Wow! Waving papers in front of someones face is SO threatening. Dooley was clearly afraid for his life. No mention of when National's Muldoon used to brandish his fist in front of Labour members' faces. Silly thing to do by an experienced MP but a good excuse for a National Party sympathy campaign based on bs and hypocrisy.
Getting out of your seat in the middle of a debate and confronting someone face to face to argue the point is the issue.
If that was permitted then parliament would turn into a circus (if it isn't one already).
Is it really that difficult for our MPs to simply sit there, listen, and wait for their turn to speak? Other than primary school what kind or work place allows for the kind of childish tantrum throwing that goes on in parliament.
Just imagine if a male National MP had crossed the floor and waved papers in the face of JAG or any other female Green or Labour MP. I bet that would of upset you.
Muldoon is going back a bit in time! What about Mallard and actual punch ups if you want to bring up incidents from decades ago.
I've met Genter, she doesn't come across as someone you'd be scared of getting a beating from. Just another excuse for you to Green bash Jimmy and thats all. Hope you are as proactive when Shane Jones next threatens someone.
it was fucking stupid from an experienced MP not least* because of the politicking that follows. The only excuse I can think of is that she was having a bad day, and I bet the reactionary right knows exactly what to do with that.
*it's also bizarre. Afaik this is way outside of normal behaviour in the House. I don't care what Muldoon did, I care what left MPs do and how they set the tone and expectations.
What about the occasion John Key made a cut throat gesture to Phil Goff. Goff had done nothing, Just sitting quietly in his seat. A prime minister n'all too!
Disgusting behaviour. I'd have a few pages waved in my face any day.
It was stupid from such an experienced MP and she faced the consequences.
Gonna be real honest and say that I think she is by far the person who has the most experience and vision on urban planning, transport and design, and is probably the only person in parliament who would understand the question "how can we design cities to facilitate a play-based childhood".
Matt Doocey's claim to fame is some good cross-party work on mental health and that he worked for the disgraced Tavistock. On the issue of transport, urban planning and design, he should defer to his betters.
She probably just lost it and wanted to shove some facts in his face. I don't approve, but I do understand.
Honestly, I’d like to get into parliament and shake the Cass report in Doocey’s face. And then I would turn around and shake the Cass report in the face of the entire Green Party, and also every other party.
There were 'a couple of speakers' before the Speaker was recalled. Then…
"Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee was eventually recalled to deal with the outburst. "I just said it is totally inappropriate," Brownlee said. Only then did Genter apologise."
"Last week, Genter stopped by and Newcombe said the pair got into a heated exchange about Genter's advocacy for the cycleways. "She was very intimidating. She pulled out her phone, she put the phone camera right in my face and I was like 'Okay, you need to leave now' and then she started yelling and screaming over me that I didn't care about her kids cycling," Newcombe said. Newshub asked Green co-leader Marama Davidson about the florist's encounter to which she replied: "I understand that Julie Anne did pull a phone out and video the florist – that is completely unacceptable." "
Rage is a rational response to clowns of all stripes and their fact-free reckons, particularly if you are someone who actually knows something about a topic and you suspect that their idiocy is driven by malice.
But the behaviour can't be excused – both because Parliament requires proper behaviour to function, and because every politician who is at all left of what constitutes the notional centre of the day, will be beaten up and dragged through the dirt for an extended period of time for this sort of thing.
Whilst not condoning what Julie Anne Genter did in Parliament yesterday, (though I would be curious to know what brought it on – what Matt Doocey may have done/said to her), it's not exactly unknown for National MPs to act in a similar fashion. I reckon JAG's actions were pretty mild in comparison to Tim van de Molen's threatening outburst to Shanan Halbert.
Watching an ethno-nationalist Jewish mob (self-identified themselves as such) attacking the pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA rmade me think the US authorities had downloaded yet another Israeli tactic of oppression. Mobs of murderous Jewish settlers rampaging through Palestinian settlements while the IDF looks on benignly is routine there.
No wonder the mob at UCLA felt they could act with total immunity, its been happening on the West Bank while the USA provided the weapons to do it for decades.
There's a theory that the tactics employed in the colonies eventually make their way back to the heart of empire – as though they were just a dress-rehearsal. That may partly explain the apparent contradiction of why the anti-Semitic far-right in the US so love Israel – they just like the cut of their jib and how they go about doing the things necessary to make [insert name of country here] great again.
The mind boggling thing is this extreme police violence has been triggered by middle class kids being idealists. The signal to police & mob violence is clearly coming from university administrators – something that reveals the fault lines between elite institution students, who are largely motivated by youthful idealism, and the colonisation of university administration by authoritarian neoliberal managers. It perhaps explains the deep trouble so many universities are in at the moment in the USA, where a predatory approach to student fees has seen enrollments plumet (according to Ted Goia, elite tertiary educational institutions are going under at the rate of one every week at the moment). The idea that university authorities should order riot police to attack their own students on campus, or that the university security should stand by while an out of control mob attacked students on their campus, is outrageous to the extreme.
God only knows how unhinged the police reaction would be if Huey P Newton and 100 Black Panthers were on hand to fight back!
It used to be that these types of provocations were hidden but we now get to see the violence directed at protest that fundamentally affects power. As well as this, video exists of the same type of Israel flag wavers, in direct confontation with Palestinian supporters, shouting "kill the Jews" in order to get the Palestine supporters arrested. We need to be aware of these old tried and true tactics.
It was students that raised the US out of the moral morass that was the Vietnam war. It may be that they can do it again for Palestine.
What on earth is Sir Jinx Key doing in Parliament? Front and centre! Rallying the troops? It didn’t work before so I don’t see his appearance being of any use now. T-Shirts! Pop ups in parliament! Just to prop up that Lummox Luxon. Reeks of desperation. So very sad for the dynamic dick,… not really… but . I feel a big positive spin for the COC coming on from compliant media. I wonder who will be first up.
That was such a good interview from Helen Clark. Everyone just chucking their marbles around with China it is so good to hear a voice of sanity. The logic that says that the nation that trades more than any other is going to trash its relations with those nations just because, is idiotic. Joining the US in its "containment strategy" against our largest trading partner, which US refuses to open trading to us is mindless.
Of course, Helen was a little more diplomatic but it's virtually what she said.
Anyone want to have a crack at explaining what James Shaw's new job is?
Shortly after his speech wrapped up, it was revealed Shaw would join global infrastructure management company Morrison from July, and take on a director role at new investment management company Greenbridge Capital Management.
He is also joining Air New Zealand's Sustainability Advisory Panel and the board of the World Wide Fund for Nature New Zealand.
In his speech, Shaw said he was setting himself a five-year mission to reduce or remove 150 million tonnes of climate pollution from global emissions by 2030 (which is also New Zealand's Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement).
That's a natural step for Shaw. And a strong signal from HRL Morrisons that the sustainability investor truly values policy expertise inside their management entity. Their investment themes are here:
Infratil are a very long-term investor in sustainable energy projects. They tend to be long-term holds. Way back in the day they started out of the asset privatisation, and kept growing under the charismatic Lloyd Morrison.
Also HRL Morrison at that level is a whole bunch more useful to the world than Shaw getting recycled into a government entity like NZSuperFund or ACC.
Shaw is one of the few elected members on either side of the house who operate outside the Wellington policy bubble and easily in the commercial world.
First half of my professional life I used to think doing good for the world was only possible inside the public sector. In this country it's almost the reverse.
Watching the police clearing Palestine liberation protestors from US campuses, I'm thinking about the ways in which this is different from clearing freedom protestors from Parliament grounds.
The freedom protestors had a number of problems in terms of legitimacy of protest. The death threats and inability to deal with the storm the citadel bros in their ranks and the abuse of locals outside the protest area are the main ones I see. And the denial that those were issues.
But in terms of occupation, they had as much right to be there as the students in the US.
Which leaves us with the idea that some protests are legitimate because of the politics/goals, and some aren't. And who gets to decide.
For clarity, I think the US campus occupations are righteous and I hope they regroup and continue. This is one of the few things I’ve seen that has the potential to force the US government position on the genocide in Palestine to change.
I also think there are some mistakes in the way they are doing this that are going to create serious divisions in an already divided country.
And I'm deeply depressed that those kids aren't doing this over climate, and what this means for life on planet earth.
The difference is tens of thousands of poor working class US kids were getting killed and injured in Vietnam. Everyone knew someone who was in Vietnam fighting.
Although the US is donkey deep in Palestine, there aren't feet on the ground in the same way as Vietnam. For most American's it is still someone else's war.
Agree with this. The US population is massively inwards looking.
Other people being killed in a far-away country isn't really 'real' to them. What matters is 'that nice Mrs Johnston at the corner store has had a son killed in Vietnam. Why are we fighting there anyway'.
And that only really kicks into place with conscription – if professional soldiers (even US ones) are killed, there is an element of 'well, they chose to be there'.
Americans tend to get exercised about US citizens and soldiers being killed by terrorist ambushes, but not about professional soldiers being killed fighting.
David Seymour is apparently looking into packaged school lunches. Muesli bars and the like. Not surprising that he would resent money being spent on a hot meal in winter for the children. His mean-spiritedness to the fore as usual.
I read somewhere today that Seymour was proposing to cut fresh fruit and vegetables and instead use tinned fruit and tinned beans. (Can't remember where.)
Really going a bit far there. Generations of Kiwi kids have had a lunch consisting of a couple of sandwiches and an apple (with a biscuit or piece of home baking, if you were lucky). None of us died for the want of a hot lunch in winter; or had our schooling affected.
The provision of a meal for kids whose parents don't or can't provide them with lunch, is one thing. Insisting that it be a catering quality hot meal, is something quite different.
Generations of Kiwi kids have had a lunch consisting of a couple of sandwiches and an apple (with a biscuit or piece of home baking, if you were lucky). None of us died for the want of a hot lunch in winter; or had our schooling affected.
No. Because the vast majority of us got a hot evening meal. Many of these 'poor' kids don't get hot meals full stop. So a hot lunch is important and helps them learn at school. A fuller belly leads to a fuller mind.
There is no evidence, whatsoever, that having a hot lunch makes up for not having a hot meal at the end of the day.
Having lunch, yes. But not a cooked meal.
Seymour mingy? Maybe – he understands the ‘benefits’ of keeping some Kiwis hungry.
Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern
Liang describes poverty as a "heritable condition" that perpetuates and amplifies through generations: "It is also not hard to see how individual poverty flows into communities and society, with downstream effects on economics, crime and health, as well as many other systems. Loosen one strand and everything else unravels."
A Kete Half Empty Poverty is your problem, it is everyone's problem, not just those who are in poverty. – Rebecca, a child from Te Puru
Anyone in Labour want to talk to the press (and the party ‘leader’ while you’re at it) about how policy is made or is supposed to be made in Labour?
18 seats the Greens. That will grow if Labour keeps on as is.
Audrey Young (and potentially the leader’s office who knows) is setting out their own axis of evil in Labour who, shock, horror, want tax reform. This is a mildly left wing position. It is being positioned as a hardliner group. Oh my god, one of these rabid socialists is allegedly Phil Twyford. Another is the IMF.
Surely policy has a lot of bottom up development? The party membership is in favour of something and it gets suggested.
Anyway, Labour looking like NZF with less initiative isn’t getting my vote back.
Labour Party policy development has a lot of opportunities for involvement of the general membership, so we don't always get everything we want, but there's a chance to provide input and get more involved if we want to be.
Hipkins will have been begging for this kind of fight when Labour arranged for the foreign affairs debate in the Parliament chamber with Helen Clark, ex-Minister Carr and other notables.
Finally Hipkins has found a useful policy target in foreign policy. Problem is, up against Peters and MFAT and the defence establishment, the best Hipkins will achieve is a dent, not a wound.
I suppose chip chip chip at the bottom of the wall is the theory, if you watch any of those demolition disaster shorts online. Hit and move on targets.
The only problem is the left block has achieved most of late with Hipkins not taking the lead, so by and large the public forget about him also having recently been PM and not well liked.
Helen Clark kept Winston on a very short lead when he was Foreign Affairs Minister.
He had 2 Associate Ministers – Phil Goff to do the heavy lifting with policy etc, and Chris Carter to do the relationship building and general "schmoozing".
Plus lots of air tickets to comfortable places and pre-written speeches.
Attacking Peters on his own ground is a losing proposition. There is no way that Hipkins can out-demagogue Peters on Foreign Policy. Debate and Speechifying is Peters' strong point. It's not a significant strength for Hipkins.
Labour is unwilling to make it a contest on economic policy while they have none, so it is merely opposition to austerity and the poverty of vision. And issues such as AUKUS.
But others want a 1984 and 1975 reprise. In that Clark talks about a non aligned Pacific (despite Five Eyes, NATO+ and security alliance with Oz).
Labour’s potential disagreement on AUKUS seems more like the decision of English to support the coalition of the willing in 2003 (with UK and Oz) than that.
My ears have been popping for about half an hour, so I know someone in Wellington is angry and has access to advanced tech – destablising the left wing ear.In 2003 the police actually visited the home to act as lackey for a foreign interest supporting the war on the secular left of Iraq and here conflict with China over Taiwan.
There is also CDR (Common Defence Relations) which Labour signed in between 87 & 90. Which was meant to further enhanced the ANZAC Treaty (Canberra Pact), but unfortunately the National Party of the 90's completely trashed it with the Savaged Defence Cuts of the 90's & Labour Alliance Coalition finally killing it off with the disbanding of the RNZAF Strike Wing along with any hope of the 3rd ANZAC Frigate or the cancelling of the option for 8 C130J's on the back of the RAAF order in the early 2000's.
My gut feeling atm, IRT centre left Politics in NZ atm IRT to the NZDF/ MoD & Veterans Affairs we are likely to a repeat of the early 2000's if & when this chaos Coalition collapses.
As the Green's & TPM would force NZLP not to invest the NZDF capabilities & if so the absolute bare minimum in non combat capabilities let alone Defence assets aka infrastructure because both parties still believe that the Sth Pacific is a "benign strategic environment".
The Sth Pacific has never been a benign strategic environment, especially since the White Fella aka The European's turned up & of recent times Japan post WW1 & now China. Now throw in CC & the competition for Natural resources ie Timber, POL, Fisheries & resources etc the Sth Pacific & the Sth Ocean is ripe for pillaging atm.
Which means country's like NZ now not only have to rely on Diplomacy, but now have to start carrying a bloody big stick (well equipped & combat capable/ focus NZDF) as well & be prepared to use bloody thing as well!
When our MPs on the Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China are hacked, by China together with our leading China security expert, and our own agency doesn't have the guts to actually inform them, it's probably time for Clark and Carr to just front up and admit times have changed and they are actually wrong.
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This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
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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 ...
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Hi,Thanks to all the beautiful Worms who came to the LA Webworm popup on Saturday.It was a way to celebrate the online store we launched last week — and it was super special.As I talk about a lot, I really value our community here — and it was a BLAST ...
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Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
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 ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
Following comments from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in yesterday’s pre-budget speech that not adjusting tax brackets for inflation each year is “lazy”, the Taxpayers’ Union is releasing a new poll that reveals that the vast majority of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wendy Marie Cumming-Potvin, Associate Professor/ Director of Research (School of Education), Murdoch University Shutterstock Despite social change, LGBTQI+ people still face discrimination at school and in the community. Language for diverse genders and sexualities is continually changing. LGBTQI+ allyship is part ...
Should I tell her before I see someone else? Invent a story about being stuck overseas? Grow my hair long? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzHello Hera,I’ve been seeing my hairdresser for about 12 years, making this one of the longest relationships of my adult life (longer than my ...
More than 25 environmental and community groups have published an Open Letter calling on Parliament to honour Te Tiriti and protect the environment. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jakob Weis, Postdoctoral research associate, University of Tasmania Dust storm blowing off the Australian east coast over the South Pacific.Jeff Schmaltz/NASA GSFC, Author provided The Southern Ocean, a region critical to Earth’s climate, hosts vast blooms of microscopic ocean plants known ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin Dew, Professor of Sociology, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Getty Images One in three of us will develop cancer at some point in our lives. But survival rates have improved to the point that two-thirds of those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mona Nikidehaghani, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, University of Wollongong Many Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late last year. Now a draft NDIS reform ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Belinda Smaill, Professor of Film and Screen Studies, Monash University National Archives of Australia In 2017, then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull alighted from a helicopter to announce a grand plan: Snowy Hydro 2.0. It would turn the famous hydroelectric scheme into a ...
In some ways, I couldn’t have been closer to the tragedy. In others, I was a whole universe away. This essay was first published on 3 March, 2024. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Had you been trying to market a suburb in ...
WorkSafe has found shortcomings at Fire and Emergency (FENZ) over how two volunteer firefighters died in a landslide in Cyclone Gabrielle. But it will not prosecute FENZ, nor release its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ray Nickson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Newcastle Law School, University of Newcastle Bullying by judges, magistrates and other judicial officers is a factor in many lawyers leaving the profession. This month is the first anniversary of the Judicial Commission of Victoria’s ...
The prime minister has made it clear this is a no frills budget in all but name, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The group has also raised concerns about the power that ministers could have after it was revealed Shane Jones failed to report a dinner with a company deputy chair. ...
Minister Shane Jones’ failure to declare a dinner with mining interests is just one red flag of many about the Government’s proposed fast-track legislation, Transparency International says. Earlier this week, Newsroom revealed Jones, the Resources Minister, at a dinner on the West Coast on February 16, encouraged a mining company ...
Exclusive: A transgender man is bringing an unprecedented human rights case against the Department of Corrections. He tells Alex Casey about his experience at work and what he’s fighting for. This story contains transphobic language and references to self-harm. Take care. A trans Corrections officer is taking a case against ...
Opinion: A recent study published in Nature’s Scientific Reports recently presented a novel approach to predicting which chemicals might be emitted from a vape. During heating, chemicals can break down into smaller molecules. A process known as pyrolysis. This study combined deep learning computational methods with chemical structure information from ...
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While women’s sport is exploding in Aotearoa and around the world, you still don’t hear a lot of talk about athletes and their periods, RED-S, breastfeeding and visible panty-lines. SASS Talk isn’t afraid to have that kōrero.LockerRoom founder Suzanne McFadden and Olympian broadcaster Sarah Cowley Ross host the episodic podcast, sparking ...
Opinion: New Zealand is a country of food producers. We may be a small, isolated nation at the end of the world, but we create an outsized amount of kai, most of it bound for faraway shores. Each year New Zealand exports enough food to feed 39 million people their ...
When households and businesses pulled the country back from the brink of painful power cuts on the coldest day of the year, there was no reward for the sacrifices they made in turning off their heat pumps and lights. Matt Ward, SolarZero CEO Photo: Supplied Consumers saved the day ...
Critics say they cause consumer confusion, contribute to food waste and should be ditched, but brands and retailers rely on them. I thought Pods were dead. Discontinued to the dismay of thousands. Sold for hundreds on Trade Me before disappearing for ever. So when I found some in a dairy ...
RNZ Pacific Outgoing Secretary-General Henry Puna of the Pacific Islands Forum is “not surprised” with the violent unrest in New Caledonia which has shut down the French Pacific territory. New Caledonia has come to a virtual stop after three days of civil unrest, resulting in burning, shooting and looting, as ...
COMMENTARY:By Antoinette Lattouf Sorry Palestinian women and children. It seems Australia’s leading women’s media company has more pressing issues to cover than the seemingly endless human rights atrocities committed against you. It’s been seven months of almost complete silence from Mamamia and their most popular writers and podcast hosts. ...
Asia Pacific Report As Israel drives the Palestinians deeper into another Nakba in Gaza with its assault on Rafah, the Palestine Youth Aotearoa (PYA) and solidarity supporters in Aotearoa New Zealand tonight commemorated the original Nakba — “the Catastrophe” — of 1948. The 1948 Nakba . . . more than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gwilym Croucher, Associate Professor, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne On one level, the 2024 federal budget brought few big surprises for universities. The two key measures were already announced leading up to May 14: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday handed down his third budget. It had a second successive surplus and sweeteners, including relief on energy bills, and tax breaks for development of green hydrogen and critical minerals processing. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reports on the winners of this year’s book awards.Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction ($65,000 prize)Lioness by Emily Perkins (published by Bloomsbury), about a middle-aged woman wrestling with her life choices, has won the $65,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction.Hooo boy this ...
Emily Perkins has won the fiction prize at the 2024 Ockham book awards for her novel Lioness. She collects $65,000, the most loot you can pocket in New Zealand letters, as winner of the Jan Medlicott Acorn fiction prize for her satire of the anxious rich. It’s kind of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute This year’s budget has “something for everyone”, with very little in the way of cuts and no new taxes. It’s a classic “good news” pre-election budget. Whether it is too good to ...
A new steel-making furnace will reduce emissions so much, environment officials have pitched reducing the whole country's supply of carbon credits. ...
Three people have now died in New Caledonia in the wake of pro-independence protests and escalating unrest. Charles Wea, a spokesperson for international relations in the New Caledonian territorial President’s office, confirmed the deaths to RNZ Pacific. The circumstances are unclear in the French territory’s third day of violence. France’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Ziguras, Director, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne The federal government is due to introduce legislation on Thursday to enable new caps on the number of international student places at educational institutions in Australia. These include ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jaana Dielenberg, University Fellow, Charles Darwin University Jaana Dielenberg Australians have more pet cats than ever before – more than 5 million in total. With the growing number, expectations on pet owners are shifting. Many cat owners are now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Campbell, Lecturer, Performing Arts, UniSA Creative, University of South Australia Tracey Leigh/State Theatre Company of South Australia Symphonie of the Bicycle is a tour de force. Actor and writer Hew Parham takes the audience through comic and heartfelt parallel stories ...
Why worry about accurate messaging around gangs when you can throw out some scary numbers instead? As sure as night follows day, Mark Mitchell will premise a gang policy announcement with a spine-tingling stat about soaring gang membership. “New Zealanders need only look at the fatal shooting in Ponsonby recently ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Theresa Larkin, Associate professor of Medical Sciences, University of Wollongong BonNontawat/ShutterstockWhy is blood red?– Asher, 6 years 11 months, New South Wales What a great question about something in our body, Asher. Blood is inside our body, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Parmeter, Research Scholar, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, Australian National University The Gaza war has now entered its eighth month and a resolution to the conflict still seems far off. Israel claims to have killed 13,000 Hamas militants so far. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raven Cretney, Postdoctoral Fellow, Environmental Planning, University of Waikato Getty Images Adaptation to climate change will challenge New Zealand politically and economically. As such, it becomes a problem of imagination. We will need to fund things differently, build differently, restructure aspects ...
A new 10-year budget for Auckland has dropped funding for the fourth and final part of the up to $1.4 billion dollar Eastern Busway, partly because the Government ditched the regional fuel tax. The Auckland Council believes it has been left $600m short by that early call to do away ...
Connor Molloy, said: “Christopher Luxon is right to point out that inflation over the last 14 has pushed New Zealanders into higher income tax brackets so that they are paying more of their wages in tax even when they are not better off." ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Breadon, Program Director, Health and Aged Care, Grattan Institute Shutterstock Health was a centrepiece of last year’s budget, based on a new vision for Medicare. This year, there is less health reform, but the budget does set the foundation for ...
Macron’s plan has backfired. But there can be no sustainable solution without cooperation of all parties, writes a former Australian diplomat New Caledonia.ANALYSIS:By Denise Fisher Monday night saw demonstrations by independence supporters in New Caledonia erupt into serious violence for the first time since the 1980s civil disturbances. ...
We won’t be violent, but we will organise and do everything in our power to prevent further degradation of our taiao, writes Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Toa Rangatira chief executive Helmut Modlik. In the early 1950s, prime minister Sidney Holland’s National government was under enormous pressure to increase housing supply ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A group belonging to New Caledonia’s pro-independence movement, UNI (Union Nationale pour l’Indépendance), has released a communiqué saying they were “moved by and deplored the exactions and violence taking place“. UNI member of New Caledonia’s Northern provincial assembly Patricia Goa said ...
"The United Kingdom’s Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill has just passed its final stage in Parliament (last night, NZ time) and will soon be enshrined into law. This will mean that the UK has banned export of farmed animals by sea. The Australian ...
The Government’s success in designing a national climate adaptation framework will depend entirely on its propensity to utilise landscape architects. ...
Matariki Williams speaks with Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku about her extraordinary memoir, Hine Toa.Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku has a seemingly effortless approach to knowledge: the ingesting, digesting and sharing of it has been part of her scholarship for decades. The week after I interviewed her, I was heading to Venice to ...
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Another Greens MP seems to have lost the plot. Which one's next?
Perhaps we never gave Shaw enough credit for keeping them all on a short lead.
Green MP Julie Anne Genter apologises after confrontation with Minister Matt Doocey, could face further action – NZ Herald
Thanks for the "crickets". Shaw the best of them. Not the same without Norman. Now Fitzsimmons and Donald were real Greens … . Bring back Nandor.
I wonder why she thought that a Minister had a lack of basic knowledge of their portfolio?
There is no excuse for any MP to behave like that in Parliament no matter how heated the debate gets.
Thats ugly, needs to be sanctioned accordingly as a deterent.
Wow! Waving papers in front of someones face is SO threatening. Dooley was clearly afraid for his life. No mention of when National's Muldoon used to brandish his fist in front of Labour members' faces. Silly thing to do by an experienced MP but a good excuse for a National Party sympathy campaign based on bs and hypocrisy.
Getting out of your seat in the middle of a debate and confronting someone face to face to argue the point is the issue.
If that was permitted then parliament would turn into a circus (if it isn't one already).
Is it really that difficult for our MPs to simply sit there, listen, and wait for their turn to speak? Other than primary school what kind or work place allows for the kind of childish tantrum throwing that goes on in parliament.
Just imagine if a male National MP had crossed the floor and waved papers in the face of JAG or any other female Green or Labour MP. I bet that would of upset you.
Muldoon is going back a bit in time! What about Mallard and actual punch ups if you want to bring up incidents from decades ago.
I've met Genter, she doesn't come across as someone you'd be scared of getting a beating from. Just another excuse for you to Green bash Jimmy and thats all. Hope you are as proactive when Shane Jones next threatens someone.
the problem is the precedent it sets.
I've met Sam Uffindell briefly. He also doesn't come across as someone you'd be scared of getting a beating from.
Uffindell? Wooden, I reckon.
Maybe if you'd had the opportunity to get to know him better
I never got to meet him when he was sixteen. Could have been interesting as I was younger back then too.
Weren't we all, Jimmy, weren't we all.
Heh, that would be Sam-“hey it’s still early in the night…let’s go out clubbing!!…
it was fucking stupid from an experienced MP not least* because of the politicking that follows. The only excuse I can think of is that she was having a bad day, and I bet the reactionary right knows exactly what to do with that.
*it's also bizarre. Afaik this is way outside of normal behaviour in the House. I don't care what Muldoon did, I care what left MPs do and how they set the tone and expectations.
Mike the Lefty @ 1.3
What about the occasion John Key made a cut throat gesture to Phil Goff. Goff had done nothing, Just sitting quietly in his seat. A prime minister n'all too!
Disgusting behaviour. I'd have a few pages waved in my face any day.
Edit: caught on camera too.
It was stupid from such an experienced MP and she faced the consequences.
Gonna be real honest and say that I think she is by far the person who has the most experience and vision on urban planning, transport and design, and is probably the only person in parliament who would understand the question "how can we design cities to facilitate a play-based childhood".
Matt Doocey's claim to fame is some good cross-party work on mental health and that he worked for the disgraced Tavistock. On the issue of transport, urban planning and design, he should defer to his betters.
She probably just lost it and wanted to shove some facts in his face. I don't approve, but I do understand.
Honestly, I’d like to get into parliament and shake the Cass report in Doocey’s face. And then I would turn around and shake the Cass report in the face of the entire Green Party, and also every other party.
lol, same.
Genter is an asset for parliament and the Greens. People using this as a reason to diss her generally are just politicking.
She realised it was dumb and apologised immediately. I'd like to know what Doocey said to her to incite this reaction.
It doesn’t matter what he said, Genter is responsible for her actions, or reaction to another’s comments.
As I’ve learned myself (from bitter experience) it’s the (over) reaction to someone else that gets one into trouble.
BG already said she had taken responsibility.
good point, I doubt this came out of the blue.
There is also the problems of the past 12 montks and Green MPs. They can't afford stupid shit like this.
It seems to do them no harm in the polls. Or maybe that is the Chloe effect.
To be clear, she didn't apologise immediately.
There were 'a couple of speakers' before the Speaker was recalled. Then…
"Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee was eventually recalled to deal with the outburst. "I just said it is totally inappropriate," Brownlee said. Only then did Genter apologise."
'She's a bully': Newshub reveals new allegation of intimidation against Green MP (msn.com)
It also seems Genter may have form.
"Swarbrick did acknowledge Genter had been talked to about a prior incident of poor behaviour during a media interview."
Julie Anne Genter confrontation: Green Party says ‘disciplinary process’ under way into MP’s behaviour, privileges complaints laid – NZ Herald
…and…
"Last week, Genter stopped by and Newcombe said the pair got into a heated exchange about Genter's advocacy for the cycleways. "She was very intimidating. She pulled out her phone, she put the phone camera right in my face and I was like 'Okay, you need to leave now' and then she started yelling and screaming over me that I didn't care about her kids cycling," Newcombe said. Newshub asked Green co-leader Marama Davidson about the florist's encounter to which she replied: "I understand that Julie Anne did pull a phone out and video the florist – that is completely unacceptable." "
'She's a bully': Newshub reveals new allegation of intimidation against Green MP (msn.com)
I've heard from others that Doocey was involved with Tavistock, but I haven't been able to find anything to confirm it. Do you have a link to confirm?
Rage is a rational response to clowns of all stripes and their fact-free reckons, particularly if you are someone who actually knows something about a topic and you suspect that their idiocy is driven by malice.
But the behaviour can't be excused – both because Parliament requires proper behaviour to function, and because every politician who is at all left of what constitutes the notional centre of the day, will be beaten up and dragged through the dirt for an extended period of time for this sort of thing.
Whilst not condoning what Julie Anne Genter did in Parliament yesterday, (though I would be curious to know what brought it on – what Matt Doocey may have done/said to her), it's not exactly unknown for National MPs to act in a similar fashion. I reckon JAG's actions were pretty mild in comparison to Tim van de Molen's threatening outburst to Shanan Halbert.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/496823/national-mp-tim-van-de-molen-censured-by-parliament
Difference is that Van de Molen didn't exhibit his bad behaviour in the House, in front of the cameras.
Outstandingly stupid of Genter – and I do expect better of her.
Watching an ethno-nationalist Jewish mob (self-identified themselves as such) attacking the pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA rmade me think the US authorities had downloaded yet another Israeli tactic of oppression. Mobs of murderous Jewish settlers rampaging through Palestinian settlements while the IDF looks on benignly is routine there.
No wonder the mob at UCLA felt they could act with total immunity, its been happening on the West Bank while the USA provided the weapons to do it for decades.
+100 Sanc
There's a theory that the tactics employed in the colonies eventually make their way back to the heart of empire – as though they were just a dress-rehearsal. That may partly explain the apparent contradiction of why the anti-Semitic far-right in the US so love Israel – they just like the cut of their jib and how they go about doing the things necessary to make [insert name of country here] great again.
The mind boggling thing is this extreme police violence has been triggered by middle class kids being idealists. The signal to police & mob violence is clearly coming from university administrators – something that reveals the fault lines between elite institution students, who are largely motivated by youthful idealism, and the colonisation of university administration by authoritarian neoliberal managers. It perhaps explains the deep trouble so many universities are in at the moment in the USA, where a predatory approach to student fees has seen enrollments plumet (according to Ted Goia, elite tertiary educational institutions are going under at the rate of one every week at the moment). The idea that university authorities should order riot police to attack their own students on campus, or that the university security should stand by while an out of control mob attacked students on their campus, is outrageous to the extreme.
God only knows how unhinged the police reaction would be if Huey P Newton and 100 Black Panthers were on hand to fight back!
Well put Sanctuary.
It used to be that these types of provocations were hidden but we now get to see the violence directed at protest that fundamentally affects power. As well as this, video exists of the same type of Israel flag wavers, in direct confontation with Palestinian supporters, shouting "kill the Jews" in order to get the Palestine supporters arrested. We need to be aware of these old tried and true tactics.
It was students that raised the US out of the moral morass that was the Vietnam war. It may be that they can do it again for Palestine.
What on earth is Sir Jinx Key doing in Parliament? Front and centre! Rallying the troops? It didn’t work before so I don’t see his appearance being of any use now. T-Shirts! Pop ups in parliament! Just to prop up that Lummox Luxon. Reeks of desperation. So very sad for the dynamic dick,… not really… but . I feel a big positive spin for the COC coming on from compliant media. I wonder who will be first up.
And Helen Clark sounded so presidential on RNZ's Morning Report today.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018936640/former-pm-helen-clark-on-aukus-pillar-two
Younger than Biden and Trump right?
That was such a good interview from Helen Clark. Everyone just chucking their marbles around with China it is so good to hear a voice of sanity. The logic that says that the nation that trades more than any other is going to trash its relations with those nations just because, is idiotic. Joining the US in its "containment strategy" against our largest trading partner, which US refuses to open trading to us is mindless.
Of course, Helen was a little more diplomatic but it's virtually what she said.
+100 Sub
Anyone want to have a crack at explaining what James Shaw's new job is?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/515700/james-shaw-s-valedictory-and-his-new-roles
Morrison's owns infrastructure companies such as Infratil.
https://morrisonglobal.com/
And a Public Infrastructure Partnership Fund (PIP Fund)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrison_%26_Co
He will be an operating partner – in a role “focused on driving the next generation of investment".
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/news-in-brief/morrison-appoints-james-shaw
sure, but I don't know what any of that means.
That's a natural step for Shaw. And a strong signal from HRL Morrisons that the sustainability investor truly values policy expertise inside their management entity. Their investment themes are here:
Innovative Investing with Morrison: Alternative Asset Management – Morrison – Morrison (morrisonglobal.com)
They run Infratil.
Infratil are a very long-term investor in sustainable energy projects. They tend to be long-term holds. Way back in the day they started out of the asset privatisation, and kept growing under the charismatic Lloyd Morrison.
Who we invest in – Infratil
Under Mark Bogoievski they massively expanded into buying telco companies and datacentres.
I'd rank Infratil as our most successful listed company, if you have the patience for medium-term holds which is what infrastructure stocks are.
Also HRL Morrison at that level is a whole bunch more useful to the world than Shaw getting recycled into a government entity like NZSuperFund or ACC.
Shaw is one of the few elected members on either side of the house who operate outside the Wellington policy bubble and easily in the commercial world.
First half of my professional life I used to think doing good for the world was only possible inside the public sector. In this country it's almost the reverse.
why is that so for NZ?
We have had since the late 1980s a public service that is under-led and poorly resourced,
with no cross-departmental strategy or even an attempt at it,
disaggregated by deep funder-policy-provider spits,
under-regulated or worse self-regulating,
disconnected from independent policy contests in academia or NGOs,
far too many entities for the scale of land people and social complexity
consistently incoherent governments that change course or go through deliberate binge-purge cycles like the current and last one,
bosses that change at least every 3 years,
consistently poor execution of major projects due to generalist management,
disdain from much of the public that is reciprocated by so much of the public service in Wellington, and
a rapid shrinking in the entire public sphere of influence in New Zealand in the 1990s that we've never recovered from.
Watching the police clearing Palestine liberation protestors from US campuses, I'm thinking about the ways in which this is different from clearing freedom protestors from Parliament grounds.
https://twitter.com/NaomiMaePhD/status/1785657833750516155
The freedom protestors had a number of problems in terms of legitimacy of protest. The death threats and inability to deal with the storm the citadel bros in their ranks and the abuse of locals outside the protest area are the main ones I see. And the denial that those were issues.
But in terms of occupation, they had as much right to be there as the students in the US.
Which leaves us with the idea that some protests are legitimate because of the politics/goals, and some aren't. And who gets to decide.
For clarity, I think the US campus occupations are righteous and I hope they regroup and continue. This is one of the few things I’ve seen that has the potential to force the US government position on the genocide in Palestine to change.
I also think there are some mistakes in the way they are doing this that are going to create serious divisions in an already divided country.
And I'm deeply depressed that those kids aren't doing this over climate, and what this means for life on planet earth.
It's their Vietnam moment. Remember that war raised the consciousness of a whole new generation.
I really hope so.
They don't appear to have achieved any change though, iraq×2 Afghanistan,,
Shit the only war they should be in is slapping poots back in his box and they not really trying there
there's a genocide happening, some of the students will have family and friends in Palestine. Protesting that is appropriate.
There were huge protests against the invasion of Iraq. Those changed how we think about war and the West's involvement.
The difference is tens of thousands of poor working class US kids were getting killed and injured in Vietnam. Everyone knew someone who was in Vietnam fighting.
Although the US is donkey deep in Palestine, there aren't feet on the ground in the same way as Vietnam. For most American's it is still someone else's war.
It's also gendocide.
Agree with this. The US population is massively inwards looking.
Other people being killed in a far-away country isn't really 'real' to them. What matters is 'that nice Mrs Johnston at the corner store has had a son killed in Vietnam. Why are we fighting there anyway'.
And that only really kicks into place with conscription – if professional soldiers (even US ones) are killed, there is an element of 'well, they chose to be there'.
Americans tend to get exercised about US citizens and soldiers being killed by terrorist ambushes, but not about professional soldiers being killed fighting.
Just seeking major US universities cave on this is truly sad.
Lest one forgets the number of armed civilians patrolling US streets in utes after the 2020 election.
"seeing"
David Seymour is apparently looking into packaged school lunches. Muesli bars and the like. Not surprising that he would resent money being spent on a hot meal in winter for the children. His mean-spiritedness to the fore as usual.
It'll be unchanged for now (Labour funded to the end of this year) and it seems it will be in the 2025 budget – waiting for a review.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/05/free-school-lunches-scheme-to-get-temporary-funding-until-
I read somewhere today that Seymour was proposing to cut fresh fruit and vegetables and instead use tinned fruit and tinned beans. (Can't remember where.)
Really going a bit far there. Generations of Kiwi kids have had a lunch consisting of a couple of sandwiches and an apple (with a biscuit or piece of home baking, if you were lucky). None of us died for the want of a hot lunch in winter; or had our schooling affected.
The provision of a meal for kids whose parents don't or can't provide them with lunch, is one thing. Insisting that it be a catering quality hot meal, is something quite different.
No. Because the vast majority of us got a hot evening meal. Many of these 'poor' kids don't get hot meals full stop. So a hot lunch is important and helps them learn at school. A fuller belly leads to a fuller mind.
There is no evidence, whatsoever, that having a hot lunch makes up for not having a hot meal at the end of the day.
Having lunch, yes. But not a cooked meal.
“Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.” – Einstein
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/16-08-2022/the-side-eyes-two-new-zealands-the-table
Seymour mingy? Maybe – he understands the ‘benefits’ of keeping some Kiwis hungry.
Anyone in Labour want to talk to the press (and the party ‘leader’ while you’re at it) about how policy is made or is supposed to be made in Labour?
18 seats the Greens. That will grow if Labour keeps on as is.
Audrey Young (and potentially the leader’s office who knows) is setting out their own axis of evil in Labour who, shock, horror, want tax reform. This is a mildly left wing position. It is being positioned as a hardliner group. Oh my god, one of these rabid socialists is allegedly Phil Twyford. Another is the IMF.
Surely policy has a lot of bottom up development? The party membership is in favour of something and it gets suggested.
Anyway, Labour looking like NZF with less initiative isn’t getting my vote back.
Labour Party policy development has a lot of opportunities for involvement of the general membership, so we don't always get everything we want, but there's a chance to provide input and get more involved if we want to be.
JAG will not be attending Parliament today. Anyone else see that coming?
Hipkins has taken on a most formidable opponent in Winston Peters.
Live: Chris Hipkins says Winston Peters’ has ‘embarrassed the country’ with remarks | Stuff
Hipkins will have been begging for this kind of fight when Labour arranged for the foreign affairs debate in the Parliament chamber with Helen Clark, ex-Minister Carr and other notables.
Finally Hipkins has found a useful policy target in foreign policy. Problem is, up against Peters and MFAT and the defence establishment, the best Hipkins will achieve is a dent, not a wound.
Still, best of luck Hipkins.
I suppose chip chip chip at the bottom of the wall is the theory, if you watch any of those demolition disaster shorts online. Hit and move on targets.
The only problem is the left block has achieved most of late with Hipkins not taking the lead, so by and large the public forget about him also having recently been PM and not well liked.
Helen Clark's twitter has been interesting.
Helen Clark kept Winston on a very short lead when he was Foreign Affairs Minister.
He had 2 Associate Ministers – Phil Goff to do the heavy lifting with policy etc, and Chris Carter to do the relationship building and general "schmoozing".
Plus lots of air tickets to comfortable places and pre-written speeches.
Attacking Peters on his own ground is a losing proposition. There is no way that Hipkins can out-demagogue Peters on Foreign Policy. Debate and Speechifying is Peters' strong point. It's not a significant strength for Hipkins.
I thought bombast and bullshit were Peter's 'strong point'…
Correction:..I left out 'bluster'..
And evidence that Hipkins has any ability to counter any or all of these?
Peters is like a shark in the water to controversial debate. Feeding him is not the solution.
Labour is unwilling to make it a contest on economic policy while they have none, so it is merely opposition to austerity and the poverty of vision. And issues such as AUKUS.
But others want a 1984 and 1975 reprise. In that Clark talks about a non aligned Pacific (despite Five Eyes, NATO+ and security alliance with Oz).
Labour’s potential disagreement on AUKUS seems more like the decision of English to support the coalition of the willing in 2003 (with UK and Oz) than that.
My ears have been popping for about half an hour, so I know someone in Wellington is angry and has access to advanced tech – destablising the left wing ear.In 2003 the police actually visited the home to act as lackey for a foreign interest supporting the war on the secular left of Iraq and here conflict with China over Taiwan.
Labour should propose a full dfence Treaty with Australia.
We are near fully interoperable already. So it sounds a lot bolder than it is.
Well overdue to re-write the 1944 Canberra Pact.
There is also CDR (Common Defence Relations) which Labour signed in between 87 & 90. Which was meant to further enhanced the ANZAC Treaty (Canberra Pact), but unfortunately the National Party of the 90's completely trashed it with the Savaged Defence Cuts of the 90's & Labour Alliance Coalition finally killing it off with the disbanding of the RNZAF Strike Wing along with any hope of the 3rd ANZAC Frigate or the cancelling of the option for 8 C130J's on the back of the RAAF order in the early 2000's.
My gut feeling atm, IRT centre left Politics in NZ atm IRT to the NZDF/ MoD & Veterans Affairs we are likely to a repeat of the early 2000's if & when this chaos Coalition collapses.
As the Green's & TPM would force NZLP not to invest the NZDF capabilities & if so the absolute bare minimum in non combat capabilities let alone Defence assets aka infrastructure because both parties still believe that the Sth Pacific is a "benign strategic environment".
The Sth Pacific has never been a benign strategic environment, especially since the White Fella aka The European's turned up & of recent times Japan post WW1 & now China. Now throw in CC & the competition for Natural resources ie Timber, POL, Fisheries & resources etc the Sth Pacific & the Sth Ocean is ripe for pillaging atm.
Which means country's like NZ now not only have to rely on Diplomacy, but now have to start carrying a bloody big stick (well equipped & combat capable/ focus NZDF) as well & be prepared to use bloody thing as well!
Hipkins should have sat this one out. It's not MFAT or the defence establishment he's fighting, it's that Peter's claims are not new.
How Bob Carr became China's pawn (archive.is)
When our MPs on the Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China are hacked, by China together with our leading China security expert, and our own agency doesn't have the guts to actually inform them, it's probably time for Clark and Carr to just front up and admit times have changed and they are actually wrong.
China is a security threat to us.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/former-mps-angry-government-didnt-warn-them-they-were-targeted-in-china-backed-cyberattack/EBNYAK2G6BHIRDHZLLNJ5VHEXM/
Yep.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/a-response-to-helen-clarks-criticism-of-new-zealand-foreign-policy-dr-reuben-steff/VHK4DSIOXBG6RMOEADP5PFPCEQ/