Is youth the new political divide?

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, March 11th, 2018 - 44 comments
Categories: class, community democracy, Deep stuff, democratic participation, discrimination, election 2017, greens, jacinda ardern, journalism, labour, national, polls, same old national - Tags:

There was this fascinating recent panel discussion on Guardian Weekly where the panelists discussed where the political divide in the United Kingdom currently is.  The panelists claimed that notions of class politics they though were breaking down.  Brexit showed many working class areas, apart from Scotland, voting leave while more urban areas with younger populations such as London voted heavily to stay.  And the surge in Corbynmania was clearly because of young people getting out and voting.

From the introduction:

For most of the 20th century, British politics was a battle of left v right. There was a clear divide between those who favoured more state intervention and those who preferred freer markets. The parties tended to split neatly on the issue: Labour on the left, Conservatives on the right.

But things are no longer that simple, at least according to research from a new thinktank, Global Future. To understand the seismic convulsions of Brexit and last year’s general election, it says, you need to look at politics through a different lens: open v closed. That is, those who are open to immigration, new technologies and new ways of doing things versus those who are worried by those things.

But the one factor that clearly distinguished the group likely to vote Labour and the group likely to vote conservative was age.

This graph from YouGov says it all.

The tipping point was about the age of 47.  Below that and the younger voters were the more likely they were to vote progressive.  The older they were the more likely they were to vote conservative.

I am not sure if the discovery is so revolutionary.  The change itself is somewhat evolutionary.  It used to be that the demarcation lines for political support were based on class.  But continued attacks on the trade union movement in all western democracies have seen their power ebb and notions of class diminish.

But it is not as if the support has then been coopted by the right.  Rather support has been spread around many different movements, most of which are at least nominally progressive.  Just think of the LGBT movement and the environmental movement.  Think also about the surge in cultural pride and the acceptance even celebration of cultural diversity that occurs.  These are ideas and concepts that are traditionally associated with the left.  The right will embrace them as well, but only when it realises that political power depends on it.

What about in New Zealand.  Are we also seeing evidence of a Youthquake?

The evidence is mixed.  This is from an article from Newshub where the topic was discussed after the results for the 2017 election were published:

Fears of a ‘youthquake’ at this year’s election were unfounded, with young people no more likely to vote in 2017 than in 2014.

While turnout for 18 to 24-year-olds on the electoral roll jumped from 62.7 percent to 69.3 percent, there were actually fewer in that age group enrolled to vote in 2017 than in 2014.

“You have to remember the commission’s figures are a percentage of the enrolled voters,” Grant Duncan of Massey University’s School of People, Environment and Planning told The AM Show on Thursday.

“Of the 18 to 24-year old group, only 72 percent are actually enrolled – therefore only half of them voted.”

Combining the Electoral Commission’s data with population figures from Statistics NZshows only 47.6 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds voted in the 2017 election. In 2014, it was 47.4 percent – almost exactly the same.

Statistics NZ data shows in 2017 there were 483,940 people aged 18-24, with 333,164 enrolled; while in 2014 there were 447,880 people, but 338,269 enrolled.

The article does however miss the point that more young people voted and it also does not comment on how they voted.  And the rate of increase in the numbers of young people outstripped the overall population increase.  So an increasingly progressive vote can at least in part be put on the young.

And do young New Zealanders match their overseas equivalents?  It appears they do.  From a post by Bryce Edwards in the Herald just before the 2017 election:

The strongest evidence of a powerful age dynamic coming into the election campaign came out of the most recent 1News Colmar Brunton opinion poll for, which showed that “67 per cent of 18-34 are voting or intending to vote Labour” – see: ‘Something’s clearly going on here in terms of this idea of a youth quake’ – Corin Dann on huge new Colmar Brunton poll.

Labour’s incredibly success with youth is also shown in two other surveys that have just come out. Survey firm SSI was commissioned to run a poll for Newsroom, which also showed that 65 per cent of 18 to 24 year-olds intended to vote Labour, with only 14 percent of this group favouring National – see Tim Murphy’s Labour opens gap with women, young.

Inversely, National dominates amongst older age groups: “Labour’s lead reduces progressively as the age of respondents rises, but is still 57 percent to 22 among 25-34 year-olds, 45 to 26 for those 35-44 and 49 to 24 for those aged 45-54. Only from 55 to 64 does National pull ahead, by 39 to 34 over Labour, with a commanding lead of 53 to 27 for those aged 65 and above.”

The Horizon polling company also identifies a similar trend: “By age, Labour’s strongest support is coming from those aged 18-34. 52% of definite voters aged 18-24 support, Labour, 25% National. 47% of those aged 25-34 support Labour, 32% National. The parties each have 32% of those aged 35-44 years. National has more support among those aged 45+. Among those 65+ National has 52%, Labour 29%” – see: Main parties in dead heat.

Why young people tend to vote progressive is easy.  Progressive parties tend to think more carefully about the future.  They are more determined to address climate change and environmental disaster and these are issues that young people have a particularly keen interest in.  Progressive parties are not afraid of change of new ideas.  Nor are young people.  Conversely older people tend to resent change.

And progressive parties have always been at the forefront of the recognitions of diverse rights associated with race, creed, gender and sexual preference.  And young people also tend to relish these values.  On the other side conservatives resent change and have to be persuaded, over time, that respect for these rights is actually a virtue and not a threat.

The job for Labour and the Greens will be to continue to attract the support of young people, get them enrolled, and get them active and passionate about politics.  And the job of National will be to reach out to them while at the same time keeping its older support.

44 comments on “Is youth the new political divide? ”

  1. The Fairy Godmother 1

    I find this data fascinating. One factor which could contribute to the high proportion of conservatives in the older age groups could be that wealthier more prosperous people live longer lives. That is working class people on lower wages who are more likely to vote Labour struggle more and die younger so skewing results in the older age groups.

  2. AB 2

    The downside of this is that young people get old.
    It would be preferable if the divide was based on awareness of who has power and who doesn’t . ‘Class’ in other words.

    • Tuppence Shrewsbury 2.1

      Stupidest suggestion ever. Moving away from empirical evidence of who is able to vote to a subjective “values“ approach will lead to greater disenfranchisement

      • AB 2.1.1

        Eh?
        My point was that if progressive parties are dependent for their support solely on the youth of voters, rather than their awareness of class, it is not really a very secure position to be in.
        Carolyn makes some interesting points below about how the importance of youth might, at least partially, be a constructed narrative with the whole purpose of de-emphasising class.

  3. Carolyn_Nth 3

    I do think that more young people are motivated to vote for change and that tends to diminish for some people as they get older.

    However, I also think this idea of a youth rather than a class divide is something the mainstream media political pundits want to talk up.

    When I looked at the stats for the 2014 election, it showed that Labour voters were far more likely to identify as working class than any other party voters. And the age differences were fairly negligible.

    As I recall, stats by electorate showed something a little different – ie by clumping together the total party results in low income vs high income electorates.

    I suspect that part of the difference between young and older voters has to do with low income people dying younger than high income people. So it’s not so much to do with people becoming more conservative as they get older, but of more conservative/right wing people living longer.

    UK newspapers have published some articles going back a decade or more, reporting stats that show there is an increasing divide between the life expediencies of low income vs high income people.

    The Guardian 2009: Life expectancy gap between rich and poor is widening

    The Independent 2014: A 25 year gap between the life expectancy of rich and poor Londoners is a further indictment of our unequal society

    The Guardian 2015: Life expectancy increases but gap widens between rich and poor

    The UK’s independent fact checking charity 2016:

    Claim
    People born poor will die nine years earlier than others.

    Conclusion
    This is partially correct. Boys born in some of the poorest areas in the UK are expected to live nine years fewer than those in the very richest areas. For girls the figure is seven years.

    this article quotes some research that shows,

    It found that the majority of areas with persistently low life expectancy during this time also had a high proportion of people earning low or no wages. It also found that the reverse was largely true.

    a number of other factors affected life expectancy, including deprivation in old age, housing deprivation, binge drinking, fruit and vegetable consumption and gender.

    UK Medical Express Feb 2018: Life expectancy diverges between England’s wealthiest and poorest neighbourhoods:

    Death rates for people aged 60-89 improved for all groups between 2001 and 2015. However, the improvement was greatest for the best-off.

    Differing improvement rates meant that by 2015, men aged 60-89 from the least advantaged fifth of the country were 80 percent more likely to die in any given year than those from the most advantaged fifth. This figure has climbed from 52 percent in 2001. The equivalent figures for women are 44 percent in 2001 and 81 percent in 2015.

    So, I think while there is some tendency for some people to become more conservative as they get older, I don’t think it’s any different than for previous generations. There are proportionally more high income older people as they age, with more low income people dying.

    I’d be wary of some MSM reports being influenced by a desire to undermine class differences.

    • Bill 3.1

      I’d be wary of some MSM reports being influenced by a desire to undermine class differences.

      Yes. Very.

      A “it’s just the yoof” narrative might lend itself to dampening political demands from across the rest of society by deliberately or otherwise obfuscating the actual state of affairs and subtly suggesting that older people ought not to follow their instinct if it accords with some “claimed to be” youthful extravagance or “passing phase”.

    • Siobhan 3.2

      Well put Carolyn_Nth.

      Incidentally it would be interesting to see a breakdown of the youth vote.
      In NZ and the UK, are these working class youths or the children of the upper middle classes that are becoming politically engaged. As they age these two groups/classes are going to have very different concerns. To be honest I don’t hear many working class voices on the Left any more.

  4. Bill 4

    Youth has got nothing to do with it per se.

    The radical centre (ie – the liberal status quo) that has encompassed both Tory and Labour Parties is basically done and dusted.

    UK Labour broke out of that dying space with Corbyn. The SNP broke out of that space. Trudeau pretended he was breaking out of that space. Trump claimed he would be a break. Sanders claimed he would represent a break.

    All of the above attracted far more of the vote than status quo loving liberal media predicted. That same media has tended to disparage any electoral challenge to the liberal or radical centre coming from either the left or the right.

    Curiously (sarc/) the ploy for countering a presence on the right is to simultaneously build them up in the public mind, but portray them as a threat – ie, the fear card designed to send people back to the safe hands/arms of the centre.

    A presence on the left is dealt with more by way of ridicule, dismissal and character assassination.

    So why this “youth” analysis? Because it ‘s a convenient red herring that avoids the obvious conclusion – the schism isn’t generational. The schism is between the radical centre (liberalism) and everything else, where “everything else” sits along authoritarian and non-authoritarian lines (so not strictly speaking “left and right”)

    Even when there is no political expression of an alternative, we can see how deep voter discontent runs.

    The establishment prefers “steady as she goes” European alignment? Give us Brexit. The establishment prefers “steady as she goes” Clinton? Give us Trump.

    But not Le Pen. After Mélenchon’s surge had been smothered, (in part by building up Le Pen as the bogey man) that was a step too far and an occasion to rush back to the centre.

    And where self harming options aren’t the only ones available, then like a succession of inevitable waves from an incoming tide, people are ending towards Sanders, UK Labour, SNP, 5 Star Movement or political autonomy (Scotland, Catalonia…)

    And in NZ we got Jaccinda Ardern. In the mould of Justin Trudeau. And a government now rushing off in the opposite direction from that which the rest of the world is about to go. I mean fuck, Trump just gifted the initiative to the left by pulling out of the TPPA and threatening the end of NAFTA. And in NZ, many people self identifying as “left”, clutch at their beads (pearls have been far too expensive for a few years now!) because an end to “free trade” might mean something not nice happens. 🙄

  5. KJT 5

    Some would like the “divide” to be over age, gender, race or anything else.

    So long as it distracts from the exponential accumulation of our wealth, by a few. Class!

    • RedLogix 5.1

      No question the extremes of wealth accumulation are a problem that demands real thought and the emergence of new ideas around how to best moderate this problem.

      But as you say, all these ‘divides’ that are being thrust upon us; well I’m over them. As a species we have so much potential, so many big real problems to solve if only we’d look to what we all have in common and have the courage to trust one another again.

      • greywarshark 5.1.1

        I am very careful who I trust these days after thinking that I understood some younger people to have good standards of respect for people and the environment, and found that it was mainly the environment they were concerned about; in their spiritual? economy people were an externality.

        And then trusting people’s goodness and care about community. It is slow to arise in normal situations, and requires something that achieves an outpouring of sentiment, a hopeless disease that might be cured overseas, a slow but terminal disease that the sufferer discounts arguing for the right to see their grand-children grow up through being given expensive medicine. Little children who can’t get simple health treatment to enable them to be healthy and grow and socialise in a normal fashion are again, externalities.

        Or people might turn out for a special occasion run by some socially accepted body, helping to build a habitat house or such, raising money for the rescue helicopter; if it was to help build a wet house for alcoholic men who were homeless and who didn’t get many jobs or even a basic living – well no.

        The scourge of selfish neo lib economics that teaches charity is a personal choice rewarding the giver with a feel-good satisfaction, leaves us with a situation where we may get little real kindness again. We can’t simply trust one another, and have to remain wary, but also don’t fall into a Me First or Us Separate, type of thinking. Ensuring that you get for yourself what is reasonable but that it is also available to all similar others, is a pinnacle that we must try to climb to, and then stay firm at that level.

        It isn’t possible to relax vigilance; those who are thinking of others and working on their behalf need to nurture their fellows, as it is a wearisome exercise and the really good people can become exhausted.

        • RedLogix 5.1.1.1

          Thoughtful as always gw; thank you. I’m tempted to turn this into a long, complicated comment, but really it condenses down to this; we’re a complex, incredibly adaptable, social species. Unlike all the other creatures we share this planet with, we alone have the capacity create our destiny.

          Ultimately we achieve what we aim at. This is true as BOTH individuals and collectively. Therefore we should be careful about what we want.

          The question is simple; are we more likely to have a better future on the basis of a society riven by divisions, deep mistrust and polarisations; or one that seeks to bring all of it’s diverse elements under a common dialog and unity of purpose?

  6. Enough is Enough 6

    “Why young people tend to vote progressive is easy. Progressive parties tend to think more carefully about the future. They are more determined to address climate change and environmental disaster and these are issues that young people have a particularly keen interest in.”

    That is true for the Green Party indeed.

    I can’t say the same for Labour after their antics in the past week, where they signed us up to the corporate trade deal negotiated by National.

  7. David Mac 7

    We grow more conservative as we gather stuff to conserve. Memories, kids, heirlooms. I feel it has little to do with politics and is more to do with our life cycle. We were all bullet-proof and going to change the world when we were 20.

    • Carolyn_Nth 7.1

      And many of us never stop wanting the world to change. We just become aware of how we, and the young, are far from bullet proof.

      And depressed at the power of the elites to resist change.

      I don’t see a lot of real change coming from 10 Bridges, or from team Ardern – National and National lite.

      • David Mac 7.1.1

        It’s probably the lazy path but I choose to be content. Things seem to go better for me when I get around with a smile on my mug, spring in my step and loving life in NZ.

        • Carolyn_Nth 7.1.1.1

          Yes. Well great for you! And also great that you are able to ignore the large numbers of people in the country struggling to get by.

        • David Mac 7.1.1.2

          People that make a difference seem to more often than not sport the attitude I’m pointing to.

          I was sitting in the waiting room of the Kaitaia Hospital recently. I had to fight the urge to stare at the guy that sat down beside me, his face rang a bell. We struck up a conversation, this guy had a fabulous charismatic zest for life, he was loving it. I was doing the best I could to engage with this dude on an undercurrent of ‘Who the hell are you?’

          Ricky Houghton picked up a certificate for his 100m Freestyle in the recent NZer of the Year awards. That joker has done more for housing the mighty folk of Northland than all of the commenters at this site put together. This guy loves his life and life in NZ. He’s trying to make it better, Share his joy.

          Mickey savage isn’t going to save any of our Kauri with a “You’re killing our Kauri you arsehole” approach. He needs to share his joy for the Waitakeres and ask people for their help, “Please love the tree without standing on it’s roots, it’s hurting.”

          Being pissed off and angry is a crap way to get new people onboard.

          • Molly 7.1.1.2.1

            Sometimes the angry and the pissed off are necessary for change, and oftentimes the angry and pissed off are that way for a moment, while they build up the energy to continue. There are people who have fought long hard battles and they become depleted and despondent.

            I think it is quite understandable for those who have been up against power and systems to become frustrated. The best you can offer to them is assistance, if you agree with what they are trying to do. Share the burden.

            It is often those branded ‘radical’s and ‘activists’ that bring matters to our attention, and garner mainstream attention and energy.

            If you dismiss them, I think you haven’t considered their journeys to get to where they are, and the benefit their stance has often given those who follow.

            When you meet someone like Ricky Houghton, they seem to epitomise the best way of doing things. But I’m sure that even he, will understand the stories of others frustrations, and no doubt would have experienced it himself.

          • Carolyn_Nth 7.1.1.2.2

            Some of us have tried nice. We’ve tried reason – more times than we can count. We’ve tried protests. We’ve tried it all over the years.

            And nothing gets any better. And for those already struggling, life just either keeps on keeping on being intolerable, or gets worse.

            People’s lives are being damaged and cut short – that’s ill and dying before their time. It’s been in the media often enough in the last couple of years.

            So when, in the face of all this, someone says, “I’m OK – life just keeps getting better for me – I don’t care about those struggling”… damn right I’m gonna get angry.

            • David Mac 7.1.1.2.2.1

              Hi Carolyn, yes sometimes getting vocal and angry about something is what it takes to make people take notice, I agree.

              That’s all it does. Attracts attention, like a neon sign. People like Ricky don’t make a difference by raising their voice and banging the table. Nobody does. They make a difference by calmly charming others into engaging with their ideas.

              I don’t adopt this outlook so I can dismiss the struggles of others. Yes it does make me feel good and love the life I lead. This is not a crime, nor my primary point. I’m better positioned to help others if I’m wearing this hat. I feel the bitter and angry are less likely to generate genuine support….I don’t like people getting angry in my face, most people don’t, we make excuses to leave.

          • RedLogix 7.1.1.2.3

            @ Dave Mac

            Absolutely. And a very pertinent story.

            Yet here is the thing; in his private moments we can be sure Ricky … like all of us … has to face down his own frustrations, resentments and pain. Yet he chooses a ‘zest for life’. And as you say, likely he has gotten way more DONE than all the angry pixels typed here will ever achieve.

            In my experience the only person worth getting angry with is myself; for my own laziness, stupidity and naivety. I try to harness that anger to push myself into doing better.

            • Molly 7.1.1.2.3.1

              Self-reflection is a useful tool to see whether you are acting in line with your values, instead of reacting to externals.

              But I get concerned about messages for ‘positivity’ if you want change. Mostly because it just seems to limit the ways people are expected to respond despite what they are concerned about. Another way of saying ‘I won’t listen’.

              The compassionate will always understand that frustration can come out as anger, and will accept that as a legitimate response. We have our fellow NZers being turned down for ACC, sanctioned from receiving already substandard benefits, reduced to living in cars. We have just had nine years of being lied to by our representatives, and a change of representation that has signed us up to the TPPA. Anger is not an inappropriate response. I am not condoning violence, which is an act of physical or mental harm, but I do support the right of people to feel and express their anger.

              • Carolyn_Nth

                I have little patience when someone comes to a political blog, joins in a discussion about the class divide, in a context where there is dicsussion about how too many are struggling, to crow about how great their comfortable life is.

                David mac’s second comment has more value in highlighting Ricky Houghton’s community work.

                But he then goes on to attack writers here for not being positive enough.

                I’m pretty sure Micky has had many positive things to say about the west and the Waitakeres in the past, and has done so often in his day and community work.

                This makes David mac’s comments as divisive as he is criticising others for being.

                • greywarshark

                  The only thing that David Mac’s comment is good for is to remember to spread some happiness when something good happens, to be pleased at some positive advantage or even preventing something detrimental happening. We should pass on advances for our group, and for the country. Otherwise I query his outlook.

                  A really good piece on Radionz this morning about alert medical people in an Auckland hospital and how their hospital has worked to reduce their carbon footprint by a good percentage. Go down to the black border at bottom of page and on left there is Latest Audio. Look through that.

                  • Carolyn_Nth

                    Thanks, grey.

                    There was also plenty of positive in Micky’s post above – about what can be, and has been achieved by progressive movements, and about how the enthusiasm of young people can contribute to further change.

              • RedLogix

                Fair enough Molly. Hell only knows I’ve had my own ‘highly angry motivated moments’ here at TS … only a fool or a liar denies their capacity for it. Nor am I suggesting anger is always a bad thing; certainly it’s roots lie in an evolved aggression that can serve to protect and project.

                But outward aggression is not a good long term tactic, it’s weak politically because it alienates and provokes unnecessary resistance. Plus it’s tough on the body if we sustain it too long.

                It’s a big complex topic to discuss and I’m not even going to try and pretend to have the last word on it. 🙂

                • Molly

                  The term “outward aggression” to me suggests violence, where anger and ‘pissed off’ do not. Maybe it is just a case of differing views of definitions, in that respect.

                  But I really think the request for positivity is both inane, and dismissive. It’s just another excuse for many to not listen to what is being said. We should have the capacity to listen to people who have been hurt or damaged or outraged without insisting on ‘tone’ beforehand.

                  • greywarshark

                    Molly positivity does not mean inane and dismissive if there is proper balance in attitudes. Just remembering to enjoy things when they go right, note changes for the better, while still going for a wider improvement! Balance is something to aim for I think, resist the human tendency to obsession and excess.

                    Quote – Life is what happens while you are making other plans. John Lennon said it, and he repeated it from soneone else. Good eh. Look what happened to John, so sad,
                    but he did lots and I think he enjoyed his time, was active in many things, made great music, explored the world and his own psyche, he planned protests and carried them out, was really alive and did more in his short time than most do in their extended odld age.

                    • Molly

                      greywarshark, I didn’t remark on positivity as an attitude – “But I really think the request for positivity is both inane, and dismissive.” – I was talking about the request, though more accurately, I should say, the implied insistence for positivity.

                      There needs to be space, within the progressive movement for both those who can move forward with positivity and those who force spaces open, sometimes with understandable anger and frustration. I’m not advocating for violence, just for a cessation of this method of shutting people up by telling them “…if only you had a better perspective….” then I would listen to you, support you etc.

                      How about listening to those that have been disenfranchised, without requiring them to make the best of their situation?

                      It may make us uncomfortable until we get used to it, but that does not give us the right to demand a certain tone before listening. This requirement adds to the suppression of voices, and I don’t agree with it at all.

                    • greywarshark

                      Okay Molly, the new government should be told all the problems and difficulties they should know asap so they can start making changes. Even prioritise things so they can start with cheaper policies that they don’t have to go on their needs to Treasury for.
                      Not long to the Budget so I would get the stories to them, so that
                      the song is ‘You are always on my mind’.

                      I won’t comment on disability again.

                    • Molly

                      Hi grey, I think we are talking at cross purposes. I have no idea why you are referencing the government and the budget, when I was just discussing David Mac’s need for positivity when asking for change.

                      I’ve been back over the thread, and can’t see where I’ve referenced the government or any specific instance, and not got into disability at all. Maybe leave it at that?

  8. JOHN IRVING 8

    It’s a good thing voting picture is the opposite way round or we old faŕts would probably deservedy stuffed by the young

  9. Stephen Bradley 9

    Yes there have been attacks on the union movement. But not only from the usual quarters of multi-national corporations, Farmers, rich domestic millionaires, and their glove puppets in the bureaucracy and professions, but also and critically from within the Labour Party. Let’s see if this Labour-led government can seriously reverse the anti-Labour trend of the last three decades.

  10. SPC 10

    Social conservatism/secure in property/advantaged by focus on low taxes.
    Progressive/insecure in property/need support to study and for family.

  11. bwaghorn 11

    “If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain.” Winston Churchill

    • Incognito 11.1

      If you’re not a progressive you have no spine or guts.

      • bwaghorn 11.1.1

        I don’t want to be standing for half a day in the bread queue because some utopian halfwit got there way . that doesn’t make me anti progressive it just makes me value caution matched with a realistic understanding of how the world works

        • Incognito 11.1.1.1

          Huh?

          I just added to Churchill’s quote; it was not at all aimed at you personally and I’ll leave it at that.

  12. Jackel 12

    Old people have just gotten used to the mess and it has kinda grown on them. Young people haven’t. Nor should they.

  13. R.P. Mcmurphy 13

    this cohort will not get off their arses until their i-pods get taken away. The youf dat I see are petulant truculent and arrogant without having done anything to earn a vote or faced any sort of hardship whatsoever. if the writer sees them as just future consumers and voters for their own personal benefit then so be it.

  14. Doogs 14

    I think that one very important factor is being forgotten here, or possibly ignored, and that is the increasing trend for people to be more environmentally aware. I use environment here in a very broad way to encompass the atmosphere, the land, the oceans and the people.

    People, and young people in particular, are becoming more sensitised to the fact that everything is interlinked and all things depend upon each other. This is a concept which perhaps a majority of older folk and the well off seem incapable of understanding. Humans are products of their time, and the thinking of the 40s and 50s (my era) is so seriously outmoded in the current world scene that people who are steeped in that aura are out of step with what the world now needs.

    And here’s the kicker – these young people who are growing up with global environmental attitudes will maintain their views and continue them into the remainder of their lives as they age. Thus the shift in attitude will continue as the old, rigid and often selfishly dogmatic approach among older people will slowly die out. Truth to tell, if it doesn’t then it will be the world that will die out and all of us with it.

  15. Ovid 15

    Fears of a ‘youthquake’ at this year’s election

    Interesting phrasing in that newshub piece. If people wanted voter participation, they’d talk in terms of hopes of a youthquake.

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    5 hours ago
  • Not To Cast Stones…
    Yeah I changed my wine into waterHad a miracle or four since I saw youSome came on time, some took a whileLocal Water Done Well.One of our new government’s first actions, number 20 on their list of 49 priorities, is the repeal of the previous government’s Water Services Entities Act 2022. Three Waters, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 hours ago
  • So much noise and so little signal
    Parliament opened with pomp and ceremony, then it was back to politicians shouting at and past each other into the void. Photo: Office of the Clerk, NZ ParliamentTL;DR: It started with pomp, pageantry and a speech from the throne laying out the new National-ACT-NZ First Government’s plan to turn back ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • Lost in the Desert: Accepted
    As noted, November was an exceptionally good writing month for me. Well, in an additional bit of good news for December, one of those November stories, Lost in the Desert, has been accepted by Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/) for their Winter Solstice 2023 issue. At 3,500 words, ...
    14 hours ago
  • This Government and their Rightwing culture-war flanks picked a fight with the country… not the ot...
    ACT and the culture-war warriors of the Right have picked this fight with Te Ao Māori. Ideologically-speaking, as a Party they’ve actually done this since inception, let’s be clear about that. So there is no real need to delve at length into their duplicitous, malignant, hypocritical manipulations. Yes, yes, ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    16 hours ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #49
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 3, 2023 thru Sat, Dec 9, 2023. Story of the Week Interactive: The pathways to meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C limit The Paris Agreement’s long-term goal of keeping warming “well below” ...
    23 hours ago
  • LOGAN SAVORY: The planned blessing that has irked councillors
    “I’m struggling to understand why we are having a blessing to bless this site considering it is a scrap metal yard… It just doesn’t make sense to me.” Logan Savory writes- When’s a blessing appropriate and when isn’t it? Some Invercargill City Councillors have questioned whether blessings might ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    24 hours ago
  • Surely it won't happen
    I have prepared a bad news sandwich. That is to say, I'm going to try and make this more agreeable by placing on the top and underneath some cheering things.So let's start with a daughter update, the one who is now half a world away but also never farther out ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • Let Them Eat Sausage Rolls: Hipkins Tries to Kill Labour Again
    Sometimes you despair. You really do. Fresh off leading Labour to its ugliest election result since 1990,* Chris Hipkins has decided to misdiagnose matters, because the Government he led cannot possibly have been wrong about anything. *In 2011 and 2014, people were willing to save Labour’s electorate ...
    2 days ago
  • Clued Up: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    “But, that’s the thing, mate, isn’t it? We showed ourselves to be nothing more useful than a bunch of angry old men, shaking our fists at the sky. Were we really that angry at Labour and the Greens? Or was it just the inescapable fact of our own growing irrelevancy ...
    2 days ago
  • JERRY COYNE: A powerful University dean in New Zealand touts merging higher education with indigeno...
    Jerry Coyne writes –  This article from New Zealand’s Newsroom site was written by Julie Rowland,  the deputy dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland as well as a geologist and the Director of the Ngā Ara Whetū | Centre for Climate, Biodiversity & Society. In other ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.
    Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.For the last couple of weeks its felt as though all the good things in our beautiful land are under attack.These isles in the southern Pacific. The home of the Māori people. A land of easy going friendliness, openness, and she’ll be right. A ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Speaking for the future
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.MondayYou cannot be seriousOne might think, god, people who are seeing all this must be regretting their vote.But one might be mistaken.There are people whose chief priority is not wanting to be ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • How Should We Organise a Modern Economy?
    Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy. The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the Cold War focuses on the contribution of ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    3 days ago
  • Willis fails a taxing app-titude test but govt supporters will cheer moves on Te Pukenga and the Hum...
    Buzz from the Beehive The Minister of Defence has returned from Noumea to announce New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting and (wearing another ministerial hat) to condemn malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government. A bigger cheer from people who voted for the Luxon ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • ELIZABETH RATA: In defence of the liberal university and against indigenisation
    The suppression of individual thought in our universities spills over into society, threatening free speech everywhere. Elizabeth Rata writes –  Indigenising New Zealand’s universities is well underway, presumably with the agreement of University Councils and despite the absence of public discussion. Indigenising, under the broader umbrella of decolonisation, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the skewed media coverage of Gaza
    Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website. If he did, Peters would find MFAT celebrating the 25th anniversary of how New Zealand alerted the rest of the world to the genocide developing in Rwanda. Quote: New Zealand played an important role ...
    3 days ago
  • “Your Circus, Your Clowns.”
    It must have been a hard first couple of weeks for National voters, since the coalition was announced. Seeing their party make so many concessions to New Zealand First and ACT that there seems little remains of their own policies, other than the dwindling dream of tax cuts and the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 8-December-2023
    It’s Friday again and Christmas is fast approaching. Here’s some of the stories that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered some of the recent talk around the costs, benefits and challenges with the City Rail Link. On Thursday Matt looked at how ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    3 days ago
  • End-of-week escapism
    Amsterdam to Hong Kong William McCartney16,000 kilometres41 days18 trains13 countries11 currencies6 long-distance taxis4 taxi apps4 buses3 sim cards2 ferries1 tram0 medical events (surprisingly)Episode 4Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains tha… ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 8
    Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • New Zealand’s Witchcraft Laws: 1840/1858-1961/1962
    Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...
    3 days ago
  • No surprises
    Don’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #49 2023
    113 articles in 48 journals by 674 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects Diversity of Lagged Relationships in Global Means of Surface Temperatures and Radiative Budgets for CMIP6 piControl Simulations, Tsuchida et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-23-0045.1 Do abrupt cryosphere events in High Mountain Asia indicate earlier tipping ...
    4 days ago
  • Phone calls at Kia Kaha primary
    It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • A question of confidence is raised by the Minister of Police, but he had to be questioned by RNZ to ...
    It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news  out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • Xmas  good  cheer  for the dairy industry  as Fonterra lifts its forecast
    The big dairy co-op Fonterra  had  some Christmas  cheer to offer  its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for  the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast  midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • MICHAEL BASSETT: Modern Maori myths
    Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • Dreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28
    Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour Tunnels
    It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
    4 days ago
  • Webworm Presents: Jurassic Park on 35mm
    Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago
  • The Prime Minister's Dream.
    Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • National’s new MP; the proud part-Maori boy raised in a state house
    Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Climate Adam: Battlefield Earth – How War Fuels Climate Catastrophe
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
    5 days ago
  • They do not speak for us, and they do not speak for the future
    These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • Another attack on te reo
    The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”
    Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came  from  Education Minister  Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change: Failed again
    There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On Maori
    This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
    5 days ago
  • Rising costs hit farmers hard, but  there’s more  positive news  for  them this  week 
    New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has  been under  pressure  from rising  costs. Down on the  farm, this  has  been  hitting  hard. But there  was more positive news this week,  first   from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where  prices  rose,  and  then from  a  report ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    5 days ago
  • ROB MacCULLOCH:  Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...
    Rob MacCulloch writes –  In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
    Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Eleven years of work.
    Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
    A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • How Did We Get Here?
    Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    6 days ago
  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    6 days ago
  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago
  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    7 days ago
  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    7 days ago
  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    7 days ago
  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago
  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 week ago
  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago
  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 week ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    1 week ago
  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 week ago
  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 week ago

  • COP28 National Statement for New Zealand
    Tēnā koutou katoa Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. An island nation at the bottom of the Pacific, New Zealand is unique.          Our geography, our mountains, lakes, winds and rainfall helps set us up for the future, allowing for nearly 90 per cent of our electricity to come from renewable sources. I’m ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needs
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activity
    New Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Disestablishment of Te Pūkenga begins
    The Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says.  “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend COP28 in Dubai
    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Study shows need to remove distractions in class
    The Government is committed to lifting school achievement in the basics and that starts with removing distractions so young people can focus on their learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.   The 2022 PISA results released this week found that Kiwi kids ranked 5th in the world for being distracted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister sets expectations of Commissioner
    Today I met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to set out my expectations, which he has agreed to, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Under section 16(1) of the Policing Act 2008, the Minister can expect the Police Commissioner to deliver on the Government’s direction and priorities, as now outlined in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • New Zealand needs a strong and stable ETS
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