Today is the last day for submissions to the MMP Review.
If you haven’t done so yet, make sure your have your say – it only takes 5 minutes for the short submission.
If you’re looking for ideas, I posted about my submission, and called for others ideas. I’d emphasise a much lower percentage threshold and getting rid of the (Epsom) electorate threshold. Zetetic’s ideas weren’t so different.
Over at Public Address Graeme Edgeler posted his submission, with well reasoned arguments for dropping the threshold, and thoughts on everything else.
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Colombia has now made it into the modern world, but not that of a strong and diversified economy, of democratic rights, nor the rule of law. No, that is not the modern world that Colombia has ...
Local body elections are happening in October. With councils around the country declaring or debating climate emergencies, climate change is likely to play a big role, and the surge in younger candidates should provide some welcome and necessary representation against ...
Grant Illingworth QC is concerned that if David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill is enacted, we somehow would be breaching the social contract on which our entire system of law rests.read more ...
This article is about what can happen if a drug substitution programme is suddenly cancelled. In 1978, the Dunedin Hospital Board followed a New Zealand-wide trend and began an opiate substitution programme for local addicts using the synthetic narcotic, methadone. The ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 16 through Sat, June 22, 2019 Editor's Pick A Degree of Concern: Why Global Temperatures MatterCredit: NASA-JPL/CaltechPart ...
Impaired Vision: Judging from the invaluable testimony obtained from two Taliban commanders by Jon Stephenson, video evidence may exist of a US gunship firing at fleeing insurgents, as well as the Tirgiran villagers fleeing with them. Such a sequence would ...
EXC: The Conservative Muslim chief has been expelled from the Tory Muslim group. Mohammed Amin tells me he has been expelled following an intervention by CCHQ because he criticised the 'moral integrity' of Boris Johnson: https://t.co/5pkY2JR1C2— Shehab ...
One of the central demands of the Extinction Rebellion campaign has been for climate change to be taken out of the hand of corrupt establishment politicians and put in the hands of the people via a citizen's assembly. Now, it ...
Maire Leadbeater is a longtime anti-imperialist activist based in Auckland. In recent years she has been particularly active in solidarity work with the cause of freedom in West Papua, which has been under vicious Indonesian occupation since the early 1960s. ...
For the past four years, Saudi Arabia has been indiscriminately bombing Yemen, attcking hospitals and other civilian targets and committing war crimes. They're doing it in part with British weapons, exported by British arms dealers with the approval of the ...
Power Grab: With the benefit of hindsight, it is possible to argue that the economic, administrative, social and cultural institutions mandated by New Zealand’s much-praised bicultural project were simultaneously a means of releasing political pressure and mechanisms for securing the ...
Last month, Catalans elected three exiled and jailed pro-independence politicians to the European Parliament. Unfortunately, Spain no longer seems to respect the results of democratic elections, and the Spanish Electoral Commission today declared their seats vacant. The reason? None of ...
Yesterday the government announced some minor tweaks to the electoral system, including more locations for advance voting, and allowing people to enrol on election day. The changes were recommended by the Electoral Commission in its post-mortem on the 2017 election, ...
James Robb looks at the systemic issues surrounding the state taking children from their families. A shocking documentary video released last week by Newsroom reporter Melanie Reid, shows the attempts by social workers employed by Oranga Tamariki, the New Zealand state’s child welfare agency, ...
The inquiry into whether the SAS acted illegally during a nighttime raid on a suspected insurgent’s hideout in Afghanistan in 2010 (code named Operation Burnham), which resulted in six civilian deaths and serious wounds to 15 others, is slowly coming ...
The core claims of Jon Stephenson and Nicky Hager's Hit & Run are that the New Zealand SAS raided two villages in Afghanistan in search of "insurgents" who weren't there, and in the process killed six civilians including a three-year-old ...
The Original White Supremacists: The current misuse of the term “white supremacy” is highly dangerous politically. By singling out this particular form of racism and misapplying it to famous figures from the past, as well as to people living in ...
One of the major issues which face a democratic nation is the challenge of keeping its bureaucracy accountable and responsive to the public. Over the years a variety of arrangements have developed with this objective.read more ...
Statistics New Zealand is planning to track everyone through their cellphones "for statistical purposes":Stats NZ is partnering with cellphone companies to launch a new way of tracking people's movements every hour. The population density programme will launch next month and ...
Reaching Out For The Zeitgeist: Act Leader, David Seymour, and his neoliberal colleagues, have (perhaps unconsciously) grasped the multiple political implications of declaring ACT to be the “freedom party”. What they clearly have not grasped, however, is the fundamental incompatibility ...
Another major oil company has given up exploring in New Zealand: Chevron and Norwegian oil giant Equinor have opted to abandon their joint exploration efforts off the east coast of the North Island. The two firms have applied to surrender ...
When Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hired a lobbyist to set up her government in 2017, she assured us that everything was above board and any conflicts of interest would be managed. She lied:The lobbyist who served as the prime minister’s ...
NZ has dethroned GDP as a measure of success, but will Ardern’s government be transformational? When you’re in politics, words are a high-stakes game. Voters and journalists hold you to them and there is a risk in using ...
A note of appreciation and a changing of the guardFor the past over eight years Skeptical Science staff volunteer Ari Jokimäki has produced a weekly list of links to recent academic publications concerning the fundamental science of climate change, global ...
The article below first appeared in the April 7, 1978 issue of the fortnightly left-wing workers’ paper Socialist Action. The article is referred to in Maire Leadbeater’s new book on NZ and West Papua – we’ll be reviewing the book ...
If humanity is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, we need to stop burning fossil fuels. Transport is a key emitter, so this means we need to stop using fossil fuelled vehicles. A number of ...
The government's Operation Burnham whitewash has become a farce, with the SAS's victims refusing to participate any further:Afghani villagers are turning their backs on a Government inquiry into allegations six civilians were killed and a further 15 injured in a ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The world’s oceans are deeply affected by climate change – and vice versa. But until recent years, ocean advocates throughout California had long tackled issues like over-fishing ...
There’s so much one could say about Key’s assessment of Hisco right now… Suffice to say it was definitely the following: A) Perfectly reflective of the ...
New Zealand's spy agencies are supposedly subject to the rigorous oversight of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, an independent watchdog appointed to keep an eye on them and ensure they don't break the law again. But that watchdog depends ...
. . This morning, a little after 4am, Sharlene lost her brave fight against cancer. Rest in peace, Sharlene. You were always one of my brightest stars… . . Advertisements ...
Just Following Orders: None of the awfulness associated with Family Court "Uplift" orders exposed by Melanie Reid and Newsroom would be possible without the active assistance and institutional protection afforded to Oranga Tamariki by the nation’s DHBs. These latter, through ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 9 through Sat, June 15, 2019 Editor's Pick Costa Rica Doubled Its Forest Cover In Just 30 Years! Costa ...
Conflicting Messages: With so few publicly available opinion polls being conducted in this country, we really do need to know how one reputable polling agency can put National on 46 percent, while the other puts it on 37 percent. Nine ...
The End Of Civilisation: Despairing of the major powers ever agreeing to take the steps necessary to slow global warming, The Daily Blog Editor, Martyn Bradbury, has drawn up what amounts to a survivalist agenda for New Zealand. Quite rightly, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeffrey Kiehl Life makes us wake up to needed changes. A visit to the doctor’s office and accompanied tests indicate you have been diagnosed as pre-diabetic. Your doctor indicates two pathways to ...
New Zealand needs to decarbonise its electricity supply, while also increasing it to cope with the extra demand from electric vehicles. Wind energy is an obvious solution for this: we have an excellent wind resource, and its cheaper than fossil ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh The coca issue has gained a new lease of life in Duque’s Colombia, although to be truthful it never really lost its importance to the state. Trump’s scolding of Duque for not doing enough to halt ...
Director-General of OPCW Fernando Arias Gonzales admits Douma engineers report was legit and he was part of the FFM – but attempts to justify suppression of the report. France 24 reports that the head of the Organisation for the ...
When teachers demanded more time and more money to do their jobs, Education Minister Chris Hipkins was adamant: there was no more money and they should expect disappointment. No, after a joint strike and facing five weeks of rolling stoppages, ...
Ecuador's Constitutional Court has legalised same-sex marriage:Ecuador's highest court has approved same-sex marriage in a landmark ruling in the traditionally Catholic country. The vote at the nine-member Constitutional Court came as they ruled on the lawsuits by two same-sex couples ...
Arundhati Roy is speaking at the Auckland Writers Festival on July 17. In this interview in The Guardian Roy discusses her writing and political activism. Gary Younge: One of the things I’m intrigued by at this moment is the way ...
This is a re-post from Carbon Brief by Daisy Dunne The record-breaking 2018 summer heatwave in Japan in which more than 1,000 people died “could not have happened without human-induced global warming”, a study finds. And the extreme heat felt in ...
I've had a bit to say of late about YouTube, its algorithms and the escalating allure of certain facile "creators" to young men. I worry about this stuff. But I think it's also important to acknowledge that the alt-lite and ...
OMV's application for resource consent for drilling offshore exploration wells has highlighted a major flaw in our environmental legislation. Climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, is our most pressing environmental threat. But the EPA, which is deciding the application, ...
I saw an interesting article from FOIMan - a UK-based fredom of information site - on the subject of agencies googling requesters. This is apparently a common practice, but their short advice is "don't": its not just creepy and intimidating, ...
The article below is part of our ‘From the Vaults’ series and first appeared in the fortnightly left-wing NZ paper, Socialist Action, February 10, 1978. We hope to be expanding our Pacific coverage in future. The Republic of Vanuatu came ...
There are a number of ways of reading Sarah Gaitanos’s biography Shirley Smith: An Examined Life. In my view – I knew Shirley a little – she would want to you to read it as her struggle to be recognised, ...
Multiple motivations are behind my various attempts to reduce involvement in online life. The preciousness of time is a big one. The pointlessness of digital feuds is another. The inevitable temptation to meanness is a third.read more ...
Botswana's High Court has ruled that colonial laws outlawing homosexuality are unconstitutional:High court judges in Botswana have ruled that laws criminalising same-sex relations are unconstitutional and should be struck down, in a major victory for gay rights campaigners in Africa. ...
by Don Franks In his June 8th piece “Jacinda Ardern looks unbeatable” journalist Martin van Beynen appeared unbeatable himself – at fawning praise. This week I was reading about John F Kennedy, the American president assassinated in 1963, and saw ...
I am fortunate enough to be a citizen of three countries – New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Ireland – which gives me the right to live in all three places. So, let’s imagine I am a very bad person. ...
We see regular stories from farmers and orchards complaining that no-one wants to work long hours in terrible conditions for poor pay in their shitty industry. And now, its fishers. But in the process, they neatly explain why:"It's a hard ...
New Zealand's largest city has just declared a climate emergency. And its not just a symbolic move:While the declaration is largely symbolic, it signals the start of a more urgent and focussed approach by councillors to curbing greenhouse gas emissions. ...
This is a re-post from Carbon Brief by Josh Gabbatiss Political lobbying in the US that helped block the progress of proposed climate regulation a decade ago led to a social cost of $60bn, according to a new study. Environmental economists Dr ...
The Wellbeing Budget opens with, “What is wellbeing?”, a question that has been widely posed and little understood. Treasury says “Wellbeing is when people are able to lead fulfilling lives with purpose, balance and meaning to them.” Long-term challenges facing ...
Who would have thought that so many different groups of public sector workers would have discovered at roughly the same time that they have been underpaid and under-resourced to such an extent? No one doubts that teachers of different kinds ...
by Don Franks Rocket Man is a glitzy spectacle, scooping up on the extravagant showmanship side of Elton John. Two hours of energy and flair. The relentlessly full on song and dance sequences mostly work, especially the fantasy sequence where ...
When National gutted the ETS in 2009, one of the ways they did it was to hand out huge subsidies to big polluters. Now the climate crisis is here, but the polluters want their subsidies to continue:The latest climate pleaders ...
School board of trustees elections were held last week. Unfortunately, NZ Post seems to have sabotaged them:Voting in the triennial elections for most school boards closed at noon on Friday, June 7. But Ponsonby Primary School principal Dr Anne Malcolm ...
Second Time Lucky? Perhaps it was the abject failure of his Destiny NZ Party (2003-2007) which lay behind Brian’s clumsy attempt to relaunch his “brand” by having "Coalition NZ" reach out to those he had so trenchantly attacked in the ...
Inland Revenue is to gain greater oversight of land transfer information to ensure those buying and selling properties are complying with tax rules on property speculation. Cabinet has agreed to implement recommendation 99 of the Tax Working Group’s (TWG) final ...
The Government is taking action to expand and strengthen the protection for Māui and Hector’s dolphins with an updated plan to deal with threats to these native marine mammals. Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Minister of Fisheries Stuart Nash ...
Commercial fishing vessels at greatest risk of encountering the rare Māui dolphin will be required to operate with on-board cameras from 1 November, as the next step to strengthen our fisheries management system. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Fisheries Minister ...
A new record for the number of Police officers deployed to the regions in a single year has been created with the graduation today of Recruit Wing 326. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation of 78 new constables means ...
New Zealand is pushing on with efforts to ensure multinational companies pay their fair share of tax, with the release of proposed options for a digital services tax (DST). In February Cabinet agreed to consult the public on the problem ...
The Reserve Bank has welcomed the release of in-principle decisions relating the Review of the Reserve Bank Act and is encouraging submissions in the consultation process. The Ministers’ in-principle decisions and second set of consultation papers ...
In a landmark case, members of FIRST Union who work at Mitre 10 Mega in Dunedin and Mitre 10 Mosgiel have achieved their first collective agreement which affords a living wage. ...
Senior male executives who commit corporate economic crimes are less likely to be dismissed or legally punished than middle management and junior staff according to new research. ...
An historic international agreement by unions, employers and governments was forged last week in Geneva at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with a new international Convention passed to eliminate violence and harassment at work. The passing of this ...
State Services Minister Chris Hipkins must confirm that the State Services Commissioner is on track to announce the results of his investigation into Gabriel Makhlouf by this Thursday, 27 June, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. Taxpayers' Union ...
Barnardos is today welcoming the release of the report ‘Are We Listening? – Children’s Participation Rights in Government Policy’ from the Children’s Convention Monitoring Group. The report focusses on children and young people’s right to participate ...
The latest Kiwis Count Survey has shown that trust in the public sector continues to rise and is now at an all-time high, says State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes. ...
The gender diversity of New Zealanders will be better reflected in future statistics with new information collected in household surveys, Stats NZ said today. ...
Today climate action groups in Dunedin and Wellington will set up waiting rooms outside Kiwibank branches, to demonstrate that the climate can’t keep waiting for Kiwibank to release a fossil free policy that rules out investments or lending to ...
Making New Zealand a major point of connection between China and South America will take a step forward tomorrow at a trilateral conference in Auckland. ...
A report released today, from the Children’s Convention Monitoring Group*, is a sharp reminder that what children and young people say makes a difference, and that it’s time we paid more attention to their views, says Children’s Commissioner ...
Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa, the country’s alliance for groups and organisations supporting children’s rights, says that a new report published today on child participation shows some important progress has been achieved since 2016, but more must be done ...
Green politicians are betraying disabled people by pretending their upcoming block vote for the End of Life Choice Bill complies with their disability policy. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has asked the Prime Minister to establish a Royal Commission to investigate PHARMAC and successive Governments failure to provide adequate funding. Executive Director of the Council, Matthew Tukaki, has also said that an urgent investigation ...
The government’s firearm buy back scheme is not just bullying and unfair, it uses the New Zealand police to force its draconian law on law abiding New Zealanders, who are already feeling cheated and manipulated by this process. ...
The euthanasia debate is progressing, with the End of Life Choice Bill expected to have its second reading in Parliament on Wednesday. A similar bill was passed in Canada in 2016 - and it's estimated about 8000 people have had ...
Simon Shepherd: On the other side of the debate is Dave Mullan, a former Methodist preacher who has been living with prostate cancer for 18 years. Medication to stop the spread is no longer working. So he wants the right ...
Anti-euthanasia advocates are planning to go to Parliament this week for the second reading of the End of Life Choice Bill. One will be Vicki Walsh, who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer almost eight years ago and has so ...
As a part of the UNANZ National Conference 2019, our national office has partnered up with regional offices, especially those from Tauranga, Whanganui, Canterbury, Northern, Waikato and Wellington to bring to the public the Secondary School Speech ...
On the eve of a Cabinet paper recommending radical and controversial changes to the polytech and on-the-job training sector, leaders representing the sector have accused the government of “thumbing its nose” at the interests of over a hundred ...
The New Zealand Bar Association is urging senior politicians to be cautious when it comes to publicly criticising decisions by the country’s judges. ...
The NZUS Council will increase its engagement in the United States to support Foreign Minister, Rt Hon Winston Peters’ efforts to promote a free trade agreement with the United States. ...
Jeff Montgomery, Registrar-General Births, Deaths and Marriages, says this addition completes the suite of products available to order through our Order Certificate service. ...
ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa applauds new research by the University of Auckland, showing two-thirds of New Zealanders support the right to receive abortion care for any reason. ...
Faced with continual decline in the sea run salmon fishery, the two Canterbury Fish & Game regions have voted this week to align most of their salmon regulations. ...
PSA and E tū members at Access Community Health have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking further industrial action after talks to reach a fair increase in pay as part of a new collective agreement stalled, over a month since ...
10% of older people in New Zealand experience some form of abuse, according to Age Concern professional educator on elder abuse and neglect, Hanny Naus. Age Concern see a wide range of older people who are abused, with 4 out ...
Family Planning welcomes new research from the University of Auckland which shows that New Zealanders are supportive of the right to legal abortion. ...
Thursday, June 20: The Government is touting an increase in oil industry liability as a win for taxpayers, but Greenpeace says the new plan would still see the New Zealand public picking up most of the bill for in the ...
New Zealanders’ show strong support for legal abortion, particularly if a woman’s life is in danger, according to a new study from the University of Auckland. ...
Chairman of Te Rūnanga Ā Iwi O Ngāpuhi, Rāniera Tau acknowledges that there is much work to be done if we are to collectively improve social outcomes for our people and reduce these terrible statistics. “We of Ngāpuhi Iwi have ...
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has published the results of his first investigation into how our local authorities are working with the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA). ...
The European Union’s Commissioner for the Security Union, Sir Julian Beresford King KCVO CMG will present the annual National Centre for Research on Europe’s (NCRE) prestigious Europa Lecture at the University of Canterbury on Thursday 27 ...
As submissions closed last Friday on the Credit Contracts Amendment Bill, the clarion call from Ngā Tangata Microfinance , FinCap , budgeting services and poverty-focussed agencies throughout the country was unanimous: an interest rate cap must be a priority. ...
The NZ GDP for Q1 has just been released. The GDP for Q1 came in better than forecast overall: Adjusted GDP Q1/ Annual : GDP +0.6% / +2.5% Consensus +0.6% / +2.3% NZ GDP over the last 12 months has ...
To criticise GDP because it is not a wellbeing measure is to criticise it for something it is not intended to be, writes NZ Initiative's Dr Bryce Wilkinson. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Ross, Professor in Food Microbiology, Centre for Food Safety and Innovation, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania Last Thursday, dairy company Lactalis Australia recalled eight varieties of milk over concerns ...
By Peni Komaisavai in Suva Staff of the University of the South Pacific at the university’s main Laucala campus in Suva have called for pro-chancellor Winston Thompson to step aside to allow for an independent investigation into alleged abuse ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phoebe Bailey, Associate Professor of Psychology, Western Sydney University Populations around the world are ageing rapidly. Almost one in four people will be aged 60 or more by 2050. This growing cohort ...
A scheme to protect people from potential failure of banks and a tougher regime for executives have been announced by the government as it reviews New Zealand's banking laws. ...
Government policies affect us all, so surely children should get a say? Alice Burton reports on how providing children with both information and a listening ear is important for encouraging their participation in politics.Too young to care. Too young to ...
Animal rescue organizations in New Zealand are overworked and overflowing with stray animals in need of a caring home, Ellen Sinclair reports. The SPCA takes in over 40,000 animals every year, and with rescue organizations all over the country full with ...
In this bonus episode of The Offspin podcast, Labour’s Kieran McAnulty and National’s Chris Bishop join the show to talk about the Parliamentary World Cup, and attempt to prove their cricket fanatic credentials. To coincide with the business end of the ...
By RNZ Pacific Doused in black warpaint, draped in ammunition and clutching guns almost as big as some of them, the boys stare with hardened gazes into the camera. The photo, taken somewhere in Papua’s remote hills, is like ...
Campervan and tourism company Tourism Holdings is raising $80 million to reinforce its balance sheet, as it narrowed its profit expectations for a second time. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Shiels, Lecturer – School of Art, RMIT University The phrase “colonial settlement” sounds benign, but Julie Gough’s Tense Past presents compelling evidence to the contrary. Since 1994, Gough has been searching ...
When the new Christchurch library Tūranga – widely praised for its indigenous motifs and design references – won a major award last week, the significant Māori input into its design apparently warranted no mention at all. Such erasure is becoming ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Nixon, PhD, The University of Queensland Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also ...
Lo, another beautiful book from Te Papa Press! In The New Photography, Athol McCredie traces the memories and modus operandi of eight New Zealand photographers who, in the 1960s and 70s, pushed our photography into the realm of art. We dithered ...
Mt Albert is on the verge of a transformation. Josie Adams gives a roadmap for how to change Auckland’s second-oldest suburb without ruining it in the process.Until now, visitors have mostly kept on the outskirts of Mt Albert. Hotspots like ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand. Today’s contentEuthanasia Derek Cheng (Herald): Hundreds of proposed amendments ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Andrejevic, Professor, School of Media, Film, and Journalism, Monash University The recent viral “deepfake” video of Mark Zuckerberg declaring, “whoever controls the data controls the world” was not a particularly convincing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Manwaring, Senior Lecturer, Politics and Public Policy, Flinders University The ALP’s defeat at the 2019 federal election was a surprise. Shorten’s Labor fell short, against both wider commentariat predictions and unrepresentative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrienne O’Neil, Principal Research Fellow & Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow, Deakin University The latest government statistics, released last week, show that from 2001-2016, the rate of cardiac events (heart attacks or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leigh Ackland, Professor in Molecular Biosciences, Deakin University For many of us, eating a meal containing meat is a normal part of daily life. But if we dig deeper, some sobering issues ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katharine Gelber, Professor of Politics and Public Policy, The University of Queensland The federal education minister, Dan Tehan, has called on universities to implement a model code to protect freedom of speech ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trivess Moore, Lecturer, RMIT University New housing in Australia must meet minimum energy performance requirements. We wondered how many buildings exceeded the minimum standard. What our analysis found is that four in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison will commit to getting consumers, business and investors “off the economic sidelines and on the field again” in his first major domestic speech ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ted Snell, Professor, Chief Cultural Officer, Cultural Precinct, University of Western Australia Depicting the moment of creative inspiration has been a challenge for filmmakers since the first ribbon of film rattled its ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Avalanche of new migrant worker exploitation stories, National disavows bizarre Luxon-advocating ad, and Afterpay throws tantrum over possible regulation.In the space of this year alone, a staggering number of cases ...
I, like many New Zealanders, have closely followed the extensive media coverage of the attempted uplift of a newborn baby in Hawkes Bay. But this is not a one-off isolated case. Over the past two and a half years the ...
Recent revelations around lobbyist-turned-chief-of-staff GJ Thompson reinforce the urgency for change, writes Kate Nicholls.Questions have been raised over recent weeks about the relationship between Jacinda Ardern and corporate lobbyist GJ Thompson, and how potential conflicts of interests were handled during ...
In episode nine of The Offspin, we’re joined by Black Caps test spinner Mark Craig to explore the crueller side of cricket in the wake of the Black Caps victory over the West Indies in both thrilling and devastating circumstances.There ...
The TAB is pulling in millions at the halfway point of the Cricket World Cup. So how much are they paying out? Don Rowe reports.As the Black Caps slug their way towards the finals of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, ...
Earlier this month Vunilagi Vou opened in Ōtāhuhu, the first art gallery the south Auckland suburb has ever had. Its director, curator Ema Tavola, is passionate about centring South Auckland communities and art makers in conversations around contemporary New Zealand ...
Alex Casey breaks down the full line-up for Celebrity Treasure Island 2019, including two weather presenters and a mandatory Lana. Gather round peasants, Celebrity Treasure Island is coming back for the first time since 2007 and you should all be ...
While bargain hunters get excited that cut-price retailer Costco is on the way, across the Tasman opportunity lurks for New Zealand firms targeting the other end of the shopping spectrum, writes Bella Katz.Luxury. It’s a New Zealand brand’s friend in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lionel Page, Professor in Economics, University of Technology Sydney Where to eat? It’s a question you’ve probably pondered when visiting somewhere unfamiliar. Though it’s fun to explore a strange suburb, town or ...
By David Robie in Bangkok A leading cyber security expert has called on universities to play a more active role in implementing ethics and legal frameworks for communications smart technology to save society from an Orwellian future. Mohamed El-Guindy, ...
A prominent ad promoting the National Party and the CEO of Air New Zealand, Christopher Luxon, could be in breach of the law. An advertisement promoting Christopher Luxon and the National Party appeared in this morning’s newspaper – but the National ...
In our Q&A series, The Lightbulb, we ask innovators and entrepreneurs to tell us about how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Honeywrap co-founder Tara McQuinn, makers of organic fabric beeswax wraps.First of all, give ...
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.As always, you can email us at papercutspod@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @papercutspod and a big thanks to The Spinoff and ...
The metric system might seem obvious to us, but resisting it has started to become a point of extreme pride for Americans. Can New Zealanders help save them? Elle Hunt investigates.With Trump gearing up for his 2020 campaign amid ongoing ...
Thousands of Pacific Islanders – including a quarter of Samoa’s population – are hoping for a new life through the annual visa lotteries. They are ready to wrench themselves from home for a New Zealand residence visa. But is the ...
MMP Review: Last Day 
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Colombia has now made it into the modern world, but not that of a strong and diversified economy, of democratic rights, nor the rule of law. No, that is not the modern world that Colombia has ...11 hours ago
Australian Ministers are guilty of crimes against humanity over their treatment of refugees, says a top Australian lawyer:The top politicians in this country are guilty of major criminal offences, but they are unlikely ever to be tried for them, says ...13 hours ago
Grant Illingworth QC is concerned that if David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill is enacted, we somehow would be breaching the social contract on which our entire system of law rests.read more ...1 day ago
This article is about what can happen if a drug substitution programme is suddenly cancelled. In 1978, the Dunedin Hospital Board followed a New Zealand-wide trend and began an opiate substitution programme for local addicts using the synthetic narcotic, methadone. The ...2 days ago
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 16 through Sat, June 22, 2019 Editor's Pick A Degree of Concern: Why Global Temperatures Matter Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech Part ...2 days ago
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And now this:
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James Robb looks at the systemic issues surrounding the state taking children from their families. A shocking documentary video released last week by Newsroom reporter Melanie Reid, shows the attempts by social workers employed by Oranga Tamariki, the New Zealand state’s child welfare agency, ...4 days ago
The inquiry into whether the SAS acted illegally during a nighttime raid on a suspected insurgent’s hideout in Afghanistan in 2010 (code named Operation Burnham), which resulted in six civilian deaths and serious wounds to 15 others, is slowly coming ...5 days ago
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Another major oil company has given up exploring in New Zealand: Chevron and Norwegian oil giant Equinor have opted to abandon their joint exploration efforts off the east coast of the North Island. The two firms have applied to surrender ...6 days ago
NZ has dethroned GDP as a measure of success, but will Ardern’s government be transformational? When you’re in politics, words are a high-stakes game. Voters and journalists hold you to them and there is a risk in using ...6 days ago
A note of appreciation and a changing of the guardFor the past over eight years Skeptical Science staff volunteer Ari Jokimäki has produced a weekly list of links to recent academic publications concerning the fundamental science of climate change, global ...6 days ago
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The world’s oceans are deeply affected by climate change – and vice versa. But until recent years, ocean advocates throughout California had long tackled issues like over-fishing ...7 days ago
There’s so much one could say about Key’s assessment of Hisco right now…
Suffice to say it was definitely the following: A) Perfectly reflective of the ... 1 week ago
. . This morning, a little after 4am, Sharlene lost her brave fight against cancer. Rest in peace, Sharlene. You were always one of my brightest stars… . . Advertisements ...1 week ago
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A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Jun 9 through Sat, June 15, 2019 Editor's Pick Costa Rica Doubled Its Forest Cover In Just 30 Years! Costa ...1 week ago
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Director-General of OPCW Fernando Arias Gonzales admits Douma engineers report was legit and he was part of the FFM – but attempts to justify suppression of the report. France 24 reports that the head of the Organisation for the ...2 weeks ago
This is a re-post from Carbon Brief by Daisy Dunne The record-breaking 2018 summer heatwave in Japan in which more than 1,000 people died “could not have happened without human-induced global warming”, a study finds. And the extreme heat felt in ...2 weeks ago
Jonathan Bamber, Professor of Physical Geography, University of Bristol and Michael Oppenheimer, Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs, Princeton University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Antarctica is further from ...2 weeks ago
This is a re-post from Carbon Brief by Josh Gabbatiss Political lobbying in the US that helped block the progress of proposed climate regulation a decade ago led to a social cost of $60bn, according to a new study. Environmental economists Dr ...2 weeks ago
The Wellbeing Budget opens with, “What is wellbeing?”, a question that has been widely posed and little understood. Treasury says “Wellbeing is when people are able to lead fulfilling lives with purpose, balance and meaning to them.” Long-term challenges facing ...2 weeks ago
Who would have thought that so many different groups of public sector workers would have discovered at roughly the same time that they have been underpaid and under-resourced to such an extent? No one doubts that teachers of different kinds ...2 weeks ago
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Inland Revenue is to gain greater oversight of land transfer information to ensure those buying and selling properties are complying with tax rules on property speculation. Cabinet has agreed to implement recommendation 99 of the Tax Working Group’s (TWG) final ...7 days ago
The Reserve Bank has welcomed the release of in-principle decisions relating the Review of the Reserve Bank Act and is encouraging submissions in the consultation process. The Ministers’ in-principle decisions and second set of consultation papers ...11 hours ago
The two Reserve Bank inquiries and the Government's announcement of plans for a deposit insurance scheme are too little and too late. ...5 hours ago
To criticise GDP because it is not a wellbeing measure is to criticise it for something it is not intended to be, writes NZ Initiative's Dr Bryce Wilkinson. ...8 hours ago
A Budget boost for Māori learners is only the start of tackling deep-seated issues borne from colonisation, experts say. ...8 hours ago
The Government has unveiled a plan to protect depositors in the event of a bank collapse, but key questions have not yet been answered. ...9 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Ross, Professor in Food Microbiology, Centre for Food Safety and Innovation, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania Last Thursday, dairy company Lactalis Australia recalled eight varieties of milk over concerns ...9 hours ago
By Peni Komaisavai in Suva Staff of the University of the South Pacific at the university’s main Laucala campus in Suva have called for pro-chancellor Winston Thompson to step aside to allow for an independent investigation into alleged abuse ...9 hours ago
The country's main retail banks have promised to largely scrap sales incentives for frontline staff and their managers. ...9 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phoebe Bailey, Associate Professor of Psychology, Western Sydney University Populations around the world are ageing rapidly. Almost one in four people will be aged 60 or more by 2050. This growing cohort ...10 hours ago
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk The Cook Islands censor has backtracked on its initial decision to ban Rocketman. Instead, the Cook Islands Internal Affairs has followed the New Zealand censor’s classification and rated the film R18, reports Cook Islands News. ...11 hours ago
A scheme to protect people from potential failure of banks and a tougher regime for executives have been announced by the government as it reviews New Zealand's banking laws. ...12 hours ago
Government policies affect us all, so surely children should get a say? Alice Burton reports on how providing children with both information and a listening ear is important for encouraging their participation in politics.Too young to care. Too young to ...12 hours ago
Animal rescue organizations in New Zealand are overworked and overflowing with stray animals in need of a caring home, Ellen Sinclair reports. The SPCA takes in over 40,000 animals every year, and with rescue organizations all over the country full with ...12 hours ago
By RNZ Pacific Doused in black warpaint, draped in ammunition and clutching guns almost as big as some of them, the boys stare with hardened gazes into the camera. The photo, taken somewhere in Papua’s remote hills, is like ...14 hours ago
Campervan and tourism company Tourism Holdings is raising $80 million to reinforce its balance sheet, as it narrowed its profit expectations for a second time. ...14 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Shiels, Lecturer – School of Art, RMIT University The phrase “colonial settlement” sounds benign, but Julie Gough’s Tense Past presents compelling evidence to the contrary. Since 1994, Gough has been searching ...15 hours ago
When the new Christchurch library Tūranga – widely praised for its indigenous motifs and design references – won a major award last week, the significant Māori input into its design apparently warranted no mention at all. Such erasure is becoming ...15 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Nixon, PhD, The University of Queensland Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also ...16 hours ago
Lo, another beautiful book from Te Papa Press! In The New Photography, Athol McCredie traces the memories and modus operandi of eight New Zealand photographers who, in the 1960s and 70s, pushed our photography into the realm of art. We dithered ...16 hours ago
New Zealanders are paying more than ever for insurance, but are not getting a fair deal, according to a new report from Consumer NZ. ...17 hours ago
ANZ is being asked to provide two reports to show it's being run properly and in line with regulations. ...17 hours ago
Mt Albert is on the verge of a transformation. Josie Adams gives a roadmap for how to change Auckland’s second-oldest suburb without ruining it in the process.Until now, visitors have mostly kept on the outskirts of Mt Albert. Hotspots like ...18 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Manwaring, Senior Lecturer, Politics and Public Policy, Flinders University The ALP’s defeat at the 2019 federal election was a surprise. Shorten’s Labor fell short, against both wider commentariat predictions and unrepresentative ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrienne O’Neil, Principal Research Fellow & Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow, Deakin University The latest government statistics, released last week, show that from 2001-2016, the rate of cardiac events (heart attacks or ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leigh Ackland, Professor in Molecular Biosciences, Deakin University For many of us, eating a meal containing meat is a normal part of daily life. But if we dig deeper, some sobering issues ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katharine Gelber, Professor of Politics and Public Policy, The University of Queensland The federal education minister, Dan Tehan, has called on universities to implement a model code to protect freedom of speech ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trivess Moore, Lecturer, RMIT University New housing in Australia must meet minimum energy performance requirements. We wondered how many buildings exceeded the minimum standard. What our analysis found is that four in ...20 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ted Snell, Professor, Chief Cultural Officer, Cultural Precinct, University of Western Australia Depicting the moment of creative inspiration has been a challenge for filmmakers since the first ribbon of film rattled its ...20 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Avalanche of new migrant worker exploitation stories, National disavows bizarre Luxon-advocating ad, and Afterpay throws tantrum over possible regulation.In the space of this year alone, a staggering number of cases ...21 hours ago
I, like many New Zealanders, have closely followed the extensive media coverage of the attempted uplift of a newborn baby in Hawkes Bay. But this is not a one-off isolated case. Over the past two and a half years the ...22 hours ago
Liz Beddoe urges MPs to read the research, get in step with the majority and support decriminalisation of abortion now. ...23 hours ago
Recent revelations around lobbyist-turned-chief-of-staff GJ Thompson reinforce the urgency for change, writes Kate Nicholls.Questions have been raised over recent weeks about the relationship between Jacinda Ardern and corporate lobbyist GJ Thompson, and how potential conflicts of interests were handled during ...23 hours ago
The Detail today looks at newspaper paywalls - are people paying for what used to be given away? ...23 hours ago
Earlier this month Vunilagi Vou opened in Ōtāhuhu, the first art gallery the south Auckland suburb has ever had. Its director, curator Ema Tavola, is passionate about centring South Auckland communities and art makers in conversations around contemporary New Zealand ...2 days ago
Social workers need to be empowered to understand the law and resourced to do their jobs rather than be treated as puppets, writes Dr Ian Hyslop. ...2 days ago
Alex Casey breaks down the full line-up for Celebrity Treasure Island 2019, including two weather presenters and a mandatory Lana. Gather round peasants, Celebrity Treasure Island is coming back for the first time since 2007 and you should all be ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lionel Page, Professor in Economics, University of Technology Sydney Where to eat? It’s a question you’ve probably pondered when visiting somewhere unfamiliar. Though it’s fun to explore a strange suburb, town or ...2 days ago
By David Robie in Bangkok A leading cyber security expert has called on universities to play a more active role in implementing ethics and legal frameworks for communications smart technology to save society from an Orwellian future. Mohamed El-Guindy, ...2 days ago
A prominent ad promoting the National Party and the CEO of Air New Zealand, Christopher Luxon, could be in breach of the law. An advertisement promoting Christopher Luxon and the National Party appeared in this morning’s newspaper – but the National ...3 days ago
In our Q&A series, The Lightbulb, we ask innovators and entrepreneurs to tell us about how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Honeywrap co-founder Tara McQuinn, makers of organic fabric beeswax wraps.First of all, give ...3 days ago
The metric system might seem obvious to us, but resisting it has started to become a point of extreme pride for Americans. Can New Zealanders help save them? Elle Hunt investigates.With Trump gearing up for his 2020 campaign amid ongoing ...3 days ago
Thousands of Pacific Islanders – including a quarter of Samoa’s population – are hoping for a new life through the annual visa lotteries. They are ready to wrench themselves from home for a New Zealand residence visa. But is the ...3 days ago
Nothing will change – there are too many people with their hands remaining in their pockets, protecting their own personal interests.