How I answered the census ‘gender’ question
Written By:
- Date published:
10:44 am, April 13th, 2023 - 77 comments
Categories: gender -
Tags: census, gender, gender identity, gender stereotypes, Laura Lopez, stats nz, transgender
Laura López is the mother of two girls and holds a graduate degree in psychology. She writes Arguments With Friends on Substack. Her work has been featured by Reality’s Last Stand, The Standard, Plain Sight, The Platform, Resist Gender Education, and Speak Up for Women New Zealand.
I don’t have a gender identity – and you probably don’t have one either.
New Zealand’s 2018 census was widely regarded as a failure, leading to the resignation of the Chief Executive of Stats NZ. This year’s census has also become mired in controversy. This time, the controversy is due to a poorly defined and confusing question about ‘gender’.
Outside of those who are well versed in the culture wars, few New Zealanders will have fully understood the meaning and implications of this question. But many people know instinctively that it doesn’t feel quite right. For those who care about responding honestly and accurately, answering this question is a minefield.
The information collected by the census is important, and I’d encourage everyone to complete it. I also support Stats NZ’s goal of collecting more data that can help agencies to serve New Zealand’s transgender population. However, Stats NZ needs to redesign how it achieves this goal.
What the census gets right
Unlike some surveys, the 2023 census asks respondents about their sex. Moreover, there are only two options – male and female. The census correctly asks about differences of sex development (also known as ‘intersex’ conditions) in a separate question. The census design thus avoids promoting the false idea that sex is a spectrum.
However, the census also asks people about their ‘gender’. And there are significant problems with the gender question.
The Stats NZ definition of gender is incomprehensible
The census defines gender as a “social and personal identity as male, female, or another gender”. But what does it mean to identify as “female” (for example) in this context? Clearly, the definition can’t be referring to identifying as biologically female, or else gender would just be a synonym for biological sex (which Stats NZ insists it is not).
Perhaps Stats NZ has defined gender more clearly elsewhere? If you Google, you can find the official Stats NZ definition of gender, which is:
Gender refers to a person’s social and personal identity as male, female, or another gender or genders that may be non-binary. Gender may include gender identity and/or gender expression.
Since this definition refers to ‘gender identity’, I looked up this definition as well. The Stats NZ definition of gender identity is:
Gender identity refers to a person’s internal and individual experience of gender.
These definitions are a complete mess. Gender is defined as a “personal identity” that is somehow distinct from gender identity. Gender might include gender identity, or it might not (as implied by the use of “and/or” in the Stats NZ definition of gender). And the Stats NZ definition of gender identity refers circularly back to gender.
The Stats NZ definition of gender also states that it might be based on your ‘gender expression’. The Stats NZ definition of gender expression is:
Gender expression refers to a person’s presentation of gender through physical appearance – including their dress, hairstyles, accessories, cosmetics, mannerisms, speech, behavioural patterns, names, and personal references. Gender expression may or may not conform to a person’s gender identity.
Read literally, this maze of definitions leaves it unclear whether the census gender question is asking about your “internal and individual experience”, or about your hairstyle. If a woman cuts her hair short, does that make her transgender? The Stats NZ definition of gender suggests that it might.
We should be able to read official statistical definitions literally, and have them make sense. As Stats NZ’s own survey design manual notes, “using language that is hard to understand, or overly technical and full of abbreviations and words that are not defined, makes it difficult for respondents to answer as intended”.
Confused definitions lead to confused data.
Unfortunately, Stats NZ’s confused definitions mean that census results relating to gender will be difficult to interpret. This is poor practice, and Stats NZ should be asked to do better.
The 2021 census of England and Wales should offer a warning to Stats NZ. This census was the first in the world to include a question about gender identity. It produced results that seem unreliable and difficult to believe. For example, it found that “one in every 67 Muslims is transgender”.
This and similar findings were likely due to widespread confusion about what the gender identity question meant. One of the strongest predictors of reporting a trans identity was having English as a second language.
What is gender (identity)?
While Stats NZ doesn’t provide a coherent definition of gender (other than suggesting that it might depend on your hairstyle), we can gain a bit of clarity by referencing other official sources.
For example, the World Health Organisation defines gender as the “norms, behaviours and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy”. Similarly, Merriam Webster defines gender as “the behavioural, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex”—in other words, sex stereotypes.
Gender identity refers to the gender role that someone identifies with. For example, having defined “gender” to mean “gender role”, the World Health Organisation proceeds to define gender identity as “a person’s deeply felt, internal and individual experience of gender”. In other words, gender identity refers to an affinity with male or female stereotypes.
Confusingly, gender identity is often referred to as “gender” for short. In keeping with this, the census gender question appears to be asking about gender identity (and it would be a lot clearer if it was written accordingly).
It’s important to understand that adopting a gender identity does not mean identifying with your biological sex (or the opposite sex). Rather, as the World Health Organisation definitions imply, it means embracing a set of sex stereotypes.
If you’re not yet convinced of this, I highly recommend reading philosopher Kathleen Stock’s book Material Girls, which explains the origins of the concepts of gender and gender identity very clearly. Similarly, this article surveys the definitions of gender provided by a range of official sources, and my widely-shared article in Reality’s Last Stand shows how these concepts are explained to children in schools.
My experience has been that any definition of gender identity that claims not to be based on sex stereotypes quickly collapses under close examination.
Do I have a female gender (identity)?
I’m a woman, and I don’t consider myself to be transgender. Given this, I think it’s safe to say that Stats NZ expects me to happily tick the “female” gender box in the census.
Yet, like most women in New Zealand, I don’t embrace rigid female sex stereotypes. I grew up in Latin America, where machismo is still rife. The traditional female role involves sole responsibility for housework and caregiving, and a subservient position to men. I don’t want to define myself by this role.
Nor do I feel any deep inner sense of being female, other than being aware of my female body (i.e. my biological sex). Since I’ve never been a man, I don’t know how being male would feel. And if I was able to magically transform myself into a man, it seems logical that any different feelings I experienced would be caused by having male biology, or by how I was treated by society due to my biology.
The non-binary dilemma
So perhaps I don’t have a female gender identity – perhaps I’m non-binary? After all, I can relate to some female stereotypes and some male ones. And I’d like to think that I have some unique aspects to my personality that don’t neatly fit either male or female stereotypes.
It’s here that one of the central contradictions of gender ideology kicks in. While gender identity is supposedly a purely internal experience, it is also closely tied to real-world physical changes.
If I identified as non-binary, then I’d be expected to adopt non-standard pronouns (they/them, or perhaps zhe/zher). I would also be describing myself as a potential candidate for medical procedures to align my body with my new identity.
These body modifications could involve binding my breasts so tightly I could no longer breathe properly, and eventually having them surgically removed. Or they could involve having my genitals excised. Without these body modifications, it would be (falsely) supposed that I could never be happy, and might even commit suicide.
In identifying as non-binary, I would also be endorsing the idea that everyone else (who doesn’t identify as non-binary) is binary. That is, I would be implying that I expect them to fit rigid gender stereotypes.
None of this appeals to me. This is why I refuse to adopt any gender identity at all.
Am I agender?
So, since we’ve established that I have no gender identity, I can just answer the census gender question by choosing “Other” and writing “No gender”, right?
Unfortunately, if I did this, it could cause some confusion. In gender activist circles, having no gender identity makes you “agender” – neither a man nor a woman.
Like non-binary people, agender people are expected to use they/them pronouns. They are also considered candidates for genital nullification surgery, to “affirm” their lack of a gender identity. This is not really a category I want to put myself into.
When people write “none” in the census, Stats NZ will not know whether they consider themselves to be agender, or whether they reject the concept of gender identity altogether. The failure to distinguish between these two very different groups is a significant flaw in the design of the census.
The census gender question reflects a toxic belief system
The census gender question sits in the context of a broader political push by gender activists to replace biological sex with self-declared gender identity in law and society. One example is the incredibly unpopular drive to imprison male sex offenders in women’s prisons. Another is the offensive practice of forcing women to compete against males in sports. But the most damaging aspect of this political movement has been the needless medicalisation of children who don’t conform to sex stereotypes, with serious and lifelong health consequences. The damage to young New Zealanders has been especially profound.
Gender activism is animated by a toxic belief system known as gender identity theory, or gender ideology. According to this theory, what makes you a man or a woman is not your biology, but your gender identity (i.e. your subjective feeling of maleness or femaleness).
Belief in gender ideology is distinct from being transgender. Most advocates of gender ideology are not trans. And people can choose to medically transition despite rejecting gender ideology. In fact, people started medically transitioning long before gender ideology emerged. So we can (and should) accept trans people, while rejecting gender ideology as a belief system.
https://twitter.com/buttonslives/status/1641841790100570118
There are supernatural elements to some variants of gender ideology. Many adherents believe that gender identity is an ineffable essence or soul that everyone has, but only transgender people are truly in touch with (similar to the religious concept of being touched by the Holy Spirit). Some adherents even believe that a gender identity can transform human flesh, changing men into literal biological women (this is analogous to the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation). And true believers seek to damn those who question these doctrines as modern-day heretics.
Because it contains supernatural elements, gender ideology is essentially a religion. No one should be forced to endorse this belief system, in the same way that no one should be forced to endorse the beliefs of any other religion.
Gender ideology is the driving force behind the recent violence against women at the Let Women Speak event in Auckland. Similar incidents have occurred overseas. Many New Zealanders now recognise the alarmingly intolerant nature of gender ideology, and want nothing to do with it.
Unfortunately, the fingerprints of gender ideology can be found all over the census. For example, within gender ideology, biological sex is falsely characterised as arbitrary and changeable. We can see this reflected in the Stats NZ definition of sex, which claims that “a person’s sex can change over the course of their lifetime and may differ from their sex recorded at birth”. Similarly, the 2023 census asks for your “sex at birth”, implying that this might somehow be different from your sex now.
The signal sent by Stats NZ’s ‘Gender by default’ policy is also obvious. Under this policy, statistical reporting is based on people’s gender identities, and information about their sex is hidden most of the time. This policy thus implies that your gender identity is more important than your sex. I disagree with this premise, and I don’t want the data I provide to Stats NZ to be abused in this way.
Meekly completing the census in line with gender identity theory feels like endorsing gender ideology, and the political movement it has inspired. I refuse to do it.
A layer of deception
Whether accidentally or deliberately, the incoherent language and definitions used by Stats NZ serve a purpose.
For example, when the census asks for your ‘gender’, and not for your ‘gender identity’, the word gender feels reassuringly familiar. This is because it traditionally referred to biological sex (and is still understood this way by many people). Gender activists have redefined this word by stealth.
It would be easy for Stats NZ to avoid the ambiguous word ‘gender’, and say either ‘gender role’ or ‘gender identity’ depending on their intended meaning. But that would make the absurdity and radicalism of gender identity theory obvious.
New Zealanders deserve a higher level of transparency and honesty from Stats NZ.
Forcing compliance with gender ideology
The census provides no guidance for people who don’t believe that the concept of gender identity applies to them. I wrote to ask what I should do if I objected to the gender question:
Hi,
How can I respond to the question ‘What is your gender?’ In order for it to reflect that I don’t have a gender? I don’t believe in gender identity, which is the definition you are using for the term gender.
I object to this question, as there’s no option to truthfully answer it when you don’t uphold gender identity as a belief system.
Thanks,
Laura
I received the following response:
Hi Laura,
All census responses are recorded, stored, and output securely, following our confidentiality rules. We would encourage you to respond accurately to all census questions to best inform decision making for New Zealand. However if you prefer not to disclose your gender, we recommend giving a response only to gender, but not sex at birth.
Please do not hesitate to contact us, either via the online General Enquiries form or on the phone number below, if we can be of further assistance.
Kind regards
[Name redacted]
Customer Service Specialist
Toll free helpline 0800 CENSUS (0800 236 787)
This response is obvious nonsense. In my email, I clearly stated that I disagree with gender identity as a belief system. Yet the Stats NZ response presupposes that I do have a gender identity (which they imply that I want to hide). And then for inexplicable reasons, they suggested that I answer the question about gender and not the question about sex!
The census needs to change
Because the gender question in the 2023 census is confusing and poorly defined, data resulting from this question is likely to be misleading. It should be discarded, or at least interpreted with extreme caution. Data from the question about sex is likely to be much more meaningful and reliable, and it is this data that should guide important public policy decisions.
In future surveys and censuses, Stats NZ should avoid the use of the ambiguous term ‘gender’, replacing it with ‘gender identity’. It also needs to provide a clear, non-circular definition of what it means by gender identity. And it needs to provide meaningful advice on how people can respond to questions about gender identity if they disagree with gender ideology.
Ideally, future censuses would include a yes/no question asking whether people consider themselves to have a gender identity. Only those who say ‘yes’ should be asked to describe what that gender identity is. At the very least, Stats NZ needs to provide an explicit option for people to select if they don’t buy into gender ideology (e.g. “I don’t believe the concept of gender identity applies to me” or “I refuse to answer”).
Stats NZ has also said that if people leave the gender question blank, then they will fill in a response for them without their permission. This practice violates people’s right to ensure that data held about them is accurate. For people who reject the concept of gender identity, a blank response may be the most accurate answer. Stats NZ needs to find a different way around this problem (e.g. by classifying the person as non-transgender, without making any assumptions about their gender identity).
Future surveys can also obtain more useful information about the transgender population by asking directly about past and current use of cross-sex hormones – not just about gender identity. Asking about medical treatments received will provide data that is far more helpful for healthcare planning than subjective and ambiguous questions about identity (especially given the numerous health problems associated with taking cross-sex hormones).
Finally, the ‘gender by default’ policy needs to end, so that census data can easily be analysed by sex. We cannot just assume that gender identity is more important for outcomes than sex – only data can tell us that. To hide this data from researchers is enforcing ignorance in the name of protecting a sacred ideology. Such a policy has no place in a free, open, and secular society.
How I responded to the gender question
My response to the census gender question was “The concept of gender identity is not relevant to me”.
It is my hope that Stats NZ will not violate my rights, and corrupt the census data, by changing my response to mean something different. I believe the census is important, so I’ve put my faith in the system and completed it as best I can, despite my misgivings. Time will tell whether I’ve made the right decision.
77 comments on “How I answered the census ‘gender’ question ”
- Comments are now closed
- Comments are now closed
Recent Comments
- The Folly Of Impermanence.
“You talking about me?” The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...2 hours ago - A crisis of ambition
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...2 hours ago - Have 308 people in the Education Ministry’s Curriculum Development Team spent over $100m on a 60-p...Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...3 hours ago
- 'This bill is dangerous for the environment and our democracy'
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...3 hours ago - The Bank of our Tamariki and Mokopuna.
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...4 hours ago - The worth of it all
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, 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?Full story Share ...8 hours ago - What is the Hardest Sport in the World?
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...10 hours ago - What is the Most Expensive Sport?The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...10 hours ago
- Pickleball On the Cusp of Olympic GloryIntroduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...10 hours ago
- The Origin and Evolution of Soccer Unveiling the Genius Behind the World’s Most Popular SportAbstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...10 hours ago
- How Much to Tint Car Windows A Comprehensive GuideTinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...10 hours ago
- Why Does My Car Smell Like Gas? A Comprehensive Guide to Diagnosing and Fixing the IssueThe pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...10 hours ago
- How to Remove Tree Sap from Car A Comprehensive GuideTree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...10 hours ago
- How Much Paint Do You Need to Paint a Car?The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...10 hours ago
- Can You Jump a Car in the Rain? Safety Precautions and Essential StepsJump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...10 hours ago
- Can taxpayers be confident PIJF cash was spent wisely?
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...16 hours ago - EGU2024 – An intense week of joining sessions virtually
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...18 hours ago - Submission on “Fast Track Approvals Bill”
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...19 hours ago - The Case for a Universal Family Benefit
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...20 hours ago - A who’s who of New Zealand’s dodgiest companies
Submissions on National's corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law are due today (have you submitted?), and just hours before they close, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop has been forced to release the list of companies he invited to apply. I've spent the last hour going through it in an epic thread of bleats, ...22 hours ago - On Lee’s watch, Economic Development seems to be stuck on scoring points from promoting sporting e...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...23 hours ago - New Zealand has never been closed for business
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...24 hours ago - Stop the panic – we’ve been here beforeJack Vowles writes – 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’. ...1 day ago
- Melissa Lee and the media: ending the questChris 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 ...1 day ago
- The Hoon around the week to April 19TL;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 ...1 day ago
- The ‘Humpty Dumpty’ end result of dismantling our environmental protectionsPolicymakers 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 ...1 day 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 ...1 day ago - Study sees climate change baking in 19% lower global income by 20501 day 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 ...1 day 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 ...1 day 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 ...1 day ago - How to Retrieve Deleted Call Log iPhone Without ComputerHow to Retrieve Deleted Call Log on iPhone Without a Computer: A Step–by–Step 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 third–party applications. So, let‘s dive in and recover those lost calls! 1. Check Recently Deleted Folder: Apple understands that accidental deletions happen. That‘s 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. Here‘s 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. Here‘s how to restore from an iCloud backup: Go to Settings > General > Reset. Choose “Erase All Content and Settings“. Follow the on–screen 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 Third–Party Apps (with Caution): ...1 day ago
- How to Factory Reset iPhone without Computer: A Comprehensive Guide to Restoring your DeviceLife 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 ...2 days ago
- How to Call Someone on a Computer: A Guide to Voice and Video Communication in the Digital AgeGone 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 ...2 days ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #16 2024Open 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 ...2 days 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 ...2 days ago
- How Many Watts Does a Laptop Use? Understanding Power Consumption and EfficiencyLaptops 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 ...2 days ago
- How to Screen Record on a Dell Laptop A Guide to Capturing Your Screen with EaseScreen 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 ...2 days ago
- How Much Does it Cost to Fix a Laptop Screen? Navigating Repair Options and CostsA 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 ...2 days ago
- How Long Do Gaming Laptops Last? Demystifying Lifespan and Maximizing LongevityGaming 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 ...2 days ago
- Climate Change: Turning the tideThe 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. ...2 days ago
- How to Unlock Your Computer A Comprehensive Guide to Regaining AccessExperiencing 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 ...2 days ago
- Faxing from Your Computer A Modern Guide to Sending Documents DigitallyWhile 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 ...2 days ago
- Protecting Your Home Computer A Guide to Cyber AwarenessIn 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, ...2 days ago
- Server-Based Computing Powering the Modern Digital LandscapeIn 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, ...2 days 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 ...2 days ago - Jones finds $410,000 to help the government muscle in on a spat projectBuzz 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 ...2 days 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 ...2 days ago - Despair – construction consenting editionEric 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 ...2 days 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 ...2 days ago
- An impermanent public service is a guarantee of very little else but failureChris 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 ...2 days 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 ...2 days ago - Babies and benefits – no good newsLindsay 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. ...2 days ago
- Should the RBNZ be looking through climate inflation?2 days 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 ...2 days ago - Gordon Campbell on the public sector carnage, and misogyny as terrorismIt’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 ...2 days 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 ...2 days ago - How extreme was the Earth's temperature in 2023This 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 ...3 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 ...3 days ago - Ministers are not above the lawToday 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 ...3 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 & ...3 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. ...3 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 ...3 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 ...3 days ago - Texas LessonsThis 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.
...
3 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 ...3 days ago - Fighting poverty on the holiday highwayTurning 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 ...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 ...4 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 ...4 days ago
- Apposite Quotations.4 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 ...4 days ago - Howling at the MoonKarl 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 ...4 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, ...4 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 ...4 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 ...4 days ago
- Fast-track submissions period must be extended
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...22 hours ago - Release: Progress on climate will be undone by Govt
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...22 hours ago - Release: Dark day for Kiwi kids as a third of Govt cuts affect themNews that 1000 jobs at the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki could go is devastating for future generations of New Zealanders. ...3 days ago
- Release: Alarm as Government signals further blow to school lunchesMore essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...3 days ago
- Release: Quick, submit – stop Govt’s dodgy approvals billThe Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...4 days ago
- Government throws coal on the climate crisis fireThe Government’s policy announced today to ease consenting for coal mining will have a lasting impact across generations. ...4 days ago
- Release: Public transport costs to double as National looks at unaffordable roading project insteadCancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...5 days ago
- Release: Cost of living in Auckland still not a priorityA laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...5 days ago
- Greens look to fast-track submissions on harmful lawThe Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt should stop making people’s lives harder and build more homesThe National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...1 week ago
- Release: Melissa Lee missing in action on mediaThe action Melissa Lee promised to protect democracy and the media sector is missing, Media and Communications spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...1 week ago
- Landlord Government leaves little hope for rentersThe Government’s announcement on tenancy rules prove that it does not care about renters. ...1 week ago
- Opportunity to build a more sustainable economyGreen Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...1 week ago
- Significant step forward in fixing cruel and unjust pastA significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...1 week ago
- Missed opportunity but NZ will surely one day recognise the right to a sustainable environmentNew Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...1 week ago
- Release: Don’t cut our lunches – clear message sent to GovernmentTens of thousands of people are demanding the Government commits to fully funding free and healthy school lunches. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt makes U-turn on Suicide Prevention OfficeLabour welcomes the Government’s U-turn on the closure of the Suicide Prevention Office, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...2 weeks ago
- CCC issues warning over further climate delayToday’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...2 weeks ago
- Luxon targets lame and lousy example of leadershipIf talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...2 weeks ago
- Luxon targets are lousy example of leadershipIf talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Commitment to disability communities missing from Govt prioritiesMinister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...2 weeks ago
- Methane target review is dangerous duplicationThe Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Government must commit to school building project for disabled studentsThe Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National must take mental health seriouslyMental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...2 weeks ago
- Referendums for Māori wards a racist step backwardsThe Government's imposed referendum on Māori wards is a racist step backwards for Māori representation, and disregards Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Job losses at Health not worth it for tax cutsNew Zealand will feel the harm of the National Government’s reckless cuts to jobs at the health ministry for generations, says Ayesha Verrall. ...2 weeks ago
- Press release: No Māori initiatives in Government’s nothing planMāori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...2 weeks ago
- Thirty six point PR spinThe Government’s ‘36 point’ plan for the next three months is as pointless as it is hollow. ...3 weeks ago
- Thirty six point PR spinThe Government’s ‘36 point’ plan for the next three months is as pointless as it is hollow. ...3 weeks ago
- Thirty six point PR spinThe Government’s ‘36 point’ plan for the next three months is as pointless as it is hollow. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Social housing off Government’s to-do listThe Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...3 weeks ago
- PM’s South East Asia mission does the business
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...6 hours ago - $41m to support clean energy in South East AsiaNew 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 ...22 hours ago
- Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder listThe 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 ...1 day ago
- Judicial appointments announcedAttorney-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 ...1 day ago
- Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in SingaporeEducation 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 ...1 day ago
- Value of stopbank project proven during cycloneA 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 ...1 day ago
- Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visitForeign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...1 day ago
- Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac DayScience, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...1 day ago
- Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the PhilippinesPrime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...2 days ago
- Government commits $20m to Westport flood protectionThe Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...2 days ago
- Taupō takes pole positionThe Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...2 days ago
- Cost of living support for low-income homeownersLocal Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...2 days ago
- Government backing mussel spat projectThe Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...2 days ago
- Government focused on getting people into workBenefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...2 days ago
- Clean energy key driver to reducing emissionsThe Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...2 days ago
- Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forwardThe Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...2 days ago
- Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic PartnershipPrime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...3 days ago
- Government consults on extending coastal permits for portsRMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...3 days ago
- Inflation coming down, but more work to doToday’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...3 days ago
- School attendance restored as a priority in health adviceRefreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...3 days ago
- Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sectorOceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...3 days ago
- Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International CongressAssociate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...4 days ago
- Removing red tape to help early learners thriveThe Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...4 days ago
- RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tapeChanges to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...4 days ago
- McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationshipTrade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...4 days ago
- Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister LeePrime 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 ...5 days ago
- PMs Luxon and Lee deepen Singapore-NZ tiesPrime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...5 days ago
- Antarctica New Zealand Board appointmentsForeign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...5 days ago
- Finance Minister travels to Washington DCFinance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...5 days ago
- Pet bonds a win/win for renters and landlordsThe coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...5 days ago
- Long Tunnel for SH1 Wellington being consideredState 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 Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...5 days ago
- New Zealand condemns Iranian strikesPrime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...6 days ago
- Huge interest in Government’s infrastructure plansHundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...1 week ago
- Health Minister thanks outgoing Health New Zealand ChairHealth 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 ...1 week ago
- Roads of National Significance planning underwayThe NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...1 week ago
- Navigating an unstable global environmentNew Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...1 week ago
- NZ welcomes Australian Governor-GeneralPrime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...1 week ago
- Pseudoephedrine back on shelves for WinterAssociate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...1 week ago
- NZ and the US: an ever closer partnershipNew Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...1 week ago
- Joint US and NZ declarationApril 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...1 week ago
- Fast-track Bill A Fraud Being Perpetrated On All Future Generations
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...2 hours ago - Focus on Politics: Luxon boosts defence amid rising global tensions
As global tensions escalated this week, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was touring Southeast Asia, strengthening defence and security ties. ...3 hours ago - Why the pathology bulk-billing campaign is more about driving industry profits than saving you money
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...4 hours ago - All about Emma: Three writers talk about the name they share in common
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...4 hours ago - Restoring coastal habitat boosts wildlife numbers by 61% – but puzzling failures mean we can still...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...4 hours ago
- Public sector job cuts: Affected staff criticise leaders' handling of announcementsStaff are shell shocked and frustrated, and say leaders handled the announcements poorly. ...4 hours ago
- ‘The room went dead quiet’: Josh Thomson on his worst 7 Days momentJosh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...6 hours ago
- Shadow-boxing turns real for Israel and Iran
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...7 hours ago - Prime Minister Christopher Luxon meets KPIs on Southeast Asia missionPower Play - Asked for his own assessment of the visit, the prime minister said he was returning home "excited and energised". ...8 hours ago
- Embracing Māori Representation Enriches Democracy, Not Divides ItMāori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...8 hours ago
- Anne Salmond: My open submission on this radical, flawed fast-track billThis week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...9 hours ago
- Short story: Finally, by Caoimhe McKeoghThe summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...9 hours ago
- Thomas James is a master of inventionWhen Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...9 hours ago
- All 28 road tunnels in New Zealand ranked from worst to bestFrom the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...10 hours ago
- How to make the most of your market haulLucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...10 hours ago
- From a library basement comes a fashion historyZoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...10 hours ago
- Rousing farewell for Kiwi doctors flying out to Gaza aid flotillaKia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...16 hours ago
- Communities Against The Fast-track Heartened By ‘Overwhelming’ Public Response; Disgusted By ‘...With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...18 hours ago
- Renters Rights To Drastically Reduce Under Landlord GovernmentThe Government’s announced changes around tenancy rules set renters’ rights back by nearly a decade. ...18 hours ago
- NZPI Submission on Fast Track Approvals BillOur response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...18 hours ago
- Fast Track Invite List Includes Most Destructive Industries In New ZealandThe new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...18 hours ago
- Eugene Doyle: Helen Clark on why AUKUS isn’t in New Zealand’s national interestCOMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...18 hours ago
- Government releases list of organisations shoulder-tapped for fast-track consentsThe government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...20 hours ago
- The Week in Politics: Job cuts surge and Waitangi Tribunal troubleAnalysis - It's been a grim week for public servants, while trouble is also brewing between the government and Waitangi Tribunal. ...21 hours ago
- It never rains but it pours: intense rain and flash floods have increased inland in eastern Australi...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...21 hours ago
- Watch: Christopher Luxon speaks to media in ManilaThe PM has defended how he's talked up NZ trade on his trip to Southeast Asia, after criticism from his own delegation. ...21 hours ago
- ‘It could be the death of the museum’: why research cuts at a South Australian institution have ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...21 hours ago
- Government signs off $41m clean energy deal with Asian Development BankThe government has committed $41 million to clean energy transition at the Asian Development Bank's Energy Transition Mechanism. ...22 hours ago
- Are 2 mid-career AFL retirements a sign Australian athletes are taking brain health more seriously?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...24 hours ago
- Luxon: Waitangi Tribunal comments from coalition parties 'ill considered'Comments from ACT and NZ First ministers about the Tribunal were "ill considered" and "that message will be underscored" to them, the PM says. ...24 hours ago
- Mental Health Foundation Facing Staff Cuts From Govt Funding SqueezeThe Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...1 day ago
- I wholeheartedly recommend The President: a brilliant revival of a play of decay, terror and revulsi...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...1 day ago
- How the coolest little capital is shrinkingIt's not the first time a government has targeted public servants for job cuts, but this time Wellington is really feeling it. ...1 day ago
- Ministers accused of Cabinet Manual breach with threats to Waitangi TribunalPrime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...1 day ago
- Many prisoners go years without touching a smartphone. It means they struggle to navigate life on th...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...1 day ago
- Good news: midlife health is about more than a waist measurement. Here’s whySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...1 day ago
- The Friday Poem: ‘Mitochondrial Problem’ by Evangeline Riddiford GrahamA new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...1 day ago
- The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending April 18The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38) Hot off the press, this debut ...1 day ago
- Department of Conservation closing Dunedin centre, but no jobs lostVisitor habits are changing and DOC needs to adapt in a financially sustainable way, its operations director says. ...1 day ago
- Unions Collaborate With Thousands Of Job CutsWith New Zealand officially in recession, a swathe of mass sackings is currently sending shockwaves through the entire working class. ...1 day ago
- Watch live: Christopher Luxon speaks to media in ManilaPrime Minister Christopher Luxon is speaking to reporters in Manila after pledging greater defence cooperation with the Philippines. Watch live. ...1 day ago
- Government sent please explain letter to Wellington City Council over transport disagreementThe contents were revealed in correspondence from Simeon Brown and Chris Bishop to Wellington's Mayor. ...1 day ago
- Some families push back against journalists who mine social media for photos – they have every rig...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...1 day ago
- Mental Health Foundation staff cuts loom, with funding falling behind rising costsChief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...1 day ago
- The ‘devil comet’ 12P/Pons-Brooks has finally become visible from Australia. What can we expect?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Pons–Brooks visible from Utah, March 9 2024. James Peirce/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND If you’re a fan of all things space, you’ve doubtless heard about the “devil comet”, which has been captivating keen-eyed observers in the ...1 day ago
- Rugby stadiums are sold as an economic asset – but NZ needs to ask if they’re really worth itSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Hamlin, Senior Lecturer in Marketing , University of Otago A multi-billion dollar stadium precinct has been proposed for Auckland, one of three proposals in front of Auckland Council for a new stadium in the city. The council is also considering revamping ...1 day ago
- Auckland dog attacks: Callouts for attacks on other animals going upRoaming dogs are responsible for more than a thousand attacks on animals each year, and the number is growing. ...1 day ago
- What access to puberty blockers means for trans young people and their whānauThe Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...1 day ago
- NZ and Philippines pledge defence cooperation amid rising tensionsThe commitment came after a sit-down meeting between Christopher Luxon and President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr overnight. ...1 day ago
- How superblocks can help reimagine city lifeBarcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...1 day ago
- Fire engineering expertise may take a big hit with job cuts at MBIEThe public sector cuts are poised to take out a big chunk of expertise at the country's building regulator. ...1 day ago
- “Fast-track Law To Kill Kiwi”: Students Say Fight Against Anti-democracy Legislation Is Only Jus...Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...1 day ago
- ‘We have thousands of Modis’: the secret behind the BJP’s enduring success in IndiaSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...1 day ago
- Online schooling is not just for lockdowns. Could it work for your child?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...1 day ago
- Hear me out: You can shove your reusable period productsYes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...1 day ago
- Rip It Up And Start Over – Fast-Track Approvals Bill Needs To Be Scrapped“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...1 day ago
- Maori Authority Warns Government On Fast Track LegislationThe Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...1 day ago
- Why the government’s haste in changing the health system could come back to haunt itSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...1 day ago
- Many suicides are related to gambling. How can we tackle this problem?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...1 day ago
- Things that go buzz in the night – our global study found there really are more insects out after ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...1 day ago
- Why don’t Australians talk about their salaries? Pay transparency and fairness go hand-in-handSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...1 day ago
- ‘Character’ And Its Impact On Immigration StatusThe Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...1 day ago
- 20,000 more on jobseeker benefits than this time last yearThe government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...1 day ago
- All of the Raglan Roast cafes in Wellington, ranked from worst to bestRaglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...1 day ago
- Auckland uni students threaten rent strike over rising accommodation feesResidents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously. The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...1 day ago
- Warning of death from a million cuts as Oceans Secretariat dissolvedShane Jones says people voted for change, but opponents say small cuts such as ending a special oceans secretariat are starting to add up The post Warning of death from a million cuts as Oceans Secretariat dissolved appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Defence deal to counter Beijing’s aggression in South China SeaNew Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...1 day ago
- Wellington’s ebb and flow of public servantsThe thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...1 day ago
- New Zealand transport planning has gone off the railsOpinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...1 day ago
- Daily crossword, Friday 19 AprilThe post Daily crossword, Friday 19 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Brakes on transport and logistics sector as demand for freight slowsThe transport sector is currently in the slow lane The post Brakes on transport and logistics sector as demand for freight slows appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 19 AprilLoading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 19 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Financial literacy should be on all of usOpinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Missy rustles to stardom in CanadaHineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...1 day ago
- Emissions fall again – now NZ needs to up the paceOfficial figures confirm New Zealand produced less climate pollution in 2022 than in any other year in the 21st century The post Emissions fall again – now NZ needs to up the pace appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
I left it blank.
I put a note that reliable information for NZ planning purposes such as education, health can not come from the results of such a question.
I wish I had added Visubversa's comnent on here that the question should have been put in the area of beliefs such as religion.
Or added some thing like cat gender, luna gender, flower gender
I saw the SUFW ideas too late.
https://www.speakupforwomen.nz/post/so-you-don-t-want-to-fill-in-the-census
I am aware I will have a gender assigned to me.
We are likely to get a result commensurate with garbage in and garbage out.
Sorry Guest Post but I saw the question as a simple question . How do I see myself?
Male or Female or Other. Tick. End of story.
To over think the question invites a wormhole entry. Just my view of course.
Not showing post on mobile
ah, will let Lynn know, thanks for the headsup. Can you see it on the desktop version on your mobile?
Yip
I can't see on mobile either, even in desktop mode. Ta.
Women having no gender ID will be news to those organisations consisting entirely of women that fought for gender equality.
you seem to be conflating gender identity and sex. Please clarify what you mean by 'gender identity', and what you mean by 'gender equality'.
The latter to me sounds like you are using gender as a synonym for sex and women who fought for women's (sex based) rights. Women didn't right for the right to be treated as stereotypes.
No. Women's organisations literally talked about gender equality. This is a fact of history. At the time women identified as the female gender.
The US Civil Rights Act 1964 refers to sex.
But after the book The Feminine Mystique and then the founding of NOW by the writer in 1966 – in 1967, Lyndon Johnson's executive order on the affirmative action hiring of employees by federal government – referred to gender.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_women_in_the_United_States
I don't know how old you are, but you have been in the gender/sex debate long enough to know this: gender is a word that historically has been used to mean sex. In the last decade it's become used to mean gender identity. Gender/sex and gender/gender identity are two different things.
This was even mentioned in the post.
Did you read the post?
It's not that simple.
Our passports and drivers licences have on them
gender m/f/x
do they not?
And people put on it their birth sex, or if not "cisgender", something otherwise (because National in 2009 passed legislation enabling this).
So it's an all in one meaning, is it not?
The idea that people born female, and who clearly believe that no one but a person born female can be a woman, are not themselves female by gender is a logical absurdity. And that is cult-like.
[please explain clearly what you mean by the word ‘gender’. I asked you above, now I’m insisting, for the clarity of the debate – weka]
NZ institutions and laws have also used gender to mean sex. This predates gender identity.
You'll have to rephrase that word salad, because I can't make any sense of it. Whose idea is that?
mod note.
That's because, almost 60 years ago, they were using gender to have a different meaning then it has today. People separated into groups by sex or gender gave identical groupings but sex was related to their physical being while gender related to their social/political being. It was a way of framing the context of the discussion.
Sure, which is why I posted 4 – it would be news to women of that time that they had no female gender identity.
But I would bet the writer has on her DL and passport – gender female.
can you please give some examples from 60 years ago so we know what you are referring to?
Wikipedia has a nice page on how gender evolved from it's meaning as terminology in describing language to it's use in academia to talk about the socio-political roles of women rather than the use of sex, as in the science/medical sphere, where it's about the biological nature of women. It's a more recent to talk about gender and sex being different ways of grouping people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender
I'll get grief but I didn't do my census this year because of the sexuality question.
If the government wants to know I'm gay they can ask me on Grindr.
But seriously, I'm openly gay but I felt disgusted that the government would ask me this question.
The human rights act says I don't have to tell any government agency what my sexuality was and I'm unwilling to give up that right just so the media can say x number of kiwis aren't straight.
For those who say the question is for funding programs to help LGBT+ people, I say so what?
Im in my 20s, I've used some of those LGBT organizations and they are some of the most toxic, dehumanizing bullying organizations I've ever been apart of full of upper middle class people who live in bubbles (and one org "accidentally" outted me while I was in high school, and I went to a very low decile high school and was bullied ruthlessly) I'd rather those organizations get less money, not more.
I wasn't willing to leave it blank either because then I'd be counted as "did not say" which LGBT+ orgs would assume was closeted and include in their stats.
I know so many people who just refused to answer for the same reasons, we didn't feel comfortable with our sexuality being asked, we didn't wanna get LGBT+ organizations more funding.
Keep the government out of the bedroom.
Does your approach mean the percentage of the population accepted to be gay will be down a smidgen?
Do you think there should there be no questions about gender?
I selected "prefer not to say", because I'm such a govt toady. Keep 'em guessing
Why do you think “government” has access to individual form records?
https://www.census.govt.nz/your-info/protecting-your-info/
It's the same misconception that the writer has – she also seems to believe that this is personal information held about them.
Misconceptions and (false) beliefs rule discourse, nowadays.
People who point this out are ignored, marginalised, ridiculed, smeared, vilified, or attacked but seldom listened to in a constructive and progressive manner.
Pundits and shock-jocks rule!
For my thoughts on SPC’s comment (5.3.1.1), please see my reply to Incognito below. My reply is comment number 11.2.2.
I just heard from a friend's female to male transtioning grandchild and he has refused to answer the gender question as well. 'What's this stuff going to tell us?' he said.
'What's this stuff going to tell us?' That's sort of funny really.
The stuff that they're going to get is going to tell them stuff. The stuff they don't get isn't going to tell them anything because they haven't got it.
I don't remember what was on the form but if there was a question asking if one was transgender and all the transgender people didn't answer that, 'they' would say "See, there are no transgender people, that there are is a myth."
Or, "We know there are transgender people but they've obviously haven't said so, so we'll take a punt. We reckon there are 61." Or if someone with a particular agenda is involved they might say there are 4, 321 or 43,210.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-does-the-census-say-there-are-more-trans-people-in-newham-than-brighton/
This article about the British census and gender question shows that Muslim and people with English as a second language have higher rates of transgenderism that people living in Brighton……
I think the English example exemplifies the garbage in garbage out concept I mentioned above.
Then for those who answered Luna gender
https://gender.fandom.com/wiki/Lunagender
How much further forward would they be……I sense nowhere in terms related to health, welfare, education, funding for anything?
Sociologists and other researchers will have lots of material to interrogate though while exploring this strange place we have got ourselves to.
An illuminating PoV on gender and gender ideology ("essentially a religion").
Up front, I (would prefer to) view 'anti-gender' and 'gender critical' as distinct PoVs, while acknowledging that there may be some overlap.
Surely most 'gender critical' people understand the concept/meaning of gender, and so would be able to answer the (census) question “What is your gender?” accurately, if they chose to do so. [Note that the 2023 NZ census did not force people to endorse the concept of gender.] Likewise 'anti-gender' people, although perhaps to a lesser extent.
Hmm; 'anti-gender (ideology)' people who accept trans people (and some rights?) may be a larger group than I imagined.
That's a good idea – then social and health planners could get a handle not only on the number of people who have a (religious?) belief that their gender identity is incongruent with their biological sex, but also what proportion of that minority population has used medical treatments to mitigate that (self-perceived) incongruency.
what do you mean by anti-gender?
It's pretty clear at this point that gender means a bunch of different and conflicting things and everyone is confused by its usage. I wrote about Kathleen Stock's explanation of the word gender and how it is used a while back,
.https://thestandard.org.nz/what-is-gender/
In fact the 2023 census allowed three options,
So technically, yes no-one was forced to say they had a gender, but there is no choice to have one's concept of not having a gender recorded. Self ID is only for some people.
Thanks for your question. The answer, given my limited and evolving understanding (as someone who is not 'anti-gender', nor a trans rights activist), is in two parts:
1. Definition of gender that makes sense to me; draws on some of Stock's definitions.
This definition is consistent with reality, and compatible with universal human rights (including rights of minorities), not to mention (at least some) gender critical PoVs.
2. "Anti-gender" then means: (a) a view that gender (as defined above) is not real, i.e. not evidence based, but rather is an imaginary set of human qualities/characteristics that cannot be perceived by any way of knowing (because they're not real.)
Also (narrower): (b) a view that specific consequences of belief(s) in gender and how it is constructed (see 1), particularly those that might undermine traditional and/or 'normal' sex-based characteristics, social roles and behaviours, are unnatural and so must be opposed and/or eradicated, as advocated by various anti-gender movements.
So I suppose that I mean more than one thing by 'anti-gender', which is hardly surprising given the range of meanings that have attached to 'gender.'
thanks for clarifying. Who would be some people that are anti-gender?
Some archetypal figures named in Wikipedia’s ‘anti-gender movements’ link, plus a couple of high-profile (US right-wing political) opportunists spring to mind:
Farida "year of the skirt" Belghoul
Jair "Trump of the Tropics" Bolsonaro
Ron "we fight the 'woke'" DeSantis
Andrzej 'the LGBT movement is "a foreign ideology"' Duda
Eva "working is a 'masculine' attribute" Herman
Donald "blood coming out of her wherever" Trump
These people are wedded to sex-based stereotypes – strict adherence to traditional gender roles is the ideal, with limited exceptions if any. Their views seem anachronistic, more in line with the Taliban than liberal democracies.
ok, but I think you are confusing things there.
If the anti-gender movements are that broad range of people organising in opposition to gender identity ideology, then there are two problems with your argument.
The wikipedia piece also is problematic because it used the term anti-trans feminist movement. If someone were making that argument here they'd be expected to provide evidence and make an actual argument, rather than starting with the a priori statement. I didn't click through though.
Thanks weka, I had previously questioned whether there was much overlap – seemed unlikely to me, and your first point reinforces this.
I'm sure you're right, and can see how my poorly-chosen link (for Trump) would be viewed as conflation. Fwiw, I'm currently clear in my own mind about the meaning(s)/definitions(s) of gender (see 8.1.1), gender identity, and (biological/genetic) sex in humans, and also clear that these words may mean different things (and possibly more than one thing) to different people. I have comments on TS to thank for this clarity.
As to the idea that there are anti-trans feminists, I don't think that there's much doubt that some trans people and trans activists hold that PoV. Certainly hope that it's (still) possible to find, if not common ground then at least a little middle ground as the culture wars grind on.
I liked the relatively brief period of time when feminists were using 'gender' for the stereotypes a society applies to the sexes. That was actually a useful distinction, in that it gave you a handy way to distinguish between differences that were a result of biological differences between male and female, and differences that were social inventions (eg "men don't breastfeed" vs "men don't cry"). There was plenty of room for dispute about the extent to which particular behaviours are social rather than evolved, but it was still a handy distinction.
Thanks to the postmodernists, 'gender' now mostly serves to try and obfuscate sex, hence the confusion described in the OP about what Stats NZ is asking and what it's trying to achieve. The circular definitions Stats NZ offers for its gender terminology are par for the course in govt depts now.
Well look at the goon that is the Minister responsible ( stats nz )…no surprises there
Agree with this
The confusion is also evident when the PM cannot answer 'What is a woman'. It has become a name that shall not be mentioned, or where the meaning will be erased altogether.
Perhaps there should have been two questions – what sex do you think you are and what sex do others think you are. Seriously, each census that comes out outdoes it's predecessor in b.s. ness. A road of old cobras, as a now deceased British comedian used to say.
You can think you are anything you like, but the truth about your sex is in almost every cell in your body. One drop of blood tells the truth, one smear of saliva, one hair bulb. They have done so since your conception and will do so until you death, and even after. The truth is in your bones, and even in your cremains.
Your phony, made up "gender identity" (Moongender anyone?) dies with you.
Human are very good at perceiving the sex of others. Especially female humans, it is a survival mechanism.
Thank you Laura for your write up.
From some reactions I take it they just thought census must mean -gender- as in sex
Not even wondering why would census ask the same question twice ? as in the census question: what sex is on my birth certificate.
Fact: NZ passport ask: Tane-Wahine/Sex
DL: has no sex on it (mine hasn't.)
SPC and Incognito: this is not about (concern of Laura for) personal information collection (if you had read it whole) its what the collection of information with confusing /can't answer questions does to data collection and its reliability (as the UK census has now shown).
This is data on which future governments make (budget) decisions.
And when you don't answer this specific question the computer programme does it for you….
One has to sign the census form at the end to confirm that one has answered it truthfully, and if you don't there is a considerable fine. I suspect it really depends how serious or not you take filling out the census.
that was the one for me. I take the census seriously and Stats were basically ensuring that people lied or Stats would lie for them.
Here you go:
It is an inaccurate statement based on a misconception. The Guest Author clearly did not do her fact-checking properly. This is not a ‘crime’, just something that can do with a clarifying correction, which is what SPC and I have attempted. SPC has gone silence, for some reason …
While it is not personal information that is the type directly covered in the Privacy Act it is personal information that is amalgamated up & down by/to mesh block into data that is often used in the formulation of govt & local authority policy and therefore the subsequent allocation of finance. At the time it gets to mesh block this personal information not assigned by name but you can get quite detailed info about age, occupation, time in NZ, ethnicity, religion etc.
https://datafinder.stats.govt.nz/layer/106729-meshblock-2022-generalised/
There are around 53,500 mesh blocks in NZ. Each mesh block contains 30-60 households.
I thought author felt, as I do, that this is a badly worded question likely to produce information that is not fit for purpose or what some call garbage. A person should have a remedy if personal information sought is misleading when sought and so is likely to mislead once it is amalgamated . A person concerned about giving one bit of information that may be wrongly construed in the making of Govt or local body policy as a whole should be commended and not chastised.
I am not expecting that you will accept with this but others may be interested in the relatively small numbers that are in a mesh block and how easily misleading questions, can become misleading answers leading to misleading data.
In times gone by WCC gave (generous) insulation subsidies around my suburb based on mesh block plus data from the property files. Sociologists/historians often work in mesh block size.
SPC did their explanations no good by seeming to conflate sex and gender which rather misses the point of what the Guest Poster was saying. SPC when asked did not define what gender was in their terms.
People also had to sign it as being correct and if it is not why should be do this. If it is then forced on one by another (ie Stats) then this is bad.
I first posted on 4 that feminists of the past had no problem recognising themselves as of the female gender. This is a simple fact.
I did so because, regardless of the "war" between the only those born female can be women group and those who seek access to women's spaces without being born female, most people have no problem with birth sex female/gender female and birth sex male/gender male and thus filled out the census form with scarce a thought to the war between two minorities going on around them.
Hi Incognito,
Thanks for raising this interesting point.
First up, a couple of points for clarity:
That said, on their website, Stats NZ makes it very clear that your responses to the census are personal information.
https://www.census.govt.nz/your-info/
The fact that they are able to provide you with your personal information is a pretty clear indicator that they hold it on file with your identity attached. As is this:
https://www.stats.govt.nz/methods/security-privacy-and-confidentiality-of-census-data
And this:
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/how-stats-nz-looks-after-your-information
It’s thus possible that people’s identifiable census information could be released, either maliciously or accidentally (although I’m confident that this risk is very small). Stats NZ seem to acknowledge this:
https://www.stats.govt.nz/methods/security-privacy-and-confidentiality-of-census-data
Finally, Stats NZ also say:
https://www.census.govt.nz/your-info/
I read this as a polite way of saying that if you provide incorrect information in the census, or it becomes outdated, you don’t have the right to go back and correct it. This seems reasonable, since having multiple different versions of the census data floating around could cause all sorts of issues.
However, you could make a case that for Stats NZ to add unverified and/or inaccurate information into someone’s census record against their will is mishandling their information, at least from an ethical point of view.
Again, I’d emphasise that I’m not a lawyer, and my comments relate to the ethics of Stats NZ’s actions rather than their legality. However, I’d be interested to hear the views of people who do have relevant legal expertise.
👏
your comments are still getting caught in the first commenter filter (I can’t see any typos in your name or email, which would also trip the filter). I will let lprent the sysop know. It’s an occasional bug although I haven’t seen it in a long time.
Thanks weka for looking into this.
I wonder if the system is having trouble with the accent in my name. When I try to leave a comment, it defaults to:
Laura López
…as my name, and then I manually correct it. Maybe if I just left it alone it would work better? But then I'm not sure whether it would display correctly.
Thank you Laura for the original article and the clarifcation.
In some jurisdictions UK/USA after 80/100 years the census returns are made public. This is for genealogical purposes. You can find a name, click on it and see a transcript of the reply and usually see the completed forms. At the moment you can access the US 1940 census and a 1939 habitation index in the UK. Work is being done on transcribing censuses from the 1920s UK & Ireland.
US quote from
https://www.familysearch.org/1940census/
"Index and images of population schedules listing inhabitants of the United States in 1940. This was the sixteenth census conducted since 1790. There were 134 million individuals enumerated this census year. The schedules cover the 48 states as well as Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The index is being created by FamilySearch, BrightSolid, and Inflection."
1939 Register UK
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/1939-register/
There are deletions made on this register as it was used by UK NHS and access is closed to data on individuals born less than 100 years old unless these folk have died.
NZ has never allowed (from memory) this census data to be sold. In some cases the original papers have been pulped/destroyed once the data has been collected. It does allow greater access to current electoral roll data than some jurisdictions though with current copies available at libraries for genealogists. Many Govt depts use data from electoral rolls, valuation indices in their day to day work.
My hope is that census questions will be relevant and clear. Stats seemed to have captured themselves with current trends without being especially clear on the rationale for doing this.
Once again thank you.
p.s. I still can't see my article on my phone (unless I switch from 'Mobile' to 'Desktop' view, which makes it very difficult to read). I know you asked someone to look into this yesterday. It'd be great if it could be fixed.
I've tried leaving my name as "Laura López" to see what happens.
Your name had the accent typo in it. I’ve edited it to without hte accent to see what happens on your next comment.
The mobile bug is an ongoing issue without an immediate fix I’m afraid. I’ll email Lynn when I get the chance.
Thanks weka for looking into this. A lot of people prefer to read on their smartphones these days, so The Standard is probably missing out on a fair bit of traffic due to this issue.
This time, my name defaulted to:
Laura López
I've tried entering it without the accent.
Source:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/265782/devices-of-choice-for-receiving-online-news-in-the-us/
afaik, it's a periodic known issue. Sysop fixes it as it arises. In this case, it wasn't all posts, so I'm not sure what is going on. Lprent, the sysop has been notified.
The post should be visible on the mobile version now. Please let me know if it's not on your device.
ok, it turns out the problem is with the wordpress editor when it embeds tweets. There's not short term fix for this other than to not embed the tweet. I've made a screenshot of the tweet and put that in the post and put a plain, clickable link for the tweet under it. Best I can do at this point (Lprent will find a better fix long term as he works on the site).
This matters for posts going forward too (use images of tweets and supply a link). I will have to get used to this myself because I use a lot of tweets in post 🙁
Legislation from 2009 came into effect in 2012 as the NZH reported in 2012.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/x-marks-the-spot-on-passport-for-transgender-travellers/OAH7D5ETJDSUKUTDL5C452CLGQ
https://privacy.org.nz/tools/knowledge-base/view/498
Note the use of sex/gender
PS
Te Aka Maori dictionary
Tane – husband, male, man.
Wahine – female, women, feminine.
https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=wahine
yes, the NZ government is conflating sex and gender and causing a lot of confusion.
According to wikipedia, the current NZ passport uses the word sex.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_passport
Allowing trans people to choose which sex marker is recorded is a social/legal fiction to make the lives of trans people easier. It doesn't mean that sex = gender, and it doesn't mean that someone literally changed sex.
The passport using the word sex after tane/wahine, and allowing people to make a gender change declaration to change this from their birth sex seems to be part of a pattern – it has been around since the 2009 legislation and into effect 2012.
The 2008 legislation (updated 2021 to allow something closer to self ID) allowed Declarations of Family Court to determine the sex to be shown on birth certificates issued for adults.
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2008/0048/latest/DLM1250720.html
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/131421129/georgina-beyer-an-outstanding-example-of-the-potential-of-humanity
"…Crown Law determined it was already included as discrimination based on sex."
An excellent illustration of "the NZ government is conflating sex and gender and causing a lot of confusion."
It also helps explain why Weka and I had someone on Twitter the other day trying to tell us men can use female-only spaces because the HRA prevents discrimination against their gender identity. The confusion is real.
Found the Crown Law advice:
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/SG%20Opinion%202%20Aug%202006.pdf
How things have changed in the last 17 years! CLO considers "discrimination" against trans-identified people in the usual terms, eg can't be dismissed from your job if you transition. The idea that expecting male adults claiming a feminine identity to keep out of female-only spaces is "discrimination" doesn't feature, presumably because people at the time would have recognised it as batshit crazy.
I did like this bit:
Funnily enough, no-one seems to mention that opinion.
The DSM does provide a way to catalogue society change in attitudes towards issues such as homosexuality and gender identity.
Homosexuality is in DSM 1 and 2, then in 3 and 4 in another form and goes entirely by DSM 5 in 2013.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_DSM
But in the change in categorisation of homosexuality they did this in 1980
Instead of just eliminating homosexuality they did this
Then it was on its own
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_dysphoria
I didn't sign my Census forms. I wrote a letter saying that I could not sign it because it did not permit me to tell what I believe to be the truth.
I said that as a retired Justice of the Peace with nearly 30 years service, I know that signatures on an official from mean something and that is why I had not signed it,
💜
Good on you Visubversa.
Perhaps the different ways that people have chosen to address this issue will keep Stats on their toes ie they won't be able to formulate a date extraction policy without some difficulty as different people have chosen not to answer this in different ways. Dealing with exceptions often focusses the minds of those having to do it on why are they incurring additional costs and could we do better next time.
Hopefully Stats will be able to competently review itself on the census and this won't be repeated. I live in hope.
Whatever they do it should be aimed at ensuring that Corey and my friend's transtioning grandson can clearly see the benefits of being part of the census answering community.
Having woolly questions such as the gender one, this was the one that the grandson got as far as answering before putting it to one side.
Is this Kiwiblog? Just wondering, because we are talking here about a single question on the Census as if it's a nefarious conspiracy by a far left cabal.
Rather that a simple botch of a complex issue, as demonstrated by Chippy the other day when he was asked "What is a woman?"
The wider question IMO is what is happening in society that the last 2 censuses (censii??) have had such poor response rates. That could be a fruitful avenue for statistical enquiry.
I surmise that trust in government and social cohesion have been on a downward trajectory for 40 years and now we are reaping the ugly fruit of Rogernomics. The worst affected being Māori and Pasifika communities.
Confusingly worded questions are annoying but homelessness and poverty and social dislocation are probably the main drivers. Conspiracy thinking is an understandable response to the trauma of living in deeply unequal society where the poor are routinely abused and despised
I wish it was a single botched question. It doesn’t have to be a conspiracy, it’s just the government quietly shifting from sex stars to gender as default, enforcing gender identity ideology, and upholding No Debate that undermines women’s sex based rights.
see also https://thestandard.org.nz/should-the-government-replace-sex-data-with-gender-identity-data/
yes, there are a lot of important issues. I’m not sure we can win them if we give up material reality.
roblogic,
Excuse me weka,but it’s gone weird again.
looks like you inadvertently clicked on one of the tag buttons in the comment editor.
Sorry,you can delete the orginal mess,Ta
roblogic,
Please forgive me weka. Why didn't the then minister of Stats James Shaw not fill out the census on or before the 5th of march 2017,yes I know and will try and link to a truncated news item view on RNZ. He was in the Cook Islands with the then PM,but his department where going around rest homes telling anybody who would or could listen "that the form/s could be fill anytime up to that date,as for this year as well.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018634834/statistics-minister-shaw-confident-of-census-success
Agree with Weka above. It is not a conspiracy and neither is it a 'war between two minorities going on around them.'
The Govt has much longer reach and most/many would accept unquestioningly the word or the right by the Govt to word (skew) things as they chose.
However the quote generally ascribed to Thomas Jefferson 'the price of freedom is eternal vigilance' is apt. I like to think that TS plays a role in this.
I cant remember what I amswered now. I do know that under race I entered homo sapiens sapiens. the fracturing of sexuality and politicisation in post modern life is nauseous.
Yes RP Mcmurphy you are correct.
My concern is also that the ability to use the census as a high quality tool for population based data for health, education and MSD planning is being jeopardised by ill-thought out questions that just irritate people so much that they cannot be bothered answering.
Then, despite objections, we have personal data assigned to us naughty ones by Stats. So possibly inaccurate and definetly not personal info is agglomerated by Stats from the genders they have assigned to us.