired from two chair positions for a 3-line opinion far less trenchant than as Steve Mahrey did stating that the National Party was actually bought by its donors.

In the younger end, the school student march had specific though quite unrelated initiatives, but with no political support (other than from the Greens who weren’t quoted anywhere) and no follow-up debate, its effect sank without trace within 12 hours of a media cycle.

One Chair’s firing got a weeks’ worth of coverage and tonnes of debate, and thousands got near zip.

Far be it from me to propose the perfect formula for strong and perpetual social change, but that ain’t it.

Progessive positions have been consistently rolled in New Zealand under the steamroller of value-free politics cloaked in the camouflage of crisis and exigency. All those tens of millions of consultancy fees spent in the first 2017 term have amounted to so little. None of the reforms are complete and little of the legislation they have proposed is complete. RMA reform still has an entire bill to go. Health reform is barely starting. Tertiary education reforms a mess. The only major transport projects to complete were National’s.  Welfare reforms near imperceptible. Car fuel replacement gone. Reform of immigration a perpetual tinker, broadcasting reform gone, ACC reform gone, tax reform gone, all such memory flashed away in a storm like the last 6 years was a Men In Black rerun.

And the great motherload of policy change in water reform – the only reform that would have altered our political economy for good – has had its legislative inertia killed by the Prime Minister, fired the Minister, its wounded corpse taken out the back and hit with a shovel and then covered with 2 metres of dark fetid silt.

Some forgave Prime Minister Ardern for riding twice into government with no worked out policy platform and shunting Labour hard to the right with a broad reaggregation of state power to incoherent end. Ardern’s strengthening of the state was mostly a continuation to the strengthening of state powers under Key and English for near identical reasons. Kindness as a substitute for political ideology was the mere difference, and now that difference cast aside leaves their near-zero difference naked to human eye.

It has become near impossible to criticise the Labour government or the National opposition because both stand for near-nothing except recovery after disaster.

This enables Labour to agree with National and fire the public servants who they both dislike and agree to keep the ones they prefer, which is what happened when you compare the silence attending Maharey’s article and Campbell’s firing.

Deep in our history there were public servants and elected officials with brains who were prepared to publish their own very popular books. One may have different reasons for disliking W. B. Sutch, or Roger Douglas, or Bruce Jesson, but these people were published and elected and hard thinkers and deep within public policy formation and execution. They had strong followers in their day and they changed this country. Imagine if Rob Campbell and the students had worked out a plan beforehand.

New Zealand is facing a collapse of activist power and the only way to reverse it is to connect the right people together with a plan at the right time and make good change happen.

Raise the Standard or weep.

40 comments on “How Activism Dies ”

  1. pat 1

    Have you considered that the political/public inertia is not so much a lack of intent but rather the result of a lack of ability/knowledge?

  2. tWiggle 2

    It always seemed to me that Ardern's governments were short on strategic direction. As well, the reforms they drove in the public sector, apart from Little's overhaul of Justice, appear very top-down.

    I had a fantastic CE once, brought in as a 'change manager'. In two years he had tightened systems and enormously improved internal culture. He kicked the process off by touring round and chatting with staff all round the place for 2 months. He only met with the SET team twice in that time, watching how they worked from a distance. No doubt he was also chatting with clients and funders while talking with us.

    He then started gradual change, 'improvement in place', while keeping staff well-informed. Gradually shithead SET members were eased out, and great talent, mostly from within the company, took their place.

    He showed how a humane, and effective reorganisation is done. It's not by listening to the existing executives, who probably caused much of the problem in the first place, or to outside consultants. Ardern’s bureaucrat wranglers, in contrast, seemed to have a poor idea of organisational management.

  3. Darien Fenton 3

    I dont think anyone should be feeling too sorry for or glorifying Rob Campbell. He is an experienced chair and board member with many portfolios over the years, including at POAL during the lockout of 2012 and Summerset Retirement Villages, who were notoriously (and maybe still are?) anti union. He joined the Rogernomes in the 1980s against the union movement and was notably silent as the reforms of the 1990s ripped through our society. He also has ownership in property companies and established the consultancy Wheeler Campbell which those us who have been around a while will remember for its right wing promotion. He is Chancellor of AUT and I didnt see a peep out of him on recent redundancies and restructuring. In his quest to prove himself right he has just told hundreds of Te Whatu Ora workers they will be losing their jobs, even before anything is announced, let alone consultation with the union begun. He now seems to me to be on a mission to take down the government. Won’t affect him of course. He’s had a lucrative career.

    • Incognito 3.1

      It seems to me that this Government will do just about anything to regain control of the narrative on a few hot potatoes and not in the least because it is Election Year. As the OP is about activism, or the death of it (just in NZ?), IMHO, activism is as much about influencing and countering the dominating narrative as it is about direct and immediate practical changes in the way things are done by whatever target group of people who are deemed (and damned) responsible (aka culprits) and complicit (which is not the same as complacent). In this sense, Rob Campbell is/was an activist.

      • Darien Fenton 3.1.1

        I don't agree activism is dead. I work for a union; have most of my working life after I moved from being a worker on the shop floor, to a delegate and so on. I see activism all around me in West Auckland as our community confronts devastating changes to their lives. I see people organising food, help, advice and solidarity, I see Phil Twyford out on street corner meetings talking with locals about what needs to come next and Carmel Sepuloni and Local Elected Labour Board members at the shelters listening about how we help in the immediate and how we influence changes that are needed. Thats what politicians do. I saw and supported the Climate Change School Strikes yesterday ; as did unions. I noted that National couldn't scrape together an MP to speak and sent one of their "candidates" unsupported and subsequently booed. And whether you like it or not, the "narrative" is important to how people vote. Spend a day in my shoes to see what the Left is dealing with and how working people respond. If we are talking about appointments to government boards and the PSC that is a different question. If we want a public service that has no restrictions on political or personal opinion, then lets have that debate. It will be a biggie and I will be all in. I think the big lesson of the 1980s and 1990s was the politicisation of treasury and other government departments. We shouldn’t forget that.

        • Incognito 3.1.1.1

          I don’t think either that activism is dead or dying, it is changing though. I see activism as a ‘PR exercise’, primarily, e.g., to change the so-called Overton window.

          We expect politicians having opinions (and associated policies – are you there, Mr Luxon?), being vocal about them, and defending them. Yet we expect Officials to be apolitical and unbiased and not voice any (?) opinion that might or could be misinterpreted as outspokenly partisan, even in their private personal capacity. However, this expectation is often a formal requirement of the job and many employers are quite keen to protect their (corporate) image, etc. For example, I cannot bring my employer in disrepute by spouting my opinions on LI or SM, but I’m (relatively) free to opine on other things not pertaining my work place (and I use a pseudonym on this forum).

          There appear to be two streams of thought: one says that human are intrinsically political and another that states that most people are more concerned with more universal needs & interests and much less with self-serving power games of politics & politicians. So, yes, by all means, let’s continue the debate about this.

        • Incognito 3.1.1.2

          As it happens, I was researching for a related issue and found this paragraph, which is relevant here and seems to align quite well with Parliament protest of a year ago:

          While there’s been a great deal of progress here, there is still an unresolved question posed by the different findings of Fiorina and Abramowitz. Abramowitz is correct that the most polarized are the most active, but what is the direction of that causality? The implicit premise lurking behind the Abramowitz findings, at least as I read them, is that extremism causes activism: individuals have strong beliefs that drive them into the political sphere, and the participation of extreme voters polarizes politics. Yet this is at odds with more qualitative research on issue activists, which tends to find that people come into activism for apolitical reasons (e.g. they were asked by a friend), and as a result of that activism, their beliefs become more extreme (Munson 2009). In short, the causal arrow may run from activism to polarization rather than the reverse. Unpacking the direction of causality matters, because it changes how we think about efforts to ameliorate elite polarization. One commonly proposed solution to elite polarization is to inspire more moderates to become politically active, on the assumption that moderate voters will demand moderate candidates. If greater levels of political activity lead voters to become more extreme, greater political activity may, paradoxically, increase polarization (see also Mutz 2006).1 A better understanding of the linkage between extremism and activism an important step to understanding whether more citizen participation would actually reduce elite polarization.

          1 Further, as Ahler and Broockman (2016) note, it is not necessarily true that moderate voters will prefer centrist politicians.

          Taken from:

          The Forum 2017; 15(1): 189–201

          Matthew Levendusky*

          Morris Fiorina’s Foundational Contributions to the Study of Partisanship and Mass Polarization

          https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/web.sas.upenn.edu/dist/9/244/files/2016/10/Forum_Fiorina-pz5cpg.pdf

        • Anne 3.1.1.3

          I think the big lesson of the 1980s and 1990s was the politicisation of treasury and other government departments. We shouldn’t forget that.

          Amen to that. Witnessed it unfold in the government department to which I belonged. Out the door went the long time loyal public servants and in came the rogues and imposters. Their mission was to do away with the tried and true processes that had evolved over many decades and replace with a market driven philosophy – that is, the extraction of a maximum amount of money from the users for a minimum of effort. In other words:

          Quantity took over from quality.

          We are still struggling with some of the after-effects as has been all too evident in just the past few weeks.

    • pat 3.2

      A decision taken pre Linked In post….hes been around long enough to know the consequences

  4. Maurice 4

    Just what is needed – privileged white children … shreaking?

    • Incognito 4.1

      Taking potshots at the messenger

      • georgecom 4.1.1

        teenagers expressing a view on a matter which should be at the forefront of most peoples minds this summer. Kids putting pressure on political parties whose track record of addressing the issue is weak at best. Putting MPs under a bit of pressure and asking questions about their commitment to resolving a big problem. Kids expressing a view and talking publicly about a vitally important issue. Various people may not like some of the shrillness expressed, I don't at times. I cannot argue though with the overall general thrust of what they are raising and asking for.

        • Incognito 4.1.1.2

          My reply to Maurice was deliberately subtle aka ambiguous – was it an answer or something else?

          • Maurice 4.1.1.2.1

            … just as much as was my initial proposition?

              • That_guy

                I could not agree more with that post.
                And I thought SS4C Auckland cancelling themselves was absolutely infantile, lazy, and not even in the interests of POC. That said, I don’t actually expect the kids to save the world, that’s kind of our job.

                • weka

                  Fucking Bradbury, hardly the champion of climate action but always ready to denigrate progressive politics that aren't a good cultural fit for him. I agree that SS4C cancelling themselves was incredibly stupid. Shitting on the current organisers and protestors isn't solidarity or helpful or progressive or leftist.

                  • That_guy

                    I think you know I respect your viewpoints, but when two separate movements (SS4C and Pride) drop 90% of their members after a bout of identity politics, there are some serious questions that need to be answered. And if Bradbury is the one to ask the question, hey, it has to be somebody.

                    For SS4C I don't think it's a simple as "Identity politics = drop 90% of your members", I think there's an element of simple exhaustion here, but still. It's a problem.

                    • weka

                      I have no problem with an analysis of why SS4C numbers were lower this year, including the role IP has played. Bradbury just called the strike and the protestors pathetic. This is class Bomber, slagging off what he doesn't like. How does this build climate action? That's not a rhetorical question.

                      I don't think we can easily separate out people being put off by IP from the Auckland group disbanding. But also, the pandemic. And yep, people are overloaded and exhausted. All the more reason to support people rather than trashing them.

                    • That_guy

                      I'd rather someone rudely ask questions than politely not ask questions, but I take your point.

    • That_guy 4.2

      So this is a bit weird.

      A few posts down you link to a blog that correctly points out that identity politics is a disaster for the left. Yet here, you go straight to the racial and class identity of the protestors without discussing what they are saying, which you describe as "shreaking".

      • Maurice 4.2.1

        The shrieking drowns the message.

        • That_guy 4.2.1.1

          OK, well it's your choice to describe it as "shrieking", but you can if you want to, but that still doesn't explain why you've gone straight to the racial and class identity of the protesters. Especially when you seem to understand quite well why that's a bad strategy.

          • Maurice 4.2.1.1.1

            Cynicism perhaps?

            One from Chris Trotter has some explanations:

            https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2023/02/21/adapting-to-climate-change/

            "But, just how receptive are the poorest peoples on Earth likely to be to a message delivered to them by their former colonial masters which boils down to: “Please don’t try to become as rich as we are – the planet can’t take it.” "

            [I fixed a typo in your e-mail address. Please be more careful next time – Incognito]

            • Incognito 4.2.1.1.1.1

              Mod note

              • Maurice

                My apologies – pays for me to check each time as I type it in as cut and paste puts it into the Website box as well and has to be deleted.

                • Incognito

                  I have some sympathy for that, which sounds like a caching issue with your browser. Try clearing it and re-starting the browser (followed by a device re-start to be sure).

                  Depending on how busy Mods are, a pending comment can sit in the Auto-Moderation queue for quite a long time. When the Mods are really busy & tired they might even delete the pending comment.

            • That_guy 4.2.1.1.1.2

              I agree completely. I'm just not sure the kids are really the right target. Most of them would probably agree with the concept of climate reparations. But they probably thought "we need a reasonable number of specific demands that the media will report on and that the public will support, or at least not hate". And reparations didn't make the cut for strategic reasons. It's a defensible strategy.

              • Maurice

                Was there any organic strategy? More likely led into the streets holding placards penned by their teachers? The huge drop in numbers shows that the message is no longer resonating with the rank and file?

                Those who turned up outside Parliament stayed far longer …… and showed more commitment!

  5. Stuart Munro 5

    Activism grows out of perceived injustice, and prospers in relation to how effectively it is presented to its target audience. That would be quite effectively in the case of Counterspin, and less so on the part of contemporary social justice campaigners.

    The Greens at one time ran a number of original and effective protests, but the group that did so seem not to have passed the core skills on. There will be new campaigns, and there may come new planners that will seize the public imagination and achieve meaningful change.

    The climate protests seem likely to be a cause around which functional dissent will coalesce – and official inaction will certainly prompt increasingly provocative action – the more so because the far right is already creating a kind of counter movement predicated on Orwell's "Ignorance is Strength" routine. So, don't count activism out just yet.

    • pat 5.1

      Id suggest activism is effective when the remedies are evident….and therein lies the current problem

      • Stuart Munro 5.1.1

        Life is possible in the interval between entropy and creativity. If we are no longer creative, our prospects become very finite. We have in fact an abundance of creative thinkers – mostly kept from acting by a resoundingly unsuccessful economic orthodoxy.

        NZ should be world leaders in climate mitigation and adaption – but we are ruled by the menkurt slaves of dead economists – creative they are not.

        • pat 5.1.1.1

          Id suggest we are conflicted by the belief we can seperate ourselves from the troubles of the world while maintaining the ease/benefits the paradigm provides…..difficult to be radical without changing much.

          • Stuart Munro 5.1.1.1.1

            12% of NZers are living in poverty – and many more have little or no disposable income thanks to the failure of our far-right economists to moderate an explosion in housing and electricity costs. There is no ease for us – and we make up a large and growing proportion of the population. Try re-engineering your rental accommodation to lower its energy consumption and see how long you stay off the street.

            • pat 5.1.1.1.1.1

              Oh yes the paradigm will change without a doubt….but it wont be a choice 'we' make that brings that change.

  6. tsmithfield 6

    I think activism eventually dies out if it is just based on protests and shouting but nothing else.

    But, activism is more likely to achieve something if it can come up with practical, workable solutions to the problems that are being highlighted.

    In that respect, kudos to the protesting students who put forward the idea of a subsidy for e-bikes, and those subsidies based on income. Better than the governments subsidy plan that extends subsidies to millionaires to help them buy high-end Teslas.

    • In terms of the most practical thing the protesting students could do, turning around the 'drive to school' mentality in favour of public transport, cycling, or walking, would be pretty high up on the list.
      If there is a huge groundswell of students out there, just waiting for leadership – then this should be really easy. [My, rather cynical, opinion, is that teenagers are much like the rest of the population: there are a relatively small number of activists willing to make personal sacrifices, the vast majority will passively resist doing anything of the kind]

      There would be very, very few students in the cities at least, for whom public transport is a true impossibility. Yes, it's almost certainly going to take longer and be more inconvenient.

      Having a school – or better yet, hundreds of schools, who have altered their transport footprint for students away from private cars, would put the school climate protestors in a much stronger position to tackle the next thing on their agenda.

      • tsmithfield 6.1.1

        And there lies the problem. Many students want to save the planet but can't even keep the rooms tidy. LOL.

        That is the test for activism though. Protesting students who have been molly coddled by being dropped off to school every day may not be so keen in planet-saving strategies that involve biking, walking, or jumping on a bus.

  7. Simbit 7

    I haven't posted here in months, maybe over a year, but any commentary on activism in NZ that doesn't at least note Māori activism is, arh, strange. The last time I systematically read anything here was about matauranga and that was, arh, weird too. I'll touch base on this thread again later today or tomorrow…

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    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
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    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
    7 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
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
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