"Yes, but apart from that what did you think of the show Mr. Lincoln?" moment from Stuff as we are told how wonderful Saudi Arabia is, as long as you don't miss habeas corpus, can overlook extra judicial state murder of dissidents, feel the routine use of indiscriminate torture doesn't apply to you, think the 24,000+ Houthi killed in Saudi air attacks probably had it coming, regard the right to protest as a silly western idea, actually love misogyny as state policy, and consider despotic theocracy a reasonable form of government…
Dollars to donuts Bridget Dunn git a nice little stuffed Manila envelope for that piece.
Saudi border guards have been accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopians using small arms and explosive weapons in a targeted campaign that rights advocates suggest may amount to a crime against humanity.
I tried commenting to this puff piece for the House of Saud but funnily enough it hasn't been published. I toned it down but questioned what alternate reality this piece came from when there is no hint of the dark side of Saudi Arabia.
I didn't mention the irony (right term?) of the headline that this was: "The truth about life in Saudi Arabia according to a Kiwi who lives there".
When Ms Dunn was asked what the biggest disadvantage of living in Saudi Arabia was she said: "People who've never visited have strong preconceptions about the country. Convincing them to change their minds takes time."
Got it. We're the problem. The issue is not a blindness to reality on her part then.
I will wonder now about the censorship moderation on Stuff whenever I see (as I still do now on this piece): "There are no comments yet. Why don't you write one?"
Outsider is an extremely influential social archetype. When circumstances treat someone as such, pondering the meaning of the experience is natural. Systems often incorporate gate-keepers for quality control. Robotic dysfunction happens too.
Lacey's House of Saud book was an eye-opener way back when. The role played by the bin Laden family is an interesting dimension, with Osama as naughty boy.
When most folk are not a card-carrying member of X (x=group) they participate in the category natural whereas card-carriers do so in the category official. Big-picture views of the cultural reality must integrate the dualism to be credible.
Change of government a threat to 200,000 people's Fair Pay Agreements – union
The first industries in the upcoming negotiations include hospitality, grocery supermarkets, security officers and guards, commercial cleaners and early childhood education workers, with negotiations for bus drivers slightly ahead of the pack.
Tradtionally…Hospo, Cleaners and others…have been treated "mostly" like shit by employers. Min wage,On call, etc..
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope opines…
"I think it's significantly wasting people's time," Hope said.
there would be better ways to deal with vulnerable workers in particular sectors."
Really Kirk ?..we know just how vulnerable Workers have been treated.
On that….David Seymour lays it all out…
Instead of Fair Pay Agreements, which the party's leader David Seymour called "anti business" policy, it would be "supporting freedom to contract".
"'Fair pay' agreements amount to compulsory unionism that will reduce productivity and make it harder for employers to grow their businesses. ACT will get rid of them immediately.
A TMP candidate has her house broken into and threats left
A Labour MP gets slapped around by some RW arsehole while campaigning
Yet David Seymour has seemingly no pushback after his threats and attacks on Superannuatants, drug addicts, the mentally ill and minimum wage workers. Apparently emboldened by this he now promises to strip employment rights from New Zealand workers.
Is it that the man's narcissism is so powerfull that it is inconcevible to him that his safety may be compromised by his own actions? Or is it just that Seymour is actually well aware that the politically violent are pretty much all on the Right Wing? (IMO it's the latter)
The latter mainly. And because he knows that if he is threatened it will be given wall to wall media coverage with no slippery "all sides do it" equivocation to obscure the truth. He will then grandstand endlessly about it and use it as an excuse to plan even more punitive attacks. .
As you say, I think he has Narcissism at such a level..that he has absolutely no care of what the effects will be. Just watching him ..there is a palpable disconnect…between his words and the effects of same.
"Guy Fawkes"…amongst many others. IMO a dangerous person.
In 1980 or thereabouts I passed the author at the Tahuna Farm commune, and then at another community at Graham Downs commune where my father and sister lived. In both places, Olive Jones appeared at the centre of things, a "key person", as she describes it in her new book Commune: Chasing a utopian dream in Aoteoroa. I was just out of adolescence.
Olive was magnetically androgynous, seriously can-do, an Amazonian other. She was very visibly a pioneer of the rural counterculture. I sensed she possessed agency, although we didn’t call it that then. ‘Assertive’ was the aspiration for young, would-be feminists of my generation.
From less than 1% of the whole when I jumped aboard in '68, back to the landers trended above 5% by the late '70s then emerged as Green ethos in politics the decade following.
a core membership of those who wish to create alternative ways of living and being from the ground up; international itinerants on the word-of-mouth-circuit, and those on the outer fringes of society with nowhere left to go – the needy and the opportunist.
Triadic framing of the communards like that is sociological.
Here she is usefully spelling out the math: "The price of a fuck in the mid-1970s was around $60. And that was for less than half an hour of contact, often only 10 or 15 minutes, tax-free. It was an immense sum of money when you compared it with the average hourly wage for unskilled labour, which was around $5 before tax." Ultimately, she becomes ambivalent about prostitution. Its splitting of love and intimacy from sex finally bugs her too much to continue.
The cost/benefit analysis of sex is another useful triad: the slash symbol represents the mental blend in our decision-making process, thus 3 as archetype emerging in the coming together of the binary. Family is produced by 3 if child happens from the binary sex act.
The splitter is an extremely influential social archetype: it has fractured christianity into upward of 40,000 sects since the disintegration of the original monolith (catholic).
The mass psychology driving the archetype into cultural process is here:
Splitting (also called black-and-white thinking, thinking in extremes or all-or-nothing thinking) is the failure in a person's thinking to bring together the dichotomy of both perceived positive and negative qualities of something into a cohesive, realistic whole. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_(psychology)
The exclusive nature of the thinking used (my way or the highway) is opposed by communal thought (inclusive) which generates community and human groups.
Inside or outside the tent is a perennial question for players & groups in politics. MMP changed us up a gear, then pointed us toward transcendent collaboration. That means finding common ground upon which to proceed. That will feature in the aftermath of the election, whichever way it goes.
To transcend a dichotomy, players must imagine a preferable third alternative to the binary views of partisans: big-picture thinking. The triad created mentally by the user gets transcendence from the framing organically: cohering players into group. The wiki definition cited above describes how holism transforms group process into system, producing "a cohesive, realistic whole." Candidates, representatives and activists cohere when grounding themselves in collective reality. This is the deep Green view of politics.
I watched Q and A this morning. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a About 20 minutes in Jack Tame interviewed James Shaw, and put forward a scenario of National forming a coalition with either Act, New Zealand First or the Greens. Tame commented a few times that Labour and the Greens won't be able to form a government. Tame repeatedly asked Shaw whether the Greens would form a government with National. Tame came across as very biased towards National and almost hectoring. Shaw replied that the polls have been inaccurate in previous elections, repeatedly commented that the Greens want to form a government with Labour, and that voters will again determine the outcome this election outcome.
It seems the media have been instructed to present a supposed forgone conclusion that National will form the next government. The media's negative attitude towards Labour has accelerated over the past couple of years, even more so this year. Presumably this is linked to the huge amounts of donations to National from the business sector which provides funding for advertising, and the vested interests of high earners and many in the real estate, business and farming sectors.
The media's analysis of National’s evidently failed fiscal plan as confirmed by various economists, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/election-2023/497974/economists-analysis-rubbishes-national-s-foreign-buyers-tax-numbers has been mainly superficial. Why has National not been challenged in detail on the detrimental effects of their policies on beneficiaries, low and many middle-income workers, the inevitable increased house prices resulting from non-residents being able to buy properties, the vastly overestimated tax revenue from these hypothetical non-residents to supposedly pay for most of the planned tax cuts, the inevitable public services cuts and the decrease in workers' rights?
Prime time discussion panels with political analysts/scientists, including interviewing the relevant candidates, would likely provide more objectivity and information for voters, rather than combative interviews with current and potential MPs.
Jack Tame's job is to ask the hard questions of whichever politician is in front of him, and to pressure the politician to answer the questions.
Shaw got off lightly compared to the Winston Peters interview immediately before him. Part of the Peters interview was that Peters was being an arse, so no sympathy at all for how Tame managed it.
I don't think anyone is instruction the MSM to believe the polls. Who would have done that anyway? It's just that a number of the political classes like to predict, and in doing so influence outcomes. It's wrong imo for Tame to state it in the way he did, but it's pretty standard, not just journalists.
What might come across as hectoring in the Shaw interview is just Tame trying to get Shaw to be clear. Green politics can be hard to understand and while I think the Greens are better at communicating this than in the past, I think Shaw still doesn't have a succinct enough way to explain things like the wealth tax, or post-election negotiations and why he won't be drawn on speculating. He did ok, but the answers are still unusual and a bit unclear so it's Tame's job to try and get clarity.
Admire your faith in the rationality of his supporters BG. You’re a better person than me. I'm cynical enough to think it will only shore up his base support.
I really hope you are right. I suspect that many of NZF fvoters watching that will see Peters as hard done by the MSM and he's the under dog that needs their vote. I really hope I am wrong.
One might just dismiss this as Winston bloviating as usual – but he has form as a vindictive operator, with the memory of an elephant for any slight, perceived or real.
Why has National not been challenged in detail on the detrimental effects of their policies
My guess is that media are reluctant to predict the future. There's been an establishment bias against doing so for more than 3 centuries, so there's substantial inertia to overthrow if you are a revolutionary aspiring changemaker.
It can be done in contemporary society using conditional framing: you just suggest a likely outcome of implementing the policy. Journos do so often.
You could email Jack to ask him why he didn't, but framing a discussion is the prerogative of the framer (media pro), so be polite if you want a response.
Nothing wrong with scaremongering by opponents of the Nats, so could be he believes a forensic examination of likely outcomes of Nat policies is best left to politicians opposed to them, huh? The PM has had a go at that in the media I suggest Jack is likely to do a bit of that when the realising looms larger…
Anyone with a memory of the Ruth Richardson "Mother of all Budgets" will know what lies ahead if NACT wins the election. In 1991 benefit reductions / Housing NZ increases to market rental / vulnerable families moved off the housing waiting list – all these caused disruption for years. As a budgeter / food bank worker during those years my work load increased substantially – many families existed on food parcels for months because of stand down penalties. I am dreading the outcome of this coming election and hope I have the energy to support my clients for a few more years to come. I have concerned clients ringing daily and all I can advise them is to make sure they, their friends and families get out and vote wisely over the next 2 weeks.
Patricia 2, it’s frightening to think of what possibly lies ahead if NACT win- particularly concerning for the vulnerable/ at-risk members of society- the ones Luxon calls bottom feeders.
As demonstrated in Jack Tame’s interview of James Shaw, the media are now treating a Right victory as guaranteed. It’s very depressing and makes me wonder how much this fair accompli mindset influences people to vote for the Right OR to not vote at all…
Part of the problem is the media obsession with the horse race purely as a race. What the race is about, or means for real people, gets lost in the media coverage. It should probably be illegal to publish any political poll for 12 months before the latest date an election must be held. Then there is very little to talk about except policy and its implications.
I am finding already that the attitude at some WINZ offices has changed and case managers are being more hard nosed about some applications than in previous months. I feel they are pre-empting a NACT win.
I'm sure they could supply a decent camera for him to give a better picture, or he could just do it from a studio in Wellington. After all he is the only one who would need to be in the room.
By next week I mean the week starting Monday 9 October and by "early" I was thinking of the evening of Tuesday 10 October.
By then 9 of the 12 days available for early voting would have passed.
On the other hand I am not sure how much any of the debates after the first one matter. Anyone who might be swinging will probably have only watched the first one and will work on what they saw there. I doubt if the audience for any debate after the first will be that large. It is only the political tragics (like me) who watch all the debates and we have, like you, already decided on what we intend to do.
The Labour spin doctors have probably told Chippy that the more he campaigns the less votes he gets, so his best option is to shut the hell up. Catching covid is awfully convenient, because it is designed to remind voters that "Labour saved everyone from covid, remember that?". All too convenient.
[..]
He’s given up…not a committed stalwart like Clark
[…]
It’s likely an excuse.
The MP that replaces him for the debates will be the one in the front seat to take over post election.
They won’t change out leaders this close to election, but it appears 💩kins is kaka-kaput
I guess it gives his deputy the opportunity to shine. I hope his immune system deals with the invasion swiftly. Folks ought to google human microbiome if they do not yet know that each one of us is an ecosystem host!
Some will wonder about God's will but the possibility of Gaia's will being involved is more likely to occur to anyone who's ever encompassed the new age or Green belief systems. I wonder what his own thoughts are about being taken out as leader in the campaign. There's potential for some floaters to give Labour a sympathy vote: everyone knows a fair competition is based on equity of opportunity.
James nails the Nats lack of credibility from the Green perspective:
We don’t see the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis, or the crisis of intergenerational poverty as separable from each other.
Any agreement that we form with any party, to form a government, has got to ensure that we’re able to progress those things in equal measure … you cannot solve the climate crisis without bringing everyone with you and having an inclusive society and an inclusive economy.
National has never been about that. They’ve always been about, essentially, making intergenerational poverty worse….there’s no chance on God’s green earth that [National would offer a better environmental policy to the Greens than Labour]. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/vote2023-qa-with-james-shaw
Could have added a challenge to the bluegreens: take me to your real leader (no need to point to the fake) but asking the Nats to provide a basis for consensus would freak them out even more…
You never see a photo of Simeon Brown without a fossil-fuel guzzling vehicle somewhere in the picture. Three guesses who was behind National's policy of ending the clean car rebate.
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Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
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. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
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 ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
"Yes, but apart from that what did you think of the show Mr. Lincoln?" moment from Stuff as we are told how wonderful Saudi Arabia is, as long as you don't miss habeas corpus, can overlook extra judicial state murder of dissidents, feel the routine use of indiscriminate torture doesn't apply to you, think the 24,000+ Houthi killed in Saudi air attacks probably had it coming, regard the right to protest as a silly western idea, actually love misogyny as state policy, and consider despotic theocracy a reasonable form of government…
Dollars to donuts Bridget Dunn git a nice little stuffed Manila envelope for that piece.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/kiwi-traveller/300971717/expat-tales-the-truth-about-life-in-saudi-arabia-according-to-a-kiwi-who-lives-there
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Saudi border guards have been accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopians using small arms and explosive weapons in a targeted campaign that rights advocates suggest may amount to a crime against humanity.
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/aug/21/fired-on-like-rain-saudi-border-guards-accused-of-mass-killings-of-ethiopians
I tried commenting to this puff piece for the House of Saud but funnily enough it hasn't been published. I toned it down but questioned what alternate reality this piece came from when there is no hint of the dark side of Saudi Arabia.
I didn't mention the irony (right term?) of the headline that this was: "The truth about life in Saudi Arabia according to a Kiwi who lives there".
When Ms Dunn was asked what the biggest disadvantage of living in Saudi Arabia was she said: "People who've never visited have strong preconceptions about the country. Convincing them to change their minds takes time."
Got it. We're the problem. The issue is not a blindness to reality on her part then.
I will wonder now about the
censorshipmoderation on Stuff whenever I see (as I still do now on this piece): "There are no comments yet. Why don't you write one?"Outsider is an extremely influential social archetype. When circumstances treat someone as such, pondering the meaning of the experience is natural. Systems often incorporate gate-keepers for quality control. Robotic dysfunction happens too.
Lacey's House of Saud book was an eye-opener way back when. The role played by the bin Laden family is an interesting dimension, with Osama as naughty boy.
When most folk are not a card-carrying member of X (x=group) they participate in the category natural whereas card-carriers do so in the category official. Big-picture views of the cultural reality must integrate the dualism to be credible.
Tradtionally…Hospo, Cleaners and others…have been treated "mostly" like shit by employers. Min wage,On call, etc..
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope opines…
Really Kirk ?..we know just how vulnerable Workers have been treated.
On that….David Seymour lays it all out…
Any Worker..should be voting Left as if their Future depends. Because it does!
New Zealand is a funny old place –
A TMP candidate has her house broken into and threats left
A Labour MP gets slapped around by some RW arsehole while campaigning
Yet David Seymour has seemingly no pushback after his threats and attacks on Superannuatants, drug addicts, the mentally ill and minimum wage workers. Apparently emboldened by this he now promises to strip employment rights from New Zealand workers.
Is it that the man's narcissism is so powerfull that it is inconcevible to him that his safety may be compromised by his own actions? Or is it just that Seymour is actually well aware that the politically violent are pretty much all on the Right Wing? (IMO it's the latter)
The latter mainly. And because he knows that if he is threatened it will be given wall to wall media coverage with no slippery "all sides do it" equivocation to obscure the truth. He will then grandstand endlessly about it and use it as an excuse to plan even more punitive attacks. .
That could well be. Wouldnt be the first time a
fascist….right wing party did something like that : (As you say, I think he has Narcissism at such a level..that he has absolutely no care of what the effects will be. Just watching him ..there is a palpable disconnect…between his words and the effects of same.
"Guy Fawkes"…amongst many others. IMO a dangerous person.
There's this triad driving politics: left/right/other. The counter-culture was always other. This excellent review provides an authentic glimpse of othering as lifestyle dissidence: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/book-of-the-week-hippies-nude-and-useful
From less than 1% of the whole when I jumped aboard in '68, back to the landers trended above 5% by the late '70s then emerged as Green ethos in politics the decade following.
Triadic framing of the communards like that is sociological.
The cost/benefit analysis of sex is another useful triad: the slash symbol represents the mental blend in our decision-making process, thus 3 as archetype emerging in the coming together of the binary. Family is produced by 3 if child happens from the binary sex act.
The splitter is an extremely influential social archetype: it has fractured christianity into upward of 40,000 sects since the disintegration of the original monolith (catholic).
The mass psychology driving the archetype into cultural process is here:
The exclusive nature of the thinking used (my way or the highway) is opposed by communal thought (inclusive) which generates community and human groups.
Inside or outside the tent is a perennial question for players & groups in politics. MMP changed us up a gear, then pointed us toward transcendent collaboration. That means finding common ground upon which to proceed. That will feature in the aftermath of the election, whichever way it goes.
To transcend a dichotomy, players must imagine a preferable third alternative to the binary views of partisans: big-picture thinking. The triad created mentally by the user gets transcendence from the framing organically: cohering players into group. The wiki definition cited above describes how holism transforms group process into system, producing "a cohesive, realistic whole." Candidates, representatives and activists cohere when grounding themselves in collective reality. This is the deep Green view of politics.
I watched Q and A this morning. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a About 20 minutes in Jack Tame interviewed James Shaw, and put forward a scenario of National forming a coalition with either Act, New Zealand First or the Greens. Tame commented a few times that Labour and the Greens won't be able to form a government. Tame repeatedly asked Shaw whether the Greens would form a government with National. Tame came across as very biased towards National and almost hectoring. Shaw replied that the polls have been inaccurate in previous elections, repeatedly commented that the Greens want to form a government with Labour, and that voters will again determine the outcome this election outcome.
It seems the media have been instructed to present a supposed forgone conclusion that National will form the next government. The media's negative attitude towards Labour has accelerated over the past couple of years, even more so this year. Presumably this is linked to the huge amounts of donations to National from the business sector which provides funding for advertising, and the vested interests of high earners and many in the real estate, business and farming sectors.
The media's analysis of National’s evidently failed fiscal plan as confirmed by various economists, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/election-2023/497974/economists-analysis-rubbishes-national-s-foreign-buyers-tax-numbers has been mainly superficial. Why has National not been challenged in detail on the detrimental effects of their policies on beneficiaries, low and many middle-income workers, the inevitable increased house prices resulting from non-residents being able to buy properties, the vastly overestimated tax revenue from these hypothetical non-residents to supposedly pay for most of the planned tax cuts, the inevitable public services cuts and the decrease in workers' rights?
Labour's fiscal plan has been costed and endorsed by Infometrics. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/133018004/labour-lays-down-its-financial-gauntlet-with-tight-budgets-and-a-challenge-to-national
Prime time discussion panels with political analysts/scientists, including interviewing the relevant candidates, would likely provide more objectivity and information for voters, rather than combative interviews with current and potential MPs.
Jack Tame's job is to ask the hard questions of whichever politician is in front of him, and to pressure the politician to answer the questions.
Shaw got off lightly compared to the Winston Peters interview immediately before him. Part of the Peters interview was that Peters was being an arse, so no sympathy at all for how Tame managed it.
I don't think anyone is instruction the MSM to believe the polls. Who would have done that anyway? It's just that a number of the political classes like to predict, and in doing so influence outcomes. It's wrong imo for Tame to state it in the way he did, but it's pretty standard, not just journalists.
What might come across as hectoring in the Shaw interview is just Tame trying to get Shaw to be clear. Green politics can be hard to understand and while I think the Greens are better at communicating this than in the past, I think Shaw still doesn't have a succinct enough way to explain things like the wealth tax, or post-election negotiations and why he won't be drawn on speculating. He did ok, but the answers are still unusual and a bit unclear so it's Tame's job to try and get clarity.
This is Peters train wreck interview with Jack Tame on TV1 this morning. Well worth a watch.
I'd be surprised if he gets 5% after this-his voters watch TV1.
Admire your faith in the rationality of his supporters BG. You’re a better person than me. I'm cynical enough to think it will only shore up his base support.
Haha, we shall see-do you want a pint on it? I'm calling NZF below 5 per cent now. Peters has lost a few of his marbles.
I really hope you are right. I suspect that many of NZF fvoters watching that will see Peters as hard done by the MSM and he's the under dog that needs their vote. I really hope I am wrong.
I was horrified (though not surprised) by Peters doubling down on the implied threat to an independent media later in day
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/election-2023-winston-peters-unable-to-provide-costs-for-prison-and-aged-care-party-policies/LEFYDPNC4RADBHZ5UNWLE45C2M/
One might just dismiss this as Winston bloviating as usual – but he has form as a vindictive operator, with the memory of an elephant for any slight, perceived or real.
Agree Bella-nasty. I am not sure the old Peters would have done this.
Why has National not been challenged in detail on the detrimental effects of their policies
My guess is that media are reluctant to predict the future. There's been an establishment bias against doing so for more than 3 centuries, so there's substantial inertia to overthrow if you are a revolutionary aspiring changemaker.
It can be done in contemporary society using conditional framing: you just suggest a likely outcome of implementing the policy. Journos do so often.
You could email Jack to ask him why he didn't, but framing a discussion is the prerogative of the framer (media pro), so be polite if you want a response.
Nothing wrong with scaremongering by opponents of the Nats, so could be he believes a forensic examination of likely outcomes of Nat policies is best left to politicians opposed to them, huh? The PM has had a go at that in the media I suggest Jack is likely to do a bit of that when the realising looms larger…
Anyone with a memory of the Ruth Richardson "Mother of all Budgets" will know what lies ahead if NACT wins the election. In 1991 benefit reductions / Housing NZ increases to market rental / vulnerable families moved off the housing waiting list – all these caused disruption for years. As a budgeter / food bank worker during those years my work load increased substantially – many families existed on food parcels for months because of stand down penalties. I am dreading the outcome of this coming election and hope I have the energy to support my clients for a few more years to come. I have concerned clients ringing daily and all I can advise them is to make sure they, their friends and families get out and vote wisely over the next 2 weeks.
Patricia 2, it’s frightening to think of what possibly lies ahead if NACT win- particularly concerning for the vulnerable/ at-risk members of society- the ones Luxon calls bottom feeders.
As demonstrated in Jack Tame’s interview of James Shaw, the media are now treating a Right victory as guaranteed. It’s very depressing and makes me wonder how much this fair accompli mindset influences people to vote for the Right OR to not vote at all…
Part of the problem is the media obsession with the horse race purely as a race. What the race is about, or means for real people, gets lost in the media coverage. It should probably be illegal to publish any political poll for 12 months before the latest date an election must be held. Then there is very little to talk about except policy and its implications.
I am finding already that the attitude at some WINZ offices has changed and case managers are being more hard nosed about some applications than in previous months. I feel they are pre-empting a NACT win.
Chris Hipkins has Covid, and could not be at the west Auckland rally. Get well Chippy.
The Press Debate date may be changed, or a stand in called up.
Grant Robertson?
Why not just do it with Hipkins using Zoom?
I'm sure they could supply a decent camera for him to give a better picture, or he could just do it from a studio in Wellington. After all he is the only one who would need to be in the room.
he can't go into a studio for obvious reasons.
What rotten luck! I hope they postpone it until either later in the week or early the following week.
Voting starts tomorrow. If they were to delay it to early next week half the population could have already voted.
700,000 people voted in the first week of advanced voting at the last election in 2020. This represents less than a quarter of the votes cast.
Those 700k would have been people who had already made their minds up (like me; I will vote this week).
So it makes complete sense to postpone the press debate until early next week.
By next week I mean the week starting Monday 9 October and by "early" I was thinking of the evening of Tuesday 10 October.
By then 9 of the 12 days available for early voting would have passed.
On the other hand I am not sure how much any of the debates after the first one matter. Anyone who might be swinging will probably have only watched the first one and will work on what they saw there. I doubt if the audience for any debate after the first will be that large. It is only the political tragics (like me) who watch all the debates and we have, like you, already decided on what we intend to do.
There seem to be far fewer advance voting places this year, at least in my West Coast Tasman electorate.
Question: Did National Party activists on orders from the office of Chris Bishop deliberately infect the Prime Minister with Covid-19?
The Natzi brains trust is onto it.
Hadn’t thought of this; wouldn’t surprise me.
I guess it gives his deputy the opportunity to shine. I hope his immune system deals with the invasion swiftly. Folks ought to google human microbiome if they do not yet know that each one of us is an ecosystem host!
Some will wonder about God's will but the possibility of Gaia's will being involved is more likely to occur to anyone who's ever encompassed the new age or Green belief systems. I wonder what his own thoughts are about being taken out as leader in the campaign. There's potential for some floaters to give Labour a sympathy vote: everyone knows a fair competition is based on equity of opportunity.
James nails the Nats lack of credibility from the Green perspective:
Could have added a challenge to the bluegreens: take me to your real leader (no need to point to the fake) but asking the Nats to provide a basis for consensus would freak them out even more…
UncleTom, Petty & the Fartbreaker:
https://twitter.com/stampmemesnz/status/1708305454064181338
You never see a photo of Simeon Brown without a fossil-fuel guzzling vehicle somewhere in the picture. Three guesses who was behind National's policy of ending the clean car rebate.
Oh yeah, the ubiquitous Ford Raptor in the background.
Take the kid to work day.