Had an interesting long chat with a surgeon from one of our DHBs yesterday (not going to identify them).
Some interesting takeouts: Post code lottery in cancer outomes is indeed a thing, but not ion the way the media portrays it. Wait times for treatment are broadly the same. However, post treatment oncology services vary widely depending on where you live. In many DHBs your follow up care is on you – you've got to ring to get appointments, chase up the testing. In the big cities though the resources exist for the health system to follow you up. The issue isn't particularly money, but rather getting qualified oncology staff who want to work in out of the way DHBs.
The DHBs are, indeed, a complete nightrmare of petty fiefdoms and poor cooperation at the management level, although clinical staff mitigate a lot of that.
The last thing surprised me – this surgeon told me it should be an absolute priority to gain greater independence in the manufacturing of key vaccines, drugs and medications – insulin, basic paracetamol/NSAIDs and steroids, and generic asthma and blood pressure drugs – were specifically mentioned. Some capacity to manufacture these should be held domestically was the strongly held view.
Anyway, thought I share the observations of an extremely smart person who has been at the coal face for a while now….
Sanc….I've been in the UK recently (and wandering around Spain now) and the problems with nurses/junior doctors/the PUBLIC health service (private well off people are fine of course) seems to be not just in NZ but in many countries.
Coincidentally, I had a conversation with a friend yesterday who has been working in the Health Sector in Australia for over three decades now.
Her current role is in Nursing Management and Change Management Training.
We were talking about the retention and training of nurses in both Australia and NZ. We spoke about the reduction of training costs for RN's in Australia, which was not duplicated here (Covid training Fees Free was limited to Enrolled Nurses AFAIK). She also mentioned the disparity in training when accepting overseas trained staff. With countries where there were equivalent and close relationships, ie. Canada, England, NZ, US the staff were pretty much on a par, in terms of practice. Other countries were not as reliable in terms of consistency, which may be a cultural issue rather than training.
However, many UK nurses have an extra level of training after basic qualifications, when they specialise in a particular discipline – eg. oncology.
In Australia – this specialisation occurs by placement and practice on the ward, and is not usually accompanied by further theory or qualifications. UK nurses with these extra specialised qualifications are not recognised by Australia, leaving them on a par with basic RN nurse pay rates. In fact, they are equivalent to clinical practitioners in Australian heathcare (with a higher payrate), but have to fight to have this recognised. So far, the Australian government response has not been to make any changes, and so there is an attrition rate as those highly qualified nurses return back to the UK as job satisfaction is low, and they lose faith in the Australian system valuing them.
I'm not sure what occurs in NZ, as regards this issue.
To begin reforming the health system, the 20 DHBs were disestablished and their functions were merged into Te Whatu Ora, which now leads the day-to-day running of the system for the whole country.6/09/2022
According to the government the DHBs don't exist anymore.
They might still use hard/software until the full transition is completed, but as of the June 2022 there were no more DHBs. And whatever assets the DHBs had at the time they were dissolved these are now the assets of Te Whatu Ora.
And yes, the DHBs were underfunded, overworked and appreciated by none but they no longer set the rules or provide the budget nor plan anything, that is all now done by Te Whatu Ora. They were reformed away by Andrew Little, Minister of Health, Creator of Te Whatu Ora, under the Labour Party led by Jacinda Ardern. It is actually one of the things they are proud of.
What ever the short comings of todays Te Whatu Ora they are the shortcomings of Te Whatu Ora. To pretend that the DHBs are still doing anything today is misleading.
"The DHBs are, indeed, a complete nightrmare of petty fiefdoms and poor cooperation at the management level…"
That was plain for all to see and as far as I can tell is the basis for the reforms now underway. Andrew Little has explained the problems over and over again yet the Oppo parties – backed by a disingenuous bunch of media hacks – keep questioning his motivations as if he hasn't explained anything and is a complete idiot.
Its pathetic to watch the ignorant and foolish public fall for it, and does make me wonder about the poor cognitive abilities of so many voters. Is it an education failure or the results of hostile bombardment by right-wing media? Or is it both?
I offer up this over-the-holidays conversation with the son of a close family friend. He's just about to jet overseas to Oz – to further his career.
He's a doctor – 2 years out of med school who wants to specialize as an oncologist (he's interested in both research and treatment). You'd think that the NZ medical system would be falling over backwards to find a way to foster his career here…. but no.
He's missed out on the oncology residency (very limited numbers, I understand) at Auckland – no further communication, just a letter. And, given that he'd need to shift cities in any case (if there was, indeed, anything available in NZ), he looked over the ditch at what was on offer in Oz. He's ended up with a very attractive offer in Queensland, which will foster his career, and pay him considerably more. He's off at the end of the month – and I'd be surprised if he ever returns. A total loss of 7 years plus education and training to NZ.
Some capacity to manufacture these should be held domestically was the strongly held view.
Not neoliberal economics, in other words. We need to be prepared to pay the extra cost for that supply security – yet both our main parties are madly committed to keeping govt debt and taxes low by world standards.
The last thing surprised me – this surgeon told me it should be an absolute priority to gain greater independence in the manufacturing of key vaccines, drugs and medications – insulin, basic paracetamol/NSAIDs and steroids, and generic asthma and blood pressure drugs – were specifically mentioned. Some capacity to manufacture these should be held domestically was the strongly held view.
Did the surgeon say why? I completely agree, because the global supply of such things is no longer guaranteed, but am curious what his thinking was.
A short time ago, and I don't remember where exactly, Jenny, a commenter with whom i often find myself debating the Ukraine issue, pointed out that Putin in April had turned down an initiative for an interim ceasefire. I had not been aware of this and made some fairly non committal response. However, Malcolm Evens has very recently made a post to The Daily Blog which claimed, in passing, that a deal had been brokered between Kyiv and Moscow, but that Boris Johnson had talked Zelensky into backing away from it.
And the media also failed to publish the peace initiative brokered when Kiev and Moscow reached a negotiated interim settlement in early April, whereby Russia would withdraw to its pre-February 24 position, and Ukraine would promise not to seek NATO membership in return for security guarantees from a number of countries. However, at the very last minute, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly flew to Kiev and demanded that Zelensky step away from the talks, a shocking fact that has barely been mentioned in English-language news media.
I mention this, not as a criticism of Jenny, but because I think that if this is true (Evens does not provide a link) then it is pretty shocking that Johnson would do such a thing; and shows the US and British motivations for their involvement involvement in the Ukraine conflict to be pretty venal.
And the media also failed to publish the peace initiative brokered when Kiev and Moscow reached a negotiated interim settlement in early April…. However, at the very last minute, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly flew to Kiev and demanded that Zelensky step away from the talks
Firstly there are no details of any purported settlement to publish.
Secondly if it had happened (which seems unlikely to me) then it would have been in the peace talks on March 29th/30th. it was overtaken by events after the forced Russian withdrawal from Bucha a day later and the discovery of Russian atrocities against civilians a day later. Responsibility for actions against Russian perpetrators would have then been part of any peace settlement, something that Russia never seems to demand any accountability of their military or security forces. Plus the Russian line at the time was that it was all a manufactured incident by the Ukrreainians.
Thirdly, Johnson only visited Kyiv well after a speech by Zelensky to the UN demanding accountability of Russian actions that scuppered any hope of early peace agreement.
You should probably look at the actual history, rather than some manufactured time line for internal propaganda written by an fool apologist making up fairy tales.
According to a May report from Ukrainska Pravda, the Russian side was ready for a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin, but it later came to a halt after the discovery of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, and the surprise visit on 9 April of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who told Zelenskyy "Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with," and that "even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not." Three days after Johnson left Kyiv, Putin stated publicly that talks with Ukraine "had turned into a dead end".
If you read the timelines, the barbaric behaviour of the Russian troops and FSB in places like Bucha after the forced withdrawal of Russian troops before the April 1st evidence of atrocities were what prevented any hope of a early peace settlement.
This was the report on the 4th of April address of Zelenzky. Curiously Malcom Evans didn't mention this in his analysis. Possibly because they are in favour of atrocities by Russia in occupied territories – which would be my current working hypothesis in the absence of a denial and explanation of their moral stance.
Civilians shot inside their homes or crushed by tanks as they sat in their cars. People tortured and summarily executed, their hands sometimes tied behind their backs. Throats slashed and limbs cut off. Women raped and killed in front of their children.
These were just some of the nightmarish scenes that unfolded under Russian occupation in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations Security Council in a virtual address on Tuesday.
"There is not a single crime they would not commit there," Zelensky said, comparing Russian fighters to ISIS militants and Nazi war criminals.
Zelensky's speech came a day after he visited Bucha, a small suburban city northwest of Kyiv that Ukraine retook from Russians in the past week, to see the devastation for himself. He described what he saw as among the worst war crimes since World War II.
"Now the world can see what the Russian military did in Bucha," Zelensky told the Security Council. "The world has yet to see what they have done in other occupied cities and regions of our country."
After that address, the media had their own direct access to the Bucha and other atrocity sites to verify the atrocity claims well before Boris Johnson visited Kyiv. He didn't visit until the 9th of April.
Which is what made this particular bit of Russian propaganda a pile of limp bullshit for blind fools supporting documented military and FSB atrocities.
Thanks for that Iprent. I was aware of all this, but you have given a lot more detail, which is informative.
I think you have wasted your energy replying to Mike et al though. The bones of all this has already been pointed out to them previously by various of us. But it doesn't seem to sink in unfortunately.
Also, whatever Russia says about wanting to negotiate, its actions speak louder than words. Its recent actions in "annexing" parts of Ukraine, some of which it didn't even occupy at the time, really scuppered any prospect for negotiation.
Up until then, it was possible to envisage some sort of land-lease arrangement between Ukraine and Russia that would have given Russia legal access to Ukrainian territories such as Crimea or the Donbas, but would have ensured that sovereign ownership remained with Ukraine.
But, unfortunately, Russia has now made negotiated deals nigh on impossible, in the short term, anyway.
The main point of my comment was Boris Johnson's words:
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who told Zelenskyy "Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with," and that "even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not."
Russian atrocities in Bucha, egragious as they may have been, should not have been a reason for Zelensky to abandon peace talks – just the opposite in fact. Almost certainly it would have been Johnson's comments that decided him.
PS: Who are “they”, by the way? Presumably the British (and the Americans).
Before you can use this supposed statement as a basis for an argument you need to provide an authoritative source to prove that the statement was ever made in the first place, and also, the context for the statement so we can assess whether it actually has the spin you are trying to attach to it.
But, so far as peace negotiations go, it is a good idea to listen to someone who actually knows what they are talking about. Nielson is a military analyst at the Danish Defence Academy, and a captain on a Danish war ship.
Firstly, if the current dispute could have been resolved through negotiations, it would have been.
Secondly, war defines the parameters for the peace talks. At the moment, both sides think they can win, and that both sides have totally incompatible demands. Hence, there is little prospect for successful negotiations at the moment.
But if one side sees they are losing, or that they may lose any advantage they have, they will be more likely to enter peace talks. For instance, if Russia keeps getting driven back, or if the Ukrainian population tires of constant attacks on infrastructure etc, and puts pressure on Zelensky to settle.
Thirdly, premature peace talks can prolong a conflict. This is because if negotiations are premature, both sides will enter the negotiations with unrealistic demands that will not result in any resolution.
So, it appears there is still more fighting to happen before any peaceful resolution can occur. Russia is more likely to enter negotiations in good faith if it realises that Western support is unwavering, and that continuing the conflict will just mean things keep getting worse for Russia.
And, your complaint about media bias in your first comment is a bit silly.
It is similar to a rugby team complaining that the ref was biased because of awarding most penlaties against that team. However, during that game, the team had continually engaged in blatant professional fouls.
Hint: flattening Ukrainian cities, shelling schools and hospitals, and committing terrible war crimes isn't likely to get a lot of positive press.
The supposed source for that comment is extremely tenuous. Supposedly, an unnamed source from Zelensky's team.
I doubt very much it is possible to provide a link. A bit similar to the supposed promise never to expand Nato eastwards which is often stated but has little actual evidence to support the comment ever being made.
Russian atrocities in Bucha, egragious as they may have been, should not have been a reason for Zelensky to abandon peace talks – just the opposite in fact.
Wow – up is down and black is white. So you leave more of your territory and citizens in the hands of people who do that sort of crap….and think you can also trust them to keep to any deal. War crimes are an excellent reason to keep fighting.
The main point of my comment was Boris Johnson's words:
Your post at TDB said:
However, at the very last minute, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly flew to Kiev and demanded that Zelensky step away from the talks, a shocking fact that has barely been mentioned in English-language news media.
I'd say that you have completely and probably deliberately misrepresented this as a 'demanded'. Your quote above makes that pretty clear. There is no evidence of there was a demand at all. It just looks to me like you do not understand the bounds of national sovereignty. Especially when you now say..
PS: Who are “they”, by the way? Presumably the British (and the Americans).
If you dig through your quoted section without your ridiculous ideological blinders on it, the answer is completely obvious.
"even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not."
Assuming that quote is correct, then Boris Johnson was talking as a PM of the sovereign nation of the UK. The ‘they’ in that context can only be that of the UK.
The reason for this is obvious for anyone who'd reads anything about diplomacy, the legal positions that underlie it, and simply the authority limits of what nations allow other nations to do on their behalf (which invariably is – only if we explicitly say that you can and you state that).
If he had been giving the position of the US (a different sovereign nation) – then he would have explicitly said so having gotten permission to do so. Otherwise the US would have had Johnson's guts for garters while also repudiating his words.
What Johnson clearly said was that the UK (they) was not willing to give "guarantees with Putin" – presumably written about security or sanctions or NATO expansion as the most likely subjects. Your quote is not explicit or (as usual) sourced.
The UK position is probably because Putin has repeatably violated previous written guarantees about the Russia Federation protecting Ukraine security and borders with a succession of invasions and attempts to subvert the governing of the sovereign nation of Ukraine. If you don't know what I am talking about, then I'd suggest that you find out before your ignorance is exposed.
Similarly the UK cannot speak for NATO about guarantees about NATO expansion. NATO requires unanimity on any decisions about the decisions of NATO from all members. If the UK wasn't willing to provide a yes, then there would be no guarantees with Putin from NATO.
Both of those are decisions that the UK can make in the absence of any other nation.
And need I say it (but obviously yes based on your apparent lack of basic understanding).
The leaders of the UK cannot speak for Ukraine, nor can the leaders of Ukraine speak for the UK, US or anyone apart from their own nation. National sovereignty is a fundamental of international law and diplomacy. It is also enshrined in the UN charter and was quite specifically put in place to ensure the self-detirmation of nations after centuries of wars by imperial ambitions of other states.
I'd also be interested in you stating your position about national sovereignty and imperialism. Because almost everything I ever read from you reminds me of a grasping 19th century imperialist. Just as the official statements out of the Russian Federation also remind me of previous Russian imperialism in central Eurasia in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Russian atrocities in Bucha, egragious as they may have been, should not have been a reason for Zelensky to abandon peace talks – just the opposite in fact.
Which really begs the question about how your personal morality allows you to think like that. But leaving aside your casual approach to invasion, casual rape, arbitrary murder, systematic theft, and forced 'evacuations' by the Russian Federation invaders…
The report also found that Russia’s perspectives on the conflict were only considered or mentioned in 10% of news reports…
But they were mentioned. What was noticeable was that the main reason given for their support for invasion and deliberate subversion of parts of the Ukrainian nation from 2014 onwards was the purported atrocities against the civilian population of Russian speakers in the Crimea and Donetsk. The expansion of NATO was definitely a secondary consideration.
I say purported, because it is hard to nigh well impossible to locate actual substantive evidence that these atrocities existed. There is a lot of hearsay. All of the evidence that I have seen so far indicates armed militias and accidents in combat zones. This includes a number of official investigations from external nations looking for evidence of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Whereas what happened in Bucha and many other sites were deliberate atrocities against civilians carried by invading Russian troops and security forces. These are all war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Anyway if that was cause enough for Russia to go from diplomatic to military invasion solutions in the Crimea and the Donensk. Then to me it appears to make your opinion (and possibly that of the Russian Federation) to say that the same alleged atrocities but with actual evidence is not a cause to bring war crimes and to continue military action is extremely hypocritical.
I'd have to troll back through your comments here to dig it out. But I seem to remember seeing you saying that purported atrocities in the Donenk as part of a your justification for the Russian invasion last year. Of course that could just be you mindlessly parroting propaganda without thinking it through.
An alternate explanation that I can see for your position and that of the Russian Federation position about not examining evidence of crimes against humanity is the same position 'subhuman' or 'uberman' position used by slavers, racists, and nazi death camp advocates.
Which again leads me to the question about your personal morality and political positions. Pwerhaps you should elucidate exactly what your personal positions on crimes against humanity and war crimes is.
BTW: please don't rabbit on about hearsay non-written guarantees about NATO to me. Hearsay guarantees simply aren't worth the paper they're not written on.
Basically Zelensky offered Russia an immediate ceasefire if Russian Forces would agree to return to the territories in the Donbas that Russia had occupied before Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine in February. (With an agreement for further negotiations between Moscow and Kiev for a final peaceful settlement over these disputed territories). Sounded fair and more than generous to me.
Ukraine being a democracy, and without the power to rule by decree, Zelensky also offered to hold a binding nationwide referendum on full neutrality between the Nato allies and the Russian Federation. Again on the condition of a ceasefire to allow the referendum to proceed.
The Russian Federation negotiators, rejected all peace overtures by Kiev.
Making no progress in the negotiations with Moscow, Zelensky then went over the heads of the Russian delegation on Telegram, the messaging service favoured by Russians, to put the same peace offers to the Russian people directly.
As for the Bucha timeline, which as Lynne mentioned, acted to harden Ukraine's resolve to fight on. To try and find some common ground with the pro-Kremlin commenters, I try to avoid heated arguments over disputed atrocities, (no matter how well documented), claimed by either side, and instead concentrate on atrocities that can't be disputed. Like for instance video of Russian missiles slamming into civilian apartment buildings.
"Lauren Boebert said, as the metal detectors were removed behind her. “Today, they are being removed and we are turning Pelosi’s House back into the people’s House.”
She would say that. I suppose she's all for as many guns as possible when whoever it is decides to take over the House and really make it the people's house by doing what those she supports tried to do on Jan 6 2021.
Well that's about all they are likely to achieve over the next 2 years. Can't even get themselves sufficiently organised to elect a Speaker – and doesn't look like they will be able to any time soon. The Repugnants are such a fractured mob of malcontents now they are completely unfit to govern.
On Tuesday, as Republicans in the US House of Representatives convulse over electing one among them as speaker of the House, with Kevin McCarthy attempting to outmanoeuvre his hardcore Maga detractors, the civil war in the Republican party comes into the open.
But it’s not particularly civil and it’s not exactly a war. It’s the mindless hostility of a political party that’s lost any legitimate reason for being.
The so called Freedom Caucus (does not include Green, does include Boebert and Gaetz) have demands such as spending cuts (Social Security and Medicare) and the creation of a select committee modeled after the one that investigated the federal government after Watergate (they want license to go after people in government).
So, such people want to be able to be personally armed in the House? Why is that? Insecurity- I must be armed to protect myself? I don't trust the people who are employed to protect me, or trust their detection machines? I don't trust the society I live in enough not to be armed, that fear is my ever-present companion?
Or are they secretly hoping for some event to make their lives remarkable, Rapture seekers awaiting the-Second Coming to feel fulfilled?
I don't get the belief, the psychology, the motivation of it all.
hopefully simon dallow will do the right thing and resign and never come back to teevee ever. He is shallow biased and completely self serving and New Zealand deserves better.
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You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
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Had an interesting long chat with a surgeon from one of our DHBs yesterday (not going to identify them).
Some interesting takeouts: Post code lottery in cancer outomes is indeed a thing, but not ion the way the media portrays it. Wait times for treatment are broadly the same. However, post treatment oncology services vary widely depending on where you live. In many DHBs your follow up care is on you – you've got to ring to get appointments, chase up the testing. In the big cities though the resources exist for the health system to follow you up. The issue isn't particularly money, but rather getting qualified oncology staff who want to work in out of the way DHBs.
The DHBs are, indeed, a complete nightrmare of petty fiefdoms and poor cooperation at the management level, although clinical staff mitigate a lot of that.
The last thing surprised me – this surgeon told me it should be an absolute priority to gain greater independence in the manufacturing of key vaccines, drugs and medications – insulin, basic paracetamol/NSAIDs and steroids, and generic asthma and blood pressure drugs – were specifically mentioned. Some capacity to manufacture these should be held domestically was the strongly held view.
Anyway, thought I share the observations of an extremely smart person who has been at the coal face for a while now….
Sanc….I've been in the UK recently (and wandering around Spain now) and the problems with nurses/junior doctors/the PUBLIC health service (private well off people are fine of course) seems to be not just in NZ but in many countries.
Coincidentally, I had a conversation with a friend yesterday who has been working in the Health Sector in Australia for over three decades now.
Her current role is in Nursing Management and Change Management Training.
We were talking about the retention and training of nurses in both Australia and NZ. We spoke about the reduction of training costs for RN's in Australia, which was not duplicated here (Covid training Fees Free was limited to Enrolled Nurses AFAIK). She also mentioned the disparity in training when accepting overseas trained staff. With countries where there were equivalent and close relationships, ie. Canada, England, NZ, US the staff were pretty much on a par, in terms of practice. Other countries were not as reliable in terms of consistency, which may be a cultural issue rather than training.
However, many UK nurses have an extra level of training after basic qualifications, when they specialise in a particular discipline – eg. oncology.
In Australia – this specialisation occurs by placement and practice on the ward, and is not usually accompanied by further theory or qualifications. UK nurses with these extra specialised qualifications are not recognised by Australia, leaving them on a par with basic RN nurse pay rates. In fact, they are equivalent to clinical practitioners in Australian heathcare (with a higher payrate), but have to fight to have this recognised. So far, the Australian government response has not been to make any changes, and so there is an attrition rate as those highly qualified nurses return back to the UK as job satisfaction is low, and they lose faith in the Australian system valuing them.
I'm not sure what occurs in NZ, as regards this issue.
Surely you mean Whatu Ora?
cause
To begin reforming the health system, the 20 DHBs were disestablished and their functions were merged into Te Whatu Ora, which now leads the day-to-day running of the system for the whole country.6/09/2022
https://www.futureofhealth.govt.nz/health-nz/#:~:text=To%20begin%20reforming%20the%20health,system%20for%20the%20whole%20country.
Covid cases are still being reported by DHB/Region – see map here:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/450874/covid-19-data-visualisations-nz-in-numbers
I guess changes would disrupt continuity of data comparison.
According to the government the DHBs don't exist anymore.
They might still use hard/software until the full transition is completed, but as of the June 2022 there were no more DHBs. And whatever assets the DHBs had at the time they were dissolved these are now the assets of Te Whatu Ora.
And yes, the DHBs were underfunded, overworked and appreciated by none but they no longer set the rules or provide the budget nor plan anything, that is all now done by Te Whatu Ora. They were reformed away by Andrew Little, Minister of Health, Creator of Te Whatu Ora, under the Labour Party led by Jacinda Ardern. It is actually one of the things they are proud of.
What ever the short comings of todays Te Whatu Ora they are the shortcomings of Te Whatu Ora. To pretend that the DHBs are still doing anything today is misleading.
"The DHBs are, indeed, a complete nightrmare of petty fiefdoms and poor cooperation at the management level…"
That was plain for all to see and as far as I can tell is the basis for the reforms now underway. Andrew Little has explained the problems over and over again yet the Oppo parties – backed by a disingenuous bunch of media hacks – keep questioning his motivations as if he hasn't explained anything and is a complete idiot.
Its pathetic to watch the ignorant and foolish public fall for it, and does make me wonder about the poor cognitive abilities of so many voters. Is it an education failure or the results of hostile bombardment by right-wing media? Or is it both?
In my opinion, the problems with our health system go all the way back 3 decades to the Birch health reforms.
I offer up this over-the-holidays conversation with the son of a close family friend. He's just about to jet overseas to Oz – to further his career.
He's a doctor – 2 years out of med school who wants to specialize as an oncologist (he's interested in both research and treatment). You'd think that the NZ medical system would be falling over backwards to find a way to foster his career here…. but no.
He's missed out on the oncology residency (very limited numbers, I understand) at Auckland – no further communication, just a letter. And, given that he'd need to shift cities in any case (if there was, indeed, anything available in NZ), he looked over the ditch at what was on offer in Oz. He's ended up with a very attractive offer in Queensland, which will foster his career, and pay him considerably more. He's off at the end of the month – and I'd be surprised if he ever returns. A total loss of 7 years plus education and training to NZ.
Not neoliberal economics, in other words. We need to be prepared to pay the extra cost for that supply security – yet both our main parties are madly committed to keeping govt debt and taxes low by world standards.
Did the surgeon say why? I completely agree, because the global supply of such things is no longer guaranteed, but am curious what his thinking was.
He sounds very sensible and alert to the issues.
A short time ago, and I don't remember where exactly, Jenny, a commenter with whom i often find myself debating the Ukraine issue, pointed out that Putin in April had turned down an initiative for an interim ceasefire. I had not been aware of this and made some fairly non committal response. However, Malcolm Evens has very recently made a post to The Daily Blog which claimed, in passing, that a deal had been brokered between Kyiv and Moscow, but that Boris Johnson had talked Zelensky into backing away from it.
And the media also failed to publish the peace initiative brokered when Kiev and Moscow reached a negotiated interim settlement in early April, whereby Russia would withdraw to its pre-February 24 position, and Ukraine would promise not to seek NATO membership in return for security guarantees from a number of countries. However, at the very last minute, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly flew to Kiev and demanded that Zelensky step away from the talks, a shocking fact that has barely been mentioned in English-language news media.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2022/12/31/new-study-exposes-the-medias-role-in-the-war-on-truth-in-ukraine/
I mention this, not as a criticism of Jenny, but because I think that if this is true (Evens does not provide a link) then it is pretty shocking that Johnson would do such a thing; and shows the US and British motivations for their involvement involvement in the Ukraine conflict to be pretty venal.
Firstly there are no details of any purported settlement to publish.
Secondly if it had happened (which seems unlikely to me) then it would have been in the peace talks on March 29th/30th. it was overtaken by events after the forced Russian withdrawal from Bucha a day later and the discovery of Russian atrocities against civilians a day later. Responsibility for actions against Russian perpetrators would have then been part of any peace settlement, something that Russia never seems to demand any accountability of their military or security forces. Plus the Russian line at the time was that it was all a manufactured incident by the Ukrreainians.
Thirdly, Johnson only visited Kyiv well after a speech by Zelensky to the UN demanding accountability of Russian actions that scuppered any hope of early peace agreement.
You should probably look at the actual history, rather than some manufactured time line for internal propaganda written by an fool apologist making up fairy tales.
Wikipedia has a pretty good timeline of the known peace negotiations.
If you read the timelines, the barbaric behaviour of the Russian troops and FSB in places like Bucha after the forced withdrawal of Russian troops before the April 1st evidence of atrocities were what prevented any hope of a early peace settlement.
This was the report on the 4th of April address of Zelenzky. Curiously Malcom Evans didn't mention this in his analysis. Possibly because they are in favour of atrocities by Russia in occupied territories – which would be my current working hypothesis in the absence of a denial and explanation of their moral stance.
Ukraine's President Described Nightmarish War Crimes By Russian Forces In Bucha
After that address, the media had their own direct access to the Bucha and other atrocity sites to verify the atrocity claims well before Boris Johnson visited Kyiv. He didn't visit until the 9th of April.
Which is what made this particular bit of Russian propaganda a pile of limp bullshit for blind fools supporting documented military and FSB atrocities.
Thanks for that Iprent. I was aware of all this, but you have given a lot more detail, which is informative.
I think you have wasted your energy replying to Mike et al though. The bones of all this has already been pointed out to them previously by various of us. But it doesn't seem to sink in unfortunately.
Also, whatever Russia says about wanting to negotiate, its actions speak louder than words. Its recent actions in "annexing" parts of Ukraine, some of which it didn't even occupy at the time, really scuppered any prospect for negotiation.
Up until then, it was possible to envisage some sort of land-lease arrangement between Ukraine and Russia that would have given Russia legal access to Ukrainian territories such as Crimea or the Donbas, but would have ensured that sovereign ownership remained with Ukraine.
But, unfortunately, Russia has now made negotiated deals nigh on impossible, in the short term, anyway.
The main point of my comment was Boris Johnson's words:
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who told Zelenskyy "Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with," and that "even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not."
Russian atrocities in Bucha, egragious as they may have been, should not have been a reason for Zelensky to abandon peace talks – just the opposite in fact. Almost certainly it would have been Johnson's comments that decided him.
PS: Who are “they”, by the way? Presumably the British (and the Americans).
Before you can use this supposed statement as a basis for an argument you need to provide an authoritative source to prove that the statement was ever made in the first place, and also, the context for the statement so we can assess whether it actually has the spin you are trying to attach to it.
But, so far as peace negotiations go, it is a good idea to listen to someone who actually knows what they are talking about. Nielson is a military analyst at the Danish Defence Academy, and a captain on a Danish war ship.
Nielson makes several points:
Firstly, if the current dispute could have been resolved through negotiations, it would have been.
Secondly, war defines the parameters for the peace talks. At the moment, both sides think they can win, and that both sides have totally incompatible demands. Hence, there is little prospect for successful negotiations at the moment.
But if one side sees they are losing, or that they may lose any advantage they have, they will be more likely to enter peace talks. For instance, if Russia keeps getting driven back, or if the Ukrainian population tires of constant attacks on infrastructure etc, and puts pressure on Zelensky to settle.
Thirdly, premature peace talks can prolong a conflict. This is because if negotiations are premature, both sides will enter the negotiations with unrealistic demands that will not result in any resolution.
So, it appears there is still more fighting to happen before any peaceful resolution can occur. Russia is more likely to enter negotiations in good faith if it realises that Western support is unwavering, and that continuing the conflict will just mean things keep getting worse for Russia.
Thirdly, that premature peace talks
And, your complaint about media bias in your first comment is a bit silly.
It is similar to a rugby team complaining that the ref was biased because of awarding most penlaties against that team. However, during that game, the team had continually engaged in blatant professional fouls.
Hint: flattening Ukrainian cities, shelling schools and hospitals, and committing terrible war crimes isn't likely to get a lot of positive press.
Link?
The supposed source for that comment is extremely tenuous. Supposedly, an unnamed source from Zelensky's team.
I doubt very much it is possible to provide a link. A bit similar to the supposed promise never to expand Nato eastwards which is often stated but has little actual evidence to support the comment ever being made.
Wow – up is down and black is white. So you leave more of your territory and citizens in the hands of people who do that sort of crap….and think you can also trust them to keep to any deal. War crimes are an excellent reason to keep fighting.
Your post at TDB said:
I'd say that you have completely and probably deliberately misrepresented this as a 'demanded'. Your quote above makes that pretty clear. There is no evidence of there was a demand at all. It just looks to me like you do not understand the bounds of national sovereignty. Especially when you now say..
If you dig through your quoted section without your ridiculous ideological blinders on it, the answer is completely obvious.
Assuming that quote is correct, then Boris Johnson was talking as a PM of the sovereign nation of the UK. The ‘they’ in that context can only be that of the UK.
The reason for this is obvious for anyone who'd reads anything about diplomacy, the legal positions that underlie it, and simply the authority limits of what nations allow other nations to do on their behalf (which invariably is – only if we explicitly say that you can and you state that).
If he had been giving the position of the US (a different sovereign nation) – then he would have explicitly said so having gotten permission to do so. Otherwise the US would have had Johnson's guts for garters while also repudiating his words.
What Johnson clearly said was that the UK (they) was not willing to give "guarantees with Putin" – presumably written about security or sanctions or NATO expansion as the most likely subjects. Your quote is not explicit or (as usual) sourced.
The UK position is probably because Putin has repeatably violated previous written guarantees about the Russia Federation protecting Ukraine security and borders with a succession of invasions and attempts to subvert the governing of the sovereign nation of Ukraine. If you don't know what I am talking about, then I'd suggest that you find out before your ignorance is exposed.
Similarly the UK cannot speak for NATO about guarantees about NATO expansion. NATO requires unanimity on any decisions about the decisions of NATO from all members. If the UK wasn't willing to provide a yes, then there would be no guarantees with Putin from NATO.
Both of those are decisions that the UK can make in the absence of any other nation.
And need I say it (but obviously yes based on your apparent lack of basic understanding).
The leaders of the UK cannot speak for Ukraine, nor can the leaders of Ukraine speak for the UK, US or anyone apart from their own nation. National sovereignty is a fundamental of international law and diplomacy. It is also enshrined in the UN charter and was quite specifically put in place to ensure the self-detirmation of nations after centuries of wars by imperial ambitions of other states.
I'd also be interested in you stating your position about national sovereignty and imperialism. Because almost everything I ever read from you reminds me of a grasping 19th century imperialist. Just as the official statements out of the Russian Federation also remind me of previous Russian imperialism in central Eurasia in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Which really begs the question about how your personal morality allows you to think like that. But leaving aside your casual approach to invasion, casual rape, arbitrary murder, systematic theft, and forced 'evacuations' by the Russian Federation invaders…
But they were mentioned. What was noticeable was that the main reason given for their support for invasion and deliberate subversion of parts of the Ukrainian nation from 2014 onwards was the purported atrocities against the civilian population of Russian speakers in the Crimea and Donetsk. The expansion of NATO was definitely a secondary consideration.
I say purported, because it is hard to nigh well impossible to locate actual substantive evidence that these atrocities existed. There is a lot of hearsay. All of the evidence that I have seen so far indicates armed militias and accidents in combat zones. This includes a number of official investigations from external nations looking for evidence of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Whereas what happened in Bucha and many other sites were deliberate atrocities against civilians carried by invading Russian troops and security forces. These are all war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Anyway if that was cause enough for Russia to go from diplomatic to military invasion solutions in the Crimea and the Donensk. Then to me it appears to make your opinion (and possibly that of the Russian Federation) to say that the same alleged atrocities but with actual evidence is not a cause to bring war crimes and to continue military action is extremely hypocritical.
I'd have to troll back through your comments here to dig it out. But I seem to remember seeing you saying that purported atrocities in the Donenk as part of a your justification for the Russian invasion last year. Of course that could just be you mindlessly parroting propaganda without thinking it through.
An alternate explanation that I can see for your position and that of the Russian Federation position about not examining evidence of crimes against humanity is the same position 'subhuman' or 'uberman' position used by slavers, racists, and nazi death camp advocates.
Which again leads me to the question about your personal morality and political positions. Pwerhaps you should elucidate exactly what your personal positions on crimes against humanity and war crimes is.
BTW: please don't rabbit on about hearsay non-written guarantees about NATO to me. Hearsay guarantees simply aren't worth the paper they're not written on.
I commented on Ukraine and Russia making peace, once during the negotiations and twice afterward,
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-28-10-2022/#comment-1918232
.https://thestandard.org.nz/freedom-is-not-guaranteed-sometimes-you-must-fight/#comment-1910337
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-03-2022/#comment-1879756
Basically Zelensky offered Russia an immediate ceasefire if Russian Forces would agree to return to the territories in the Donbas that Russia had occupied before Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine in February. (With an agreement for further negotiations between Moscow and Kiev for a final peaceful settlement over these disputed territories). Sounded fair and more than generous to me.
Ukraine being a democracy, and without the power to rule by decree, Zelensky also offered to hold a binding nationwide referendum on full neutrality between the Nato allies and the Russian Federation. Again on the condition of a ceasefire to allow the referendum to proceed.
The Russian Federation negotiators, rejected all peace overtures by Kiev.
Making no progress in the negotiations with Moscow, Zelensky then went over the heads of the Russian delegation on Telegram, the messaging service favoured by Russians, to put the same peace offers to the Russian people directly.
As for the Bucha timeline, which as Lynne mentioned, acted to harden Ukraine's resolve to fight on. To try and find some common ground with the pro-Kremlin commenters, I try to avoid heated arguments over disputed atrocities, (no matter how well documented), claimed by either side, and instead concentrate on atrocities that can't be disputed. Like for instance video of Russian missiles slamming into civilian apartment buildings.
There's something wrong with these people.
Metal detectors were removed from outside the House chamber with the start of the new Republican-controlled House on Tuesday.
The extra layer of security was ordered put in place by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3796927-metal-detectors-removed-from-outside-the-house-chamber/
"Lauren Boebert said, as the metal detectors were removed behind her. “Today, they are being removed and we are turning Pelosi’s House back into the people’s House.”
She would say that. I suppose she's all for as many guns as possible when whoever it is decides to take over the House and really make it the people's house by doing what those she supports tried to do on Jan 6 2021.
Well she would – She's attempted to carry guns into the House of Representatives before. And utter maniac.
Well that's about all they are likely to achieve over the next 2 years. Can't even get themselves sufficiently organised to elect a Speaker – and doesn't look like they will be able to any time soon. The Repugnants are such a fractured mob of malcontents now they are completely unfit to govern.
The so called Freedom Caucus (does not include Green, does include Boebert and Gaetz) have demands such as spending cuts (Social Security and Medicare) and the creation of a select committee modeled after the one that investigated the federal government after Watergate (they want license to go after people in government).
So, such people want to be able to be personally armed in the House? Why is that? Insecurity- I must be armed to protect myself? I don't trust the people who are employed to protect me, or trust their detection machines? I don't trust the society I live in enough not to be armed, that fear is my ever-present companion?
Or are they secretly hoping for some event to make their lives remarkable, Rapture seekers awaiting the-Second Coming to feel fulfilled?
I don't get the belief, the psychology, the motivation of it all.
To make it easier next time they arrange a 6 Jan coup. Not holding people accountable emboldens them.
hopefully simon dallow will do the right thing and resign and never come back to teevee ever. He is shallow biased and completely self serving and New Zealand deserves better.
What does this mean?
Link please?
"…New Zealand deserves better."
Yeah!
Coz!
Twitter outages in NZ & Aussie today. Website not loading, feed v slow, many unable to tweet
Twitter slow or completely down for New Zealand, Australian users – reports | Newshub
https://twitter.com/RyanSproull/status/1610399311959068673?s=20
just had a look at some TS embeds, and they're still visible.
eg https://thestandard.org.nz/twitter-as-slow-motion-trainwreck/
can't open them in twitter of course.
oh, twitter pages actually loading now. I couldn't get them to work at all earlier.
do you have a backup plan? I'm on mastodon periodically, but it's quite different from twitter.
yeah I set up a Mastodon account, but its not the same
we will still have TS for the politics 🙂 (it's not the same either).
testing to see how dysfunctional twitter is and I see that 'woke' is trending in NZ. Only it's tweets like this
😁
https://twitter.com/adamsonsonadam/status/1610566866371502081