It takes a child to raise a country – so Tick for Kids

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, June 20th, 2014 - 80 comments
Categories: child welfare, election 2014 - Tags:

Overshadowed by the  political smears that have dominated the past few days, the Tick for Kids campaign was launched (video) to put our children at the centre of the election campaign.

In their media release supporting the campaign, the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services nailed the inequality issue:

NZCCSS is calling for government policies that lift the household income of vulnerable families so they can provide a healthy standard of living for their children. Policies such as paying a universal child benefit (e.g. by extending the In-Work Tax Credit to parents who are not in work) will help reduce child poverty. Policies like these make a contribution to reducing inequality and consequently lifting children out of poverty.

Other issues in the campaign are health, education, disability, housing and refugee and migrant children.

We know that the right can’t tackle these issues seriously. We’ve seen the situation for Kiwi children only get worse over the past five years.  Punitive crackdowns on beneficiary families, school closures, eroding incomes, refusing to expand the Food in Schools programme to all schools, running down early childhood education: the National-ACT-United Future-Maori coalition has been bad for kids.

Meanwhile, Labour has the BestStart policy to ensure all families with newborns get a basic level of support, restore funding to ECE and provide free antenatal classes. The Greens have a package of policies including after-school care and free GP visits for all under-18s. Mana believes feeding the kids should be our first priority as a nation.

And a leftwing coalition which reduces inequality, raises wages, rebuilds our social safety net and creates meaningful economic growth benefits all Kiwis and their families.

What do you reckon?

80 comments on “It takes a child to raise a country – so Tick for Kids ”

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  1. karol 1
    20 June 2014 at 11:43 am

    yes, will tick the Greens for policies that support, not just kids, but young people – free health care to 18 years, debt free tertiary education with gradual progress to full free teritary education, increase in state housing, etc.

    But a vote for any left parties will help put these policies strongly on the agenda for any new, non-Nat government.

    It’s really important that community groups put pressure on politicians for changes towards a less unequal society.

    • just saying 1.1
      20 June 2014 at 12:01 pm

      It’s really important that community groups put pressure on politicians for changes towards a less unequal society.

      I get regular junkmail from the Labour Party and often I hit reply and politely and briefly express my views about the direction of the party, poverty and inequality.
      I’ve never gotten a reply but I’ve figured it can’t do any harm.

      Today I received my first ever reply – from David Cunliffe’s office. Maybe it takes a crisis to make them at least pay the punters the courtesy of a response (though I suspect head office is a dead loss under all circumstances). Maybe my comments won’t reach David’s eyes as promised. It’s not like I’m getting my hopes up or anything. But I do want to suggest to those functionaries in the Labour Party that responding to people like me is diplomatically and strategically worthwhile. I may be bitterly disappointed and unlikely to vote for the party, but I do talk to people in the real world. Often about politics.

    • Colonial Viper 1.2
      20 June 2014 at 2:14 pm
      • Full employment policy for those who are 25 and under.
      • blue leopard 1.2.1
        20 June 2014 at 2:42 pm

        +100

      • Polish Pride 1.2.2
        20 June 2014 at 5:51 pm

        Sounds like a short step away from conscription.

        • just saying 1.2.2.1
          20 June 2014 at 6:27 pm

          The conservation and community corps.

        • blue leopard (Get Lost GCSB Bill) 1.2.2.2
          20 June 2014 at 6:29 pm

          …even that would be better than the ‘conscription’ we have at present ( that is the one where you have to sign up for the dole cos there is not anyone willing or able to employ you) – as long as it didn’t oblige people to fight in wars I don’t see conscription as worse than being on the dole when young – actually I see it as a lot better.

          • just saying 1.2.2.2.1
            20 June 2014 at 6:36 pm

            I wasn’t thinking of conscription, just making meaningful conservation and community work available to all young people at a living wage.

            • blue leopard (Get Lost GCSB Bill) 1.2.2.2.1.1
              20 June 2014 at 6:39 pm

              Yeah, I didn’t think you were – my comment re conscription was in response to Polish Pride’s comment not yours.

              I think your idea is a very good one (much better than going into the army). 🙂

      • Anthony B'stard 1.2.3
        20 June 2014 at 11:30 pm

        Thats hilarious Colonel V, seeing as Labour getting rid of youth rates caused youth unemployment to skyrocket.

        How are Labour going to achieve Full employment for youth when one of their core policies causes massive employment discrimination against them?

    • David 1.3
      21 June 2014 at 9:37 am

      Have a look at this 22minute doco clip to see where National thinks the brighter future is…..

      http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/06/19/367660/us-grapples-with-high-youth-detention/

  2. Philj 2
    20 June 2014 at 11:59 am

    xox
    The torrie voters already think the Nats are supporting kids in Noo Zild! That’s a major part of the problem.

    • blue leopard 2.1
      20 June 2014 at 12:12 pm

      It seems reasonable to assert that only approximately 21% of the voting age population are committed National voters – based on the 2002 election results – and therefore there is plenty of room for movement amongst those stating they ‘intend to vote for National’ this time around.

      • lprent 2.1.1
        20 June 2014 at 1:18 pm

        You should probably add the Act voters from 2002 in there as well. It is hard to see what other party they have to go to after ACT imploded itself to a pinhole in the political space.

        • blue leopard 2.1.1.1
          20 June 2014 at 1:40 pm

          Good point, I missed that – heck, that makes the percentage a lot higher 28%. (my initial reaction was ‘what? all two of them! – forgetting they used to get more support lol).

          It is still only around half of what polls are suggesting National support is, so fortunately my point does still hold though.

          The calculation to work out the lowest support the left-wing has received is harder to calculate, however looking at the last election results where Labour took a hit the three main left-wing parties still adds up to 40% of the voters. That is a core group that is substantially more than 28%. (There may have been some blue voters in Greens that year perhaps? – but that is likely to be somewhere in the realms of 2-3% max)

          • lprent 2.1.1.1.1
            20 June 2014 at 1:54 pm

            It is still only around half of what polls are suggesting National support is, so fortunately my point does still hold though.

            Yeah. I suspect that the National core vote at the election is slightly less than Labour’s.

        • Anthony B'stard 2.1.1.2
          20 June 2014 at 11:32 pm

          Cough cough 56% in most recent poll

          Chur

          • lprent 2.1.1.2.1
            20 June 2014 at 11:38 pm

            Silly fool, do try to keep up.
            49.5% in a poll that considerably over-rated National last election.

            From memory, the last ipos before the 2011 election had National not only winning on its own, but also by a substantial margin.

            You have to look at the accuracy of polls and please do try to keep up with the recent polls.

  3. dimebag russell 3
    20 June 2014 at 12:25 pm

    yep its the kids allright.
    they are going to have to put up with all the nonsense that keys and his cronies are doing to aid and abet to appease their nuttiest adherents.
    national is about to wreck the education system just so the wackjobs can have jobs to promote their own agendas.
    this must not be allowed to happen.
    our children are our most precious resource and having national screw them up just because they have no moral compass is beyond imagination.
    the result would be hideous if heka paratai and the act rump get to deform the public purpose.

    • Polish Pride 3.1
      20 June 2014 at 12:33 pm

      “national is about to wreck the education system”
      I’m no fan of National but our education system isn’t all that in my view. What I learned in English has been useful but a lot of the other stuff not so much. It may have changed since my time at school but probably not that much.
      It takes kids to raise a country all right so long as you teach them how to think and not what to think. Our education system historically at least is very good at teaching the latter of the two and whilst it continues to do so our future isn’t going to be a very bright one at all.

  4. blue leopard 4
    20 June 2014 at 12:34 pm

    Interesting, I have noticed left-wing politicians using that phrase ‘tick for kids’ rather a lot already. Good idea.

    It strikes me as sad, though, that it has come to the point where the narrative requires solely mentioning children’s interests in order to appeal to people in this country – this indicates that the belief that people ‘choose’ to be poor has become strongly ingrained and horrible paradox in existence is that the more this belief takes hold the more policies that destroy social mobility and create poverty traps are supported.

    I would prefer that people in this country were concerned about their fellow citizens and what works in a society and what doesn’t with regard to poverty and social mobility – however considering this is increasingly not the case and the people I live amongst are apparently becoming increasingly self-absorbed and muddle-headed about these matters despite the effects of greed and self interest clearly showing up with the GFC – so Tick for Kids it is.

    It is good to see a group working around the sad state of NZers’ ability to feel for and care about their compatriots circumstances and who have worked out a way of focusing peoples thinking in this way on this issue.

    • karol 4.1
      20 June 2014 at 12:41 pm

      Agrred, bl.

      It’s about poverty, the inequality gap and the need for a more inclusive and caring society.

      • Polish Pride 4.1.1
        20 June 2014 at 12:53 pm

        …..In a system that is geared towards competitiveness at almost every turn. Hell even Mum and Dad are incentivised to spend less time together with their kids as a family.

        • blue leopard 4.1.1.1
          20 June 2014 at 1:29 pm

          Yes, the ‘values’ that are being promoted these days are sickening. (It may be that values are not being promoted actively, they are simply being ignored – but the result is the same whatever way you look at it – as your example shows.)

          The trick is to watch out for ‘either/or’ choices: Either you spend time with your kids or you gather enough income to feed your family.

          The ‘either’ needs to be scrapped, ‘can’ needs to be placed after both yous and the ‘or’ needs to be ‘and’ – only then will we have a real choice as to how we live our lives.

  5. karol 5
    20 June 2014 at 12:39 pm

    Remember Aroha Nathan and how Key used her for electioneering?

    What has his government done for the “underclas”?

    Time for policies that really do tackle the too large inequality gap.

    • Molly 5.1
      21 June 2014 at 9:34 am

      That was an appalling abuse of a vulnerable child. The arrogance of Key in promoting his “largesse” and her body language spoke volumes. If he was at all concerned (hah!) he would have paid for her to travel with her family anonymously to Waitangi. The media should have refused to promote that ill-considered and distasteful electioneering stunt.

      Brings to mind the phrase I read once from Keri Hulme about where she got the title The Bone People … people who wear their heart on their sleeve, and say ‘Mind you look at my sleeve’…

  6. fisiani 6
    20 June 2014 at 1:14 pm

    https://www.national.org.nz/news/news/media-releases/detail/2014/05/15/supporting-families-and-returning-to-surplus

    National is daily improving the lives of the worst off. National is clearly the best party for the poor, the sick and the marginalised. I don’t expect you to agree just yet but take the blinkers off and it’s obvious that National has brought thousands more children out of the scourge of living in a beneficiary household. National has insulated virtually every state house and will provide free medical care and prescriptions for all under 13’s.
    National is about equality of opportunity. Socialism is about equality of outcome.
    That’s why over 50% choose National and by September it could be closer to 60%

    National’s Business Growth Agenda is growing the economy, creating job opportunities for Kiwis and slashing the current account deficit.
    Record exports have more than halved the current account deficit in six years

    We’re sailing the right course. Let’s keep it that way come 20 September.

    • Stephanie Rodgers 6.1
      20 June 2014 at 1:19 pm

      You’re right, National has done an amazing job of getting families off benefits. Not by actually creating jobs or raising wages or anything, but off is off, right? Who cares that more kids are living in poverty, it’s all relative, etc etc.

      • fisiani 6.1.1
        20 June 2014 at 1:52 pm

        Governments don’t create jobs. Business does. Profitable business does. More people employed now than ever before and the number keeps rising and unemployment falls. Wages BTW have risen 3.2% well above inflation. That’s undeniable.
        What was shameful, utterly shameful and disgusting was the vote last night by the Greens and Hone to oppose safeguarding children. That bill was supported by every other party.

        • Stephanie Rodgers 6.1.1.1
          20 June 2014 at 2:03 pm

          More people are employed now than ever before? Amazing! Especially when you consider the working-age population is decreasing.

          … hang on.

          Honestly, I think you need your own commenting bingo board some time.

        • Tracey 6.1.1.2
          20 June 2014 at 2:06 pm

          what is shameful is for you to use the vulnerable children in nz to further your smugness and pay lip service to their issues.

          • Davethebroken 6.1.1.2.1
            20 June 2014 at 2:52 pm

            It gave the appearance that Greens care more for politics that they do children. We will only get real traction on social issues if there is more emphasis on solutions than games

          • Anthony B'stard 6.1.1.2.2
            20 June 2014 at 11:35 pm

            Tracey – Isn’t that what this whole article is doing though?

        • blue leopard 6.1.1.3
          20 June 2014 at 2:10 pm

          @ Fisiani,

          Governments can make job creation viable or not though.
          They can make it so that speculating provides greater profits for those with wealth than creating jobs with that wealth – or not though.
          And actually Governments can also create jobs too.

          So you appear altogether misinformed on the matter.

          These above facts that I list are why I sincerely hope Labour is in government by the end of the year because they are sounding very switched on with respect to the capacity the government has to assist in creating a society where everyone has jobs and pay that covers their living costs. This approach actually saves in welfare expenses to so that it can be directed into other areas. How excellent that would be.

          Like you, National appear to be entirely out of ideas over this issue. The best they can do is steal Labour/Green/Mana policies and so far that is exactly what they have done and it is these policies that are often cited as achievements of this current government by this government. It is all rather pathetic when one looks at the facts and who has really created any benefits that people are experiencing today (which are exaggerated by this government too by the way).

        • Colonial Viper 6.1.1.4
          20 June 2014 at 2:17 pm

          Governments don’t create jobs. Business does. Profitable business does.

          ABSOLUTE SHITE

          Teachers have real jobs. Nurses have real jobs. Customs staff have real jobs. DOC field officers have real jobs. Police have real jobs. Our Orion pilots have real jobs.

          And if the Government had bothered to get real trains from Dunedin instead of breakable toy trains from China, a couple of hundred Dunedin workers more would have “real jobs.”

          You are so FULL OF SHIT

          • Davethebroken 6.1.1.4.1
            20 June 2014 at 2:34 pm

            Yes, Public Service is real employment (well I hope so else I wasted years of my life) – but to grow the employment “pie”, you need businesses to do well. It’s a simple fact and abusing whoever said that earlier doesn’t make it less real.

            [lprent: see http://thestandard.org.nz/it-takes-a-child-to-raise-a-country-so-tick-for-kids/#comment-835122 ]

            • Colonial Viper 6.1.1.4.1.1
              20 June 2014 at 3:04 pm

              Sorry davethebroken Fizzy’s claim was that government doesn’t create jobs.

              I demonstrated how fucked up his right wing mantra was. Don’t protect him for it please.

              but to grow the employment “pie”, you need businesses to do well

              Simplistic and wrong because you have not put first things first. To grow the employment pie, you need spending into the economy. ZERO happens to create jobs until spending into the economy rises significantly. And if the private sector refuses to do so, then it is up to government.

              To back this up – everyone knows that businesses always try to MINIMISE both spending and head count. Relying on that behaviour of theirs to “grow the employment pie” is foolhardy.

              • Davethebroken …
                20 June 2014 at 3:17 pm

                Businesses by their very nature spend and contribute to the economy. Govt needs income before it can spend so it needs businesses to contribute. Neither can work in isolation. The left champion Govt spending, the right champions business – but the reality is we need both to be strong.
                I think it’s simplistic to “dump on business” as capitalist exploiters, as much as it’s wrong to say that Govt is just a socialist burden

                • karol …
                  20 June 2014 at 3:23 pm

                  All businesses are not the same. Some businesses make a contribution to the general good, others work to enrich themselves at the expense of the greater good – see big oil, the tobacco and sugar industries, property developers, financial speculators, etc.

                • blue leopard …
                  20 June 2014 at 3:44 pm

                  @ Davethebroken

                  “I think it’s simplistic to “dump on business”

                  Where was CV dumping on business?

                • Polish Pride …
                  20 June 2014 at 5:30 pm

                  “but the reality is we need both to be strong.”
                  Whilst we are determined to stay with a system that fails to deliver even the most basic needs to over 50% of the worlds population.
                  Under a better designed and fit for purpose system we would need industry, design, manufacturing, technology and automation

                • Polish Pride …
                  20 June 2014 at 5:31 pm

                  “but the reality is we need both to be strong.”
                  Only whilst we are determined to stay with a system that fails to deliver even the most basic needs to over 50% of the worlds population.
                  Under a better designed and fit for purpose system we would need industry, design, manufacturing, technology and automation.

          • fisiani 6.1.1.4.2
            20 June 2014 at 4:15 pm

            Business makes the profits and workers pay the tax to allow the government to employ doctors nurses teachers etc on their behalf but never forget that the government ultimately gets its money from the growth in business. Labour and the Greens want to stifle and retard NZ business. They are therefore anti-jobs

            • blue leopard (Get Lost GCSB Bill) 6.1.1.4.2.1
              20 June 2014 at 4:25 pm

              That is funny, I could have sworn there are plenty of policies in Labour and Greens that show they want capital to flow into business and business related activities and not into speculation.

              That they intend to pursue policies that support job creation.

              Where did you get that bit about ‘anti-job’? In your own muddled head?

              • fisiani …
                20 June 2014 at 5:02 pm

                Are you joking.
                Greens and Labour want to ban mining, drilling, increased dairying, extracting fallen timber, roading, the list goes on and on. So YES The Greens/Labour Luddites are anti-jobs.

                • Polish Pride …
                  20 June 2014 at 5:17 pm

                  I believe that there are some within the Greens that are pro automation and freeing people from having to work. This is a far better solution moving forward in a world that is becoming increasingly automated.
                  They are also pro Green tech and pro jobs in Green tech
                  so no not anti jobs just not too happy about the damage that the industries you have mentioned do to our environment.

                  As for roading… given the state of the roads in my area I’m pretty sure National aren’t exactly that interested in upkeeping them either.

                • blue leopard (Get Lost GCSB Bill) …
                  20 June 2014 at 5:23 pm

                  @ Fisiani,

                  Nope I am not joking.

                  Are you?

                  Where is this ‘infinite list’ you are speaking of?

                  Does this list ban food growers? Restaurant workers? Cleaners? Teachers? Bulldozer drivers? Nurses? Forestry workers?Sewerage workers? High fashion? Computer Tech workers? Musical instrument makers? Film makers? Street Cleaners ?

                  Or is it simply industries that you have an interest in and that are being required to stop externalizing costs that lead you to draw the strange conclusions that you do?

                • Stephanie Rodgers …
                  21 June 2014 at 11:36 am

                  Semi-mod note: Please stop telling lies, fisiani. In future please back up your claims about parties’ policies, and when you can’t, refrain from commenting.

          • Anthony B'stard 6.1.1.4.3
            20 June 2014 at 11:36 pm

            Colonel V, there are only a finite number of jobs the government can create, the bulk of jobs have to be created by businesses, otherwise you start looking like North Korea or Soviet Russia did.

            • McFlock 6.1.1.4.3.1
              20 June 2014 at 11:52 pm

              Or the period in history when NZ had the highest standard of living in the world….

        • Polish Pride 6.1.1.5
          20 June 2014 at 5:48 pm

          Actually Fisiani Business doesn’t create jobs. Customers do. If a business has no customers it won’t create a single job.

    • freedom 6.2
      20 June 2014 at 2:29 pm

      Equality of outcome is completely dictated by equality of opportunity. Yes some of the blame for our current predicament falls on Labour but on balance, they are still the minor player when it comes to the institutional damage wrought on Aotearoa over the past four decades. If National were about equality of opportunity they would immediately reinstate state funded Tertiary education. They would not have thrown Adult Education classes into the woodchipper. They would have a CGT and a Death Tax and a Robin Hood Tax that goes directly into small business development funds or similar socially responsible programmes. They would tax foreign corporations as stridently and as harshly as they tax the unemployed. They would remove profit as the primary motive for social services. They would build better transport systems not just more highways. They would have kept Mental Health hospitals open instead of dumping the most vulnerable into underfunded community care programmes, before going on to gut those programmes. They would have used Kiwi manufacturers for all that stuff Kiwis need that Kiwis can build. They would have supported the paid parental leave bill in its entirety not begrudgingly sign off on a spin-doctored version. They would not have kicked out entire communities from the nicer suburbs just to satisfy the endless greed of property developers.

      The list could go on for days, so, in short … If National were about equality of opportunity they would have agreed to any number of proposals over the years that delivered a more fair and equitable society. They did not, they do not and we all know they will not! How do we know this? Because of their decades of aggressive ignorance, malicious greed and barely suppressed declarations that them and theirs are all who deserve to survive.

      We do not have anything approaching an equal opportunity society.

      Socialism on the other hand, (though I still question if you have any understanding of the concept that is not sourced from a tory fact sheet) is absolutely about equality of outcome.

      And that outcome is simply for all to have a roof over their head and food in their belly and to spend their days working together to build the best life possible for the greatest number of people, now, and into the future.

      A future that those of your mindset are so hell bent on limiting to as few as possible and even then making that future as short lived as possible as you slavishly consume the finite resources of this fragile rock called Earth.

      • Polish Pride 6.2.1
        20 June 2014 at 5:13 pm

        “And that outcome is simply for all to have a roof over their head and food in their belly and to spend their days working together to build the best life possible for the greatest number of people, now, and into the future.”

        Fantastic!! but will never work if the mechanism for delivery is based on a model of wealth redistribution.

        • freedom 6.2.1.1
          20 June 2014 at 5:27 pm

          There is a lot of head space in those upper echelons. So before we completely destroy everything, surely it’s worth seeing if simply a fairer distribution wouldn’t hurt.

          i know, easy for me to say as i lick road with tongue for tuppence a week 🙂

          • Tracey 6.2.1.1.1
            20 June 2014 at 7:04 pm

            one of my favourite skits but now I picture

            key
            joyce
            bennett
            collins

            on the couches

            • freedom 6.2.1.1.1.1
              20 June 2014 at 7:39 pm

              couches, ooh I have dreamed of couches
              such a wonder would it be
              but I am happy here on my sack cloth hammock,
              doubles as a jacket.. see

      • Tracey 6.2.2
        20 June 2014 at 7:02 pm

        stop it!

  7. Davethebroken 7
    20 June 2014 at 1:19 pm

    Raising family income is the obvious strategy – the real debate though is how. Benefit increases mean Govt must get money off of someone else (either tax or cutting other spending). Raising minimum wage means small businesses pay more, even if they can’t afford it. We need the country to earn more so business can pay more (tax and wages).

    • Polish Pride 7.1
      20 June 2014 at 2:11 pm

      And that is exactly the problem and why we simply continuosly bounce from R to L.
      So long as we continue to have a politics and a system based around redistribution of wealth rather than looking at systems designed to meet the needs and requirements of mankind (and its quite a simple exercise both to determine why our current system fails on so many levels and in order to determine a system that can solve the problems our existing one can’t).

      • Davethebroken 7.1.1
        20 June 2014 at 2:18 pm

        Well put. Politics ruins good governance.Solution based Govt would be awesome

      • karol 7.1.2
        20 June 2014 at 2:53 pm

        The left doesn’t just favour a system of redistribution. For many, pre-distribution is better. Redsitribution is a fall back position.

        • Davethebroken 7.1.2.1
          20 June 2014 at 3:10 pm

          How would you define pre-distribution/ I haven’t come across that concept before

          • Anthony B'stard 7.1.2.1.1
            20 June 2014 at 11:41 pm

            She means that everyone gets paid the same, or thereabouts, within a certain range – so there are no excessive salaries and no underpaid people.

            It would never work of course, as it destroys everyones incentive to do difficult jobs.

        • Polish Pride 7.1.2.2
          20 June 2014 at 5:04 pm

          I’d typed half a response on this but decided it would be better to give more context around ‘pre-distribution’. What do you mean by this and can you give an example for context.
          thanks in advance.

          if by predistribution your talking about setting up the system to enable people to easily obtain the things they need and want then that would fit with the sort of solution that systems analysis shows we should have in order to have a system designed for all mankind.

    • Colonial Viper 7.2
      20 June 2014 at 2:21 pm

      We need the country to earn more so business can pay more (tax and wages).

      Nah bullshit, this country earns a lot already but we are being financially raped while our leaders smile and make excuses; foreign shareholders and banks take $15B out of NZ communities each and every year, that’s $20,000 per school age child right there.

      • Davethebroken 7.2.1
        20 June 2014 at 2:30 pm

        so why does the money go overseas? It’s because they invested here, risked their money on the assumption that they will earn a profit from utlising our resources.
        Unless you think you can nationalise everything (without compensation), then this isn’t a valid argument. It is more important to look at ways NZ inc can utlise our assets, and those offshore to earn ourselves profit.

        • dimebag russell 7.2.1.1
          20 June 2014 at 3:11 pm

          it goes overseas to pay for the lifestyles of the overseas exploiters of New Zealands assets and its people.
          What do you think nincompoop!

          • Davethebroken 7.2.1.1.1
            20 June 2014 at 3:13 pm

            lol are you an adult?? Think before you insult – and how about constructive debate – heard of that?

            [lprent: Read the policy. We set it. You don’t. Try telling people how they should act on our site and I’ll boot you off until after the election. The only people who can tell people how to act are the moderators. All you may do is to suggest to us that we might like to look at someones comment.

            This is your warning. I’m getting tired of moronic fuckwits like yourself wasting my time today. ]

        • Tracey 7.2.1.2
          20 June 2014 at 7:06 pm

          do you think that if the aussie banks left that tsb, kiwibank etc wouldnt take up the slack and the 15bn going offshore could stay?

        • Tracey 7.2.1.3
          20 June 2014 at 7:08 pm

          nz is a country made up of people animals flora fauna and land it is not a business. I find nz inc offensive and lazy.

      • Stephanie Rodgers 7.2.2
        20 June 2014 at 2:34 pm

        I’m not comfortable with the use of “raped” in this context. “Exploited” would work perfectly well to convey the same meaning without cheapening the situation of sexual assault survivors for shock value.

  8. Tracey 8
    20 June 2014 at 2:04 pm

    It is worth people reading some of the personal stories told in the glenn report because it shows how quickly being in the presence of violence, verbal and physical impacts a child for the worse, even when the child is not the target. I believe issues relating to children, be it health, education, law and order, and so on need to be by a representation from all parties, by consensus not votes to get a genuine, practical inter related set of steps to pave a better future.

  9. Davethebroken 9
    21 June 2014 at 11:52 am

    I get called a moronic fuckwit by the mod for asking someone who called me a nincompoop to act like an adult. All day I had people call me names or swear at me. I’ve been trying to offer some balance and positive comment (not even right wing comments) and just got personal attacks back. I will now gladly leave this site as unfortunately serious, polite and non hard line debate is obviously not wanted. This site is no better than whaleoil for genuine discussion

    [lprent: Perhaps you should read the policy on a site before trying to come on and try to change its rules. That would be adult, fleeing with a fit of pique because you didn’t is not. However I’d suggest Public Address if you want politeness. ]

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  • Top 10 for Monday, December 11
    Luxon does not see the point in Treasury analysing the impact of some of his government’s ‘first 100-day’ reforms. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Monday, December 11, including:Scoop of the day: A Treasury ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 hour ago

  • BRIAN EASTON: 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. Brian Easton writes – The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 hour ago

  • Coalition Circus of Chaos – Verbal gymnasts; an inept Ringmaster, and a helluva lot of clowns
    ..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.The Curtain Closes…You have to hand it to Aotearoa - voters don’t do things by halves. People wanted change, and by golly, change they got. Baby, bathwater; rubber ducky - all out.There is something ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    4 hours ago

  • “Brown-town”: the Wayne & Simeon show
    Last week Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown kicked off what is always the most important thing a Council does every three years – update its ‘Long term plan’. This is the budgeting process for the Council and – unlike central government – the budget has to balance in terms of income ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    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
    5 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, ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    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
    15 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” ...
    Skeptical Science
    22 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
    23 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 ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    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 ...
    Bowalley Road
    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 ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    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. ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    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. ...
    Skeptical Science
    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 ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    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 ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    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 ...
    Bowalley Road
    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 ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    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

  • 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
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