Make the film and be damned

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, June 18th, 2021 - 23 comments
Categories: Deep stuff, film, Media, religion - Tags:

A company wants to make a film about the Christchurch mosque massacre on 15 March 2019.

It’s about time.

Both the Prime Minister and the Mayor of Christchurch have proposed that the film should not be made because there are other stories that ought to be told first.  Neither of them have the right to determine which stories about anything should or should not be told, in any order. Nor does the Prime Minister have the right to determine whether the film ought to receive state funding.

Despite claims by some Christchurch Muslims that they weren’t consulted, it emerged yesterday that they were.

They have now got their collective messages straight in a joint statement between the film-makers and the Muslim Association of Canterbury, which also said that the production team were “devastated by the pain and concerns caused by the announcement of the film by the members of the New Zealand public, the Muslim community of New Zealand and in particular the victims directly impacted by the events of March 15th 2019 in Christchurch.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/300333148/they-are-us-producers-consulted-christchurch-imams-but-deeply-regret-not-doing-more

This emote-and-counter-emote is a pretty basic freedom of speech issue, and also a history-teaching moment.

This week the NZ Herald reported:

Christchurch mosque shootings: They are not us, and it hurts to be props in a Hollywood movie

As a Muslim, I have never had any faith in Hollywood. It is an industry that for decades was the only source of information for billions of people on Islam and Muslims, and what they saw were monsters marionetted on screen to sell cinema tickets.

Grotesque antagonists screaming nonsensically, cloaked in black, firing AK-47 rifles in the air before getting mowed down by Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone or Harrison Ford or whatever heroic white saviour was in vogue that year.

A big lesson from the world of international film production is the one of perpetual creative ideological competition: if there isn’t a Muslim-oriented film company in the entire world that can’t make a film about this issue, then what happens is  this: others do it instead. So hurry up.

But there are good arguments to make the film.

Firstly, this history needs to be told, or it will be told for us. It was a racist and evil politics of representation that got us here in the first place, through a powerful engine of short films on Youtube, 4Chan, Reddit, 8Chan and elsewhere, effectively enough to incite people to commit acts of terror. If New Zealanders can’t tell a good story about a good New Zealander doing good, the existing evil narrative wins. It is a perpetual ideological contest which needs fresh content as its defence. Make the good narrative.

Secondly, Prime Minister Ardern now  has a unique place in the world, and her place in this terrible tragedy adds to that uniqueness. Of the rich nations in the world, she is one of no more than three i am aware of that has actively supported Muslims within her country in the last decade. That she had to do so within such shocking circumstances is also a story worth telling. Leaders across the world are begging for good examples of democracies and leaders who are both compassionate and high functioning. The idea of humane and tolerant democracy needs this story because such humane and tolerant democracy is itself at risk. The light of liberal, generous, tolerant democracy is dimming. Light the fire.

Thirdly, opposing this kind of representation about her leadership role stands against the entire Prime Minister Ardern publicity machine. No one complained when news stations and youtube clips compared her performance at the United Nations to that of Donald Trump: they wanted to promote a young, liberal left democrat against an autocrat. Ardern had yet another biography come out this week (which had no qualms about explaining her role), and these authorised-unauthorised hagiographies come out about once a year: Jacinda Ardern a New Kind of Leader, Jacinda Ardern Leading with Empathy, I Know This To Be True Jacinda Ardern, Jacinda Ardern, etc etcGushing magazines for months and months after the event, together with substantial legislative changes that she personally led, attest to her role.They are at one with the intentional publicity machine generating wall to wall coverage through news and journal publications in the months and years after the massacre precisely on her actions and the kind of leadership that this represents.

Doing a film on Ardern is what her team wants (even if it’s not this one), and there is no principle against why that’s a bad idea just because it’s a film.  Ardern herself is at the centre of this publicity machine and has used it all the way to power from the beginning.

So, should the Muslim community of Christchurch or New Zealand or the world if this petition goes worldwide, determine whether this film should be made? According to Mohammad Hassan from Christchurch’s Muslim community, yes. His petition wants it stopped.

And here we are again, being spoken about but not spoken to. Our intimate and devastating trauma packaged and sold by yet another twinkle-eyed Hollywood producer. Our voices are irrelevant. Our bodies props on a set designed to tell someone else’s fable.

Even I am surprised by how much this hurts. How angry it makes me. But it’s a reminder the pain is still fresh. These wounds have not healed. I write this from a place of utter exhaustion. I am tired. I do not want to deal with this today, but here we are again.

We should accept that it hurts. Full stop. I can’t imagine Prime Minister Sir John Hall at the smashing of Parihaka in 1881, wanting to see a play being done on that event or his role in it. He would look terrible. But it deserved one. It took over a century for interesting films to be made about the New Zealand Wars.

That’s the “too early” argument.

But that’s not a good argument. It simply points to a kind of creative and moral laziness that such films weren’t made, that histories weren’t told before the actual participants were long dead, and that the truths were buried with them. This creative and moral laziness has made the entire Treaty of Waitangi process damn miserable. Make the story live, or the moral force it has in our collective mind will dissolve. The result of this century of creative near-silence is that we are still having a stupid nationwide consultation about whether to include the New Zealand wars in our history curriculum. Let’s not repeat that.

Secondly films about far larger crimes against humanity through World War 2 were being made about national leadership before it began, while it was on, and for 70 years since. Same for Vietnam. This moment in Christchurch exists within a recent history of massacres of Muslims that have risen with the rise of the hard right – a crisis which many have seen as a precursor to those surrounding World War 2. Precisely because that WW2 story is told so often and in so many ways, World War 2 is and will remain our primary moral fulcrum weighing against the new rise of the racist hard right. Tell the story, so that its moral message helps define us anew from one generation to the next. Don’t tell the story and its entire moral force dissolves.

We barely know about the moral message of China and Russia’s massacres-of-millions-through-deliberate-famine, precisely because they were totalitarian regimes who suppressed such truths from being expressed – especially in film form from their own people. We struggled to put up a memorial in a rose garden to the 237 people who died in the Erebus disaster over 40 years ago.

So now we can imagine the effects if the film production company agrees, shuts the idea down, walks away, and we wipe the back of our hand against our collective forehead in relief.

The great Conservative machine about the hyper woke killing cultural expression gets a big confirmation.

The floor is open for another film company to do the film with as much or as little sympathy as they want.

The opponents of liberal, tolerant and generous democratic leadership get to stare down Biden’s challenge to find good examples of good leadership as a balance against rising tyranny.

The New Zealand film industry misses the kind of moral test that it needed.

Australia as an exporter of racist extremism goes unexamined, again.

Ardern looks like a total political hypocrite.

The failure of our own state to protect its own people goes unexamined (other than through an absurdly narrow Royal Commission).

The international machine of Muslims suppressing creative production gets another win, and also misses out on a major creative opportunity for Muslims.

But at least New Zealand is placated, its memory again erased.

Instead, make the film.

23 comments on “Make the film and be damned ”

  1. Anne 1

    Thank-you Ad for putting a big effort in putting together this post.

    I agree with much of what you have said but not everything. Yes, there is a need for such a film and for the reasons you have given, but there is also a time and a place for it to happen.

    As anyone who has been through a terrifying experience will know, it takes time to recover – sometimes years. A good example is those who were part of/or witnessed terrible scenes in the two world wars. But it took years for the full story of some of the worst atrocities to come out – the Jewish Holocaust is probably the most famous.

    The Christchurch Muslim community of NZ were the direct victims. They are not ready yet to watch a re-enactment of their experience on the screen. We need to respect that. Give them a bit more time to come to terms with what happened, and then go for it I say.

    • Forget now 1.1

      I agree with Anne that thanks are due to Ad for the time and effort to craft the OP. But the title could have used some work ("publish and be damned" is a newspaper line I think, though I don't know the context). Who is supposed to "be damned" here: The MAC? The filmakers? Ardern? Surely damnation is not a good thing, even if not used in a christian sense.

      However, I do not see this as a free speech issue. There is no way to prevent the film being made with greenscreen backgrounds in any studio anywhere in the world. It is more a question of whether the production company will be provided access to filming locations in Christchurch (probably involving closing off major roads around Hagley park). And whether the filming and screening of the film will be accompanied by vocal and disruptive protests that may make it uneconomic, or otherwise unattractive, for the production company.

      The Parihaka comparison is just confusing. Comparing Premier Hall to Prime Minister Ardern is a long enough stretch. But that was certainly not just a cultish loner acting out his delusions to tragic results. The tragedy of Parihaka was in how calculated and celebrated the invasion was by the settlers, and their government. Who were the Bryce & Gordon in the Christchurch attack? Though arguably, the displaying of the "evil" Te Whiti to various public gatherings during his unjust imprisonment in the South Island, did approximate a filmgoing experience for the time. A kind of play demonstrating the superiority of the civilized over the savage, using a person as a prop for the propaganda.

  2. ghostwhowalksnz 2

    Here we go … a project for a film about a recent event, which may or may not be made and may or maynot be the right time, and the article here veers off into an anti Ardern meme.

    'Thirdly, opposing this kind of representation about her leadership role stands against the entire Prime Minister Ardern publicity machine'

    So the idea that she said that 'others storys should be told, not mine' is not the right thing to do and say, and thus suspect because … womens magazines ! [pro tip womens magazines largely make up their own story leads without any input from Ardern, they use stock photos and such about events involving women…because they are womens magazines]. Seriously , its not part of any 'publicity machine'.

    • Marcus Morris 2.1

      Totally agree Gwwnz. This line,

      'Thirdly, opposing this kind of representation about her leadership role stands against the entire Prime Minister Ardern publicity machine'

      is a gratuitous slur on Jacinda Adern and totally out of order. Our Prime Minister is very much her own person and "what we see is what we get". In my opinion she is totally sincere and that is why she retains her popularity. She doesn't need a PR machine to give her polish.

      I also hold the view that now is not the time to make such a film.

  3. Stuart Munro 3

    I'm not sure it's the right time, or the right outfit having a go at this, but preventing movies isn't really part of the normal business of government.

    That said, there are more powers available than mere state coercion – if for example local Muslim groups, the PM, and the race relations conciliator all came out against it, the producers might well be persuaded to abandon it.

    Generally speaking, movie companies aren't keen to chance projects that seem poised to die in a hail of hostile tweets.

  4. Patricia Bremner 4

    Good arguments for the film Ad, but it will be made for money not so much for art or culture.

    A country where guns and massacres are common, where people live in gated communities with armed guards, have so little in common with us, I feel the human truths would get lost. After all, even people living here have abused victims and survivors.

    It is a known fact that telling the story will stir up good and bad outcomes. How soon is too soon? Who will be this film appeal to? Who will it affect? What are the parameters? What window of personal perception will guide the thinking?

    So much to consider, and once made, will this movie become the perceived truth? Can a US lens convey the nuances of Aotearoa?

  5. "about time" and "this history"

    Really ..History?

    And without getting into the other myriad of reasons this movie is so wrong ..I would have thought that Labour..when they first heard whispers of this project (which they would have ..its a very small country) should have actively said "No! No! No!"…a movie about a political Leader who is still in office, and arguably still in the prime of their political career is unheard of simply because it has great potential to backfire..

    • ghostwhowalksnz 5.1

      Thats what happened , she said NO. What do you think 'active No' is instead ?

      • Siobhan 5.1.1

        No. Like I said. I'm not talking about what was said after the damage was half done. I'm talking about the fact this is a small country ..and there is alot of family and friend connection between film and politics ..I'm talking about they should have said "No' before it became public.

        • ghostwhowalksnz 5.1.1.1

          That doesnt make sense. Apart from the consultation, so called ,no one knew they had a film project. It wasnt a public service type 'no surprises' situation and she was only asked in media rounds at the start of week.

          No means No, do you know what that even means ?

  6. Tiger Mountain 6

    Someone, somewhere is going to make the second and subsequent films about the Christchurch Mosque massacre whatever anyone here thinks or says–the first was made Cinéma vérité style by the white supremacist as he blasted away.

    Steven Spielberg made one of the best WWII movies–“Schindlers List” in 1993, almost 50 years after events depicted. There is absolutely no rush on this project apart from the film industry money trench.

  7. Pete 7

    The Prime Minister definitely shouldn't determine whether films ought to receive state funding. The Prime Minister definitely shouldn't have the right to determine which stories about anything should or should not be told. I'm sure she doesn't expect either of those things.

    She certainly has as much right as anyone though to have opinions about the issue and express them. She is entitled to her reasons for not wanting the movie too.

    The discussion reminds me of the cannabis referendum. Ms Ardern did not say how she was going to vote before the vote and was attacked. Had she indicated her preference prior to the vote she would have been attacked for 'trying to influence' it.

    It seems we want to hear from her – some for affirmation and for some so they can attack her for what she says or for actually saying anything.

  8. ghostwhowalksnz 8

    Theres a whole genre of film in central europe especially Germany, that were made immediately after wars end 'in the rubble' of bombed out cities, hence the name

    Trummerfilm

    'The style is characterized by its use of location exteriors among the "rubble" of bombed-down cities to bring the gritty, depressing reality of the lives of the civilian survivors in those early years'

    The Third Man (1949) is one that a lot of older people will remember, as it was a Hollywood production with a european director made in bombed out Vienna

  9. McFlock 9

    Absence of a hollywood movie doesn't mean that any issues, including Australian extremism, will go unexamined.

    Nor is there any censorship going on. Just other people exercising their free speech, so far.

    There is no rush to make a movie, other than for commercial reasons – and they're not good enough to risk stuffing this up.

    That having been said, the post is a good one. This isn't a simple issue, and has many facets for and against.

    I will say that the difference between the shootings and WW2 is that, e.g., everyone in Poland was directly affected by the Nazi invasion. Pretty much everyone had the cache to tell that story.

    Not sure there's a parallel yet with the chch prick, but it will eventually happen that someone with reasonable connection to the events will tell their story. No rush, though.

  10. Stephen D 10

    It would have been nice to credit Orewa College for the Kia Kaha pic.

  11. Anker 11
    • Agree with most of what you say Ad.

    cancel culture (not the Muslims who were against the film) but the people who did the pile on.

    worst was Golriz…….labelling it white supremacy is woke gone mad

    • I Feel Love 11.1

      Yeah what would Golriz know about racism compared to you right? Calling someone "woke" is just a way to shut them up, especially non white people, especially non white women. Maybe shut up and listen for a change.

  12. Treetop 12

    Review making a film on the Christchurch horror 15 March 2019 in 5 years. I do not think it right for a sitting Prime Minister to be part of a film when there is a political process which her government is involved in.

    If Hollywood want to make a film I suggest they seek the permission of the survivors who were at the Lake Alice child and adolescent unit from 1972 – 1978.

    Even though some of the Lake Alice accounts are currently being told at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care, many governments in NZ have seriously failed the survivors. The survivors are not getting any younger and many survivors would want full acknowledgement of what was done to them. To an extent the police also turned their back on the sadistic treatment which Dr Leeks authorised.

    Why Dr Leeks was not extradited from Australia is the question I would want a film to answer?

  13. Anker 13

    Wow I feel love. That was pretty strong i.e. "the shut up and listen for a change" bit.

    But I am going to agree, Woke is a label and probably unhelpful. A bit like Terf.

    I am not trying to shut anyone down. I merely don't agree with Golriz view that making a film about Jacinda Ardern's response to the terrorist attack is white supremacy.

    The movie was something I thought a lot about actually and did listen to a lot of views. I actually could see the both sides to the arguement over the movie.

    Probably Goriz has a more lived experience of racism (although you are making an assumption about my race

    By making the film there is a chance to show millions of people what good leadership looks like "the are us". and how it is possible to have a crack down on weapons. And how a young female leader initiated the Christchurch call. I think that is a worthy aim.

  14. ghostwhowalksnz 14

    Its an indictment in a way on the self important NZ film industry who are so obsessed with importing big budget and big noting Hollywood movies that a NZ made docu-series approach has been overlooked

    What the survivors are probably thinking about is something like this that streamed on Netflix

    "Survivors and first responders share personal stories of anguish, kindness and bravery that unfolded amid the Paris terror attacks of Nov. 13, 2015."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_13:_Attack_on_Paris

  15. Jenny How to get there 15

    From the time our ancestors sat around camp fires in caves people have told narrative stories to each other. Of heroes and villains, of triumph and tragedy.

    Why do we tell such stories to each other.

    To try to make sense of the world.

    Why are we still waiting for that Hollywood treatment of the 9/11 attack?

    The problem with making a film about the 9/11 attack is that the terrorists always come out as cartoon characters, not human beings. Though the terrorists are central to the story, all suggested screen plays so far, have concentrated on bit players, Those who reacted to the attack. No screen play of the build up, which led to the attack.
    Who the hell is Ali Atta?
    To this day the identities and motives of the 9/11 attackers remain shrouded in silence and secrecy.

    What drove them?

    Left unanswered these questions make for an empty story. A story which doesn't satisfy our need to try and make sense of the world.

    Why the Trade Towers as their chosen target?

    All this is left unexplained and unexamined. This huge plot hole remains unfilled even by the once over lightly Hollywood treatment.

    The dramatisation does not fill our need to understand the world and so descends into superficial light hearted entertainment unsuited to retelling this grave tragedy.

    It makes no sense of the world.

    Now imagine a screen play that started with Ali Atta as a young boy playing in the street, innocent as all children are.

    What was it that this boy or young man witnessed growing up, that drove him as a grown man to kill himself and thousands of other innocent human beings?

    Now we would have a gripping story that would be the jumping off point to the tragedy and heroism of the victims and respondents.

    The same for the Christchurch Shooter (whose name we are not allowed to mention here) Who is he, What drove him? Who supported him? Who ignored the warnings?
    What was the society that formed him?

    Just like Ali Atta we are served up with an unrecognisable nameless shadowy figure.

    Why New Zealand?

    Are we blameless?

    Are we somehow to blame?

    Is racism a festering problem in our society?

    A narrative story that addressed these questions would be gripping.

    Against this backdrop the countering heroism of the response to the attack and the humanity displayed by our Prime Minister would be brought into sharper relief.

    In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 New Yorkers were shocked wandering around asking each other and any journalist who questioned them, "Why us?"

    George Bush wove a simplistic narrative of bad guys who hate freedom. Continuing the cycle of mindless violence into the present day.

    There has been no resolution on screen, or in reality.

    By concentrating on the decency of Jacinda Ardern will this new film be any different?

  16. Jenny How to get there 16

    I walked out of Christchurch counter-terrorism hui – Wellington hasn't been paying attention

    Mahvash Ali

    Mahvash Ali is a Kiwi Muslim journalist and currently works as an associate producer on The Project.

    …..While Juliet Moses has really copped most of the criticism, I was far more offended by the preceding speaker – Edwina Pio, she has an impressive portfolio and amongst a host of other prestigious roles holds the position of New Zealand's first and only professor of diversity.

    Pio's speech was peppered with quotes by Muslim philosophers and poets. For someone who quoted Rumi so liberally, I could not believe how tone deaf her speech was.

    She, like many others, chose to use the term "lone" actor terrorist.

    It's well and truly time to call it a day with that phrase.

    Far-right extremism is a collective identity.

    It is what the Christchurch terrorist subscribed to, as did the man who recently killed a Muslim family in Canada. The terrorist who carried out the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting was a white supremacist just like the 2011 Norway attacker.

    Nothing about their actions and ideology is a single, unconnected incident.

    And while the media gets all the blame for popularising the term "lone" gunman, perhaps it should start with academics changing the narrative…

    I walked out of Christchurch counter-terrorism hui – Wellington hasn't been paying attention (msn.com)

    .

    We have been told that the theme for this movie will be how, from our leaders down, what a wonderfully inclusive bunch we all are.
    I can pretty much guarantee you, that the 'lone gunman' narrative will be repeated very early in this film, (if not in the first credits).
    The Tuhoe 'terror raids', Don Brash's Orewa speech, the state sanctioned "racist" dawn raids targeting Pacific Islanders, The New Zealand Army being deployed against Ngati Whatua, our support for racist sporting contacts, all these searing images and events from our recent pass, will be brushed aside and not get any screen time, to be replaced by 'lone gunman'. The resurgence of white supremacism in this country, (if it ever went away) will all be swept under the carpet with one inclusive phrase, 'lone wolf', in a fluffy feel good movie that makes us feel better about ourselves.

    Uh Oh!

    I spent a year watching the alt-Right after the devastating Christchurch terror attacks

    Glenn McConnell

    …..we know this ugly underbelly exists. We know, also, that the alleged terrorist's views are not that of a "lone wolf". His views are shared among a uniting group of white supremacists and would-be fascists, who connect predominantly online….

    …White supremacy, xenophobia and the alt-Right have always been present in New Zealand. After all, anti-immigrant and "iwi v Kiwi" rhetoric has been treated as fair game during elections.

    ……The days after March 15 saw us all come together in the most powerful expressions of unity and aroha I have witnessed.

    This week, I searched for commemoration events and found the most frightful comments I have seen all year.

    These comments were not hidden. They did not come from anonymous accounts. They were not shared on encrypted apps or on the dark web.

    They were posted in neighbourhood Facebook groups across the country.

    Pākehā men and women complained, "stop ramming this down our throats". They said they were sick of this, bored of these community events, and annoyed with Islamic associations opening their doors.

    Poor, bruised Pākehā victims … and Brian Tamaki. Wait, they aren't the victims.

    They have no right to complain. New Zealand, get yourself together.

    This ambivalence to what was the greatest tragedy of our time scares me more than anything.

    As we approach the anniversary, we need to take another hard look at ourselves. This white-victimhood, which has become so popular, cannot go uncontested.

    I spent a year watching the alt-Right after the devastating Christchurch terror attacks | Stuff.co.nz

    In this environment, “Make the film and be damned ” takes on a different meaning.

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  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
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