China’s greatest significance to the world is not its economic model but the recurring lesson of its political one. Without the rule of law, whatever economic value might be built will ultimately fail. What is the rule of law ? The power of responsible human beings to ask questions. Last year’s Hong Kong students understood it, even as others seemed to miss the point: the rule of law is not clearer rules and stricter punishments, it is the submission of the state to the discipline of a legal system that listens to the voices of people on the ground. Without it, all great orders – including those of the global economy and global security – are of no more substance than a dream.
The Herald mistakes people’s democratic decisions for a sinister plot.
No surprises then.
The Herald doesn’t have a clue what democracy looks like.
And nor does Claire Trevett.
Like Hisking, I guess her defence might be she is not a journalist.
How dare they. How arrogant can you get. Disagreeing with the pathetic agenda of the government of the day is not a plot – that headline is just sick and shows a huge lack of respect for the right of people to campaign and make a decision that suits them.
Aren’t they part of a plot to foist something on the country that A truckload of people are less than interested in.
There is going to be activism to affect the first referendum, encouraging people to make an informal vote, and I would guess the second too, although the second one will look normal to the MSM.
I agree about the Herald/Trevett not understanding democracy. If it were a plot it would be secret, like say dirty politics, or the whole way the flag thing has been orchestrated by National. But people opposed to what National are doing with the flag are being open about it.
Get that Herald? FFS, NZF put out a press statements about it some time ago. Did the Herald fail to cover that at the time and so now you feel the need to ‘reveal’ it?
Truckloads of people may find themselves out of favour in transport of (not) delight if National keep singing Muldoon’s satirical signature tune, I did it my way.
Fascinating (but nothing more than that I am sure) that the guy who led the flag change crusade got two flags in the final four AND they are liked by John Key.
It would be a good satirical response to have a 20′ pole and a little 6″ version of the new flag. But perhaps you have decided you will accept the selection!
or they might have decided to let it continue its commercial operations and the government are simply going to gather the proceeds of any future sales seeing as it has been quite a quite successful operation over the past decade or so?
“The real and imagined refugee crisis engulfing Europe: What accounts for the EU’s near indifference to the plight of refugees clamoring to enter European countries? Could it be that these people are from countries NATO members have attacked, and turned into failed states or havens for terrorists? These refugees never wanted to leave home in the first place…
CrossTalking with Sukant Chandan, Anders Lustgarten, and Tim Finch.”
Chooky, I’m not sure if you realise you’re listening to RT, a Russian state sponsored news source…..
This is not an “imagined crisis” this is real. I’m here and seeing hundreds of refugees a week queuing in my own street trying to get processed. I have watched regular news reports on all European news stations showing thousands a week crossing European borders.
There is no “EU indifference”.
I joined a march of more than 20,000 people last night in Vienna protesting that we’re not doing enough here in Austria. By July this year Austria was taking in 370 refugees daily. The number is increasing ….. 80,000 are expected this year in a country one third of the size of NZ and with only double NZ’s population
Thousands of people are opening their homes ……. and there is a genuine welcome for people fleeing from the atrocities of war
Spouting politics and blame about NATO or anyone else is not going to help one little bit
“We’re going to take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan & Iran..” General Wesley Clark 2007
in Chooky’s link does it say anywhere that the crisis is imagined? it is very real, and as usual it’s the people paying the price, not the engineers of the crisis.
But those very same groups that created the crisis are now capitalizing on it, exporting the problems to Europe.
If your country is in debt and failing, taking on more mouths to feed without first fixing your own underlying structural issues is suicide.
Every coloured revolution has resulted in the destruction of countries and introduction of totalitarian regimes, George Soro sponsored or US foreign policy, all have been funded and designed to destroy.
We could, in NZ set aside The Catham Islands as a new country free from debt, and allow the refugees an opportunity to start again, but no, what do we do, welcome them into our failing system, more citizens locked into debt slavery.
in Chooky’s link does it say anywhere that the crisis is imagined?
Yes……
From the RT site (which is more interested in framing Europe as the bad guys, than recording the plight of the hundreds of thousands of refugees and the outpouring of support from Austria, Germany and others) :
The real and imagined refugee crisis engulfing Europe
hmm fair enough it does look like i’m picking a fight… sorry that wasn’t the intent and it was a bit snotty of me to say ‘who are you to…..
i’m not interested in a fight, i’m just a bit sensitive to the blame game that is filtering in to conversations about how best to help refugees.
I’m living in Austria – and we’re doing a lot to help here, so I couldn’t understand the bitterness of your comment – clearly referring to Austria given the link you provided:
If your country is in debt and failing, taking on more mouths to feed without first fixing your own underlying structural issues is suicide
by 1863 the population had increased from 75 to about 300…….’ In 1862, after a campaign by business owners, Peru’s parliament voted to allow the ‘recruitment’ of labourers from the Pacific Islands. Islanders would supposedly be invited to sign ‘contracts’ that promised them freedom and a lives as ‘colonists’ in Peru in return for three years of almost unpaid labour there. The contracts of islanders could be bought and sold.
A fleet of ships soon sailed from Callao, the port of Lima. Instead of convincing Pacific Islanders to sign contracts freely, the crews of these ships usually kidnapped whomever they could find. More than three thousand men, women, and children were taken from eastern and western Polynesia and from Micronesia. More than fifteen hundred came from Rapa Nui alone…..’
and you think NZ shpuld pay compensation….as the treaty was what 1840…long bow much!!!
As rest of blog post shows, NZers were the ones who removed Tongans from their islands and sold them to Peruvians. NZ state knew what was going on but never took action against slavers.
‘New Zealand became effectively self-governing in all domestic matters (except ‘native policy’) in 1856, when responsible government (the executive having the support of a majority of the members of the House of Representatives) was accepted. Control over native policy passed to the colonial government in the mid-1860s. The New Zealand government became fully responsible for its own foreign relations in 1935 ‘.
Labour needs to paint Key into a resign corner over flag change.
He’s spending $28million of taxpayers money on a personal quest.
If it turns out the flag change campaign is a complete flop he should resign for such a waste of money. Which will without a doubt have been spent entirely in the pursuit of his own vain ambition.
Why are the Labour Party not taking this line of attack on Key?
Make him promise to resign if the participation rate is low and the flag change does not happen. It will be $28 million pissed up against the wall.
Are not opposition parties meant to hold governments accountable?
That could be risky. I suspect that there are plenty of traditional National voters who want to keep the current flag and similarly plenty of Labour/Green voters who might want a change. Making this a resignation issue could overshadow what should be almost a conscience issue, as the flag should be a national symbol that transcends political allegiance.
That said, if the current flag should win, there would be plenty of egg on Key’s face.
What worries me is that Key will now use every dirty trick in the book – and more – to manipulate the NZ public into voting for change, purely because his ego and credibility are at stake. Scum.
JK will harp on how changing the flag is part of Labour’s policy platform despite Labour clearly stating they don’t think this is the time for such a policy to be enacted. That won’t stop him spinning it every chance he gets. Once again though, John Key forgets to read to the end and misses the important bit, that Labour isn’t talking of change ‘right now’.
Key is already using a raft of dirty tricks, and I agree it could well get worse. Its one of the reasons I do not like the man.
However as to the resign issue, Labour do not have much to lose, but much to gain. Undoubtedly there is a risk here, but the rewards far outweigh the possibility of failure.
And the issue would not really be the flag so much as the waste of $28 million at John Key’s personal whim, when so many did not want it spent at all.
It would be even better if Labour could show how the whole process was rigged, and still it failed.
If this is a flop, then Key should be forced to resign. Not only for the waste of money, but also for the duplicitous and rigged manner in which the change campaign was conducted.
That wasn’t what I meant, which I’m sure you know.
How about this then? Why should anyone here take seriously any advice you have about what Labour, or the left, should do? If you can’t keep your side in order, don’t expect us to do it.
I am a true small govt voter who likewise seriously would like to see the weak socialist and spin merchant John Key and the National Party kicked out of govt, purged of Key and his supporters, and then completely reformed as a real right wing party.
And come back as that, and not a hollow bunch of compromisers and spinners trying to be all things to all men. As they are now.
I would be happy from the perspective that there does not appear to be any other route towards the restoration of the National Party to the conservative principles it was founded upon.
yes, so the means (getting the gnats out) is to get to the ends (getting a real gnat party in). Therefore any advice for labour from you is a poison pill isn’t it.
…the restoration of the National Party to the conservative principles it was founded upon.
You could do to read some actual NZ history rather than just making crap up. The National party wasn’t founded on conservative principles. Almost the exact opposite in fact.
It was formed from a coalition between the Union party (ie Liberals) and Reform (ie rural tory who were often pretty economically liberal) parties.
The true conservatives probably weren’t more than peripherally involved in the formation as they were haring off supporting the Democratic party, which was mainly made up of Reform party members who thought that their brethren in Reform were being too “socialist”, liberal and insufficiently conservative.
But that just about defines conservatives everywhere, short-sighted and unable to deal with a changing world. In this case The Great Depression. So for National to truly return to the values that they were founded on, I’d suggest a wholesale defenestration of the conservatives who have attached themselves to the party like freeloading barnacles.
I suspect that the word you were hunting for was actually nonsocialist, because that is all National have ever been.
Yet you go on to talk about the right. That is what I meant about sides, in the same way that Labour is on my side, despite me not voting for them and for them being so lite.
So the question still stands. Why should anyone on the left take your advice on what the left wing should do given you are right wing?
Lprent- I became interested in what National had started out as when I noticed they were swinging too far left.
We have a number of old NZ encyclopedias (ae?) in our house so I went and looked National up.
It was there I came across the founding principles of National as penned by Sid Holland and (presumably) his colleagues.
They were-
“To promote good citizenship and self-reliance; to combat communism and socialism; to maintain freedom of contract; to encourage private enterprise; to safeguard individual rights and the privilege of ownership; to oppose interference by the State in business, and State control of industry”.
I thought they were pretty good principles and worth conserving. As for whether National have ever lived up to these principles, of course I would not know much about earlier manifestations of the party. Perhaps they didn’t.
One thing I do know for sure is that Key and his weak directionless appeasers have never given them a second thought, if they even understood what they meant or even if they knew they existed at all.
The tide for change is clearly turning on the flag debate as indicated by the recent poll in the Herald. The timing of the referendum in relation to the Rugby World Cup indicates that there will be even greater interest in people having the democratic chance to rank their most popular option. With 3 out of 4 being a fern it is odds on that we will have a fern as the winner of the first referendum. Yet again John Key who shows great insight into the psyche of Kiwis has outsmarted the ever pessimistic Chicken Little who has hitched his negative campaign to what will be the losing side. A year into the job and not any shift in the polls. I hear he has been given till the end of the year to make inroads. Election 2017 will be in approx October. When in 2016 will Robertson make his move?
“I hear he has been given till the end of the year to make inroads”
Do you have a citation for that statement? or are you playing some kind of dirty politics against the leader of a political party by stating lies to create angst and damage? I think if Iprent or some moderator were to read your statement they might well want to kick you out for such nasty unsubstantiated bull shit. Stop being an arsehole.
JK will harp on how changing the flag is part of Labour’s policy platform despite Labour clearly stating they don’t think this is the time for such a policy to be enacted. That won’t stop him spinning it every chance he gets. Once again though, John Key forgets to read to the end and misses the important bit, that Labour isn’t talking of change ‘right now’.
James, you are commenting on a thread trail, so it is assumed you read the other posts in the thread.
If you dispute the stated position then say so and a Hansard dump can be delivered that clearly and repeatedly shows Labour do not believe this is the time for change.
Having a policy on their books which states they still support changing the flag is neither here nor there.
Why do you National fanboys have so much trouble comprehending the concept of “right now” ?
Please oh wise one, how is proving JK’s vanity project a failure going to hand him the 2017 election?
C’mon, what twisted machinations of your insalubrious synapses have you melded to form that conclusion?
There may be numerous contributing factors to a deleterious fourth term but having the referendum resolutely thrown back in his face ?
You have made a big claim stating the failure of the flag referendum would hand John Key the 2017 election.
Bizarrely referring to a massively manipulated smear campaign full of ignorance and lies that centered on NZ’s involvement in illegal surveillance of citizens and governments by our Five Eyes’ partnership is in what way relevant to the selection of a flag?
and how is the likely failure of that flag selection process going to hand John key an election in 18 months time?
Surprised you didn’t grasp what I was referring to but then again you left wingers seem to be utterly blinded by your own egos.
One of the main reasons National romped home at the last election was because Kim dot com was seen by the voting public to be fucking with our democratic process
Talk of ruining or trying to sabotage the referendum will have the same effect.
BM, I think you have failed to understand the basic premise of Spoil n’ Foil. What a shock.
The first referendum is meaningless. It is fun. You may not remember fun, slavishly regurgitating whatever propaganda your masters deem you fit to articulate, but fun in a democracy is in fact possible. And having fun with a pointless and unnecessary exercise, such as the first referendum process, is actually healthy for a democracy.
People messing about with their voting papers in the first ballot will actually contribute to and definitely benefit the sincerity brought to the second ballot in 2016. The first referendum will act as a release valve for so many pressures on our country and its people. That may not change anything for most but it will feel damn good at the time.
It does not imply however, they will carry that attitude into the second ballot. There will most certainly be a change in attitude by those you so gleefully demean on a regular basis with your unending belief in dear leader but the thing is BM, the people you think are wastrels occupying valuable real estate in your precious economically corrupt magicland of opportunity, are in fact far more capable than most ‘right thinking’ people I have met when asked to alter their behaviour when required to do so. Especially when required to do so in order to achieve a result of benefit to others. I accept that is a concept that lays outside your dogma cage but in my experience it is true nonetheless.
Putting aside the fact there is no set minimum for returns and accepting the vote is binding are modes of comprehension that many people are actually fully capable of employing. Spoil n’ Foil does not in any way risk the outcome. It is not sabotaging the referendum or fucking with our democratic process. The first referendum is a near pointless exercise and in many ways is belittling the entire populace as it assumes that the citizens of NZ are incapable of dealing with a preferential selection process of a flag in a single ballot. But that is what the extremely undemocratic select committee process the government engaged in has decided and that is what we have to work with. When the committee chair decided to ignore over 700 applications to speak from the RSA for example, because they were submitted on what was deemed a “form submission” then some might say democracy wasn’t at the forefront of National’s agenda anyway. Their oft-proven hypocrisy in fact was glaringly evident as the entire “What do we stand for ” campaign that guided the flag selection process was driven by a similar form submission.
The first referendum will be a laugh. People will be creative and joyful and I’m sure some classic kiwi material will come to light as ‘representations’ of their voting papers get tweeted and facebooked on the way to the postbox.
The second referendum is an entirely more serious affair for everyone I know. And this might shock you but some of my best friends vote National and that is their choice. That is their right. As it is my right to regularly ridicule and berate them for doing so. Thankfully that number is diminishing. Not because they are no longer friends but because they have come to realise what a fucking treasonous and dangerous lot they voted in to power. Some of these people also see the benefit of Spoil n’ Foil in the upcoming referendums.
The second referendum will be a sober and straightforward exercise in democratic integrity. I know there are lots of theories that the votes will be interfered with and we won’t get a real result but none of us have any control over that process. We are resigned to trusting the authorities tasked with the oversight of all referendums and elections and I have faith the vote will be legitimate because the people I know who work in such fields all do good work
So please BM, think a little more and spurt a little less. I do not know a single person who is unwilling or undecided about partaking and the many people I have asked about the second referendum have unanimously stated they will be treating the vote as seriously as they do the general election. I do not believe the small but diverse subset of the NZ population that I interact with are in any way extraordinary in their approach to the upcoming referendum process.
Spoil n Foil is simple, it is fun, it is democracy proving that if a government continues to belittle and disregard its citizenry then repercussions eventuate. Now is not the time for Aotearoa New Zealand to change its flag and the government will soon enough realise the people, not the spin doctors, have spoken.
The spoiled votes are counted BUT do not effect the voting on the four. So supposing there were 45% spoiled papers. That would for example allow say flag 1 to have 40%, Flag 2 =30%, Flag3 =20%, Flag 4 =10%.
Flag 1 wins the poll in spite of the 45% spoiled papers.
Maybe it would be better to vote 45% Koru, wipe out the other 3 and much likely win the run off. Okay?
That’s not a bad idea, but I think the point of spoling the voting paper isn’t to influence which flag of the four is chosen, but instead is to make plain just how many people think the referendum is a farce. The informal vote % will be reported in the MSM.
Can imagine whatever option is finally selected from the first referendum, the spin numbers will not publicise it as a % of the total vote.
I do sense the hypno flag making a late run to the line as a protest vote.
also: The fact two of the choices are lost on a white (or black) background seems to have been overlooked by the selection panel but when they don’t bother putting anyone with practical design skills on a design selection panel …… and when they seem to have only investigated what the selections look like when hoisted up a flag pole …. then I think this not insignificant detail will sink in as people more carefully consider the options they have been presented with.
James- I find it pretty funny that you make yourself part of a corrupt rigged sleazy operation like Key’s flag change process and still expect to escape with your dignity intact.
just talking shit because you have not looked into it
Not talking shit. The usual legal position is that copyright needs to be bought out and that is what I would have expected to happen. But you’re right in that I hadn’t actually looked at the conditions for entering the competition (Probably have something to do with me not entering the competition) and thus hadn’t realised that the government had claimed ownership of the IP as a condition of entering. Thank you for clarifying.
are just another “national = bad” thinker.
I’m not. I do look into what National do and then declare it bad because almost everything that National does is, as a matter of fact, bad. They even manage to stuff up good ideas.
Hi weka, it’s been mentioned a few times over the past few weeks but seems of little concern to anyone. Even the journos I know don’t want to touch it. Perhaps someone doesn’t want the issue out in the public arena.
Three of the four have existing commercial copyrights.
The Companies and Immigration Offices of the NZ government have the b+w fern as was highlighted in NRT’s post.
and the two designs from the Silver Fern Flags website, which has been in operation for over a decade and as mentioned above is still operating
he has to sign over all rights and there is no financial compensation apparently, which seems harsh considering the many products he has been selling over the years to build the brand.
I would have imagined the sign over should have already happened prior to the public announcement but, as the final four shortlist is now public, and the site is still operating as a commercial enterprise then…….?
As James mentioned above it is probable an arrangement has been met to allow them to ‘wind up’ the business but that does not alter the bizarre situation of a country contemplating the adoption of a long standing commercial product as its national ensign.
“farcical” seems a tad inadequate, even for NZ Inc,
I don’t believe he has sold reproduction rights but he does ask for attribution if published material includes the design.
The site is primarily a store for the range of flags and peripheral objects, such as badges and pins etc.
A new line of text has appeared on the Store page
due to unprecedented demand as a result of the governments shortlist release, these flags have sold out, however more are on the way.”
They are obviously planning to continue commercial operations using the shortlisted design and we can only assume they have governmental approval for such activity. (as per article 19 of the T&C i guess)
What is stranger still, they updated their sales material after making the shortlist, but have not put a press release up on their media page announcing their success?
What it means as we go forward into the referendums is anyone’s guess
There is one other thing before I leave the SFF issue alone… These ‘NZ’ flags don’t seem to have a “made in NZ’ logo anywhere on the page. Wonder where he gets them manufactured?
The Israeli colonies are an American problem in a whole new way. Nearly one out of six settlers in the West Bank is an American. Haaretz broke the story. Oxford scholar Sara Yael Hirschhorn says Americans are starkly overrepresented among West Bank settlers:
Roughly 60,000 American Jews live in West Bank settlements, where they account for 15 percent of the settler population, according to figures revealed Thursday by an Oxford University scholar and expert on this population.
No wonder the US doesn’t say anything against the continued invasion and theft of Palestine while continuing to support Israel’s war of terror against Palestinians.
New research shows that the venom of Polybia Paulista, a Brazilian wasp, contains a powerful drug that attacks tumour cells without harming normal cells. It works by destroying lipids, which form the fatty tissue of certain cell surfaces.
Dr Paul Beales, of the University of Leeds, explains to Newsday how the venom kills cancer.
My dear 93 year old mother who is rabidly against a flag change was shocked today when DW and I said we would spoil our voting papers. ” You can’t do that, your father went to war so you could vote.”
OK we won’t vote then…”You can’t do that your father etc..” “I don’t want to but I’m going to have to vote for one of them”
Me I’m not really interested but the old flag does seem like a real flag to me.
I tend to agree with the a Nat party politician who aptly described the 4 new flag choices as not real flags but more like nice beach towels?
Just a thought for later. I had an idea that for the next pre-election period TS could run a post entitled the Electorate Whisperer. It would probably get called the Vote W but that wouldn’t be correct.
It would be for people who don’t usually blog to get some hard information relating to them personally, and their neighbours. People would be asked to write in and ask how their electorate could get best advantage by voting strategically.
Probably there would be a cloud of useless gnats but the left would have the first attention. . A lot of people treat blogs as if there be dragons but for this post, it would be straightforward.
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As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
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 ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific senior journalist A Pacific regionalism academic has called out New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS and says the security deal “raises serious questions for the Pacific region”. Auckland University of Technology academic Dr Marco de Jong ...
How worried should we be about the cloud? This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. I currently have a few thousand unread emails languishing in my inbox, mostly old marketing newsletters and piles of unread science journal press releases. I have a similar number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nuurrianti Jalli, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies College of Arts and Sciences Department of Languages, Literature, and Communication Studies, Northern State University Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asian governments not only have to deal with the virus but also with the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Murakami Wood, Professor of Critical Surveillance and Securities Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa The skyline of Riyadh, the capital and largest city of the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia.(Shutterstock) There is a long history of planned city building by both governments ...
The LIVE Recording of A View from Afar podcast will begin today at 12:45pm May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment of ...
The Boil Up’s Lucinda Bennett considers the oyster – from freshness to pearls to the joy of shucking your own. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. In Carmen Maria Machado’s short story ‘Eight Bites’, a woman begins her last supper before bariatric surgery with “a cavalcade ...
Asia Pacific Report A group of 65 Auckland University academics have written an open letter to vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater criticising the institution’s stance over students protesting in solidarity with Palestine. They have called on her administration to “support” the students who were denied permission to establish an “overnight encampment” by ...
The Student Volunteer Army is on the march, generating approximately 1.6 million hours of volunteering from roughly 35,000 secondary school students in just five years. For Rebekah Brown, the pathway to volunteering started with her singing coach. With a passion for the arts, the suggestion to volunteer at Acting Antics, ...
Keeping up with online communication can be exhausting, so Fran Barclay enlisted the help of Meta’s new ‘intelligent assistant’ to respond to all her messages. Could her mates tell the difference? For centuries, technology has ruled the ways in which we communicate. From the dawn of written language, to the ...
Jamie Arbuckle, a councillor who has become an member of parliament, says he has settled into having two roles so comfortably he's going to keep both pay cheques. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong Fifty years ago, Australian feminist Anne Summers denounced “the ideology of sexism” governing over so many women’s lives. Unfortunately, sexism is as lethal today as it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic and the hybrid work patterns it fostered have changed the way we think about office space, and central business districts in general. While fears ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dale Boccabella, Associate Professor of Taxation Law, UNSW Sydney There’s a good reason your local volunteer-run netball club doesn’t pay tax. In Australia, various nonprofit organisations are exempt from paying income tax, including those that do charitable work, such as churches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Deller, Casual Academic, Creative Writing and English Literature, Flinders University NetflixComedy is opening up spaces for silences to be broken and trauma stories to be told. In 2018, Hannah Gadsby started a revolution with Nanette, asking audiences to rethink ...
The workplace can be a minefield of bad comms and passive aggression. Kinksters can help you navigate it. A friend and colleague recently gave me a compliment I loved. They told me I’d always been good at emotional communication and making people feel comfortable. “But I feel like it’s really ...
Even if some students are now just texting on their laptops. Stewart Sowman-Lund writes in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Councils from Horowhenua, Kāpiti, Wairarapa, the Hutt Valley, Porirua and Wellington City will meet this Friday to work together on a plan for a Greater Wellington region water deal. ...
Renowned musician, advocate, and proud born and raised daughter of Tauranga, Ria Hall, is announcing her candidacy for Mayor of Tauranga and Pāpāmoa Ward for the upcoming election on July 20th. ...
The new Aotearoa histories curriculum is rich with potential. There’s still work to be done, but the education minister’s criticisms about ‘balance’ miss the mark, argues primary school teacher Jessie Moss. In 2015, Ōtorohanga College students presented to parliament a petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ...
For too long our so-called national bird has maintained its stranglehold on the economy of regional New Zealand. Thanks to the fast track legislation, we will have our revenge. Theories abound on what ails New Zealand’s economy. National leader Chris Luxon has posited that we’re negative, wet, whiny, and inward-looking; ...
Late one afternoon in March 1860 a man in a thin green velveteen jacket and a wide-awake hat arrived on foot at a sheep station named Glenmark, about 65 kilometres north of Christchurch. The man was in his mid-fifties but he looked older. Several people who met him that day ...
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I read a tonne on China. Simultaneously far from enough and quite the time-sink.
this piece stands out. brief and yummy.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wrong-chinese-model-jeanne-marie-gescher
QFT
The Herald mistakes people’s democratic decisions for a sinister plot.
No surprises then.
The Herald doesn’t have a clue what democracy looks like.
And nor does Claire Trevett.
Like Hisking, I guess her defence might be she is not a journalist.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11506413
How dare they. How arrogant can you get. Disagreeing with the pathetic agenda of the government of the day is not a plot – that headline is just sick and shows a huge lack of respect for the right of people to campaign and make a decision that suits them.
Aren’t they part of a plot to foist something on the country that A truckload of people are less than interested in.
There is going to be activism to affect the first referendum, encouraging people to make an informal vote, and I would guess the second too, although the second one will look normal to the MSM.
I agree about the Herald/Trevett not understanding democracy. If it were a plot it would be secret, like say dirty politics, or the whole way the flag thing has been orchestrated by National. But people opposed to what National are doing with the flag are being open about it.
Get that Herald? FFS, NZF put out a press statements about it some time ago. Did the Herald fail to cover that at the time and so now you feel the need to ‘reveal’ it?
Truckloads of people may find themselves out of favour in transport of (not) delight if National keep singing Muldoon’s satirical signature tune, I did it my way.
Fascinating (but nothing more than that I am sure) that the guy who led the flag change crusade got two flags in the final four AND they are liked by John Key.
I’ve just ordered a 20′ flagpole and 6′ NZ flag. Will be flying high at the front of the house.
It would be a good satirical response to have a 20′ pole and a little 6″ version of the new flag. But perhaps you have decided you will accept the selection!
+1 Tracey
a bit odd there is no press update on his website celebrating his success
http://www.silverfernflag.org/press
and the shops still open … perhaps the government have a different interpretation of the flag selection shortlist T&C (15)
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/resources/terms-and-conditions/
or they might have decided to let it continue its commercial operations and the government are simply going to gather the proceeds of any future sales seeing as it has been quite a quite successful operation over the past decade or so?
I always thought gerrymandering was specifically in regards to electoral boundaries.
Seems I was right.
As a political columnist, it seems a basic error for Claire Trevett to make.
LOL, this is probably what happens when an idiot masquerading as a political columnist simply regurgitate the contents of a txt received from FJK.
Trev’ seems neither principled nor bright. How hopeless !
It’s someone who thinks they are clever by using a term like that.
Really it just shows their ignorance.
In other words: just smart enough to be dangerous.
Are Syria’s problems because of climate change? And will it be the first failed state because of global warming?
http://www.upworthy.com/trying-to-follow-what-is-going-on-in-syria-and-why-this-comic-will-get-you-there-in-5-minutes?g=6
excellent story, thanks .
Terrifying because it won’t stop there in Syria.
‘Western-made refugee crisis’
http://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/313860-western-crisis-eu-refugees/
“The real and imagined refugee crisis engulfing Europe: What accounts for the EU’s near indifference to the plight of refugees clamoring to enter European countries? Could it be that these people are from countries NATO members have attacked, and turned into failed states or havens for terrorists? These refugees never wanted to leave home in the first place…
CrossTalking with Sukant Chandan, Anders Lustgarten, and Tim Finch.”
Chooky, I’m not sure if you realise you’re listening to RT, a Russian state sponsored news source…..
This is not an “imagined crisis” this is real. I’m here and seeing hundreds of refugees a week queuing in my own street trying to get processed. I have watched regular news reports on all European news stations showing thousands a week crossing European borders.
There is no “EU indifference”.
I joined a march of more than 20,000 people last night in Vienna protesting that we’re not doing enough here in Austria. By July this year Austria was taking in 370 refugees daily. The number is increasing ….. 80,000 are expected this year in a country one third of the size of NZ and with only double NZ’s population
Thousands of people are opening their homes ……. and there is a genuine welcome for people fleeing from the atrocities of war
Spouting politics and blame about NATO or anyone else is not going to help one little bit
+ 1 Good to see that people are doing what they can to help this awful situation.
“We’re going to take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan & Iran..” General Wesley Clark 2007
in Chooky’s link does it say anywhere that the crisis is imagined? it is very real, and as usual it’s the people paying the price, not the engineers of the crisis.
But those very same groups that created the crisis are now capitalizing on it, exporting the problems to Europe.
If your country is in debt and failing, taking on more mouths to feed without first fixing your own underlying structural issues is suicide.
http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/austria
Every coloured revolution has resulted in the destruction of countries and introduction of totalitarian regimes, George Soro sponsored or US foreign policy, all have been funded and designed to destroy.
We could, in NZ set aside The Catham Islands as a new country free from debt, and allow the refugees an opportunity to start again, but no, what do we do, welcome them into our failing system, more citizens locked into debt slavery.
and who are you ..Grim.. to tell the Austrians what they can and can’t do?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Austria
Yes……
From the RT site (which is more interested in framing Europe as the bad guys, than recording the plight of the hundreds of thousands of refugees and the outpouring of support from Austria, Germany and others) :
and another RT headline from Chooky’s link:
seriously?
did you even listen to the audio or watch the video?
and who am I to….. I am no-one, same as you.
I see you ignored everything else I posted in favor of trying to start a fight, good one.
hmm fair enough it does look like i’m picking a fight… sorry that wasn’t the intent and it was a bit snotty of me to say ‘who are you to…..
i’m not interested in a fight, i’m just a bit sensitive to the blame game that is filtering in to conversations about how best to help refugees.
I’m living in Austria – and we’re doing a lot to help here, so I couldn’t understand the bitterness of your comment – clearly referring to Austria given the link you provided:
worth at least a thousand words
http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/gif/201536/flag.gif
Ties in with Peter Lyon’s column but with fewer words. Well founded freedom.
Is it time for New Zealand to pay compensation to the Pacific Islanders it sent into slavery 150 years ago? Spotlighting a piece of history forgotten by most Kiwis http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/the-slave-raids-on-tonga-documents-and.html
by 1863 the population had increased from 75 to about 300…….’ In 1862, after a campaign by business owners, Peru’s parliament voted to allow the ‘recruitment’ of labourers from the Pacific Islands. Islanders would supposedly be invited to sign ‘contracts’ that promised them freedom and a lives as ‘colonists’ in Peru in return for three years of almost unpaid labour there. The contracts of islanders could be bought and sold.
A fleet of ships soon sailed from Callao, the port of Lima. Instead of convincing Pacific Islanders to sign contracts freely, the crews of these ships usually kidnapped whomever they could find. More than three thousand men, women, and children were taken from eastern and western Polynesia and from Micronesia. More than fifteen hundred came from Rapa Nui alone…..’
and you think NZ shpuld pay compensation….as the treaty was what 1840…long bow much!!!
As rest of blog post shows, NZers were the ones who removed Tongans from their islands and sold them to Peruvians. NZ state knew what was going on but never took action against slavers.
‘New Zealand became effectively self-governing in all domestic matters (except ‘native policy’) in 1856, when responsible government (the executive having the support of a majority of the members of the House of Representatives) was accepted. Control over native policy passed to the colonial government in the mid-1860s. The New Zealand government became fully responsible for its own foreign relations in 1935 ‘.
Labour needs to paint Key into a resign corner over flag change.
He’s spending $28million of taxpayers money on a personal quest.
If it turns out the flag change campaign is a complete flop he should resign for such a waste of money. Which will without a doubt have been spent entirely in the pursuit of his own vain ambition.
Why are the Labour Party not taking this line of attack on Key?
Make him promise to resign if the participation rate is low and the flag change does not happen. It will be $28 million pissed up against the wall.
Are not opposition parties meant to hold governments accountable?
See my post Key should resign if $28 million flag change project is a flop.
Labour should be making Key sweat over this.
It seems only fair that Key should just change the flag to whatever he wants and scrap the referendum charade..
That could be risky. I suspect that there are plenty of traditional National voters who want to keep the current flag and similarly plenty of Labour/Green voters who might want a change. Making this a resignation issue could overshadow what should be almost a conscience issue, as the flag should be a national symbol that transcends political allegiance.
That said, if the current flag should win, there would be plenty of egg on Key’s face.
What worries me is that Key will now use every dirty trick in the book – and more – to manipulate the NZ public into voting for change, purely because his ego and credibility are at stake. Scum.
JK will harp on how changing the flag is part of Labour’s policy platform despite Labour clearly stating they don’t think this is the time for such a policy to be enacted. That won’t stop him spinning it every chance he gets. Once again though, John Key forgets to read to the end and misses the important bit, that Labour isn’t talking of change ‘right now’.
Labour has a policy platform??? John Key obviously knows something the rest of us don’t.
Where else do you think National grab their more reasonable ideas from?
before they gut them of any social good and stew the innards and present the emaciated husk for public consumption of course 🙂
Key is already using a raft of dirty tricks, and I agree it could well get worse. Its one of the reasons I do not like the man.
However as to the resign issue, Labour do not have much to lose, but much to gain. Undoubtedly there is a risk here, but the rewards far outweigh the possibility of failure.
And the issue would not really be the flag so much as the waste of $28 million at John Key’s personal whim, when so many did not want it spent at all.
It would be even better if Labour could show how the whole process was rigged, and still it failed.
If this is a flop, then Key should be forced to resign. Not only for the waste of money, but also for the duplicitous and rigged manner in which the change campaign was conducted.
“Labour should be making Key sweat over this.”
Yeah, because of all the fucked up things Key has done, the flag one is the worst and is the best one to target him on.
Oooh, look… hypnoflag!
If Labour went about it the right way its an issue that could see Key leave politics. Would this be any kind of victory?
Is that another way of saying this is Labour’s fault?
Do I think Labour is weak in opposition?
Of course I do.
That wasn’t what I meant, which I’m sure you know.
How about this then? Why should anyone here take seriously any advice you have about what Labour, or the left, should do? If you can’t keep your side in order, don’t expect us to do it.
You should take my advice seriously because-
Key and the Nationals are not “My side”.
I am a true small govt voter who likewise seriously would like to see the weak socialist and spin merchant John Key and the National Party kicked out of govt, purged of Key and his supporters, and then completely reformed as a real right wing party.
And come back as that, and not a hollow bunch of compromisers and spinners trying to be all things to all men. As they are now.
so you wouldn’t be happy if labour formed a coalition as the next government then
I would be happy from the perspective that there does not appear to be any other route towards the restoration of the National Party to the conservative principles it was founded upon.
yes, so the means (getting the gnats out) is to get to the ends (getting a real gnat party in). Therefore any advice for labour from you is a poison pill isn’t it.
You could do to read some actual NZ history rather than just making crap up. The National party wasn’t founded on conservative principles. Almost the exact opposite in fact.
It was formed from a coalition between the Union party (ie Liberals) and Reform (ie rural tory who were often pretty economically liberal) parties.
The true conservatives probably weren’t more than peripherally involved in the formation as they were haring off supporting the Democratic party, which was mainly made up of Reform party members who thought that their brethren in Reform were being too “socialist”, liberal and insufficiently conservative.
But that just about defines conservatives everywhere, short-sighted and unable to deal with a changing world. In this case The Great Depression. So for National to truly return to the values that they were founded on, I’d suggest a wholesale defenestration of the conservatives who have attached themselves to the party like freeloading barnacles.
I suspect that the word you were hunting for was actually nonsocialist, because that is all National have ever been.
Key and the Nationals are not “My side”.
Yet you go on to talk about the right. That is what I meant about sides, in the same way that Labour is on my side, despite me not voting for them and for them being so lite.
So the question still stands. Why should anyone on the left take your advice on what the left wing should do given you are right wing?
Lprent- I became interested in what National had started out as when I noticed they were swinging too far left.
We have a number of old NZ encyclopedias (ae?) in our house so I went and looked National up.
It was there I came across the founding principles of National as penned by Sid Holland and (presumably) his colleagues.
They were-
“To promote good citizenship and self-reliance; to combat communism and socialism; to maintain freedom of contract; to encourage private enterprise; to safeguard individual rights and the privilege of ownership; to oppose interference by the State in business, and State control of industry”.
I thought they were pretty good principles and worth conserving. As for whether National have ever lived up to these principles, of course I would not know much about earlier manifestations of the party. Perhaps they didn’t.
One thing I do know for sure is that Key and his weak directionless appeasers have never given them a second thought, if they even understood what they meant or even if they knew they existed at all.
The tide for change is clearly turning on the flag debate as indicated by the recent poll in the Herald. The timing of the referendum in relation to the Rugby World Cup indicates that there will be even greater interest in people having the democratic chance to rank their most popular option. With 3 out of 4 being a fern it is odds on that we will have a fern as the winner of the first referendum. Yet again John Key who shows great insight into the psyche of Kiwis has outsmarted the ever pessimistic Chicken Little who has hitched his negative campaign to what will be the losing side. A year into the job and not any shift in the polls. I hear he has been given till the end of the year to make inroads. Election 2017 will be in approx October. When in 2016 will Robertson make his move?
Is that a synopsis of the Crosby Textor circular to all astroturfers? Because that’s exaclty what it sounds like.
“I hear he has been given till the end of the year to make inroads”
Do you have a citation for that statement? or are you playing some kind of dirty politics against the leader of a political party by stating lies to create angst and damage? I think if Iprent or some moderator were to read your statement they might well want to kick you out for such nasty unsubstantiated bull shit. Stop being an arsehole.
Don’t know where your poll comes fisiani but look at this:
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/paulhenry/poll-should-we-change-the-new-zealand-flag-2015040314#axzz3kSxjWIrP
hi redbaiter, i think voices from the ‘right’ side of the spectrum, criticizing the dear leaders actions would be far more effective.
get on to one of the focus groups so beloved by the political heroes and make change that way.
You make such good posts, then such stupid ones like this.
Despite it being labour policy about a flag change and to have a referendum on it?
At 8.2.1 I posted the following:
James, you are commenting on a thread trail, so it is assumed you read the other posts in the thread.
If you dispute the stated position then say so and a Hansard dump can be delivered that clearly and repeatedly shows Labour do not believe this is the time for change.
Having a policy on their books which states they still support changing the flag is neither here nor there.
Why do you National fanboys have so much trouble comprehending the concept of “right now” ?
Hard right wing scum.
Warning, the images are bloody awful. And already the government in Ukraine is bowing down to these Neo-nazi scum.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/kiev-riots-horrifying-footage-shows-6355158
Bias I know – but.
https://www.rt.com/news/313880-ukraine-radicals-protest-parliament/
Carrying on the flag debate….
I’ll be voting for the status quo but had this one been in the mix I may have been persuaded to vote for it!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNxX2vBUsAUDDqO.jpg:large
https://twitter.com/shawnmoodie/status/638481845986848772/photo/1
The only one I liked was the New Southern Cross by Wayne William Doyle
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/design/14125
+1
Over at TDB, the Spoil n’ Foil agenda is laid out. It includes this crucial sentence.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/09/02/flying-the-flags-of-discontent-mobilise/
Time to remind the government democracy is a tool the people still have some control over?
Step 1 Spoil.
Step 2 Foil.
Great slogan that could catch on nation-wide.
love it.
You do realize you’re handing the next election to National.
Or does that not matter in activist world ?
I think we established some time ago that you don’t understand how social change works.
why do you care?
What ?!? 😮
Please oh wise one, how is proving JK’s vanity project a failure going to hand him the 2017 election?
C’mon, what twisted machinations of your insalubrious synapses have you melded to form that conclusion?
There may be numerous contributing factors to a deleterious fourth term but having the referendum resolutely thrown back in his face ?
Kim dot com
[Your comments on yesterday’s Open Mike….going somewhat out of my way to bring this to your attention BM.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01092015/#comment-1065417 ] – Bill
[lprent: Bill – wrong person. Ignore that BM. ]
What’s that got to do with me?
Again, WHAT !?! 😮
You have made a big claim stating the failure of the flag referendum would hand John Key the 2017 election.
Bizarrely referring to a massively manipulated smear campaign full of ignorance and lies that centered on NZ’s involvement in illegal surveillance of citizens and governments by our Five Eyes’ partnership is in what way relevant to the selection of a flag?
and how is the likely failure of that flag selection process going to hand John key an election in 18 months time?
Right.
Surprised you didn’t grasp what I was referring to but then again you left wingers seem to be utterly blinded by your own egos.
One of the main reasons National romped home at the last election was because Kim dot com was seen by the voting public to be fucking with our democratic process
Talk of ruining or trying to sabotage the referendum will have the same effect.
Stupid politics.
National didn’t romp home last election. Given you’ve tried to spin that part of your comment is there any reason to believe the rest of it?
BM, I think you have failed to understand the basic premise of Spoil n’ Foil. What a shock.
The first referendum is meaningless. It is fun. You may not remember fun, slavishly regurgitating whatever propaganda your masters deem you fit to articulate, but fun in a democracy is in fact possible. And having fun with a pointless and unnecessary exercise, such as the first referendum process, is actually healthy for a democracy.
People messing about with their voting papers in the first ballot will actually contribute to and definitely benefit the sincerity brought to the second ballot in 2016. The first referendum will act as a release valve for so many pressures on our country and its people. That may not change anything for most but it will feel damn good at the time.
It does not imply however, they will carry that attitude into the second ballot. There will most certainly be a change in attitude by those you so gleefully demean on a regular basis with your unending belief in dear leader but the thing is BM, the people you think are wastrels occupying valuable real estate in your precious economically corrupt magicland of opportunity, are in fact far more capable than most ‘right thinking’ people I have met when asked to alter their behaviour when required to do so. Especially when required to do so in order to achieve a result of benefit to others. I accept that is a concept that lays outside your dogma cage but in my experience it is true nonetheless.
Putting aside the fact there is no set minimum for returns and accepting the vote is binding are modes of comprehension that many people are actually fully capable of employing. Spoil n’ Foil does not in any way risk the outcome. It is not sabotaging the referendum or fucking with our democratic process. The first referendum is a near pointless exercise and in many ways is belittling the entire populace as it assumes that the citizens of NZ are incapable of dealing with a preferential selection process of a flag in a single ballot. But that is what the extremely undemocratic select committee process the government engaged in has decided and that is what we have to work with. When the committee chair decided to ignore over 700 applications to speak from the RSA for example, because they were submitted on what was deemed a “form submission” then some might say democracy wasn’t at the forefront of National’s agenda anyway. Their oft-proven hypocrisy in fact was glaringly evident as the entire “What do we stand for ” campaign that guided the flag selection process was driven by a similar form submission.
The first referendum will be a laugh. People will be creative and joyful and I’m sure some classic kiwi material will come to light as ‘representations’ of their voting papers get tweeted and facebooked on the way to the postbox.
The second referendum is an entirely more serious affair for everyone I know. And this might shock you but some of my best friends vote National and that is their choice. That is their right. As it is my right to regularly ridicule and berate them for doing so. Thankfully that number is diminishing. Not because they are no longer friends but because they have come to realise what a fucking treasonous and dangerous lot they voted in to power. Some of these people also see the benefit of Spoil n’ Foil in the upcoming referendums.
The second referendum will be a sober and straightforward exercise in democratic integrity. I know there are lots of theories that the votes will be interfered with and we won’t get a real result but none of us have any control over that process. We are resigned to trusting the authorities tasked with the oversight of all referendums and elections and I have faith the vote will be legitimate because the people I know who work in such fields all do good work
So please BM, think a little more and spurt a little less. I do not know a single person who is unwilling or undecided about partaking and the many people I have asked about the second referendum have unanimously stated they will be treating the vote as seriously as they do the general election. I do not believe the small but diverse subset of the NZ population that I interact with are in any way extraordinary in their approach to the upcoming referendum process.
Spoil n Foil is simple, it is fun, it is democracy proving that if a government continues to belittle and disregard its citizenry then repercussions eventuate. Now is not the time for Aotearoa New Zealand to change its flag and the government will soon enough realise the people, not the spin doctors, have spoken.
The spoiled votes are counted BUT do not effect the voting on the four. So supposing there were 45% spoiled papers. That would for example allow say flag 1 to have 40%, Flag 2 =30%, Flag3 =20%, Flag 4 =10%.
Flag 1 wins the poll in spite of the 45% spoiled papers.
Maybe it would be better to vote 45% Koru, wipe out the other 3 and much likely win the run off. Okay?
That’s not a bad idea, but I think the point of spoling the voting paper isn’t to influence which flag of the four is chosen, but instead is to make plain just how many people think the referendum is a farce. The informal vote % will be reported in the MSM.
Can imagine whatever option is finally selected from the first referendum, the spin numbers will not publicise it as a % of the total vote.
I do sense the hypno flag making a late run to the line as a protest vote.
also: The fact two of the choices are lost on a white (or black) background seems to have been overlooked by the selection panel but when they don’t bother putting anyone with practical design skills on a design selection panel …… and when they seem to have only investigated what the selections look like when hoisted up a flag pole …. then I think this not insignificant detail will sink in as people more carefully consider the options they have been presented with.
WTF? One of Key’s flags is under copyright. Is the NZ govt going to be paying to use it? WHat about everyone else?
http://www.silverfernflag.org/copyright.html
All the flag designs will be under copyright. I expect that the government will be buying the present copyright holder out for a large sum.
Ha, if that is so they better have the price arranged before the referenda.
You guys need to do homework. The copyright is passed across without payment. Its pretty clear on the website.
But – yeah – keep saying it hoping it will be true. You should bring back the due authority arguments also.
so James, what is your take on the Silver Fern Flag website still offering the now shortlist designs for sale?
Are they in breach of the T&C or not?
p.s. regarding your post yesterday
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01092015/#comment-1065472
Possibly – although they may have agreed that they were allowed to continue as they handed over the copyright.
I was not privy to the conversation.
Yup. Always handy to include a free pass to change the rules.
🙂 but…
It is just bloody weird having a referendum to decide on adopting a commercial product as a national flag
I expect that you are completely unformed and just talking shit because you have not looked into it and are just another “national = bad” thinker.
But just to prove you are wrong – please try and read.
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/resources/terms-and-conditions/
Sorry James, not interested enough.
I don’t want the flag changed EOS.
And neither do I buy into weak BS arguments like “its time”.
Stick the whole damn rigged corrupt process up your arse.
Typical – make argument. Provided evidence that proves wrong. Refuse to look at evidence. Puts head in sand, makes rude statement and walks away.
Yes, that is typical right wing behaviour from Bedwetter.
James- I find it pretty funny that you make yourself part of a corrupt rigged sleazy operation like Key’s flag change process and still expect to escape with your dignity intact.
No, I can assure you that I am fully formed.
Not talking shit. The usual legal position is that copyright needs to be bought out and that is what I would have expected to happen. But you’re right in that I hadn’t actually looked at the conditions for entering the competition (Probably have something to do with me not entering the competition) and thus hadn’t realised that the government had claimed ownership of the IP as a condition of entering. Thank you for clarifying.
I’m not. I do look into what National do and then declare it bad because almost everything that National does is, as a matter of fact, bad. They even manage to stuff up good ideas.
So you say you are fully informed, but hadn’t read something and just made an assumption based on what you would have expected to happen?
That really isn’t fully informed is it – despite the assurance you give.
And the government doesn’t “claim” ownership of the IP – it had to be handed over. There is a difference.
No, I didn’t say that at all.
Hi weka, it’s been mentioned a few times over the past few weeks but seems of little concern to anyone. Even the journos I know don’t want to touch it. Perhaps someone doesn’t want the issue out in the public arena.
Three of the four have existing commercial copyrights.
The Companies and Immigration Offices of the NZ government have the b+w fern as was highlighted in
NRT’s post.
and the two designs from the Silver Fern Flags website, which has been in operation for over a decade and as mentioned above is still operating
part 15 of the T&C for shortlist design copyright process
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/resources/terms-and-conditions/
Thanks freedom. So has Lockwood been selling rights to use his designs and if so what does that mean for the NZ flag is his design gets chosen?
This thing just keeps getting worse and worse, but it does show us just how far NZ has become NZ Inc.
he has to sign over all rights and there is no financial compensation apparently, which seems harsh considering the many products he has been selling over the years to build the brand.
I would have imagined the sign over should have already happened prior to the public announcement but, as the final four shortlist is now public, and the site is still operating as a commercial enterprise then…….?
As James mentioned above it is probable an arrangement has been met to allow them to ‘wind up’ the business but that does not alter the bizarre situation of a country contemplating the adoption of a long standing commercial product as its national ensign.
“farcical” seems a tad inadequate, even for NZ Inc,
I meant if he has sold rights already, what happens to them?
I don’t believe he has sold reproduction rights but he does ask for attribution if published material includes the design.
The site is primarily a store for the range of flags and peripheral objects, such as badges and pins etc.
A new line of text has appeared on the Store page
They are obviously planning to continue commercial operations using the shortlisted design and we can only assume they have governmental approval for such activity. (as per article 19 of the T&C i guess)
What is stranger still, they updated their sales material after making the shortlist, but have not put a press release up on their media page announcing their success?
What it means as we go forward into the referendums is anyone’s guess
There is one other thing before I leave the SFF issue alone… These ‘NZ’ flags don’t seem to have a “made in NZ’ logo anywhere on the page. Wonder where he gets them manufactured?
U.S. is even more implicated in Israeli settlement project than we thought
No wonder the US doesn’t say anything against the continued invasion and theft of Palestine while continuing to support Israel’s war of terror against Palestinians.
More on the MSM’s misrepresentation of Corbyn, How to Speak Corbyn: a Healine-Writer’s Guide
https://twitter.com/Chris_Boardman/status/638739810052669440
Wendell Berry quote: We have allowed…
Could this wasp cure cancer?
Audio.
My dear 93 year old mother who is rabidly against a flag change was shocked today when DW and I said we would spoil our voting papers. ” You can’t do that, your father went to war so you could vote.”
OK we won’t vote then…”You can’t do that your father etc..” “I don’t want to but I’m going to have to vote for one of them”
At least next year she should have it sorted.
Me I’m not really interested but the old flag does seem like a real flag to me.
I tend to agree with the a Nat party politician who aptly described the 4 new flag choices as not real flags but more like nice beach towels?
Just a thought for later. I had an idea that for the next pre-election period TS could run a post entitled the Electorate Whisperer. It would probably get called the Vote W but that wouldn’t be correct.
It would be for people who don’t usually blog to get some hard information relating to them personally, and their neighbours. People would be asked to write in and ask how their electorate could get best advantage by voting strategically.
Probably there would be a cloud of useless gnats but the left would have the first attention. . A lot of people treat blogs as if there be dragons but for this post, it would be straightforward.