Open mike 02/11/2023

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 2nd, 2023 - 56 comments
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Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

56 comments on “Open mike 02/11/2023 ”

  1. Muttonbird 1

    "Some of those people who have been going around the country moaning about co-governance: One, they don't know what they are talking about; and two, they are people that I've always described as the sour right.

    "They don't like change, they dream of a world that never was and never could be, they ignore the facts unless it suits them, they are utterly miserable."

    Chris Finlayson describes the ACT Party and its voters.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/11/election-2023-what-stands-in-the-way-of-the-act-party-s-plan-for-a-treaty-of-waitangi-referendum.html

    • Dennis Frank 1.1

      ACT is using this triad:

      It would define the principles of the Treaty as:

      1. All citizens of New Zealand have the same political rights and duties

      2. All political authority comes from the people by democratic means including universal suffrage, regular and free elections with a secret ballot

      3. New Zealand is a multi-ethnic liberal democracy where discrimination based on ethnicity is illegal

      Delusional defiance of contract law won't get them far. Treaty principles can only be identified in Te Tiriti, not by collective hallucination. Racial harmony in Aotearoa depends on what Maori believe they contracted into in 1840.

      https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/11/election-2023-what-stands-in-the-way-of-the-act-party-s-plan-for-a-treaty-of-waitangi-referendum.html

      • pat 1.1.1

        I suspect ACT's attempt to define what the principles of the treaty mean will serve an important (if controversial) purpose….who can honestly say what the phrase "Priciples of the Treaty of Waitangi " means in practice?

        If we are to use the Treaty as a basis for how we are governed then it might be important to determine exactly what it means.

        • Dennis Frank 1.1.1.1

          I agree, but that triad of theirs looks suspiciously like a blatant attempt to escape from reality. Seymour is gambling on viability of their reframe but on what basis would it get traction? Pakeha solidarity? Not a chance.

          If the principles were durable nowadays it would be evident to many; contemporary wordings would already be circulating. More than 30 years of contemplation hasn't distilled into anything like that. Co-governance hasn't been proclaimed nationwide as a treaty principle – yet it is a feasible contender, having accumulated a bunch of laws implementing the notion…

        • AB 1.1.1.2

          The principles of the Treaty are ours to work out. That's because by talking about the principles we have pragmatically retreated from the actual words of the Treaty. In particular from the Maori version of Article 2 because it emphasises the "status and authority" of Maori over lands and taonga – a notion that is intolerable to the contemporary non-Maori majority because it implies something greater than mere property rights.

          The important thing is not to let the ACT Party decide what the principles are.

          • pat 1.1.1.2.1

            "The Māori version of article 2 uses the word 'rangatiratanga' in promising to uphold the authority that tribes had always had over their lands and taonga. This choice of wording emphasises status and authority."

            Your link

            I suspect that most people would have no firm position on article 2 as there is no agreement/.understanding of what that entails….indeed there isnt even a consensus on the meaning of rangitiratanga.

            If you object to the use of the 'principles' of the Treaty as opposed to the meaning of either/both versions then you will likely make any agreement even more improbable as the principles were determined to allow the Treaty to be applied in contemporary context.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principles_of_the_Treaty_of_Waitangi

            • AB 1.1.1.2.1.1

              I don't object to the talking about "the principles". I think we are stuck with them just as you say – because the actual wording is unclear and open to very different and maybe quite radical interpretations. By talking about the principles we have an opportunity to de-radicalise the discussion and to acknowledge the practical implications of nearly 200 years of history since it was signed.

              But we can still mess it up badly. And it seems to me that the political opportunism of NACT in wanting to regain office at all costs this year, has made it more likely that we do.

            • Dennis Frank 1.1.1.2.1.2

              That heptad from 1987 seems to be viewed as the status quo:

              The Court of Appeal, in a judgment of its then President Sir Robin Cooke, decided upon the following treaty principles:

              • The acquisition of sovereignty in exchange for the protection of rangatiratanga.
              • The treaty established a partnership and imposed on the partners the duty to act reasonably and in good faith.
              • The freedom of the Crown to govern.
              • The Crown's duty of active protection.
              • The duty of the Crown to remedy past breaches.
              • Māori to retain rangatiratanga over their resources and taonga and have all citizenship privileges.
              • Duty to consult.

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principles_of_the_Treaty_of_Waitangi

              What is interesting about it is the lack of co-governance: the Crown is specified as sovereign. The partners refer to Crown plus chiefs who signed, so the relevance to now is questionable.

              • pat

                While ACT may have intended its referendum as a vote catcher they may in fact end up doing the country a favour in that a discussion about the place of the ToW in NZ governance may result….and not necessarily in the way they intended.

                • Dennis Frank

                  Precisely. Consciousness-raising is good. Folks get to clarify their thinking and discuss any opaque points.

                  We ought to retain the original intent of the British govt along with acknowledging what the chiefs believed they signed up to, but relevance today is more in spirit than letter of the law to me.

                  That said, can't deny legal precedence established in court, which can only be replaced by parliamentary majority.

        • Michael P 1.1.1.3

          100%

          I can't see how anyone acting in good faith could take issue with people wanting to know and have defined exactly what 'the principles' are. This is not a racist or anti Maori or any other. It is a perfectly reasonable position to hold and is simply a request for information and clarity.

          If you can't tell me what the principles are then don't expect me to abide by them….How could I, I don't know what they are…..

          Then there's the legal side of things…..

          All that aside I don't agree with what is documented here as the ACT party's principles. I think Iwi should come up with a definition of the principles that they all agree with and then pass this onto parliament for debate, voting or whatever process is needed. Obviously anything to do with defining the principles of the treaty would require widespread agreement from all parties including the crown.

      • Mike the Lefty 1.1.2

        ACT's underlying paranoidic fear is that the sins of their Mr Monopoly ancestors will come back to haunt them and they are determined to shut the Maoris up and prevent that from being publicised.

  2. Ad 2

    Good gravy just give us the Specials already. And a coalition agreement.

    Well and truly time we had a clear government again.

    • Muttonbird 2.1

      Labour still in charge, Hipkins still the PM. The situation shows the propaganda that NZ voted for change is a myth.

      • tc 2.1.1

        Give it a chance I'm sure once rimmer, Baldrick etc strike a deal after results are finalised the wealth transfer, public transport knee capping, cuts to already underfunded area's etc will resume.

      • Mike the Lefty 2.1.2

        National has totally hoodwinked the electorate if they believe this new government will be one of change. National is not and never has been a party of change.

        • Belladonna 2.1.2.1

          The 90s are calling!

          I'm pretty sure that the National Party led some pretty significant changes.
          Not saying they were necessarily 'good' changes – but pretty significant movement on the social and political landscape.

          • Mike the Lefty 2.1.2.1.1

            If reactionary and regressive policies count as change I guess you are right.

            • Belladonna 2.1.2.1.1.1

              Change is change.

              Also, remember, that it was this National Government which passed MMP. Not to say they wanted it – but to do them credit, they implemented the will of the electorate following the referendum.

              • observer

                It was a binding referendum, so they had to implement it.

                It would be fair to say they didn't have to hold the referendum in the first place (although Bolger had promised one, so it would have been a very unpopular U-turn). But after the result the decision was no longer theirs to make.

                • Belladonna

                  Given the other policies that Bolger did a quick U-turn on, holding a referendum (when the National Party very clearly did not want a change away from FPP) – would have been just another broken promise. At the very least, to change from binding to indicative referendum (at 53.8%, they could have made an argument that the desire for change wasn't 'overwhelming')

                  And, equally fair to note, that the Lange government did not go to the polls in 1987 with a referendum, nor did the Palmer/Moore government in 1990.

        • Sabine 2.1.2.2

          Everyone was so over the current crew, that they voted for the other crew, not expecting any change.

          And fwiw, i think Chippy rather spend some times with his new Coalition partner then with his party and his government.

    • observer 2.2

      You sound like Paddy Gower.

      The result doesn't arrive faster if we sit in the back seat and ask daddy "Are we there yet?".

      Graeme Edgeler patiently explains:

      Final vote delay criticisms not fair, but daily updates could work – Edgeler | RNZ News

      Once a government is formed, only its policies and actions will matter. Not one single voter will cast a vote at the next election "because they took too long 3 years ago".

  3. Sanctuary 3

    New Zealand households send 18% of their income to enrich the largely Australian shareholders of the major banks, but everything is fine and perfectly normal in our little economic colony of Australia.

    "…The Reserve Bank yesterday said by mid 2024, New Zealand households will be spending around 18 per cent of their income on interest payments…"

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/301000306/newsable-tricky-times-might-prompt-wave-of-small-new-businesses

    • Michael P 3.1

      Does it really matter where the shareholders are from?

      At the end of the day they are large banks and whoever owns them doesn't change the fact that they are ……..(list descriptive expletives here)

      But to be fair, banks can (mostly) only behave within the rules and laws that our politicians set for them.

      I guess you have to be fair to the politicians as well in that we are the ones who elect them so some blame may lie with us.

      Although to be fair to us, I can't think of any parties or people up for election who were advocating the sort of things that I think should happen to the banking sector

      So I blame the banks and banking / monetary system, which I always have and always will detest; and to a certain extent gutless politicians.

    • SPC 3.2

      Half the shares in their banks are owned by international funds …

  4. Jacinda and Ashley (and co) were so wonderful in the Covid response. History will be kind to them. Luxon would have caved in to business and opened the borders.

    Compare and contrast NZ with the UK and its disastrous Covid response and huge death toll.

    "As the pandemic approached, then raged, no one – from the prime minister to the cabinet secretary to the health secretary – seems to have realised how bad they, specifically, were at their own jobs. Now that we’re seeing some of the receipts for their backstage chaos and deadly incompetence, the major takeaways are this country’s systemic inadequacy and the sheer monumental unsuitability of the specific set of people charged with dealing with the crisis. It’s like putting the Real Housewives in charge of the Manhattan Project.

    I do, however, think it was notable in this day and age that every single Downing Street pandemic press conference bar one was fronted by a male politician. Covid decision-making didn’t pass the Bechdel test. The mood was months and months and months of guys who knew best standing at a podium telling the public they had it all under control. Look, you know, I’m a big advocate for this kind of positive discrimination, but hearing about the backstage bitching, the emotionalism, the cliques, the endless drama … well, like me, you may be wondering if men are really suited to these important jobs. Might they not be happier simply staying at home?"

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/01/boris-johnson-dominic-cummings-covid-inquiry-no-10

    • Dennis Frank 4.1

      yes I liked this bit:

      we learned from the diary of the government’s former chief scientist, Patrick Vallance, that Johnson came to believe that Covid was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”. Yes, if you were one of the many, many old people who voted for Boris Johnson in 2019, this week was the moment it formally emerged that he was extremely relaxed about you moving on to the great suckers convention in the sky.

    • dv 4.2

      A fun estimate of the tax paid from those that survived is abt 300 m per yr

      (20000 people at est ave tax of 15 k each)

    • patrick 4.3

      The UK's response was disastrous by what measure? Cumulative excess deaths (the only measure that matters) stands at around 10%, about the same as Spain, Italy and Singapore. Another group of countries are clustered around 5%, including Norway, Sweden and Australia. Over the course of the pandemic the UK was at the upper end of stringency of pandemic restrictions comparing with other developed countries. Interestingly, there is almost no correlation between stringency of restrictions and excess death rate. Sweden never closed its schools and never locked down, and yet its results are better than most developed countries.

      New Zealand is unique in that it closed itself off from the world completely for a long period. No other developed country could do that to the same extent, except for Australia. It had the odd side effect of making excess deaths significantly negative for a long period as we skipped two flu seasons. If you remove that effect then our excess deaths sit at around 5%.

      It's very fashionable to comment about how disastrous the UK response was, but little of the commentary is based on data. Most of it appears to spring from a dislike of Boris Johnson.

      • Bearded Git 4.3.1

        Read the Guardian reports on the UK Covid enquiry Patrick…it turns out that the UK response was a complete shambles. (Anybody paying attention knew this already)

        I calculated on a pro-rata population basis that NZ would have had 14,000 extra deaths if we had mimicked the UK response. Other people say 20,000.

        But forget the deaths and cast your mind back to our economy working well with the closed borders. Rugby and cricket games attended by many thousands without fear of infection. The economy cranking along.

        We were so lucky to have Jacinda and Ashley there, and not some slave to business like Luxon/Johnson. Try to back away from your political prejudice and look at the actual numbers.

  5. Dennis Frank 5

    Seems like a potential Green solution:

    Olivine is found across the South Island and contains iron, silicon and magnesium – all sought-after materials. Typically, vast amounts of planet-heating carbon emissions are produced mining and refining these minerals around the globe. https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/133134895/the-ordinary-rock-we-drive-on-holds-a-planetsaving-secret

    Now, Christchurch scientists Chris Oze and Megan Danczyk have a carbon-free way to pull them from olivine. The pair needs $10 million to build their first plant before their idea could “reverse” climate change, Oze said.

    From next year, the proposed $10m pilot plant could transform one tonne of olivine per day into refined minerals – saving up to three tonnes of carbon pollution. Olivine – “the most abundant rock on Earth” – is combined with acidic liquid, and transformed into an elemental soup using renewable electricity, Danczyk said. The iron, silica and magnesium are separated and can be sold – replacing other mining operations.

    Typically, cement factories emit lots of carbon dioxide when they transform limestone into lime – but the team’s silica can replace up to 30% of the lime required. “Cement’s one of the largest carbon dioxide emitters, globally,” Danczyk said. The iron could go to steel-making factories, again helping to reduce the impact of these high-emitting facilities.

    But the magnesium has got the project the most attention – even catching the eye of the X Prize, a global climate tech competition sponsored by Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk. Fellow billionaire Bill Gates is also supporting Aspiring Materials through his green tech programme.

    The scientists are American but doing Green tech here in Aotearoa, An enterprise worth developing for our future, with US/NZ collaboration.

  6. Dennis Frank 6

    As we await the election's final results tomorrow, here's where we're at:

    Labour’s woes are, though, just one example of a wider malaise facing political parties the world over, especially on the left. It is almost a cliché in some circles to talk of the “interregnum”, but that is where political parties find themselves: in a world where neoliberalism, however defined, is near-dead, but no coherent political platform has emerged to replace it.

    https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/30-10-2023/labours-next-big-task-is-finding-its-policy-again

    Author Max Rashbrooke is a senior research fellow in the School of Government at Victoria University. I presume he discounts the Green alternative due to the 30 years the Greens have spent failing to impress it into the minds of influential academics. The Greens in parliament would probably suggest lack of relevance for that.

    Across the Atlantic, “Bidenomics” is reinvigorating industrial policy, lifting working-class incomes and driving action on climate change

    If so, Biden will win a 2nd term. Is his formula applicable here? Yes, with a tweak or 2. The Greens have established the basis for using the 2nd & 3rd elements of that triad, so we just need Labour to provide the first.

    • newsense 6.1

      Rashbrooke is NZ institute or some such isn’t he?

      I’ve always looked at his stuff warily. He’s not as bad as Bryce, but he’s not enormously interested in helping out the lower echelons with any urgency.

      • Dennis Frank 6.1.1

        Could be getting him wrong though: https://www.maxrashbrooke.net/

        Whenever I've heard him on RNZ in the past he has seemed to have socialist interests at heart. I see there's a youTube talk he gave to the Fabian Society (where leftists were hanging out a century ago).

        Re your reference to lack of urgency, that could just mean he's typical Labour, eh?

        • newsense 6.1.1.1

          Haha very good. Yes, what with the specials favoring the left it was a bit pointed that Labour got none of them.

          And so far the media is scarcely reporting, if at all, that the Greens have picked up a seat.

  7. newsense 7

    Dunno if this got covered yesterday- but welcome to National world where workers entitlements are paid because of charity and a generous ‘donation’.

    Unwrapping this a bit- if the workers were working and the company didn’t have the money to pay their salaries and holiday pay, then there should be convictions. We’re talking about theft in my book, done by trading while insolvent.

    We’re going to see more absconding of responsibility. We’ve already seen that their climate change strategy is na-uh. We’ve heard Bill English priming charities to pick up the human cost leaving beneficiaries 17K behind will do.

    Here there’s talk of an investor ‘pulling out’, but surely the buck has to stop with somebody? They’re in a business and that sounds like a BS excuse to me.

    These are contractual rights, workers property which they’ve already worked for being transferred to someone else. It’s not a gift or a donation. It is someone partially covering theft by someone else.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/133220032/supie-workers-to-receive-final-pay-after-substantial-anonymous-donation

    • Belladonna 7.1

      I think this is to do with the insolvency provisions – where staff and contractors are considered to be unsecured creditors – and only get paid out after the secured creditors (typically banks, and other finance companies) have had their cut.

      I've felt for a long time that this is wrong. We see it happening every time one of the developers goes broke – the sub-contractor tradies don't get paid, can't retain (unpaid-for) goods and materials, and often struggle to even get their tools back off site.

      I'd like to see a law change, which would require companies to:

      • Bank annual leave entitlements as/when they are accrued – in a trust account.
      • Personal liability from directors/owners if staff payments (e.g. IRD PAYE, Kiwisaver, annual leave entitlements) are not correctly accounted for and transferred [It's too easy for companies to 'raid' this money to cover up profitability issues]. And, if that means that the director/owner loses their house, my grief would be controllable.
      • Pay tradies/sub-contractors, in full, first, out of progress payments (not last, after the banks)
      • Ownership of goods/materials remains with the subcontractors, until paid for by the developer. Lack of timely payment can attract penalties.
      • In insolvency cases, direct liability to staff (wages) and subcontractors (work to date) is paid for, before secured creditors. If there is not enough in the current accounts to do this, then this can be clawed back from directors/owners. This should be administered by the Insolvency Practitioner, and immediate liens placed on all property owned by (or in a beneficiary trust for) the directors/owners, until this charge is fulfilled.
      • Director responsibility should be backdated 6 months – no resigning the week before, to get out of the responsibility.

      And the kind of financial sleight of hand, where all of the business assets are owned by one ‘company’ while the staff are paid by another (with no assets) – should be a legal fiction so far as the Insolvency Practitioner is concerned (i.e. it might make financial sense for a profitable company, but shouldn’t be a way of evading responsibilities for one being wound up).

      https://archive.ph/LGjf4
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/supie-collapse-why-online-supermarket-didnt-have-enough-cash-to-pay-staff/LSRPISR3AZERLCUZ7HPDDPFUHU/

      • Johnr 7.1.1

        I'm with you Bella. I've been fortunate enough to never have been affected.

        But I've seen so many of my workmates and tradie colleagues go to the wall that I'm surprised more violence hasn't occurred.

        Something has to change or we peasantry won't survive

        • Belladonna 7.1.1.1

          I haven't been personally affected either, but had many conversations with friends and family who are in the 'tradie' economy. The way that developers continue to (legally) rort them is astounding (AND has a major impact on building costs- since the builders have to cover the costs incurred as a result of the poor-business-practice of the developers).

          Yet to see any political party brave enough to address this issue. Right won't – because it would be a 'bar' to legitimate capitalism – and they don't want to piss-off the major developers, banks and financiers involved; the Left won't – because they regard self-employed as mini-capitalists – and it's much less important than the chardonnay-socialist issue of the day.

          This is the kind of ‘working class’ policy which really matters in West Auckland (and the equivalents in other cities).

      • Agree Belladonna. That would be responsible.

      • newsense 7.1.3

        It’s the mindset of how that is reported too which prevents any change.

        People are considered ‘lucky’ to have a job, rather than they have skills which the employers need.

        Here we’ve seen a kind ‘donation’ to cover someone’s IMO verging on criminal negligence. The focus is on how plucky the company is and how good the donator is rather than the basically theft of pay and holiday pay.

        We’re told an investor went for cigarettes and didn’t come back. How is that allowable? I’ve not seen that questioned or explained.

        We’ve seen the slow pace of justice with Mainfreight. We need to see a change in reporting and mindset to allow a climate for any other changes. As you say without action by unions and worksites, don’t expect anything to happen. This election was a classic of what couldn’t be done.

  8. Adrian 8

    What makes you. presume a Nat paid the donation..? More a leftie action I would have thought..

    • Belladonna 8.1

      I don't think there was any assumption in the original comment over whether the donor was left or right. However, having 150K in ready money, may inform that conclusion.

  9. SPC 9

    Case 11 of the UNGA oversight of UNSC dereliction of purpose

    Russia begins its end of year bombardment of civilian areas of Ukraine.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67283305

  10. observer 10

    Headline, coming soon … the future of the "waka jumping law".

    It's gone under the radar so far, but if/when there is some kind of deal between National and NZF, there might be some amusing amnesia:

    National Party electoral spokesman Nick Smith said the bill was “the worst” of the entire term of Parliament and was passed solely because Peters was worried about a repeat of his term in power in the late 1990s, when several of his MPs split off to keep the Jenny Shipley-led government intact.

    “This law change is the product of the paranoia of one member who simply wants the power to be able to fire his caucus as a consequence of his personal experience in 1996, and never in a democracy should our electoral law be dominated by one particular person's vendetta and experience.”

    Dead rat spat back up: Green Party vote to repeal waka jumping law with National, infuriating Winston Peters | Stuff.co.nz

    It's such a bad law that Luxon will scrap it accept it.

    • Sanctuary 10.1

      The Waka jumping law is one of those things everyone in the governing elites hate because it dares to hold them to a standard of behaviour that the vast majority of ordinary people find completely reasonable.

  11. Incognito 11

    Dame Anne Salmond has written a piece against holding a referendum on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/dame-anne-salmond-on-treaty-referendum

    Her third objection is “a referendum at a time when the descendants of the rangatira who signed Te Tiriti are a relatively small minority in the wider population would give them relatively little say in the matter”.

    I agree with this objection 100% (cf. my comment https://thestandard.org.nz/seymours-bad-faith-treaty-policy/#comment-1969019).

    • observer 11.1

      I wouldn't believe Luxon on many things, but I do believe him when he says he won't have a Treaty referendum. Buying a huge row, to achieve nothing? Not just a question of principle: among the many negative consequences, he'd be losing members of his own caucus.

    • Ad 11.2

      Luxon is in a prime position to form the pathway to our bicentennary with the Treaty just 17 years away. If anyone remembers Sesqui 1990.

      Ardern did her honourable best to build a new bridge to engagement with te ao Maori with the formation of Matariki.

      If the last two years have shown us anything, it's shown us some really dumb ways to engage the broader population about the Treaty (not assisted by bad faith actors from within parts of Maori and European alike touring and marching up and down the country).

      I expect Luxon will concentrate on fiscal and economic rectitude issues, alas.

      I have a lot of faith in the whole of the people of New Zealand that we can hold an intelligent conversation about our constitutional arrangements, and that they include the Treaty.

      It took both sides of the House to show we did it with MMP, we did it with the Honours system, we did it with the Supreme Court.

      If Labour, Greens and Maori Party said that together they are preparing for 2040 in a manner that won't silence people and will lead to a clear constitutional platform, then the collective left would immediately have something to work on together going into 2025.

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    It must have been a hard first couple of weeks for National voters, since the coalition was announced. Seeing their party make so many concessions to New Zealand First and ACT that there seems little remains of their own policies, other than the dwindling dream of tax cuts and the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 8-December-2023
    It’s Friday again and Christmas is fast approaching. Here’s some of the stories that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered some of the recent talk around the costs, benefits and challenges with the City Rail Link. On Thursday Matt looked at how ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • End-of-week escapism
    Amsterdam to Hong Kong William McCartney16,000 kilometres41 days18 trains13 countries11 currencies6 long-distance taxis4 taxi apps4 buses3 sim cards2 ferries1 tram0 medical events (surprisingly)Episode 4Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains tha… ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 8
    Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • New Zealand’s Witchcraft Laws: 1840/1858-1961/1962
    Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...
    2 days ago
  • No surprises
    Don’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #49 2023
    113 articles in 48 journals by 674 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects Diversity of Lagged Relationships in Global Means of Surface Temperatures and Radiative Budgets for CMIP6 piControl Simulations, Tsuchida et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-23-0045.1 Do abrupt cryosphere events in High Mountain Asia indicate earlier tipping ...
    2 days ago
  • Phone calls at Kia Kaha primary
    It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • A question of confidence is raised by the Minister of Police, but he had to be questioned by RNZ to ...
    It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news  out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • Xmas  good  cheer  for the dairy industry  as Fonterra lifts its forecast
    The big dairy co-op Fonterra  had  some Christmas  cheer to offer  its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for  the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast  midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • MICHAEL BASSETT: Modern Maori myths
    Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • Dreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28
    Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour Tunnels
    It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
    3 days ago
  • Webworm Presents: Jurassic Park on 35mm
    Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago
  • The Prime Minister's Dream.
    Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • National’s new MP; the proud part-Maori boy raised in a state house
    Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • Climate Adam: Battlefield Earth – How War Fuels Climate Catastrophe
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
    3 days ago
  • They do not speak for us, and they do not speak for the future
    These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Another attack on te reo
    The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”
    Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came  from  Education Minister  Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Climate Change: Failed again
    There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On Maori
    This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
    3 days ago
  • Rising costs hit farmers hard, but  there’s more  positive news  for  them this  week 
    New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has  been under  pressure  from rising  costs. Down on the  farm, this  has  been  hitting  hard. But there  was more positive news this week,  first   from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where  prices  rose,  and  then from  a  report ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    3 days ago
  • ROB MacCULLOCH:  Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...
    Rob MacCulloch writes –  In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
    Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Eleven years of work.
    Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
    A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did We Get Here?
    Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago
  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    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 ...
    4 days ago
  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago
  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    5 days ago
  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    5 days ago
  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    5 days ago
  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    5 days ago
  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    6 days ago
  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    6 days ago
  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago
  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    6 days ago
  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    6 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    6 days ago
  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago
  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago
  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    1 week ago
  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needs
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activity
    New Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Disestablishment of Te Pūkenga begins
    The Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says.  “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend COP28 in Dubai
    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Study shows need to remove distractions in class
    The Government is committed to lifting school achievement in the basics and that starts with removing distractions so young people can focus on their learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.   The 2022 PISA results released this week found that Kiwi kids ranked 5th in the world for being distracted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Minister sets expectations of Commissioner
    Today I met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to set out my expectations, which he has agreed to, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Under section 16(1) of the Policing Act 2008, the Minister can expect the Police Commissioner to deliver on the Government’s direction and priorities, as now outlined in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • New Zealand needs a strong and stable ETS
    New Zealand needs a strong and stable Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that is well placed for the future, after emission units failed to sell for the fourth and final auction of the year, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says.  At today’s auction, 15 million New Zealand units (NZUs) – each ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PISA results show urgent need to teach the basics
    With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids.  The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Collins leaves for Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Working for Families gets cost of living boost
    Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Post-Cabinet press conference
    Most weeks, following Cabinet, the Prime Minister holds a press conference for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. This page contains the transcripts from those press conferences, which are supplied by Hansard to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is important to note that the transcripts have not been edited ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrapped
    The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in Gaza
    New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Condolences on passing of Henry Kissinger
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