Ardern probably had to give him 30 minutes for a nap, while she read a book.
I am joking!!!!!!
I agree. Seems quite successful. While I disagree with a lot of her policy, you can't deny Ardern is a great ambassador for the country. She has done extremely well.
We have been a bit lucky that way with leaders tbf.
Yes Sacha – it has been noted in our household for some time: Ardern in photos looking wrinkled, exhausted and pleading, Luxon in photos looking energetic with hands up gesturing in a dynamic pose, wrinkle-free and top of photo sometimes cropped to remove shiny pate. It's a time-honoured tactic – remembering Ed Milliband and the bacon sandwich, countless pictures of Corbyn.
I guess it's only photos and not that important. But still a useful illustration of the sort of spiteful, far-right children controlling some of our media outlets, and a useful reminder of how private power operates.
John Key and that hotdog. Reuters cropping the images of people holding weapons during a protest blockade when Israeli forces boarded a ship. Don Brash and Judith Collins…all fodder and mirth for our Leftwing media.
Maybe the media is just the media. And if you are in power, you are going to get it because you are the tallest poppy.?
Persistent patterns are more than just random media noise. To pretend that media bias is just even-handed tall poppy cutting is delusional. Differences in degree matter.
In that case, I'm of the firm opinion our media is left leaning given the patterns I have noticed over the years especially around Maori, stale white males, rich pricks and bloody Pakehas.
How do I explain the hit job the media is doing on Ardern at the moment?
It's quite simple. Like many of us, the media are just over her. Simple minds like shiny objects, they become mesmerized and happy. When the shine wears off reality prevails. And that sucks.
There is a group of older white race, once left wing men, who oppose CGT on their property wealth and partnership with Maori and Chris represents them now.
Martin the awake bomber Bradbury (on right wing radio and pod cast independent free speech platforms) supports the narrative against "woke" "feminist" public media funding as some sort of a champion of working class manhood (but at least he is genuinely left wing on economic policy and not against partnership with Maori).
Clearly you didn't read the article, or the context in which I posted the excerpt. Chris is referring to the way in which the government has manipulated the media into supporting (or at least not questioning) the narrative around co-governance, and how co-governance is quasi constitutional change by stealth.
"The party did not campaign on the issue, and kept He Puapua, the controversial “road-map” to full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – i.e. co-governance – by 2040, under wraps. Similarly unheralded was the Government’s determination to establish a separate Māori Health Authority. And the application of co-governance principles to Mahuta’s deeply unpopular “Three Waters” project has done nothing to allay public fears that the country is being changed, in fundamental ways, without the electorate’s consent."
Clearly I understand his position very well, as your extra quote indicates he really does have a problem with partnership with Maori (and his concern about the media funding has to be seen in that context).
And fact introduction
National began partnership when they set up whanau ora. They had no mandate, it was part of a coalition deal with the MP.
Given the existence of this, and reform of health was signalled before the 2020 election …
“A central focus of a returned Labour Government will be the roll out of our plan to improve the public health system to deliver high quality services, fewer DHBs, an increased focus on equity, a Māori Health Authority that will focus on Māori health, an aged care commissioner and a Public Health Agency that will more closely link the country’s 12 public health units.
"indicates he really does have a problem with partnership with Maori (and his concern about the media funding has to be seen in that context)."
His concern with the media funding is that there were strings attached. Those strings restricted the media openly questioning the prevailing government view about treaty partnership. In a modern liberal democracy, this is unacceptable. Chris then makes the point that this has also led to a concerning restraint around questioning the apparent nepotism being exercised by a senior government minister. He continues by outlining how the government went to the last election having hidden it's co-governance agenda, and continued this undemocratic behaviour in the way it is forcing through the 3Waters reform.
Chris is fundamentally correct. You can try to dismiss his opinion by insinuating he is a racist or whatever, but all that does is prove his point.
Did Labour take the He Puapua document to the public? Did they even share it with their coalition partner? The answers are no. That is inherently dishonest, and amounts to consideration of significant constitutional change by stealth. Do you see Chris’s point?
" (but at least he is genuinely left wing on economic policy and not against partnership with Maori)."
You fundamentally misunderstand the narrative. There is a massive leap from 'partnership with Maori' to co-governance of strategic assets or to parallel systems based on race.
There is no evidence that the He Puapua report is government policy.
There is evidence of a partnership approach to land and water asset management, such as in Three Waters.
I am not surprised he fails to understand the difference when he gets facts so wrong – a Maori Health Authority was Labour policy pre 2020 election. As for “parallel systems” it was National who established whanau ora.
What are the alternatives to Three Waters that involve sufficient investment and continued public ownership?
There is no evidence that the He Puapua report is government policy.
Technically that might be correct, but when its provisions in health, water and conservation are directly implemented as public policy, then only the most obdurate fool would pretend that it is not defacto policy.
And when it's authors are appointed – in direct conflict with the Cabinet Manual – to positions of significant policy influence then you know what is coming down the road at us.
Then you are arguing that co-governance began when National agreed to whanau ora (and that was not based on He Puapua). There is no difference between it and a Maori Health Authority, so why would you claim that was (based on HP)?
As for Three Waters, Maori involvement in land and water management has been going on for years (you must have had some working knowledge of that) – long before HP.
The only kool aid on offer here is the idea that co-governance is compatible with representative democracy. And that there is no difference between consulting with a stakeholder group – and giving them veto power on the board of directors.
I am going to take the liberty of copying a particularly good comment from Odysseus in the comment thread under CTs post:
Whoa, careful Chris, you will be accused of spreading "disinformation" by the government's academic "experts". This seems to be the latest ploy to smear those who express concerns about "co-governance". Many New Zealanders have serious, well-founded reservations about "co-governance" as outlined for example in the 3 Waters project. It is not democratic and it demolishes accountability to those who actually fund the 3 Waters infrastructure.
Incidentally, the UN Declaration is not about co-governance as such; it proclaims the need to ensure the autonomy of "indigenous" communities. The Declaration arose in the first place from efforts to protect isolated "indigenous" communities in the Amazon Basin; diplomats from Cuba, whose indigenous people were largely wiped out a long time ago, seized on it as a stick with which to beat the "white settler" countries, particularly their arch-foe the United States. Helen Clark showed her wisdom in not having a bar of it; she appreciated the Declaration was thoroughly alien to New Zealand's experience as a nation.
It is very hard to see how democracy and co-governance can co-exist. Democracy recognizes the innate and equal worth of every person. Initially an idea that emerged in Athens in the 5th century BC, it is also a fundamentally Christian concept. The push for co-governance is being led by those who take the interests of their tribe as their point of reference. They are coming from a very different perspective where ancestry and birth determine one's place in the world. This government cannot reconcile these different worldviews and risks aggravating division every time they open their mouth. We are not in a good place.
The extraordinary contradiction going on here is your fearmongering around privatising water assets – while at the same time applauding their effective control by private Maori iwi corporations.
Are you now finally noticing that independence for indigenous peoples is not co-governance (such as whanau ora and MHA delivery to Maori via Maori) – about time.
I find it hard to understand why you think partnership with Maori in management of public land and water assets is a problem for democracy, when you think private sector ownership – corporate investment and profit making from services delivered is not?
Can you explain?
Unless of course you know of a way local councils can fund the huge amount of investment required in the Three Waters domain, National says nothing on the topic as if that would something sort itself by some sort of magic market solution/disaster capitalism/venture capital opportunism.
Are you now finally noticing that independence for indigenous peoples is not co-governance (such as whanau ora and MHA delivery to Maori via Maori)
I would have no objection if iwi decided to form a private corporation from their own funds and tendered alongside everyone else to deliver profit making services.
What I would object to is if the same tendering process was decided by iwi representatives on the BoD with an obvious conflict of interest. Assuming that iwi elites will have the same interests as the whole of NZ is a very faulty assumption.
There is a big difference between working with multiple stakeholders within the a system – and one race based group given preferential, parallel access to power by design.
Given whanau ora and MHA are not for profit services, I presume you are referring to Maori iwi involvement in ownership stake and business operation of water utility services for profit.
However I think you would find a large part of the Three Waters is monopoly business – not just water to users, but also wastewater and sewage. It is not an “industry” where two different providers can compete.
I note your dead social democratic hand applauding the alternative of private ownership to Maori role in management of public assets.
However I think you would find a large part of the Three Waters is monopoly business
Given I worked in said industry for eight years – the answer is no. There is a wide range of entities delivering services. Typically the owner of the asset – at present usually council owned entities – will have a core department responsible for managing the operation, but many services are contracted out. This can range from pipeline R&M, electrical and control systems, mapping and GIS services, chemical and energy inputs and so on. Some smaller councils will fully tender out their entire operation, while the larger ones will have enough in-house expertise to run a large fraction of it.
So while the service is a natural monopoly in that the end user has no direct choice – the asset owner has a wide choice of entities it can involve.
Also, Watercare’s position as a monopoly service provider in the Auckland region obliges the company to retain stakeholders’ confidence that it is performing optimally.
Is not the area that needs the investment the basic infrastructure that which the council itself cannot afford – replacement, not repair and maintenance, and in some areas extra wastewater and sewage capacity because of urban intensification etc?
Great article, Gypsy. I was aware of the funding but not the full ramifications. I thought jurnos on the ground wouldn't notice any management manipulations simply because their sentiments are similar to the narrative the government wants implemented.
I bring your attention to this part of the article:
''The guilty parties would be an unholy alliance of Pakeha and Māori elites determined to keep public money flowing upwards into protected private hands. In this super-narrative, the structures set forth in He Puapua to secure tino rangatiratanga, will actually ensure the exclusion of the vast majority of New Zealanders from the key locations of power. The only positive consequence of which will be a common struggle for political and economic equality in which non-elite Māori and Pakeha will have every incentive to involve themselves.''
The New Zealand public would be shocked if they knew how many professional Pakeha are already on the gravy train. Some firms have Maori only sections dealing with all legal things pertaining to Maori. That's how big this industry is.
''The guilty parties would be an unholy alliance of Pakeha and Māori elites determined to keep public money flowing upwards into protected private hands. In this super-narrative, the structures set forth in He Puapua to secure tino rangatiratanga, will actually ensure the exclusion of the vast majority of New Zealanders from the key locations of power.
And given the alternative is new investment in water utility (given local government debt and incapacity) coming from global corporations – signed off by NACT, this argument may well age very badly in the eyes of future generations.
Obviously the need for more communications staff over covid.
The cognitive dissonance of right Wing media simultaneously whinging about "Lack of information for the public", and the growth in information staff required by covid.
We wouldn't need so many, if Media "did their fucking job" instead of blindly repeating National party bullshit.
Governance of large public utilities (and large private ones, has been and still is) is a massive gravy train for elites. And families of elites. (Especially ex National MP' s and their mates).
Photos can generate emotions and perceptions and reinforce pre-existing ones. It is reasonable to assume that this has some downstream effects on behaviour & actions.
I think China is quite happy with their first major foray into the Pacific. China plays a long game. They know Island economies won't be improving under the present global situation, and regardless of how much money we give in aid. China has forced added pressure on Australia and New Zealand regarding our relationship with pacific nations. The Chinese will continue to chip away at the Pacific. And that cookie jar China holds up to our Pacific cuzzies, may at a later date become too tempting.
I can't help you regarding National and it's supporters. Maybe they misjudged. Remember Helen Clark? ''We live in a benign part of the world.'' Yet, just up the road in Fiji?
I became interested in China, mid 2000s when Ian Wishart wrote some excellent articles on China and its future roll in our region. We even had Chinese military training here if I remember correctly.
We need to partner up with the EU and USA and assist with development.
China wants to
get access to ports for their fishing fleet and first island chain "coast guard" vessels (security). They will then offer port capability development assistance to get access to the 200 mile economic zone of the island.
they will offer telecommunications aid (including their own infrastructure, so they can reduce Five Eyes surveillance)
they will train and resource police (cultivate informers who will provide intel – the local “ambassador attache will feed this back to Beijing via these secure networks so they can offer political support against any opposition – thus claim they are owed and then will own the politicians).
provide, as in the Solomon Islands Chinese police on the ground to protect “ethnic Chinese property” in capital cities and also investment in regions/islands hostile to Chinese presence.
Yes, and the danger is China can bankroll all this, and a whole heap more, without breaking a sweat. We can't, we need to partner up like you say.
I believe one indicator pointing towards China preparing to attack Taiwan will be a change in behaviour of Chinese communities in the Pacific. That's one thing I would be looking out for.
With all the speculation regarding China in the Pacific and it's intentions with Taiwan, I thought I would take a different tack and find out more about our possible future enemies – the Chinese people. But I wanted the talkback version regarding Chinese people, not MSM narratives.
Enter this guy who I've found very interesting. Winston Sterzel is a South African who lived in China during its great push to modernise. His clips have some fascinating insights. For example, marriage in China is nothing like Western marriages. China has huge ghost cities no one lives in. And when Russia attacked Ukraine, Chinese expats were told to roll out the Chinese flag and welcome Russian troops. A few days later China told them to take their flags down and lay low.
Now, everyone likes taking a crack at American gun culture, especially liberals. Some criticisms are justified. Critics talk of other major countries where nothing approaching the level of gun crime America experiences ever happen.
In this clip Winston talks about knife crime in China – mass stabbings that never make global headlines. I can only remember one such incident being reported in NZ. The clip shows police and security even use a special device looking like a shepherd's crook to tackle such crime. BTW, apparently Chinese crazies attack kindergartens. That's one step lower than American crazies. But let's not quibble.
What an excellent letter! I really appreciate well researched and referenced work such as this. Thanks for the link joe90!
(Especially like the reminder of how Uncle Ashley declared that Omicron escapes the Pfizer product, back in January…the point at which all mandates should have been lifted. Yet here we are. )
Not exactly, first they had to identify the level of risk to the health system/hospitalisation from omicron infection before moving on from workplace and location mandates.
The letters claim that the vaccination does not reduce serious outcomes is simply untrue.
Nope – not concerned that libertarian psychos don't approve of WHO doing its job properly. Not even concerned when they invoke the name of the tyrannical Helen Clark(e) whom, we might remember, nearly ended western civilisation with low-energy lightbulbs, until she was mercifully removed in 2008 by the heroic, freedom-loving saint from Merrill Lynch.
"The proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations ("IHR") and the Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness Treaty ("the Treaty") will galvanise the World Health Organisation ("WHO") as the singular controlling authority and architect of global health. Individual nations will surrender their sovereignty to unelected bureaucrats with discretionary powers to lockdown their citizens and economy for any potential or actual public health emergency of international concern. We will be at the hands of a Director-General who was indicted before the International Criminal Court for war crimes and at the mercy of an advisory panel led by Helen Clarke."
What a load of deranged piffle! The WHO is the global health entity which pulls all the threads pertaining to health matters together for the betterment of mankind as a whole. The WTO (world trade), the WMO (meteorological science) and others do the same. Almost all countries have their representatives based in Geneva assisting the parent body. Are you therefore claiming all these countries are complicit in some wacko conspiracy?
The author can't even spell Helen Clark's surname correctly.
I wish I could tell & help you. I rarely use the front-end to comment, and in the back-end the text editor is different. Only Lprent will be able to explain these sorts of things. That said, I’d have thought the font tool should have worked, so that’s odd, to me too 😉
I am not concerned by this heap of bull kaka espoused by Voices for Freedom…..full of conspiracy theories etc and we have had enough of CTs from people like VFF to last us a lifetime I would have thought.
On a baking hot Washington DC morning (about 33C), Jacinda Ardern came to meet with the leader of the free world.
The next time I hear this phrase I might puke. As this failed democracy fades what does this term beloved by lazy journalists even mean?
More than though is the hypocrisy of describing a country that has interfered in the running of so many sovereign states in this way.
I guess the US would say it's contributing to the overthrow of many legitimate governments over many decades is "freeing" them from the yoke of communism, socialism or whatever.
The USA doesn't defend democracy. It defends its own interests and its own world view.
No not curious Pat. As the Maori land is communally owned it can not be used as a security, only the building, which has to be removable …quirk of Law. So no security until build is signed off. That needs to change.
Who demands the security of the land Patricia?….the lending bank (or financial institution)….if the financial institution is the owner of the land the problem is moot.
There is every opportunity for Iwi organisations to create a banking mechanism to provide capital for Iwi development and they have a natural support base. The restriction of Maori land is self imposed , which is the Iwi's right but the difficulty it creates is also theirs to solve….it is not insoluble, but like all investment it carries risk.
It IS curious that the risk is perceived too great.
May 28 (Reuters) – A ship has entered the Ukrainian port of Mariupol for the first time since Russia completed its capture of the city to load metal and ship it east to Russia, TASS news agency reported on Saturday, in a move that Kyiv decried as looting.
[…]
Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova said the shipment amounted to looting by Russia.
"Looting in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine continues," she wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
"Following the theft of Ukrainian grain, the occupiers resorted to exporting metal products from Mariupol."
Ukraine's largest steelmaker Metinvest on Friday said it was concerned that Russia may use several ships stranded in Mariupol to "steal and smuggle metallurgical products" belonging to the group. It accused Russia of piracy.
Complete and utter propaganda joe …well done , for starters i doubt the " mayor " even said that last time i looked back in early may they just seemed to be getting on with it
I seriously doubt the death toll was anything like the figures you so gullibly quote but concerning the dead in a war generally what would be your alternative to a mass grave ?leave them lying around to rot ? give them all individual funerals ??
failure to use her powers to organize humanitarian corridors, protect and exchange prisoners, counteract the deportation of adults and children from the occupied territories, which “Iryna Vereshchuk was forced to do”;
an incomprehensible fixation of the Ombudsman's media work on the numerous details of "sexual crimes committed in an unnatural way" and "child rape" in the occupied territories, which could not be substantiated by evidence;
the prolonged period of time after Feb. 24 that Denisova spent abroad "in Davos, Vienna, Warsaw and other warm, peaceful western European countries," according to Frolov
"Rising costs have created a “ticking timebomb” for UK small business owners, the chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has warned, with almost half a million firms at risk of going bust within weeks without a fresh wave of government support."
While Jacinda basks in the glory of meeting Joe Biden ,Andrew Little releases the Pharmac report that I believe sat on his desk waiting for and appropriate moment. A moment when our media had better things to do.
As usual, Pharmac, like everyone else, has been found to have failed Maori. And disabled people. Trans folk aren't mentioned, so we are sailing blind in that regard.
Quote:
''The panel found Pharmac’s model has delivered significant benefits, but to achieve its purpose these benefits need to be shared more equitably across our communities, especially for Māori and Pacific peoples.''
I'm wondering about this inequality in relation to Maori.
All of the comments I can find in the report are around Maori having less access to the existing drugs (e.g. less often disagnosed, or prescribed existing drugs) – which really has nothing to do with Pharmac.
[I mean, yeah, it needs to be addressed – but doesn't come within the areas that Pharmac control]
Pharmac was also caned for the reduced number of Maori employed (which may well have to do with the fact that medically qualified Maori can write their own ticket in any of the healthcare professions – and Pharmac isn't perhaps where they see they can make the most difference).
There was some speculation that diseases which predominantly affect Maori aren't getting the drug funding – but no concrete examples given in the report (though 2 drugs which do treat diseases more commonly experienced by Maori, were specifically mentioned as being funded by Pharmac in response to lobbying by Maori health groups – i.e. Pharmac is already doing it.)
Expenditure is more highly focused on the older age bracket. Which would be no surprise, since many of the drugs are life extenders (heart, blood pressure, cancer medication, etc.).
I do have some grave concerns over Little's stated policy
“The days of the Independent Republic of Pharmac are over. Pharmac is part of our health administration, and needs to be working appropriately with the rest of the health administration,” Little said in the Beehive on Wednesday.
If this is just about integrating drug decision-making alongside other medical interventions – then that's one thing (and a highly desirable outcome). [Thinking here of prioritizing surgical interventions to reduce the drug costs for symptom management]
If it's opening the pathway to politicising Pharmac decisions – when, inevitably, the loudest voices with the best PR have the greatest weight – then that's quite another.
The best outcome from this report would be for Pharmac's decisions to be more open and transparent, and for them to be made in a much more timely fashion (and revisited if/when more information becomes available). However, the down-side of this, is that unless there is more money available, funding one drug means de-funding something else. TAANSTAFL
Sadly, for many of the special interest groups – NZ basically can't afford the 1st world standard of medical care that they would like to aspire to. Unless Pharmac's budget is increased very substantially (which I don't see as on the cards, given the economic climate), drug-treatment for rare and expensive treatments is simply not going to be publicly funded in NZ.
Refining how you slice the pie, doesn't change the size of it.
I agree. I see this announcement from Little as a move away from a fact-based triage model, to a more political one.
That's not to say that I don't think Pharmac could do a better job about making their decision making explicit and clear (because I think they've been poor in this area).
But we will never have enough money to fund everything – and the hard decisions about which communities will be helped and which won't, have to be made…
Put it this way as an example. Pharmac has $1000 to spend on a certain drug. That equates to 10 Pakeha and 3 Maori who qualify for such expenditure. Now, under the revised system that's more focus on Maori, Maori will have 6 seats( deserved or not) at the funding table while Pakeha drop to seven places. Why? Simple racism.
You may remember the DHB that prioritised Maori getting treatment first?
After the journalist wrote his story based on a "possibly" comment. They are predictable in their flimsy proof and out of context slants. Often a "gotcha" type relationship with reality.
Further a large photo of Luxon with a heading implying we are not engaging with other countries.
Since we opened up the PM has visited Singapore and Japan followed by a friendly call to congratulate Albanese on his Election win plus lead a delegation Trade Mission and meet the President of the USA. Right so "not doing anything?"
William Burr the AG for President Trump was supposed to find the real sticky dirt on Hillary's campaign and hired special counsel John Durham to go get it.
Durham went after Hillary's lawyer Michael Sussman and prosecuted.
It's a nice big setback against the filth of Trump's legacy. This was the investigation that was supposed to show bias by law enforcement investigating President Trump. Obviously it's the usual witch-hunt by Republican elected officials and their crony staff, when it is the Republicans who on the facts of massive prosecutions are the corrupt ones.
And once Navarro is done singing, Trump is going to try to plead the 5th and just get trashed. Can't wait.
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Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
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Sounds like the Biden meeting went very well. I believe it even ran over time by around 30 minutes which is a positive sign.
Joe Biden praises Jacinda Ardern's leadership during meeting at the White House | Stuff.co.nz
Ardern probably had to give him 30 minutes for a nap, while she read a book.
I am joking!!!!!!
I agree. Seems quite successful. While I disagree with a lot of her policy, you can't deny Ardern is a great ambassador for the country. She has done extremely well.
We have been a bit lucky that way with leaders tbf.
The whole Key/Obama thing, and now Ardern/Biden.
Dirty media
https://twitter.com/realrogerboyce/status/1531415515331080193
How foreign media show it
https://twitter.com/NZedAUS/status/1531738217266876416
Interesting. Sensitive content warning must be because the headline includes the word 'shootings'.
Yes Sacha – it has been noted in our household for some time: Ardern in photos looking wrinkled, exhausted and pleading, Luxon in photos looking energetic with hands up gesturing in a dynamic pose, wrinkle-free and top of photo sometimes cropped to remove shiny pate. It's a time-honoured tactic – remembering Ed Milliband and the bacon sandwich, countless pictures of Corbyn.
I guess it's only photos and not that important. But still a useful illustration of the sort of spiteful, far-right children controlling some of our media outlets, and a useful reminder of how private power operates.
John Key and that hotdog. Reuters cropping the images of people holding weapons during a protest blockade when Israeli forces boarded a ship. Don Brash and Judith Collins…all fodder and mirth for our Leftwing media.
Maybe the media is just the media. And if you are in power, you are going to get it because you are the tallest poppy.?
No.
The answer is always sexism.
Bigotry of some kind to be sure.
Probably not racism, in this case.
Persistent patterns are more than just random media noise. To pretend that media bias is just even-handed tall poppy cutting is delusional. Differences in degree matter.
In that case, I'm of the firm opinion our media is left leaning given the patterns I have noticed over the years especially around Maori, stale white males, rich pricks and bloody Pakehas.
How do I explain the hit job the media is doing on Ardern at the moment?
It's quite simple. Like many of us, the media are just over her. Simple minds like shiny objects, they become mesmerized and happy. When the shine wears off reality prevails. And that sucks.
The apparent failure of the mainstream news media to follow up on the story is being attributed to the extraordinary conditions attached to the Public Interest Journalism Fund administered by New Zealand On Air. In essence, these conditions require media outlets in receipt of the Fund’s largesse to subscribe in advance to a highly contentious series of propositions concerning the Treaty of Waitangi – most particularly to the Waitangi Tribunal’s claim the Māori never ceded sovereignty to the British Crown, and that this “fact” requires the Fund’s recipients to accept and support the “partnership” model of Crown-Māori relations. The fear expressed by independent journalists is that the net effect of these conditions will be unquestioning mainstream media support for co-governance."
I recommend you read all of Chris Trotter’s article. It’s alarming and illuminating.
There is a group of older white race, once left wing men, who oppose CGT on their property wealth and partnership with Maori and Chris represents them now.
Martin the awake bomber Bradbury (on right wing radio and pod cast independent free speech platforms) supports the narrative against "woke" "feminist" public media funding as some sort of a champion of working class manhood (but at least he is genuinely left wing on economic policy and not against partnership with Maori).
Clearly you didn't read the article, or the context in which I posted the excerpt. Chris is referring to the way in which the government has manipulated the media into supporting (or at least not questioning) the narrative around co-governance, and how co-governance is quasi constitutional change by stealth.
"The party did not campaign on the issue, and kept He Puapua, the controversial “road-map” to full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – i.e. co-governance – by 2040, under wraps. Similarly unheralded was the Government’s determination to establish a separate Māori Health Authority. And the application of co-governance principles to Mahuta’s deeply unpopular “Three Waters” project has done nothing to allay public fears that the country is being changed, in fundamental ways, without the electorate’s consent."
Clearly I understand his position very well, as your extra quote indicates he really does have a problem with partnership with Maori (and his concern about the media funding has to be seen in that context).
And fact introduction
National began partnership when they set up whanau ora. They had no mandate, it was part of a coalition deal with the MP.
Given the existence of this, and reform of health was signalled before the 2020 election …
https://www.labour.org.nz/release-next-steps-in-rebuilding-our-health-system
"indicates he really does have a problem with partnership with Maori (and his concern about the media funding has to be seen in that context)."
His concern with the media funding is that there were strings attached. Those strings restricted the media openly questioning the prevailing government view about treaty partnership. In a modern liberal democracy, this is unacceptable. Chris then makes the point that this has also led to a concerning restraint around questioning the apparent nepotism being exercised by a senior government minister. He continues by outlining how the government went to the last election having hidden it's co-governance agenda, and continued this undemocratic behaviour in the way it is forcing through the 3Waters reform.
Chris is fundamentally correct. You can try to dismiss his opinion by insinuating he is a racist or whatever, but all that does is prove his point.
Factually inaccurate as I demonstrated.
"Factually inaccurate as I demonstrated."
Did Labour take the He Puapua document to the public? Did they even share it with their coalition partner? The answers are no. That is inherently dishonest, and amounts to consideration of significant constitutional change by stealth. Do you see Chris’s point?
"And given the alternative is new investment in water utility (given local government debt and incapacity) coming from global corporations "
There are alternatives to 3Waters that are far more cost effective. But of course they wouldn't provide jobs to ministerial family members.
" (but at least he is genuinely left wing on economic policy and not against partnership with Maori)."
You fundamentally misunderstand the narrative. There is a massive leap from 'partnership with Maori' to co-governance of strategic assets or to parallel systems based on race.
There is no evidence that the He Puapua report is government policy.
There is evidence of a partnership approach to land and water asset management, such as in Three Waters.
I am not surprised he fails to understand the difference when he gets facts so wrong – a Maori Health Authority was Labour policy pre 2020 election. As for “parallel systems” it was National who established whanau ora.
What are the alternatives to Three Waters that involve sufficient investment and continued public ownership?
There is no evidence that the He Puapua report is government policy.
Technically that might be correct, but when its provisions in health, water and conservation are directly implemented as public policy, then only the most obdurate fool would pretend that it is not defacto policy.
And when it's authors are appointed – in direct conflict with the Cabinet Manual – to positions of significant policy influence then you know what is coming down the road at us.
Then you are arguing that co-governance began when National agreed to whanau ora (and that was not based on He Puapua). There is no difference between it and a Maori Health Authority, so why would you claim that was (based on HP)?
As for Three Waters, Maori involvement in land and water management has been going on for years (you must have had some working knowledge of that) – long before HP.
You're drinking the Kool Aid.
Indeed, one could say the water reforms started in 2017, but probably ‘murmurs’ go back even further. It was also in Labour’s 2020 Election Manifest.
There’s no excuse for being ill-informed aka ignorant and Chris Trotter is acting as a useful idiot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot).
The only kool aid on offer here is the idea that co-governance is compatible with representative democracy. And that there is no difference between consulting with a stakeholder group – and giving them veto power on the board of directors.
I am going to take the liberty of copying a particularly good comment from Odysseus in the comment thread under CTs post:
The extraordinary contradiction going on here is your fearmongering around privatising water assets – while at the same time applauding their effective control by private Maori iwi corporations.
Are you now finally noticing that independence for indigenous peoples is not co-governance (such as whanau ora and MHA delivery to Maori via Maori) – about time.
I find it hard to understand why you think partnership with Maori in management of public land and water assets is a problem for democracy, when you think private sector ownership – corporate investment and profit making from services delivered is not?
Can you explain?
Unless of course you know of a way local councils can fund the huge amount of investment required in the Three Waters domain, National says nothing on the topic as if that would something sort itself by some sort of magic market solution/disaster capitalism/venture capital opportunism.
Are you now finally noticing that independence for indigenous peoples is not co-governance (such as whanau ora and MHA delivery to Maori via Maori)
I would have no objection if iwi decided to form a private corporation from their own funds and tendered alongside everyone else to deliver profit making services.
What I would object to is if the same tendering process was decided by iwi representatives on the BoD with an obvious conflict of interest. Assuming that iwi elites will have the same interests as the whole of NZ is a very faulty assumption.
There is a big difference between working with multiple stakeholders within the a system – and one race based group given preferential, parallel access to power by design.
Given whanau ora and MHA are not for profit services, I presume you are referring to Maori iwi involvement in ownership stake and business operation of water utility services for profit.
However I think you would find a large part of the Three Waters is monopoly business – not just water to users, but also wastewater and sewage. It is not an “industry” where two different providers can compete.
I note your dead social democratic hand applauding the alternative of private ownership to Maori role in management of public assets.
However I think you would find a large part of the Three Waters is monopoly business
Given I worked in said industry for eight years – the answer is no. There is a wide range of entities delivering services. Typically the owner of the asset – at present usually council owned entities – will have a core department responsible for managing the operation, but many services are contracted out. This can range from pipeline R&M, electrical and control systems, mapping and GIS services, chemical and energy inputs and so on. Some smaller councils will fully tender out their entire operation, while the larger ones will have enough in-house expertise to run a large fraction of it.
So while the service is a natural monopoly in that the end user has no direct choice – the asset owner has a wide choice of entities it can involve.
https://www.watercare.co.nz/CMSPages/GetAzureFile.aspx?path=~%5Cwatercarepublicweb%5Cmedia%5Cwatercare-media-library%5Creports-and-publications%5Cstatement-corporate-intent-2010.pdf&hash=4b0ccc3ac704b68e978ea49c9ba86c81a613bf3b66782f66bd7c83e2cc96828a
No democratic accountability either.
Is not the area that needs the investment the basic infrastructure that which the council itself cannot afford – replacement, not repair and maintenance, and in some areas extra wastewater and sewage capacity because of urban intensification etc?
Great article, Gypsy. I was aware of the funding but not the full ramifications. I thought jurnos on the ground wouldn't notice any management manipulations simply because their sentiments are similar to the narrative the government wants implemented.
I bring your attention to this part of the article:
''The guilty parties would be an unholy alliance of Pakeha and Māori elites determined to keep public money flowing upwards into protected private hands. In this super-narrative, the structures set forth in He Puapua to secure tino rangatiratanga, will actually ensure the exclusion of the vast majority of New Zealanders from the key locations of power. The only positive consequence of which will be a common struggle for political and economic equality in which non-elite Māori and Pakeha will have every incentive to involve themselves.''
The New Zealand public would be shocked if they knew how many professional Pakeha are already on the gravy train. Some firms have Maori only sections dealing with all legal things pertaining to Maori. That's how big this industry is.
Co-governance of large public utilities is a massive gravy train for elites. And families of elites.
''The guilty parties would be an unholy alliance of Pakeha and Māori elites determined to keep public money flowing upwards into protected private hands. In this super-narrative, the structures set forth in He Puapua to secure tino rangatiratanga, will actually ensure the exclusion of the vast majority of New Zealanders from the key locations of power.
And given the alternative is new investment in water utility (given local government debt and incapacity) coming from global corporations – signed off by NACT, this argument may well age very badly in the eyes of future generations.
Not very sharp, Blade.
Trotter sometimes gets it right.
Unfortunately, like you, he is prone to flights of delusional fantasy.
The media, far from being seduced by Government funding, has been unrelentingly hostile to the Government from day one.
This Facebook headline for example. "Spinning out of control".
Government blames COVID-19 for 46 percent increase in communications staff | Newshub
Obviously the need for more communications staff over covid.
The cognitive dissonance of right Wing media simultaneously whinging about "Lack of information for the public", and the growth in information staff required by covid.
We wouldn't need so many, if Media "did their fucking job" instead of blindly repeating National party bullshit.
Gipsy.
Governance of large public utilities (and large private ones, has been and still is) is a massive gravy train for elites. And families of elites. (Especially ex National MP' s and their mates).
Fixed it for you.
She is no gaudy trinket. You do expose your bile at times.
Photos can generate emotions and perceptions and reinforce pre-existing ones. It is reasonable to assume that this has some downstream effects on behaviour & actions.
Newshub
Tall poppy syndrome and jealousy with ageism and misogyny thrown in.
Sydney morning Herald
Taking the woke thing to a whole new level.
Where's Dennis these days?
He was here a week-ish ago.
Small Countries snub China.
Some discussion here concerning China and their recent offers in the Pacific
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIkGpP4n6vM
I think China is quite happy with their first major foray into the Pacific. China plays a long game. They know Island economies won't be improving under the present global situation, and regardless of how much money we give in aid. China has forced added pressure on Australia and New Zealand regarding our relationship with pacific nations. The Chinese will continue to chip away at the Pacific. And that cookie jar China holds up to our Pacific cuzzies, may at a later date become too tempting.
Over to you, Nanaia…Nanaia! Are you there?
Am loving the sudden concern for the Pacific Islands among the opposition and its supporters.
It was just a short time ago this National Party supporter described the Pacific Islands thus:
– Heather Duplicity Allan
Why the change of heart? Must be political…
I can't help you regarding National and it's supporters. Maybe they misjudged. Remember Helen Clark? ''We live in a benign part of the world.'' Yet, just up the road in Fiji?
I became interested in China, mid 2000s when Ian Wishart wrote some excellent articles on China and its future roll in our region. We even had Chinese military training here if I remember correctly.
Political? You bet.
We need to partner up with the EU and USA and assist with development.
China wants to
Yes, and the danger is China can bankroll all this, and a whole heap more, without breaking a sweat. We can't, we need to partner up like you say.
I believe one indicator pointing towards China preparing to attack Taiwan will be a change in behaviour of Chinese communities in the Pacific. That's one thing I would be looking out for.
Didn't you see her Chiefly adornment?
No?— too busy with your preconceived notions.
With all the speculation regarding China in the Pacific and it's intentions with Taiwan, I thought I would take a different tack and find out more about our possible future enemies – the Chinese people. But I wanted the talkback version regarding Chinese people, not MSM narratives.
Enter this guy who I've found very interesting. Winston Sterzel is a South African who lived in China during its great push to modernise. His clips have some fascinating insights. For example, marriage in China is nothing like Western marriages. China has huge ghost cities no one lives in. And when Russia attacked Ukraine, Chinese expats were told to roll out the Chinese flag and welcome Russian troops. A few days later China told them to take their flags down and lay low.
Now, everyone likes taking a crack at American gun culture, especially liberals. Some criticisms are justified. Critics talk of other major countries where nothing approaching the level of gun crime America experiences ever happen.
In this clip Winston talks about knife crime in China – mass stabbings that never make global headlines. I can only remember one such incident being reported in NZ. The clip shows police and security even use a special device looking like a shepherd's crook to tackle such crime. BTW, apparently Chinese crazies attack kindergartens. That's one step lower than American crazies. But let's not quibble.
At 14.30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLK9I6V1BGY
Something concerning no matter what your political views are.
https://www.voicesforfreedom.co.nz/blog/post/who-trust
we have another Chris here, so I’ve changed your username. Next time you comment please use that, or pick a unique one and stick to it. Thanks.
Murfitt is the clown who reckons the Covid response has been used to destroy liberty in New Zealand.
snort
What an excellent letter! I really appreciate well researched and referenced work such as this. Thanks for the link joe90!
(Especially like the reminder of how Uncle Ashley declared that Omicron escapes the Pfizer product, back in January…the point at which all mandates should have been lifted. Yet here we are. )
Thanks again joe90!
Not exactly, first they had to identify the level of risk to the health system/hospitalisation from omicron infection before moving on from workplace and location mandates.
The letters claim that the vaccination does not reduce serious outcomes is simply untrue.
Nope – not concerned that libertarian psychos don't approve of WHO doing its job properly. Not even concerned when they invoke the name of the tyrannical Helen Clark(e) whom, we might remember, nearly ended western civilisation with low-energy lightbulbs, until she was mercifully removed in 2008 by the heroic, freedom-loving saint from Merrill Lynch.
Funny because its true. Great wit and post : )
What a load of deranged piffle! The WHO is the global health entity which pulls all the threads pertaining to health matters together for the betterment of mankind as a whole. The WTO (world trade), the WMO (meteorological science) and others do the same. Almost all countries have their representatives based in Geneva assisting the parent body. Are you therefore claiming all these countries are complicit in some wacko conspiracy?
The author can't even spell Helen Clark's surname correctly.
All in bold. Sorry. Tried to change. Won't work. 🙁
All fixed 🙂
Thanks Incog. How did you do it for future reference? Font wouldn't work.
I wish I could tell & help you. I rarely use the front-end to comment, and in the back-end the text editor is different. Only Lprent will be able to explain these sorts of things. That said, I’d have thought the font tool should have worked, so that’s odd, to me too 😉
I am not concerned by this heap of bull kaka espoused by Voices for Freedom…..full of conspiracy theories etc and we have had enough of CTs from people like VFF to last us a lifetime I would have thought.
Agreed, but they just keep on with their rubbish.
On a baking hot Washington DC morning (about 33C), Jacinda Ardern came to meet with the leader of the free world.
The next time I hear this phrase I might puke. As this failed democracy fades what does this term beloved by lazy journalists even mean?
More than though is the hypocrisy of describing a country that has interfered in the running of so many sovereign states in this way.
I guess the US would say it's contributing to the overthrow of many legitimate governments over many decades is "freeing" them from the yoke of communism, socialism or whatever.
The USA doesn't defend democracy. It defends its own interests and its own world view.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/128821564/the-white-house-meet-a-study-in-security-contrasts-and-personal-rapport
https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300601784/mori-party-backs-calls-for-establishment-of-iwiled-bank-to-finance-building-on-mori-land
Would be useful to just help even up the playing field for ordinary mortgages, too.
There was once a upon a time a Government organisation called the Maori Housing Corporation that built houses for the Maori's.
Which also provided training for them as well at all levels of construction & at housing/ contract management etc
Curiously the Iwi organisations say its too risky to invest in.
No not curious Pat. As the Maori land is communally owned it can not be used as a security, only the building, which has to be removable …quirk of Law. So no security until build is signed off. That needs to change.
Who demands the security of the land Patricia?….the lending bank (or financial institution)….if the financial institution is the owner of the land the problem is moot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Co-operative_Bank_(New_Zealand)
There is every opportunity for Iwi organisations to create a banking mechanism to provide capital for Iwi development and they have a natural support base. The restriction of Maori land is self imposed , which is the Iwi's right but the difficulty it creates is also theirs to solve….it is not insoluble, but like all investment it carries risk.
It IS curious that the risk is perceived too great.
The nation of rapists, thieves and murderers weren't content with looting toilets and household appliances.
https://twitter.com/lapatina_/status/1531195913888227328
May 28 (Reuters) – A ship has entered the Ukrainian port of Mariupol for the first time since Russia completed its capture of the city to load metal and ship it east to Russia, TASS news agency reported on Saturday, in a move that Kyiv decried as looting.
[…]
Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova said the shipment amounted to looting by Russia.
"Looting in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine continues," she wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
"Following the theft of Ukrainian grain, the occupiers resorted to exporting metal products from Mariupol."
Ukraine's largest steelmaker Metinvest on Friday said it was concerned that Russia may use several ships stranded in Mariupol to "steal and smuggle metallurgical products" belonging to the group. It accused Russia of piracy.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ship-take-metal-mariupol-russia-kyiv-decries-looting-2022-05-28/
Complete and utter propaganda joe …well done , for starters i doubt the " mayor " even said that last time i looked back in early may they just seemed to be getting on with it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1I8SZeXGFo
I seriously doubt the death toll was anything like the figures you so gullibly quote but concerning the dead in a war generally what would be your alternative to a mass grave ?leave them lying around to rot ? give them all individual funerals ??
The ombudsman has been fired
Apparently for
A Ukrainian refugee in the UK says she recognises items apparently looted from her house sitting on top of a Russian tank in a recent photo.
Alina Koreniuk says the box in the photo contains a new boiler she planned to install before the war started.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61643533
So, the social media platform of choice for the (former) Human Rights Ombudsman of Ukraine is:
Telegram.
The Russian occupation should be the least of Ukraine’s worries.
It's the social media platform of choice.
Sometimes maligned, Telegram becomes essential during Ukraine invasion
Ukrainian officials have leaned on the messaging app in recent weeks as a reliable way to disseminate information.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/sometimes-maligned-telegram-becomes-essential-ukraine-invasion-rcna18495
https://www.lawfareblog.com/telegrams-embrace-contradiction
Cool, cool. They're all using it. Hardly helps dispell the Russian claim Ukraine is full of Nazis.
forsan spoliae victoribus
But it's a special military operation, not a war.
"Rising costs have created a “ticking timebomb” for UK small business owners, the chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has warned, with almost half a million firms at risk of going bust within weeks without a fresh wave of government support."
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/30/almost-500000-uk-small-businesses-at-risk-of-going-bust-within-weeks
While Jacinda basks in the glory of meeting Joe Biden ,Andrew Little releases the Pharmac report that I believe sat on his desk waiting for and appropriate moment. A moment when our media had better things to do.
As usual, Pharmac, like everyone else, has been found to have failed Maori. And disabled people. Trans folk aren't mentioned, so we are sailing blind in that regard.
Quote:
''The panel found Pharmac’s model has delivered significant benefits, but to achieve its purpose these benefits need to be shared more equitably across our communities, especially for Māori and Pacific peoples.''
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/128823378/independent-review-finds-pharmac-needs-to-substantially-improve
RNZ story is a good summary: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/468276/health-minister-urges-pharmac-to-focus-on-equity-and-collaboration
That's a good summary. Let's see how TV news handles this issue tonight.
Misleadingly
I've read the interim report, released last year – and the content of the final one, doesn’t seem to have changed much.
https://pharmacreview.health.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/final-report/Pharmac-Review-Final-Report.pdf
I'm wondering about this inequality in relation to Maori.
All of the comments I can find in the report are around Maori having less access to the existing drugs (e.g. less often disagnosed, or prescribed existing drugs) – which really has nothing to do with Pharmac.
[I mean, yeah, it needs to be addressed – but doesn't come within the areas that Pharmac control]
Pharmac was also caned for the reduced number of Maori employed (which may well have to do with the fact that medically qualified Maori can write their own ticket in any of the healthcare professions – and Pharmac isn't perhaps where they see they can make the most difference).
There was some speculation that diseases which predominantly affect Maori aren't getting the drug funding – but no concrete examples given in the report (though 2 drugs which do treat diseases more commonly experienced by Maori, were specifically mentioned as being funded by Pharmac in response to lobbying by Maori health groups – i.e. Pharmac is already doing it.)
Expenditure is more highly focused on the older age bracket. Which would be no surprise, since many of the drugs are life extenders (heart, blood pressure, cancer medication, etc.).
I do have some grave concerns over Little's stated policy
If this is just about integrating drug decision-making alongside other medical interventions – then that's one thing (and a highly desirable outcome). [Thinking here of prioritizing surgical interventions to reduce the drug costs for symptom management]
If it's opening the pathway to politicising Pharmac decisions – when, inevitably, the loudest voices with the best PR have the greatest weight – then that's quite another.
The best outcome from this report would be for Pharmac's decisions to be more open and transparent, and for them to be made in a much more timely fashion (and revisited if/when more information becomes available). However, the down-side of this, is that unless there is more money available, funding one drug means de-funding something else. TAANSTAFL
Sadly, for many of the special interest groups – NZ basically can't afford the 1st world standard of medical care that they would like to aspire to. Unless Pharmac's budget is increased very substantially (which I don't see as on the cards, given the economic climate), drug-treatment for rare and expensive treatments is simply not going to be publicly funded in NZ.
Refining how you slice the pie, doesn't change the size of it.
Politicising Pharmac decisions has been going on forever….the sooner we accept our health system operates on a triage methodology the better for all.
I agree. I see this announcement from Little as a move away from a fact-based triage model, to a more political one.
That's not to say that I don't think Pharmac could do a better job about making their decision making explicit and clear (because I think they've been poor in this area).
But we will never have enough money to fund everything – and the hard decisions about which communities will be helped and which won't, have to be made…
Put it this way as an example. Pharmac has $1000 to spend on a certain drug. That equates to 10 Pakeha and 3 Maori who qualify for such expenditure. Now, under the revised system that's more focus on Maori, Maori will have 6 seats( deserved or not) at the funding table while Pakeha drop to seven places. Why? Simple racism.
You may remember the DHB that prioritised Maori getting treatment first?
https://www.ccdhb.org.nz/news-publications/news-and-media-releases/2020-05-28-planned-surgery-maori-and-pacific-patients/
''Pharmac was also caned for the reduced number of Maori employed.''
I say, WhyTF is an issue like that in this report. Who cares?
Is Grant Robertson a bumbling fool, or just lying?
"We've got interest from a number of other players", he said on Tuesday, noting German discount supermarket Aldi as one of the "players in the Australian market that people can take a look at".
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/supermarket-giant-aldi-eyes-new-zealand-joining-costco-to-shake-up-duopoly/25M5FSB65PBR4PGLOTALAHBXAU/
A spokesperson for the chain has since confirmed it has "no current plans to expand into New Zealand".
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/468280/supermarket-giant-aldi-has-no-current-plans-to-enter-nz-market
Sometimes it pays to actually check with the company before saying they may do something when the next day they confirm they have no intention.
After the journalist wrote his story based on a "possibly" comment. They are predictable in their flimsy proof and out of context slants. Often a "gotcha" type relationship with reality.
Further a large photo of Luxon with a heading implying we are not engaging with other countries.
Since we opened up the PM has visited Singapore and Japan followed by a friendly call to congratulate Albanese on his Election win plus lead a delegation Trade Mission and meet the President of the USA. Right so "not doing anything?"
Maintaining an NZ companies registration for 20 years and then saying they have no current plans sounds like they're keeping their cards close.
One for all the Hillary Haters out there:
William Burr the AG for President Trump was supposed to find the real sticky dirt on Hillary's campaign and hired special counsel John Durham to go get it.
Durham went after Hillary's lawyer Michael Sussman and prosecuted.
Result:
Resounding loss against John Durham.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/31/politics/trump-michael-sussman-election-conspiracy/index.html
And so how many have been required to give evidence from the Trump camp:
61 officials and advisers. Several jailed already, on Contempt.
LIST: Who the January 6 committee has subpoenaed or requested to appear – CNNPolitics
That's on top of the 34 indictments and guilty pleas for Trump officials and advisers that have already gone down:
Mueller indictments: everyone charged in the Russia investigation – Vox
It's a nice big setback against the filth of Trump's legacy. This was the investigation that was supposed to show bias by law enforcement investigating President Trump. Obviously it's the usual witch-hunt by Republican elected officials and their crony staff, when it is the Republicans who on the facts of massive prosecutions are the corrupt ones.
And once Navarro is done singing, Trump is going to try to plead the 5th and just get trashed. Can't wait.
Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1531715234175537153
The jury forewoman, who did not give her name, told reporters outside the courthouse that "I think we could have spent our time more wisely."
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/31/1102150260/special-counsel-durham-fails-first-courtroom-test-in-his-three-year-probe?
Swing and a miss
A lawyer with ties to the US Democratic party has been cleared of lying to the FBI during the frenzied final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Michael Sussman, 58, had been charged with lying to investigators and concealing his ties to Hillary Clinton's campaign.
I just covered that above
You did indeed, just as I was making sure I had the link correct.
Good work, Ace.