With a National government now somewhat more likely, it's worth taking in National's transport policy in some detail.
Matt the good unit at GreaterAuckland has analysed the proposal for us in a reasonable amount of detail. Check out what project may be coming near you:
Unless there is a 2017 type event between now and election day, like when Jacinda took over and there was a massive jump for Labour, it is very unlikely that the polls will move much, in my humble opinion.
There are no good news stories on the horizon for the government. The PREFU is likely to show the books are not in great shape interest rates will stay high, inflation will stay high, and possibly increase with the recent fuel price rise, crime stats won't change in the next 2 months.
In short I can't see anything happening that will reverse the current trends.
The big deal is the undecideds. I have seen polls take big swings when the undecided firm up their choices.
There is nothing Labour can do about the economic position as we are screwed by global trends with the added bonus of unfortunate weather events. The Right will play that up as if it is Labour's fault but you can bet the things that National and Act will want to do won't make ordinary people's life any easier. Seymour was pretty clear on Nat Rad yesterday that all he cares about is wealth i.e. making things better for the people who already have it.
There was a 3-all draw in a parliament select committee, then controversy:
The head of MBIE has apologised to a Parliamentary Select Committee as a senior MP accused staff of “devious” conduct in preparing a report despite clear direction it had not been requested. The issue came about after the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee was unable to agree on whether a bill to allow warrantless detention of asylum seekers for up to 28 days should become law.
So Labour conspired with departmental officials to do an end-run around conventional democratic process?
The committee is made up of three Labour MPs who were in favour, and two National and one Green MP who were opposed.
Committee chair and Labour MP Jenny Salesa said today that due to that 50/50 split, they were unable to reach a majority position on the bill and so had not sought a department report, which usually occurs when there is agreement. Despite this, department officials prepared a report anyway, which Immigration Minister Andrew Little said would be used to inform any changes he would make to the bill as he proceeds to the second reading.
Brownlee deemed this behaviour devious. Little deemed the select committee unbelievable.
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman said she was “quite concerned” to hear Tremain’s response, saying it was very explicit that a report was not sought.
“This was not a process error. So I think that with respect, you need to stop characterising it that way. They knew that the committee did not want a report.”
Little "accused National of being “opportunistic” and the Green Party of “being their usual selves”. Looks like he got that right. "She said the committee not agreeing was “how democracy should work”. An Iranian view – understandable due to their inability to do democracy. Folk in western countries believe democracy should work by agreeing to decide something collectively.
That's MBIE reminding the Select Committe that while they can't handle the truth, MBIE can. Brownlee's staff will remind him that MBIE is the kind of Ministry they will need next term – especially for the luckless fool who gets assigned Immigration.
Labour is not beholden to the Select Ctttee and can press on with the bill if it wants and this does not mean the end of democracy as we know it.
Good though that the report will be useful as Little uses it in progressing the Bill.
Reports are written all the time, depts have a usual timeline at which usually reports will be required, and it seems the mistake was in sending it to the SC. Should have kept it in house for advice to the Minister.
Usually though thinking MPs keep their concerns to themselves and work through the Cttee chair if they felt something needed to be done.
One hand you are right on the other we cant have unelected departmental staff circumventing or overuling parliment and its rules. It turns into a very slippery slope that undermines our democratic institutions. The dept head needs to fall on his sword imo.
"Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has revealed his vision to transform the city's port, with plans for a seaside amphitheatre, exhibition centre, and a saltwater pool. The new plan covers a 2km stretch of land, most of which is currently owned by the Ports of Auckland, and could begin in as little as two years, according to the mayor." https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/08/03/auckland-mayor-explains-vision-to-transform-ports-waste-land/
Suddenly Auckland Council has money. Or, maybe the idea is to excite people about the plan, then tell them the only sources of funds are from the sale of airport or port shares, but I think Aucklanders will see through that by now (fingers crossed).
Maybe a journalist could craft an article about where the Mayor anticipates the city will source the funds to pay for this from. It would make popular reading, I imagine.
The CIIB, NAB, CommonwealthBank, Westpac and the big developers like LendLease, Meriton, Packer, Lang Walker and the rest will be lining up around the block for this one. Just cut Ngati Whatua a slice and Bob's your uncle. Auckland Council could also consider vending in their own port share as a % holding into the development entity.
This has been pretty well rehearsed during America's Cup when the Wynyard Point was cleaned up ready for redevelopment and Wynyard Quarter was completed.
A deal custom-built for National government and National-aligned mayor and Council.
And TBH it will be very popular (unless there is major foreshore encroachment). Auckland has been begging to constrain the port or just eradicate them. So selling is intuitive.
The Civilian by the Babylon Beehive can reveal (our spy Onion in JEHB) that local police plan to keep groups from two religious sects apart, to prevent any kettling.
One group believe their party leader is the second coming and want him declared king without any validating election, and the other say prove it, win a second election – if he can.
It has been compared to the time a self declared prophet who (claimed to have) met God and his son who came to earth to adore anoint him, ran for POTUS to fulfill the prophecy of William Miller that the 1843-44 election campaign would result in an advent of a man on earth to rule for 1000 years. He was of course shot dead and James Polk was elected to steal land off Mexicans (the thou shalt not steal commandment proves this was not a son of God).
Live coverage of the Babylon exilarch returning to claim his inheritance.
Ukraine 400,000 KILLED 2 MILLION WOUNDED DISABLED –
As NZ supports the US Dem’s NEOCONs war, rather than pushing a diplomatic peaceful solution I wonder how Chippy, Jacinda and Luxton et al consciences are feeling? Is this “who we are”? No doubt your cost benefit analysis to suck up to NEOCONs sealed the deal.
MFAT: $10.59 million to the NATO Trust Fund for Ukraine
$7.5 million to contribute to weapons and ammunition
$4.1 million to support commercial satellite imagery
Odd… Trump being the man who was going to end civilisation yet it seems Biden was the chosen one👹
Have a great day NZ Inc
“400,000 KILLED 2 MILLION WOUNDED DISABLED – EXCLUSIVE: Ukraine’s suffering utterly unsustainable massive war losses, Intel Republic can reveal.
New satellite images show at 1 cemetery alone, pictured above – Matveevskoye in Zaporozhye, Kiev-held East Ukraine – 104 THOUSAND square meters more grave space has been dug. In just 7 of the cemeteries, there are 123,000 fresh graves.
Cuckoo Kiev/media admit barely 2% of that toll. To see the math go to telegra.ph @IntelRepublic”
It was Trump's determination to withdraw from Afghanistan that made the US look weak. Biden could have determined otherwise, but did not. The USA only starts or continues foreign engagement when both parties agree.
The GOP leadership in Congress have supported US aid to Ukraine. Continuing to look weak (failed policy in the ME leading to Islamic State) has consequences.
It all began with
1. not heeding George Keenan's advice (1990's)
2. the influence of the PNAC on GWB after Gore did not demand a full recount in Florida.
They want to make a stand because they do not know how to build relationships (see 1) and have yet to resolve an impasses with China over Taiwan, Korea and the South China Sea atolls/fake island military bases.
My defence and national security strategy would be to ask MFAT to develop a strategy to find a partner to work with to mediate the Taiwan, Korea and South China Sea atolls into islands issues.
The obvious savings in our own defence and security costs make the effort worthwhile and success would allow a transfer of global resources from military spending to global co-operation goals – such as climate change action.
Bold of you to assume the status of Taiwan, the Korean peninsula, and China's position vis a vis the South China Sea are issues that can be resolved via mediation.
You can't negotiate in good faith when one side has no leverage, and the other has made its position the basis of its regime.
There is absolutely no way China will ever accept anything less than annexing Taiwan in full. None of this "one country two systems" shenanigans: which they only accepted half-heartedly to help speed the UK along out of Hong Kong. Bear in mind this was also before they had sufficient confidence in their military and technological capacity to start throwing their weight around.
Ditto with North Korea: One of the pillars of the regime is the idea of re-uniting (by force if need be) the entirety of Korea. If they gave up on it, the whole facade would collapse. Which would absolutely trigger Chinese intervention. Because as bad and embarrassing an ally Kim Jong-Un is, it's a lot better than having a democratic, and worse, US-aligned and unified Korea next door.
The only way of preserving the status quo in North Asia is to maintain a sufficient military force in situ to deter any overt Chinese/DPRK aggression while at the same time maintaining alliances with as many of the other countries in the region as you can.
This means being prepared to counter Chinese influence (read bribes) in the wider Pacific region, keeping India onside (despite its democratic backsliding), and backing Taiwan to the hilt. Oh, and hoping the US manages to keep its shit together well enough and long enough to act as a counterbalance.
Barring the death of Xi Jiping or some kind of internal coup, it's likely China will continue to pursue a muscular and irridentist (in their view) foreign policy backed up by naked force. And they will be prepared to exploit any "weaknesses" they see in the West.
I think climate change and geopolitical tensions in Asia as being two separate problems with separate solutions.
It's in everyone's best interests to cooperate on climate change and do it right now as it's a global-scale, existential threat.
But it also doesn't necessitate China recognizing Taiwan or the Koreas giving up on their ongoing armed standoff. In their view, you can very much have one without the other.
And in fact, in an increasingly multipolar world, being a first mover on climate change gives China (and other less democratic) states an opportunity to seize the moral high ground and win some global legitimacy while the West continues to dither and fiddle while the planet burns.
The capability of nations to act on climate change is not enhanced by prioritising a military build without any serious effort at diplomacy (is anyone better off because there was diplomatic failure in eastern Europe – war is no a successful outcome).
As the IMF might say there needs to be investment in infrastructure resilience and zero carbon. And that is in western nations – then there is the cost of global assistance to other nations (food security and the like and renewable energy transfers – promises made in the past and most not kept because of GFC./pandemic and now military build up).
In the span of only one month from mid-December 2022 to mid-January of this year, Japan revised large parts of its post-1945 security posture and replaced it with a new strategy that—if implemented—would create a more robust and forward-leaning Japan. Tokyo’s policy shifts may signal a Japan that is not only more willing and capable of involving itself in geopolitical issues beyond its own narrow, defensive interests but also more likely to act in ways commensurate with its strategic position, regional interests, and economic might.
At the close of 2022, the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida released three new strategic documents: a new National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and Defense Buildup Plan. Then, in January, he and his foreign and defense ministers traveled to Washington to meet their U.S. counterparts. There, Japan’s new strategic thinking was on full display in joint statements with U.S. President Joe Biden as well as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Tokyo has announced the intention to increase defense spending by nearly 60% over five years, abandoning an informal budget cap of 1% of GDP that was put in place for political purposes back in the 1970s. This alone represents an almost revolutionary departure from long-standing defense practices.
In addition to an array of sophisticated military equipment, Japan also seeks to acquire counterstrike missiles: long-range precision-guided munitions designed to deter an adversary’s attack, something Tokyo has historically eschewed. Other key changes include the creation of a permanent joint operational headquarters, the transfer of authority over the Japan Coast Guard to the Ministry of Defense during any conflict, the establishment of a robust cyber-defense, and a new commitment to intelligence capabilities.
Our foreign minister ought to go to Japan to discuss their prospective role as a re-arming regional player, so that other regional nations see us as not putting all our eggs in the Aukus basket. Both inside & outside any tent simultaneously is cool…
Japan is already part of the QUAD-bike with India, Oz and the USA.
It is not part of AUKUS because that is about Oz being brought into the nuclear sub capability with the help of UK and USA. They will likely be part of AUKUS 2 (as we might be in the next term) which is about more general co-operation in tech development.
Our values – multi-lateralism, working with the international community. This includes collective security.
Ukraine is a recognised member nation state of the UN, Taiwan is not. It is part of China.
That the forces of NATO and also QUAD are not prepared to fight to defend Ukraine, but some say they are prepared to fight to defend Taiwan from China is inexplicable in international law.
That's an interesting proposition: but also one that comes with its own risks. For one it drastically increases the chances of some kind of conflict brewing up (i.e. a Thucydides Trap) given China's longstanding beef with Japan. And we also have to bear in mind that even though they are a democracy (if you ignore the LDP's virtual monopoly on power and history of corruption and pork barrel politics) the Japanese don't necessarily share our values.
That said, better to have more allies than fewer. And as a small country, we can't really afford to be all that choosy about who they are.
As geopolitical strategy, my suggestion uses optionality. The basic idea is you maximise your survival prospects by retaining more options on a sound basis – works as well for human groups as it does for persons.
Foreign policy thrives on nuance. The entirety of non-alignment does to some degree – forceful moves to align other players tend to be counter-productive.
Having been reclusive so long, Japan's fresh stance deserves some reciprocity. Our govt, no matter who wins the election, ought to enhance diplomacy by being proactive in engaging to explore mutual interests…
The new defense review represents a pivot away from the post cold-war "peace dividend" and towards the need to prepare our military for potential high intensity combat. It is undoubtably influenced by Russia's brutal and illegal imperialist aggression in the Ukraine and the growing confrontation in the Pacific between the Anglophone nations (and allies) and an increasingly xenophobic China. I haven't read it but it would be impossible for its authors not to have been influenced by the lessons from the war in the Ukraine.
The war in the Ukraine has brought home some brutal realities about the human and material cost of full scale peer conflicts. Just having a really good SAS won’t cut it anymore. The lessons we in particular need to grasp are:
1/ Any future conflict may involve theatre ranged weapons (ballistic missiles, cruise missiles) that can hit our homeland. We will need the ability to shoot down these weapons.
2/ It isn't enough to be able to defend against cruise and ballistic missiles – you need to be able to hit back in even limited kind, to give your opponents pause for second thoughts.
These first two point require a platform for launching long-range cruise missiles and anti-ballistic missiles. The most likely candidate for this capability will be new warships & the P-8s.
3/ Numbers are important in protracted conflicts with high combat losses. The Ukraine was able to call upon a huge number of partially trained manpower at short notice to create hastily formed militias to resist the Russians. For example, anyone who has watched videos of Ukrainian tank crews is struck by how many of them are men in their fifties and sixties who operated these vehicles as Soviet conscripts in the 1980s and were quickly able to take up the cudgels again. For NZ, that means reviving and expanding the territorial force.
4/ The need to modernise and expand our artillery.
5/ The need to increase the number of P-8 MRPAs and integrate them with some kind of Class III HALE drone.
6/ Modernising our drone warfare and combat engineer capabilities.
Agreed. We're better of investing in drones + new frigates + long-range surveillance and strike capability and reconfiguring the army around fighting a high-intensity, amphibious war in the Pacific with at least some organic AT and ABM capability.
The government of the Republic of China, and about 24 million Taiwanese might beg to differ.
Or is international recognition and UN membership the sole determination of whether a country and people are worth defending or not?
Because if that's the case then we can safely let Serbia have Kosovo back as its independence isn't recognized by 13 UN states (including I believe Russia and China). Ignore the war crimes that would no doubt ensue.
There's a bunch of people who have argued that we shouldn't even be defending Ukraine. Because reasons.
The only reason that Taiwan isn't recognized as an independent state is that China won't allow it, or deal with anyone that does. So we try to work around it by pretending the PRC is the sole legitimate Chinese government but by treating Taiwan as de facto independent irrespective of it's de jure status.
As long as we don't appear to recognise Taiwan officially, everyone is (reasonably) happy.
There's a balance between principle & pragmatism in geopolitics, in which state autonomy is a principle used by the UN, only to have pragmatism prevail in special cases. As the old saying goes, the exception proves the rule. Bit like quantum tunnelling eh? In Green thought minority rights are fundamental, so Taiwan must have a collective right of self-determination. Call it natural law.
Apologists for tradition hate autonomy – they prefer control systems & enforcement. So you get animal spirits driven by biodiversity vs whatever shit history produced.
It's one of those fun little quirks that help grease the wheels of international diplomacy.
It's like the status of Israel's nuclear program. They have nukes. We know they have nukes. They know we know they have nukes. But we all pretend they don't because acknowledging that fact would be dreadfully inconvenient for everyone.
Ukraine is a recognised member nation state of the UN, Taiwan is not. It is part of China.
The government of the Republic of China, and about 24 million Taiwanese might beg to differ.
Really, those there know Taiwan is not a member state of the UN and never has been. They also know there is no recognition (and never has been) of there being more than one China.
There is a nebulous concept of the ROC surviving on Taiwan, but then bowing to reality and making way for a democratic civil society on the island. It continues with the idea of the ROC being reborn in this way and thus one China in two areas, which might, or might not, one day unite. Others on the island just want independence from China.
So we try to work around it by … as long as we don't appear to recognise Taiwan officially, everyone is (reasonably) happy
The we, is a bit we decide the rules for mine. China is not happy. If Ukraine can take back Crimea and the Donbass by force (without plebescite to determine what the locals want, because these were/are part of Ukraine), why not China with that island to the east?
Or is international recognition and UN membership the sole determination of whether a country and people are worth defending or not? Because if that's the case then we can safely let Serbia have Kosovo back
There is an expectation of collective security of member nation states. Kosovo was a region of Serbia within Yugoslavia but is now self-governing – recognised by many, but not a member of the UN.
A number of states, Serbia and Russia have warned the West about the Kosovo precedent – Abkhazia and South Ossetia the Donbass and Crimea.
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The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
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. ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
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 ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
The club’s surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong… and a few other factors.“There’s no way that Wellington Phoenix play finals this year. I can’t see it happening at all.” Those are the words of Lachlan Raeside, an Australian football content ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By César Albarrán-Torres, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology Apple TV+ As one of billions of bilingual individuals in the world, it disappoints me when a film or TV show with characters of a non-English-speaking background is ...
The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Corderoy, Medical doctor and PhD candidate studying involuntary psychiatric treatment, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney shop_py/Shutterstock Picture two people, both suffering from a serious mental illness requiring hospital admission. One was born in Australia, the other in Asia. Hopefully, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Treby, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University P.j.Hickox, Shutterstock Peatlands store more carbon per square metre than any other ecosystem on Earth. These waterlogged, mossy bogs beat even dense rainforests for their ability to act as carbon reservoirs. Under the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Goss, Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra Government spending on health has been growing so rapidly that a decade ago the then health minister Peter Dutton called it “unmanageable” and “unsustainable”. Health spending grew in real terms by ...
New Zealand's largest electricity distributor is warning the country to hurry up with controls around charging electric vehicles or face unnecessary bills running into the billions. ...
New Zealanders have been asked to conserve energy this morning to combat a possible electricity shortfall, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A call to conserve power New Zealand is facing a possible electricity shortfall, with people up ...
Writer Rebecca K Reilly breaks down the national book awards. What are the Ockhams?The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are our annual national awards for books published for adults, and have existed in this form since 2016. There are four categories: Fiction, Poetry, General Non-fiction and Illustrated Non-fiction. There ...
Wellington City Council should keep its 34% ownership share in Wellington International Airport, argue Unions Wellington spokespeople Finn Cordwell and Ashok Jacob. Insanity, as the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Wellington City Council (WCC) is yet again proposing to dispose ...
New Zealand’s largest book publisher has undergone drastic changes this week, leaving its future role in local publishing uncertain. Two of the most recognisable local publishers in New Zealand are among those restructured out of Penguin Random House, it was announced this week. Head of publishing Claire Murdoch will leave ...
In 2021 the Public Interest Journalism Fund launched the Te Rito Journalism project, a $2.4 million initiative to boost diversity in New Zealand’s newsrooms. The initiative was in response to the decades-long shortage of Māori and Pacific journalists in the media industry. It was billed as New Zealand’s ...
The Black Ferns Sevens appeared to be a mile behind Australia at the halfway point of the 2023-24 SVNS international circuit. Winless in three tournaments, a cup quarter-final exit in Perth was one of their worst results. To add insult to injury, talismanic skipper Sarah Hirini had been ruled out ...
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With a National government now somewhat more likely, it's worth taking in National's transport policy in some detail.
Matt the good unit at GreaterAuckland has analysed the proposal for us in a reasonable amount of detail. Check out what project may be coming near you:
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2023/08/03/nationals-2023-transport-policy/
You've waved the white flag early.
Unless there is a 2017 type event between now and election day, like when Jacinda took over and there was a massive jump for Labour, it is very unlikely that the polls will move much, in my humble opinion.
There are no good news stories on the horizon for the government. The PREFU is likely to show the books are not in great shape interest rates will stay high, inflation will stay high, and possibly increase with the recent fuel price rise, crime stats won't change in the next 2 months.
In short I can't see anything happening that will reverse the current trends.
The big deal is the undecideds. I have seen polls take big swings when the undecided firm up their choices.
There is nothing Labour can do about the economic position as we are screwed by global trends with the added bonus of unfortunate weather events. The Right will play that up as if it is Labour's fault but you can bet the things that National and Act will want to do won't make ordinary people's life any easier. Seymour was pretty clear on Nat Rad yesterday that all he cares about is wealth i.e. making things better for the people who already have it.
A week is a long time in politics, let alone 12.
It is a long time, but other than 2017, can you name an election where the poll trends have changed substantially during the campaign?
I'm hoping something reverses the current polls but its hard to see what will as there won't be a leadership change now.
No surprise.
There was a 3-all draw in a parliament select committee, then controversy:
So Labour conspired with departmental officials to do an end-run around conventional democratic process?
Brownlee deemed this behaviour devious. Little deemed the select committee unbelievable.
Little "accused National of being “opportunistic” and the Green Party of “being their usual selves”. Looks like he got that right. "She said the committee not agreeing was “how democracy should work”. An Iranian view – understandable due to their inability to do democracy. Folk in western countries believe democracy should work by agreeing to decide something collectively.
That's MBIE reminding the Select Committe that while they can't handle the truth, MBIE can. Brownlee's staff will remind him that MBIE is the kind of Ministry they will need next term – especially for the luckless fool who gets assigned Immigration.
What a petty point of view Greens/Nats.
Labour is not beholden to the Select Ctttee and can press on with the bill if it wants and this does not mean the end of democracy as we know it.
Good though that the report will be useful as Little uses it in progressing the Bill.
Reports are written all the time, depts have a usual timeline at which usually reports will be required, and it seems the mistake was in sending it to the SC. Should have kept it in house for advice to the Minister.
Usually though thinking MPs keep their concerns to themselves and work through the Cttee chair if they felt something needed to be done.
But good grief……
One hand you are right on the other we cant have unelected departmental staff circumventing or overuling parliment and its rules. It turns into a very slippery slope that undermines our democratic institutions. The dept head needs to fall on his sword imo.
"Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has revealed his vision to transform the city's port, with plans for a seaside amphitheatre, exhibition centre, and a saltwater pool. The new plan covers a 2km stretch of land, most of which is currently owned by the Ports of Auckland, and could begin in as little as two years, according to the mayor." https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/08/03/auckland-mayor-explains-vision-to-transform-ports-waste-land/
Suddenly Auckland Council has money. Or, maybe the idea is to excite people about the plan, then tell them the only sources of funds are from the sale of airport or port shares, but I think Aucklanders will see through that by now (fingers crossed).
Maybe a journalist could craft an article about where the Mayor anticipates the city will source the funds to pay for this from. It would make popular reading, I imagine.
Golf course land, some reduced to only 9 holes and half for a park or housing, others half for a local park and half for housing.
The CIIB, NAB, CommonwealthBank, Westpac and the big developers like LendLease, Meriton, Packer, Lang Walker and the rest will be lining up around the block for this one. Just cut Ngati Whatua a slice and Bob's your uncle. Auckland Council could also consider vending in their own port share as a % holding into the development entity.
This has been pretty well rehearsed during America's Cup when the Wynyard Point was cleaned up ready for redevelopment and Wynyard Quarter was completed.
A deal custom-built for National government and National-aligned mayor and Council.
And TBH it will be very popular (unless there is major foreshore encroachment). Auckland has been begging to constrain the port or just eradicate them. So selling is intuitive.
The Civilian by the Babylon Beehive can reveal (our spy Onion in JEHB) that local police plan to keep groups from two religious sects apart, to prevent any kettling.
One group believe their party leader is the second coming and want him declared king without any validating election, and the other say prove it, win a second election – if he can.
It has been compared to the time a self declared prophet who (claimed to have) met God and his son who came to earth to
adoreanoint him, ran for POTUS to fulfill the prophecy of William Miller that the 1843-44 election campaign would result in an advent of a man on earth to rule for 1000 years. He was of course shot dead and James Polk was elected to steal land off Mexicans (the thou shalt not steal commandment proves this was not a son of God).Live coverage of the Babylon exilarch returning to claim his inheritance.
Live
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-66390992
Hi, good morning
Ukraine 400,000 KILLED 2 MILLION WOUNDED DISABLED –
As NZ supports the US Dem’s NEOCONs war, rather than pushing a diplomatic peaceful solution I wonder how Chippy, Jacinda and Luxton et al consciences are feeling? Is this “who we are”? No doubt your cost benefit analysis to suck up to NEOCONs sealed the deal.
MFAT: $10.59 million to the NATO Trust Fund for Ukraine
$7.5 million to contribute to weapons and ammunition
$4.1 million to support commercial satellite imagery
Odd… Trump being the man who was going to end civilisation yet it seems Biden was the chosen one👹
Have a great day NZ Inc
“400,000 KILLED 2 MILLION WOUNDED DISABLED – EXCLUSIVE: Ukraine’s suffering utterly unsustainable massive war losses, Intel Republic can reveal.
New satellite images show at 1 cemetery alone, pictured above – Matveevskoye in Zaporozhye, Kiev-held East Ukraine – 104 THOUSAND square meters more grave space has been dug. In just 7 of the cemeteries, there are 123,000 fresh graves.
Cuckoo Kiev/media admit barely 2% of that toll. To see the math go to telegra.ph @IntelRepublic”
https://t.me/IntelRepublic/25183
Ah yes, Telegram – that upright paragon of news lol
Ah yes, RNZ, TVNZ, CNN, MSMNBC, BBC, FOX those upright paragon of news lol
You won't find this on Telegram channels so …
It was Trump's determination to withdraw from Afghanistan that made the US look weak. Biden could have determined otherwise, but did not. The USA only starts or continues foreign engagement when both parties agree.
The GOP leadership in Congress have supported US aid to Ukraine. Continuing to look weak (failed policy in the ME leading to Islamic State) has consequences.
It all began with
1. not heeding George Keenan's advice (1990's)
2. the influence of the PNAC on GWB after Gore did not demand a full recount in Florida.
They want to make a stand because they do not know how to build relationships (see 1) and have yet to resolve an impasses with China over Taiwan, Korea and the South China Sea atolls/fake island military bases.
Actually, the OP is a completely junk cooker post. Should be deleted IMHO.
Censorship in the face of death and misery of ordinary Ukraine citizens.
What next, the justification of war crimes?
Oh wait you already been there and done that.
How low will you go?
All Ukraine's state supporters should retreat immediately and let Russia do to Ukraine what it has stated in black and white it wishes to do.
Then you take the credit for what happens next.
Ukraine according to Fox News – Desi from The Today Show explains this and more.
My defence and national security strategy would be to ask MFAT to develop a strategy to find a partner to work with to mediate the Taiwan, Korea and South China Sea atolls into islands issues.
The obvious savings in our own defence and security costs make the effort worthwhile and success would allow a transfer of global resources from military spending to global co-operation goals – such as climate change action.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/threat-of-chinas-pacific-presence-driving-new-zealands-new-defence-and-national-security-strategy/XJC4Z4TJXJAY3I4BOUSHUSK7OE/
Bold of you to assume the status of Taiwan, the Korean peninsula, and China's position vis a vis the South China Sea are issues that can be resolved via mediation.
You can't negotiate in good faith when one side has no leverage, and the other has made its position the basis of its regime.
There is absolutely no way China will ever accept anything less than annexing Taiwan in full. None of this "one country two systems" shenanigans: which they only accepted half-heartedly to help speed the UK along out of Hong Kong. Bear in mind this was also before they had sufficient confidence in their military and technological capacity to start throwing their weight around.
Ditto with North Korea: One of the pillars of the regime is the idea of re-uniting (by force if need be) the entirety of Korea. If they gave up on it, the whole facade would collapse. Which would absolutely trigger Chinese intervention. Because as bad and embarrassing an ally Kim Jong-Un is, it's a lot better than having a democratic, and worse, US-aligned and unified Korea next door.
The only way of preserving the status quo in North Asia is to maintain a sufficient military force in situ to deter any overt Chinese/DPRK aggression while at the same time maintaining alliances with as many of the other countries in the region as you can.
This means being prepared to counter Chinese influence (read bribes) in the wider Pacific region, keeping India onside (despite its democratic backsliding), and backing Taiwan to the hilt. Oh, and hoping the US manages to keep its shit together well enough and long enough to act as a counterbalance.
Barring the death of Xi Jiping or some kind of internal coup, it's likely China will continue to pursue a muscular and irridentist (in their view) foreign policy backed up by naked force. And they will be prepared to exploit any "weaknesses" they see in the West.
Next you will be arguing climate change action is too hard.
And it will be more difficult still if global resources are transferred into an arms build-up.
Some people see the world the way it is and say why and some people see what could be and say why not.
A nuclear free South Pacific zone and all that before the withdrawal of missiles from western and eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War.
I think climate change and geopolitical tensions in Asia as being two separate problems with separate solutions.
It's in everyone's best interests to cooperate on climate change and do it right now as it's a global-scale, existential threat.
But it also doesn't necessitate China recognizing Taiwan or the Koreas giving up on their ongoing armed standoff. In their view, you can very much have one without the other.
And in fact, in an increasingly multipolar world, being a first mover on climate change gives China (and other less democratic) states an opportunity to seize the moral high ground and win some global legitimacy while the West continues to dither and fiddle while the planet burns.
The capability of nations to act on climate change is not enhanced by prioritising a military build without any serious effort at diplomacy (is anyone better off because there was diplomatic failure in eastern Europe – war is no a successful outcome).
As the IMF might say there needs to be investment in infrastructure resilience and zero carbon. And that is in western nations – then there is the cost of global assistance to other nations (food security and the like and renewable energy transfers – promises made in the past and most not kept because of GFC./pandemic and now military build up).
Totally agree SPC
Seems like we ought to factor this in too:
Our foreign minister ought to go to Japan to discuss their prospective role as a re-arming regional player, so that other regional nations see us as not putting all our eggs in the Aukus basket. Both inside & outside any tent simultaneously is cool…
Japan is already part of the QUAD-bike with India, Oz and the USA.
It is not part of AUKUS because that is about Oz being brought into the nuclear sub capability with the help of UK and USA. They will likely be part of AUKUS 2 (as we might be in the next term) which is about more general co-operation in tech development.
Well, we're going to have to pick a side at some point. And if we are, we might as well pick the one that broadly aligns with our values and ideals.
Our values – multi-lateralism, working with the international community. This includes collective security.
Ukraine is a recognised member nation state of the UN, Taiwan is not. It is part of China.
That the forces of NATO and also QUAD are not prepared to fight to defend Ukraine, but some say they are prepared to fight to defend Taiwan from China is inexplicable in international law.
That's an interesting proposition: but also one that comes with its own risks. For one it drastically increases the chances of some kind of conflict brewing up (i.e. a Thucydides Trap) given China's longstanding beef with Japan. And we also have to bear in mind that even though they are a democracy (if you ignore the LDP's virtual monopoly on power and history of corruption and pork barrel politics) the Japanese don't necessarily share our values.
That said, better to have more allies than fewer. And as a small country, we can't really afford to be all that choosy about who they are.
As geopolitical strategy, my suggestion uses optionality. The basic idea is you maximise your survival prospects by retaining more options on a sound basis – works as well for human groups as it does for persons.
Foreign policy thrives on nuance. The entirety of non-alignment does to some degree – forceful moves to align other players tend to be counter-productive.
Having been reclusive so long, Japan's fresh stance deserves some reciprocity. Our govt, no matter who wins the election, ought to enhance diplomacy by being proactive in engaging to explore mutual interests…
The new defense review represents a pivot away from the post cold-war "peace dividend" and towards the need to prepare our military for potential high intensity combat. It is undoubtably influenced by Russia's brutal and illegal imperialist aggression in the Ukraine and the growing confrontation in the Pacific between the Anglophone nations (and allies) and an increasingly xenophobic China. I haven't read it but it would be impossible for its authors not to have been influenced by the lessons from the war in the Ukraine.
The war in the Ukraine has brought home some brutal realities about the human and material cost of full scale peer conflicts. Just having a really good SAS won’t cut it anymore. The lessons we in particular need to grasp are:
1/ Any future conflict may involve theatre ranged weapons (ballistic missiles, cruise missiles) that can hit our homeland. We will need the ability to shoot down these weapons.
2/ It isn't enough to be able to defend against cruise and ballistic missiles – you need to be able to hit back in even limited kind, to give your opponents pause for second thoughts.
These first two point require a platform for launching long-range cruise missiles and anti-ballistic missiles. The most likely candidate for this capability will be new warships & the P-8s.
3/ Numbers are important in protracted conflicts with high combat losses. The Ukraine was able to call upon a huge number of partially trained manpower at short notice to create hastily formed militias to resist the Russians. For example, anyone who has watched videos of Ukrainian tank crews is struck by how many of them are men in their fifties and sixties who operated these vehicles as Soviet conscripts in the 1980s and were quickly able to take up the cudgels again. For NZ, that means reviving and expanding the territorial force.
4/ The need to modernise and expand our artillery.
5/ The need to increase the number of P-8 MRPAs and integrate them with some kind of Class III HALE drone.
6/ Modernising our drone warfare and combat engineer capabilities.
That will all add up to a pretty penny.
Agreed. We're better of investing in drones + new frigates + long-range surveillance and strike capability and reconfiguring the army around fighting a high-intensity, amphibious war in the Pacific with at least some organic AT and ABM capability.
More jingoistic shitfuckery.
Proving once again, that the authoritarian left are just as shit and scummy as the authoritarian right.
The government of the Republic of China, and about 24 million Taiwanese might beg to differ.
Or is international recognition and UN membership the sole determination of whether a country and people are worth defending or not?
Because if that's the case then we can safely let Serbia have Kosovo back as its independence isn't recognized by 13 UN states (including I believe Russia and China). Ignore the war crimes that would no doubt ensue.
There's a bunch of people who have argued that we shouldn't even be defending Ukraine. Because reasons.
The only reason that Taiwan isn't recognized as an independent state is that China won't allow it, or deal with anyone that does. So we try to work around it by pretending the PRC is the sole legitimate Chinese government but by treating Taiwan as de facto independent irrespective of it's de jure status.
As long as we don't appear to recognise Taiwan officially, everyone is (reasonably) happy.
There's a balance between principle & pragmatism in geopolitics, in which state autonomy is a principle used by the UN, only to have pragmatism prevail in special cases. As the old saying goes, the exception proves the rule. Bit like quantum tunnelling eh? In Green thought minority rights are fundamental, so Taiwan must have a collective right of self-determination. Call it natural law.
Apologists for tradition hate autonomy – they prefer control systems & enforcement. So you get animal spirits driven by biodiversity vs whatever shit history produced.
It's one of those fun little quirks that help grease the wheels of international diplomacy.
It's like the status of Israel's nuclear program. They have nukes. We know they have nukes. They know we know they have nukes. But we all pretend they don't because acknowledging that fact would be dreadfully inconvenient for everyone.
Really, those there know Taiwan is not a member state of the UN and never has been. They also know there is no recognition (and never has been) of there being more than one China.
There is a nebulous concept of the ROC surviving on Taiwan, but then bowing to reality and making way for a democratic civil society on the island. It continues with the idea of the ROC being reborn in this way and thus one China in two areas, which might, or might not, one day unite. Others on the island just want independence from China.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/thoughts-on-the-republic-of-china-and-its-significance/
The we, is a bit we decide the rules for mine. China is not happy. If Ukraine can take back Crimea and the Donbass by force (without plebescite to determine what the locals want, because these were/are part of Ukraine), why not China with that island to the east?
There is an expectation of collective security of member nation states. Kosovo was a region of Serbia within Yugoslavia but is now self-governing – recognised by many, but not a member of the UN.
A number of states, Serbia and Russia have warned the West about the Kosovo precedent – Abkhazia and South Ossetia the Donbass and Crimea.
Good interview about the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooter and the death penalty handed down.