Really not looking forward to the media frenzy of sanctimonious lecturing and 20/20 hindsight that will now ensue after yesterdays events in New Lynn. Probably just won't read any of it until about next Wednesday, like a lot of people I suspect I get my COVID news from watching the 1pm briefing and my other news from publications (LRB, TLS, The Atlantic, several reputable Youtube channels) other than most of the NZ MSM.
Kim Hill dealt with the central scandal in the first ten minutes of her show this morning – the glacial pace of progress of anti-terror law changes under successive governments. That is a failure that must now be immediately rectified. The rest of the coverage will be either right wing partisan flacks frantically trying to pin it on the government or "how do you feel" ghouls.
His point about the law change not necessarily preventing what happened yesterday was well made. For the earlier offending he may not have received any extra time. Yesterday appears to have been a completely opportunistic act.
Yesterday appears to have been a completely opportunistic act.
My sentiments too. The fact he presumably didn't come with a knife on him and grabbed one off a supermarket shelf suggests it was a spur of the moment act.
He may well have been incentifised to take some form of action by the ISIS terrorist attack on Kabul Airport a few days ago.
Nothing spur of the moment about it. He needed to be carrying a cutting tool like scissors to help remove the knife from its packaging. Had also been charged with planning exactly that sort of attack in exactly that sort of place.
Let's focus our kindness on the people affected by his actions.
He took advantage of a situation. That, in my book, constitutes a spur of the moment act. It doesn't mean he didn't intend to commit such an act, but rather took the opportunity when it presented itself.
Let's focus our kindness on the people affected by his actions.
If you are inferring… by my response to part of mickysavage's comment @ 2.2.1, that I am somehow not "focusing our kindness on the people affected by his actions" then I take that as a personal insult.
Who said mickey's comment or mine were in any way "finding reasons to excuse this guy."
Its a sad world if one cannot contemplate what may have (note: mayhave) gone through the perpetrator's mind at the precise moment he began to attack without it being interpreted as "making excuses".
Understanding how the minds of these types of people work is part of the prevention process the appropriate authorities have to take into account.
I tend to think of oppertunist crime being more like, I was driving home and I saw someone was moving house and had left their property unattended, so I nicked their coffee table (please excuse the trite example under these sad circumstances0.
I haven't read a lot of the details, but it seems the guy had been planning a terrorist attack and had homicial ideation over many years. He may have decided yesterday was the day, or he may have just reached a point where he acted on his thoughts.
I know very little about the legislation but surely planning a terrorist attact or planning to kill someone should land you in jail????
My sympathies to the victims and their families.
My thanks to the police, who would have had a very tedious job of tailing this guy over a long period of time and then acted promptlywhen they needed. to
What bad luck that he carried out his mad action yesterday. In a couple of weeks the new law would have been in place. How sad that the urgency was just a bit late.
The complete let down here is that he was never assessed on his mental health status. If he would have, he might never have been in the supermarket in the first place but behind closed doors. This was a neglect of protocol and no amount of deflection will steer away from that. This does not excuse what he did but it would explain that he had the opportunity and it might well have been preventable. No fault to anybody but perhaps follow protocol if known on the outset that a fanatic is being held. I hope there is something to be learned here.
Nothing can be changed now but the families affected and the people who were traumatized by it all need our support and help.
if you edit your comment and add width="100%" to inside the end of the tag, the image will fit the screen instead of being oversized. I've edited it now.
Critics of Texas’s new law have been filing hundreds of fake reports to the whistleblowing website in hopes of crashing it
The law makes it illegal to help women in Texas access abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy. To help enforce it, anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life established the digital tipline where people can send anonymous information about potential violations.
“Any Texan can bring a lawsuit against an abortionist or someone aiding and abetting an abortion after six weeks,” the website reads, and those proved to be violating the law can be fined a minimum of $10,000. An online form allows anyone to submit an anonymous “report” of someone illegally obtaining an abortion, including a section where images can be uploaded for proof.
But pro-choice users had other ideas, bombarding the site with false reports and fabricated data through a campaign primarily organized on Reddit and TikTok.
Though the site was launched a month ago, the fake reports came flooding in on the eve of the bill’s enactment. One TikTok user said they had submitted 742 fake reports of the governor, Greg Abbott, getting illegal abortions.
Many if not all organisations in NZ are starting to confront the issue of vaccination requirements for their staff and customers.
Lawyerly consensus seems to be that requiring vaccination for new hires is fairly straightforward. But imposing it as a new condition on existing employees is somewhat problematic.
Seems to me that here is where the government could help out by passing legislation specifically enabling the addition of a vaccination clause to existing employment contracts, as a health and safety measure for the workplace.
I find it interesting that in 'murica, land of freedumb and lawsuits, employers aren't the slightest bit shy about imposing vaccine mandates.
I'm just grateful that everyone I work with on even a semi-regular basis is already vaccinated. Mostly they're young immigrants that grew up seeing the devastation widespread disease causes and how vaccinations really do prevent that devastation.
Can we presume now that some of the most malicious propagandists in the world will now be shunned, instead of given a free platform, by Kim Hill?
RNZ National, Saturday 4 September 2021, 10:10 a.m.
In the course of an interesting discussion about the evolution of ethics, Kim Hill mentioned to her guest, the moral philosopher Tim Dean, that a certain "shock jock" in New Zealand regularly provokes outrage, and upsets people. Dr Dean counselled against wasting our time getting outraged about such provocateurs. It was better, he said, to not amplify them by retweeting their nonsense.
I hope Kim Hill took that advice to heart. I sent her the following email to encourage her in her resolve….
So no more free platforms for guests who use the media to destroy people?
Dear Kim,
Your guest Tim Dean this morning advised us to avoid giving publicity to people who seek to destroy others via Twitter and other media platforms. You seemed to agree with that. I take it that we can therefore presume that you will no longer give a free platform to the likes of Jonathan Freedland and Simon Schama, both of whom used your show in 2019 to spray evidence-free accusations against Jeremy Corbyn, and Alex Gibney, who in 2013 used your show to pour ridicule on the political dissident Julian Assange.
The epidemiologist guy on Kim Hill, RNZ at 9am this morning, was clearly in favour of saliva testing, saying it is accurate. He is sitting on the panel advising the government and was (while being diplomatic) clearly surprised these tests were not yet in use in NZ.
It occurs to me that this might work well as a border control mechanism. Negative Covid test 72 hours before flying and an instant saliva test on arrival.
I thought the saliva tests were really fast…I may be wrong on this. Having said that I head a doctor say on RNZ a couple of weeks ago that they can turn round a nasal test in 90 minutes in a hospital.
90 minutes will be because they have labs onsite and probably push the covid test to top of the work queue. And maybe the hardware they're working with in that particular lab.
If you're doing, say, 200 people off a plane and need to courier the samples across town, then process those samples and use limited lab resources while prioritising other contracted tests, the time per test might be the same or less but the time between swab and notification could be considerably longer.
Because Jetstar would still manage to offload the passengers and tests at different airports? lol
There'd still be the courier and bulk processing problems, and we'd also be ceding control of test administration to someone else.
Frankly, airport testing isn't even something I'd support with 30sec turnaround. It's a level up from preflight tests, but still insufficient in time-sensitivity to do away with MIQ (i.e. Jimjane might be exposed in a transit lounge and still have a low enough load that they don't ping a test when they get off the plane). And we already do 2 tests in MIQ, so extra testing isn't really needed.
I meant, why not process the samples on board? A PCR instrument is just a small benchtop instrument and could easily fit in a plane. Airlines handle a lot of official paperwork already.
Sure, why not? Many testing kits contain positive, negative, and other quality controls. Refrigeration is available, if necessary. Anything could be tested in theory: air (filters), saliva samples, and wastewater. Methodology and protocols will have to be developed, optimised, and validated, of course. Plenty of time too during intercontinental flights.
“Frequent testing using COVID-19 rapid tests could have curbed the pandemic and spared us multiple lockdowns, saved thousands of lives, and billions of dollars by keeping the economy running. Rapid self-tests are now available in many European countries in pharmacies and supermarkets, while in Canada, we are still debating their use. Even as we are vaccinated, rapid testing will still be needed because of people refusing or not eligible for vaccination, waning immunity for the ones vaccinated, the emergence of new COVID-19 variants, and seasonality aligned with the one of influenza.”
– David Juncker, Full Professor and Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, McGill University https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/experts-covid-19-309919
Eliminate the wasted time and risks associated with securing pre-arrival COVID tests on international missions. Maximize your operational flexibility by self-administering your tests – safely and discretely – onboard your own aircraft.
You and Your Passengers Will Love It
Useful addition, but obviously no substitute for pre-flight testing.
Mustn't jeopardize the 'mission'
More tools, diverse tools, complementary tools, smarter use of existing tools (e.g., two shots of different vaccines instead of the same), innovative thinking, so-called ‘out of the box’ thinking, for example, don’t need to deter from ‘the mission’, but they could help it. IMHO.
Please don’t get sidetracked by the market segment to which they are pitching. It is about the principle and technical feasibility of in-flight PCR testing. It can be done, apparently 🙂
Anything can be done for enough money – that's where the segment comes in.
But clinical managers are not likely to rely on self-analysed tests unless solid pre-launch validation tells them otherwise. I would say even self-administration variability is one reason they require a handful of saliva tests to equate to one nasal swab test using the same PCR process, let alone if untrained airline staff are running the analysis process.
How much money is NZ already spending on testing? The enormous queues at the beginning of the outbreak were unnecessary and avoidable, IMO. Testing willy-nilly just as jabbing willy-nilly is not smart use of precious resources and money.
Clinical managers should have no or very little say in this!
Keeping abreast of new approaches/tools – all good. NZ's lucky – for any relatively resource-hungry implementation phase, we can select from a (diverse) range of tools already tested by others.
Time will tell if the (technically feasible) in-flight PCR testing of passengers for COVID is implemented on bog-standard international flights. I'm guessing not, but have been well wrong before.
Routine pre/post-flight COVID testing of passengers and crew will continue for a while in our South Pacific bubble.
In other regions some countries have already relaxed pre-flight COVID test requirements, particularly for the fully-vaccinated.
Personally, I don’t think we can afford the ‘luxury’ of being picky & choosy, but many good and not so good ideas end up in the bin without any due consideration because they are deemed: too hard, too costly, too threatening to fragile egos of control freaks running their little fiefdoms.
Relaxing pre-flight Covid testing is not a smart thing to do, IMO, and it will send a wrong message of false security from vaccination. What numpties!
The intricacies of it aren't my field. But it's a lot to put into a transtasman run between swabbing and testing the swabs, we'd need lab techs on the planes, and the obvious questions are around how the process and the machine itself will deal with turbulence.
But even then, we'd still have the "infected, but too early to detect" problem. So if we ramp up to even just 10k arrivals a week, how long before a positive [insert here the next variant that will make the sky fall if these trends continue] passenger starts wandering around the community? At 95% sensitivity and even 0.1% of passengers with an infection (lowballing the MIQ proportion of +tests to people going through), that's a hundred a week and 5 false negatives resulting in community exposure.
People taking their masks off to spit into a spoon to transfer to a vial or just spitting into a vial with dribble going every where. Not as good as a nasal swab going straight into a vial.
Saliva tests have many advantages over nasal swabs. For example, you can do it yourself without having to travel to a testing station where you might come into closer contact with many others.
You don’t actually “spit” into a spoon, you drool.
Great factsheet, thank you. Also confirms the current saliva test is not fast:
The processing of a saliva sample at the lab is very similar to the processing conducted for swab testing – the
analysis takes the same length of time.
Yes, the PCR assay is the same, once the sample has been pre-processed. Logistics & admin always add more time too. Downside of current saliva tests is that genomic testing is not possible, as mentioned in the fact sheet.
Which saliva test the quick test has a 60% efficay rate and to be accurate needs several tests to bring up its efficacy to the PCR nasal or saliva test .saliva being spat into spoons or vials is far more messy and risks the testers health.
Does anyone else think about this issue (and/or want to read about it)?
"The colonial project is the ongoing strategic occupation and exploitation of Indigenous lands for the purposes of the colonizers. 2 Africa, Australia, the Americas, Southeast Asia, and New Zealand are the Indigenous lands to which I refer. As part of the imperial project, these continents and countries were respatialized. 3 Entire landscapes were re-ordered to fragment, disorient, and ultimately destroy the social ecologies of the peoples who inhabited them. Now the question is unignorable: How, in the umbra of decolonization, should these landscapes be redesigned? How can environmental designers participate in the struggle of peoples who have lived through a brazen confiscation of their precolonial spatialities in order to reimagine the way they live together, within the vast re-ordering of planet earth that is the Anthropocene? And is this not itself, after all, the hugest of all hyperobjects? The most ambitious and most thorough colonization of the globe by a hegemonic mentalité to date? Demanding nothing less than the co-option of all peoples to a planetary master narrative that is by its very nature out of control?
I’m hardly the only landscape architect currently mobilizing concepts from theories and practices of decolonization (or decol). 4 But since I’ve recently relocated to my homeland Aotearoa New Zealand, in this essay I’m using Aotearoa as my example. Therefore Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa, are central to my inquiry."
I have often thought our fisheries needed decolonizing – locals scarcely see any seafood these days unless they catch it themselves. The artisanal fishers that supported and enriched local families and communities have largely faded away like the eels above the elver-proof Waitaki dams.
Yep – and the ability to catch it yourself doesn't come cheap. With the denuding of inshore stocks you need a boat (or a decent kayak at a minimum) to catch fish reliably. This further limits its availability.
Colonisers had a system to disenfranchise indigenous people .De humanize dislocate etc.Keep indigenous people on the bottom of the heap impoverished and powerless.
The British Empire used Ireland as a template for its world wide imperial conquests.
Buying off leaders,making the indigenous language illegal ,starving the population,stealing their land.
And even after Ireland gained independence tariff's were imposed from 1922 till 1972 when Ireland became a member of the EU.Britain sided with the free market side in the civil war in Ireland .
Similar tactics to breakdown Maori by portraying them as inferior keeping Maori poor systematically imprisoning Maori continually making Maori look bad.All the while profiteering out stolen land and land they were conned and bullied off,insider trading and fraud it's called today .Then only compensating Maori 1%to3% not including the loss of income and economic status caused by the illegal dispossesion.
While others had 100% legal rights to illegal land transactions Maori were denied.
The latest issue contains pieces by two of their most experienced journalists – and both Clare Trevett and Fran O’Sullivan make no bones about their conviction that Judith Collins’ recent mistakes and false steps mean that her fate is sealed.
…
The scenario they apparently see unrolling is that Bridges will replace Collins and lead National to yet another election defeat, whereupon there will be yet another leadership coup, which will bring forward the untested Christopher Luxon, supported by one of the “young Turks” as his deputy.
Indeed wonderful & encouraging news. I'm sitting at the jab drive thru at the Edgar Centre & I'm so impressed with the people running this! Music, sun, professional. Very happy to be living in NZ right now.
It would be like NSW and all the numbskulls out there (and there's plenty of them) would be expressing their sympathy for the Nat. government…convinced it was not their fault.
Given just about all conservative constituencies have uncontrollable outbreaks ,no mask wearing,slow or no lockdown ,much lower comparative vaccination rates,low tax poor public health funding.
With National in charge we would have hospitals over run a complete melt down especially given they can't even organize their own caucus.
Then look at the number of Cock ups in the Canterbury earthquake rebuild the South Canterbury Finance debacle National is a hands off govt.
Private contractors like in Australia's response to border control is the reason why they are in such a mess.
Family in NSW are really worried. They already have two 18 year olds sick with Delta.
Their whole family is fully vaccinated, and the girls are through the worst, but were really sick.
The failure to contain Delta in NSW and the attitude of the leadership is really upsetting, with casual throw away lines of "living with the virus", 8 million having freedom to decide!!
My brother's family consisting of 17 people, are really at risk. They say the lock downs were late and light, and really useless.
Patricia part of the Problem is that no one wanted to follow Gladys's orders because of her Morality she had been outed cheating on her husband for up to 10 yrs and implicated in corruption.
If you want people to follow you have to set an example.
Hi,A few days ago I screwed up my back. Rather, I inflamed an old injury — agitating a naughty protruding disc on my spine so it pinched a nerve, turning my lower back into a swarm of confused electrical signals. As a bonus feature, my entire right leg felt like ...
Seymour smirked at his reflection.Hi he said.Hi Hi Hi Hi the different reflections from the mirrored surfaces around the bathroom responded. Those days are over he thought, no more having to knock on every bloody door in Epsom - everybody knows my name now.The theme tune to Cheers ran through ...
Last Sunday, we looked out across the seas to, of all places, the USA for inspiration and hope. We're going back again today to visit Joe Biden.But first, an octopus. Arguably this creature with more neurons in its arms than head qualifies as this planet’s first intelligent being.Arguably it also qualifies ...
When I left academia in 2011 I was forced to stop two book projects that were in the works. Without institutional support and resourcing it is impossible to conduct in-depth academic research that requires field research in foreign countries and … Continue reading → ...
Buzz from the Beehive Defence Minister Andrew Little, addressing big-wigs from around the world in Singapore, was oh-so-diplomatically disinclined to identify some countries as goodies or baddies in his government’s defence thinking. In his Speech To The IISS Shangri-La Dialogue 2023, he did say New Zealand’s most recent defence assessment ...
This week’s hoon included Wellington City Councillor Tamatha Paulon the politics ofLets Get Wellington Movingand the great battle for the Thorndon Quay cycle way. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: The week’s news in Aotearoa’s political economy I covered via The Kākā for subscribers included:The Labour Government’s ...
Morning all,I’ve been taking a look at some of the new features Substack have released and I’m keen to find out how you access newsletters. Some of the features are only available on certain platforms.Whether you use a mobile device like a phone or tablet, or a PC or laptop. ...
Hello! This is the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the week.Here’s what you may have missed.Last Sunday’s column had a genuinely inspiring story about political leaders getting huge things done in the face of culture wars and conservative resistance. Readers told me this should ...
Steven Levitt, famous for his Freakanomics, shows that being an economist is not just mouthing supply and demand.Anyone can call themselves an ‘economist’. Many do, despite having no qualifications in economics and hardly any formal training; they often make elementary errors. That is the result of a conscious decision of ...
Over the years, we've published several calls for help with translations but most of them were rather generalized in nature like last year's blog post published in February 2022. This time around, we are asking for help with a quite specific task, namely to update existing translations for the rebuttals included ...
1. By what name is this work of art known?a. The Drowning Dog, Francisco Goyab.The Temptation of St Anthony, Hieronymus Boschc.Saturn Devouring His Son Peter, Paul Rubensd.Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown Waves To A Stuff Journalist Through A Window, Stuff Photographer Ricky Wilson2. Who was in the news ...
An effective campaign against the RMA reforms will be a nightmare for Hipkins.Graham Adams writes – After a Budget that failed to excite voters and a lacklustre party conference where his senior colleagues faintly praised him for his proletarian taste in food, the very last thing Chris Hipkins ...
Buzz from the BeehiveEducation Minister Jan Tinetti brings news of a book of rules for school board members at the same time as her own grasp of Parliament’s rule book has been brought into question. Tinetti has announced a compulsory code of conduct to “ensure school board members are ...
Photo by Branden Tate on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for an hour from midday (my apologies for the late start today), including:the Government’s vague promise of sharing the costs of cyclone rebuilding and buy-backs ...
Last night was a big night for our most celebrated radio presenter.Mike Hosking was named the Sir Paul Holmes Broadcaster of the Year - for the third straight year - as well as Best Talk Presenter (breakfast/drive) at the New Zealand Radio awards. Do you feel proud Aotearoa?In the presenter category ...
Speak of the devil. The Australian website Crikey has just launched an investigative series about the notorious lobbying firm Crosby Textor, or C/T as it now prefers to be called. It transpires that two clients of C/T’s American subsidiary will benefit greatly from the AUKUS defence pact between the US, ...
Aotearoa’s failure to deal with the escalating pace of human-induced climate change was starkly on display yesterday. Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: Our planet is now warming and generating extreme climate events faster than our politicians, voters and institutions can agree to reduce the costs and share the burden of those events ...
It’s Friday and we’ve got a long weekend ahead of us. Here’s our latest roundup of stories that caught our eye this week. The Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt reviewed National’s new housing policy. On Tuesday Matt looked at some of the highlights from Auckland Transport’s ...
The facts are bald and simple; India is now the most populous country in the world and the fifth largest economy and is on track to becoming the fourth. Despite that, New Zealand’s relationship with India could best be described as in its infancy, even though New Zealand has ...
Open access notables Multiple studies indicate changes in the properties of Antarctic bottom water (AABW) over the past half century. These changes involve density and hence will affect both local and distant circulation of the oceans, not least overturning effects that are vital for marine biology but also climate and ...
Completed reads for May: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne Round the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne The Secret of the Island, by Jules Verne From the Earth ...
Ben Roberts-Smith is apparently "Australia’s most decorated living soldier", having won a Victoria Cross for killing people in Afghanistan. But today, after a stupendous self-own defamation case, he's also been proven to be a war criminal who committed multiple murders: Ben Roberts-Smith VC, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, has ...
Hey Uncle Dave, My house got wrecked in the summer floods. Do you know if the government’s got any plans to help me, or are they too busy making bilingual road signs?Noah InsuranceYou picked a good day to ask, Noah, the Govt has just announced there’ll be an offer of ...
The government has looked at imposing a tax on nitrogen fertiliser, used heavily in NZ agriculture, but yesterday Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor conceded he had not convinced farming leaders to go ahead with it. ACT”s Mark Cameron claimed credit in Parliament for “killing” the plan. Both Federated ...
Are women the new Māori?Since Christopher Luxon has been leader National have shown they’re prepared to throw Māori under a bus. Be it not wanting them to have a seat at the table on water management, referring to the Treaty as a “little experiment”, or the monocultural candidate selection polices ...
Are women the new Māori?Since Christopher Luxon has been leader National have shown they’re prepared to throw Māori under a bus. Be it not wanting them to have a seat at the table on water management, referring to the Treaty as a “little experiment”, or the monocultural candidate selection polices ...
Buzz from the Beehive An email from Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta had yet to be posted on the government’s official website, when Point of Order made its morning check on our ministers and what they are (officially) up to. She was providing us with an account – a ...
Multiple reviews are examining options to address a $25M to $40M funding hole in its operating budget and a reported $300M, 70,000 hour maintenance backlog for huts, tracks and visitor assets.Thomas Cranmer writes – Following Friday’s revelation that Budget 2023has left the Department of Conservation ...
Property values fell a further 0.7% in May from April across Aotearoa, but Core Logic sees evidence in the data “the current downturn is winding up.” Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: There are fresh signs this morning the housing market-with-bits-tacked-on economy is brightening up going into winter, and just ...
This is a cross post by Malcom McCracken at Better things are possible. It was from between when National signalled their change in housing policy but before they announced it but highlights why the Medium Density Residential Standards are important. Yesterday, the leader of the National Party, Christopher Luxon, ...
Do the global climate models (GCMs) we use for describing future climate change really capture the change and variations in the region that we want to study? There are widely used tools for evaluating global climate models, such as the ESMValTool, but they don’t provide the answers that I ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). The world is getting hotter and the headlines are scary. So does climate change mean the world is about to pass ...
Politik (paywalled) reports that He waka eke noa, the farmers' scam to have the rest of us subsidise their emissions forever, so they can keep on destroying the planet, is dead: Reality appears to be about to shatter Jacinda Ardern's dream that New Zealand could lead the world in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two ministerial press statements today draw attention to the Government’s incorporation of mātauranga Māori in its science policies and programmes. One of these announced the launch of the national space policy, which will oblige our space boffins to bring indigenous knowledge into their considerations. The ...
The Stations of the Cross, as all of us know from our devout and Godly ways, is a series of fourteen stations that depict the final hours in the story of Christ our Lord - appearing before Pilate, shouldering the wooden cross, whistling the Monty Python tune, so on and ...
The Stations of the Cross, as all of us know from our devout and Godly ways, is a series of fourteen stations that depict the final hours in the story of Christ our Lord - appearing before Pilate, shouldering the wooden cross, whistling the Monty Python tune, so on and ...
The Herald reports on a trivial but telling incident from Parliament: Labour Cabinet Minister Kiri Allan read the wrong speech at the third reading of a freedom camping bill in Parliament last night. She re-read almost word for word a speech given at the Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation bill’s ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Very well-intentioned politicians, judges and others have taken New Zealand down into a Treaty rabbit hole, from which few know how to exit without creating more social divisions. The modern interpretations of the Maori version of Treaty have set aside a common understanding of ...
It’s like deja-vu all over again. House prices are primed to surge 10-20% soon after any clear National-ACT win on October 14. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: There are increasing signs in economists’ forecasts, auction clearance rates, migration rates, divergent tax policies and house building rates that a clear ...
I did something yesterday that I hadn’t done in ages. Watch Oral Questions in parliament. I’m not sure what happened in all the episodes I missed, but nothing much seemed to have changed.For those unfamiliar, Question Time takes place in parliament at 2pm each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the ...
Slow Learner: Effective leaders develop a political “muscle memory” of their own. The National Party should get one.SPEAKING IN PUBLIC tops most people’s list of fearful situations. There are some careers, however, for which public fluency is a non-negotiable pre-requisite. There’s little point in pursuing an acting career, for example, ...
Reality appears to be about to shatter Jacinda Ardern’s dream that New Zealand could lead the world in showing how to deal with farm emissions. The Government is facing a breakdown in negotiations over its much-vaunted He Waka Eke Noa deal with farmers to price greenhouse gas emissions and ...
Hi,Webworm won a Voyager media award over the weekend for “Best Team Investigation”! This would not have been possible without readers. Without you. Thank you.Also, there’s a new Flightless Bird out today, where I look at drug rehab clinics in Florida. I talk to three former addicts, and their stories ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive The Government is coy about some aspects of its relationship with China – and with the United States. Earlier this month, the PM spent a hectic 23 hours in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, where he responded to the superpower security deal just ...
What do Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and your daily newspaper all have in common? They all tell tales of imaginary worlds.In Game of Thrones the honourable Stark family find themselves in deadly conflict with the ruthless House of Lannister.In the NZ Herald the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins finds himself ...
What do Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and your daily newspaper all have in common? They all tell tales of imaginary worlds.In Game of Thrones the honourable Stark family find themselves in deadly conflict with the ruthless House of Lannister.In the NZ Herald the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins finds himself ...
In 2022 the government announced a periodic review of the Intelligence and Security Act, the legislation governing New Zealand's spies. Yesterday the review presented its report, Taumaru: Protecting Aotearoa New Zealand as a Free, Open and Democratic Society. Its a chunky read, and I'm not finished yet, but from the ...
The Charities Services decision to require the Waipareira Trust to claw back $385,000 of interest-free loans from John Tamihere brings renewed attention to the links between Whānau Ora and the Trust.Thomas Cranmer writes – Revelations earlier this month in the Herald that the social services charity Waipareira ...
National has developed a novel election strategy. It involves being both for and against almost every issue that comes down the pike. The use of te reo on public signage? Recently National Party leader Christopher Luxon came out against the bi-lingual use of te reo in the naming of government ...
Anti-densification residents’ and ratepayers’ groups are cock-a-hoop over National’s partial backflip on MDRS over the weekend and have ramped up their campaigns to stop densification in their areas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: NIMBY groups are cock-a-hoop this morning, calling on councils and the Government to completely abandon the MDRS housing ...
It’s been two months but today the Auckland Transport board meet for again. There’s a lot on the agenda so I can’t cover it all in this post but here are some of the highlights from their regular board papers. The open session starts at 9am and can be watched on ...
This story by Aaron Cantú was originally published in Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Monic Uriarte was thrilled to get approved for an affordable apartment in Los Angeles’ University Park, close to USC. But soon after she and her ...
This incomplete picture speaks of everything we love most about a summer holiday in Aotearoa: The bach, the beach, the barbecue, the sand, the christmas ham sandwiches, the serenity.We love it, don’t we, Aotearoa? Getting away to somewhere warm and quiet with a high tide and a hammock. And if ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers who took time out from the Labour Party congress to attend to portfolio duties were focused largely on promoting the country’s interests overseas. The statements with the widest implications dealt with: Trade – Damien O’Connor joined ministerial representatives at a meeting in Detroit, USA, ...
In the last year of a second term in government. the election outcome shouldn’t even be close. All that’s required for a competent Opposition to be streets ahead in the polls, is an ability to look like a credible government-in-waiting. Instead, we’ve got a very tight contest. There’s a reason ...
The Herald reports that WINZ debt has reached the staggering total of $2.4 billion, with the usual racism and sexism in who owes and how much they pay: Anti-poverty groups say the poorest Kiwis are caught in a debt trap as the total amount of money owed to the ...
There was a poll last week which asked if now was the right time for a tax cut. Which is quite an odd thing to ask really, don’t you think?We’ve got to pay back the money used to keep paying people and stop businesses going under during the pandemic. Our ...
The Treasury released its budget economic forecasts. What do they say about the economy over the next four months?Brian Easton writes – Let me begin me with an irritation. One post-budget headline was ‘Treasury optimistic over recession risk in Budget 2023‘. Treasury being optimistic is almost an ...
As a politician swallowing a rat under a very public spotlight, Chris Bishop gave a spirited and relatively smooth account of himself yesterday. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Chris Bishop has detailed National’s new housing policy for Election 2023 that confirms a National Government would not force councils ...
After signalling it a week ago, yesterday National launched their new housing policy which abandons their support for the Medium Density Residential Standards (MDRS) that they had worked with the government to deliver back in 2021 and shifts the focus to more sprawl. Overall there are three key areas National ...
The audacity of National’s “u-turn” over housing intensification is an extraordinary slap in the face for Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis. If it does nothing else, it raises questions about their political judgement, not for the first time.. Some in the Caucus have still not forgiven them for their ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori announce Takuta Ferris will contest the Te Tai Tonga seat at this year’s General Election. “Takura ran for the Te Tai Tonga seat for Te Pāti Māori in 2020. It takes tremendous courage and commitment to put your hand up for another round in the ring ...
Focussed immigration has always been essential to our future, but New Zealanders need to be aware of the immediate dire situation our government is putting us in with a predicted record of one hundred thousand new immigrants moving to New Zealand in this year alone. That means we will have ...
Today, President of Te Pāti Māori, John Tamihere has confirmed that Heather Te-Au Skipworth will stand for Te Pāti Māori in the Tukituki electorate this election. ...
During New Zealand First coalition negotiations our policy was to train and resource 1800 new frontline police. We secured this coalition policy win to ensure our streets had a police force that could tackle crime - after years of neglect. Remember those previous nine years of neglect saw a ‘tag ...
Katie Kenny from Stuff published an article today with a lazy attempt at so-called ‘fact checking’ my recent comments on the World Health Organisation’s concerning new regulations being developed. What is most surprising is that throughout this entire ‘fact checking’ process, Kenny never once rang me asking for my side ...
The National Party has released another confused and rushed policy that will only further worsen the inequality that is driven by unaffordable housing. ...
Welcome to sunny and calm Wellington, which I know those of you who are visiting would of course expect to be the case. It’s been a busy week since we put forward the 2023 Budget. Labour MPs have been out across the motu giving the good oil on the Budget. ...
Kia orana, Talofa lava, Mālo e lelei, Taloha ni, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Noa’ia e mauri, Ni sa bula vinaka, Kia ora, Tena Koutou Katoa. Labour Party President Jill Day, Prime Minister Hipkins, Party faithful, delegates and comrades, whānau and friends, it’s a privilege to be here today. I begin my ...
One of my kaumātua up North stood before the Waitangi Tribunal and said: ‘He aha kē ahau, te tangata kore hara i mua i te Atua, e tu nei kia whakawaatia e koe, te tangata tāhae, te tangata hara, te tangata kore tikanga?Ko koe kē te tika, kia tū ...
New Zealanders will be highly concerned that the World Health Organisation proposes to effectively take control of independent decision making away from sovereign countries and place control with the Director General. W.H.O International Health Regulations on future outbreaks of disease aim to give the Director General extraordinary and wide-sweeping powers. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take responsibility for reducing inflation by taxing wealth instead of leaving RBNZ to continue hiking the Official Cash Rate. ...
The Green Party has released its list of candidates for the 2023 election. With a mix of familiar faces, fresh new talent, and strong tangata whenua voices, this exceptional group of candidates are ready to set the direction of the next Government. ...
Thank you for your invitation to be here, after yesterday's budget, and for the opportunity to talk with you. In the economic and social turmoil following the arrival of COVID 19 in New Zealand many concerns emerged. How would we keep our economy going and maintain our exports which are ...
At the heart of Budget 2023 is a cost of living package, designed to ease the pressure on New Zealanders in the face of global inflation and the challenges of rebuilding from extreme weather events. It provides practical cost of living relief across some of the core expenses facing Kiwis ...
A long standing Green Party policy has been extended yet again in this year’s Budget. This will deliver warmer homes for thousands of people, lower power bills, and cut climate pollution. ...
The Green Party is fully on board with free bus and train travel for under 12s and half price travel for under 25s - next stop, free travel for all under 18s, students, and apprentices. ...
Earlier this week, the Prime Minister announced a billion dollar flood and cyclone recovery package as part of Budget 2023. This is about doing the basics - repairing and rebuilding what has been damaged and making smart investments, including $100 million of protection funding to ensure future events don’t cause ...
The Defence Ministers of New Zealand and Japan have signed a statement of intent for closer defence cooperation between the two Pacific regional partners. Andrew Little and H. E. Yasukazu Hamada met to sign the ‘Statement of Intent on Defence Cooperation in Maritime Security, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and ...
New Zealand’s most recent defence assessment identified climate change and geostrategic competition as the two greatest security challenges to our place in the South Pacific. To the first issue, partners engaging and re-engaging with Pacific Island Countries are finding that climate change is a security and existential threat in our ...
The government is continuing to support rangatahi in providing more funding into Maori Trades training and new He Poutama Rangatahi programmes across Aotearoa. “We’re backing 30 new by Māori for Māori Kaupapa employment and training programmes, which will help iwi into sustainable employment or progress within their chosen careers” says ...
Murihiku Marae was officially reopened today, setting a gold standard in sustainable building practices as well as social outcomes for the people of Waihōpai Invercargill, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan says. “The marae has been a central hub for this community since the 1980’s. With the support of $9.65 million ...
The first major public housing development in Whangārei for decades has reached completion, with 37 new homes opened in the suburb of Maunu today. The project on Tapatahi Crescent and Puriri Park Road, consists of 15 one-bedroom, 4 two-bedroom, 7 three-bedroom, 8 four-bedroom and 3 five-bedroom homes, as well as ...
Trade and Export Growth Minister Damen O’Connor will depart tomorrow for London to represent New Zealand at the Commonwealth Trade Ministers’ Meeting and then to Paris to vice-chair the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting. “My travel to the United Kingdom is well-timed, with the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (UK FTA) ...
The Fuel Industry (Improving Fuel Resilience) Amendment Bill would: boost New Zealand’s fuel supply resilience and economic security enable the minimum stockholding obligation regulations to be adapted as the energy and transport environment evolves. “Last November, I announced a six-point plan to improve the resiliency of our fuel supply from ...
The Government is making sure those on low incomes will no longer have to wait five weeks to get the minimum weekly rate of ACC, and improving the data collected to make the system fairer, Minister for ACC Peeni Henare said today. The Accident Compensation (Access Reporting and Other Matters) ...
A compulsory code of conduct will ensure school board members are crystal clear on their responsibilities and expected standard of behaviour, Minister of Education Jan Tinetti said. It’s the first time a compulsory code of conduct has been published for state and state-integrated school boards and comes into effect on ...
Tena koutou katoa and thank you, Mayor Nadine Taylor, for your welcome to Marlborough. Thanks also Doug Saunders-Loder and all of you for inviting me to your annual conference. As you might know, I’m quite new to this job – and I’m particularly pleased that the first organisation I’m giving a ...
The Government will enter into a funding arrangement with councils in cyclone and flood affected regions to support them to offer a voluntary buyout for owners of Category 3 designated residential properties. It will also co-fund work needed to protect Category 2 designated properties. “From the beginning of this process ...
The Government has announced changes to strengthen requirements in venues with pokie (gambling) machines will come into effect from 15 June. “Pokies are one of the most harmful forms of gambling. They can have a detrimental impact on individuals, their friends, whānau and communities,” Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds said. ...
The total Police workforce is now the largest it has ever been. Police constabulary stands at 10,700 officers – an increase of 21% since 2017 Māori officers have increased 40%, Pasifika 83%, Asian 157%, Women 61% Every district has got more Police under this Government The Government has delivered on ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon Nanaia Mahuta met with Korea President Yoon, as well as Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna, during her recent visit to Korea. “It was an honour to represent Aotearoa New Zealand at the first Korea – Pacific Leaders’ Summit. We discussed Pacific ambitions under the ...
The Government’s Research and Development Tax Incentive has supported more than $2 billion of New Zealand business innovation – an increase of around $1 billion in less than nine months. "Research and innovation are essential in helping us meet the biggest challenges and seize opportunities facing New Zealand. It’s fantastic ...
The next ‘giant leap’ in New Zealand’s space journey has been taken today with the launch of the National Space Policy, Economic Development Minister Barbara Edmonds announced. “Our space sector is growing rapidly. Each year New Zealand is becoming a more and more attractive place for launches, manufacturing space-related technology ...
A new Year 7-13 designated character wharekura will be built in Pāpāmoa, Associate Minister of Education Kelvin Davis has announced. The wharekura will focus on science, mathematics and creative technologies while connecting ākonga to the whakapapa of the area. The decision follows an application by the Ngā Pōtiki ā Tamapahore ...
Protecting the environment by establishing a stronger, more consistent system for freedom camping Supporting councils to better manage freedom camping in their region and reduce the financial and social impacts on communities Ensuring that self-contained vehicle owners have time to prepare for the new system The Self-Contained Motor Vehicle ...
A new law passed last night could see up to 25 percent of Family Court judges’ workload freed up in order to reduce delays, Minister of Justice Kiri Allan said. The Family Court (Family Court Associates) Legislation Bill will establish a new role known as the Family Court Associate. The ...
New Zealand businesses will begin reaping the rewards of our gold-standard free trade agreement with the United Kingdom (UK FTA) from today. “The New Zealand UK FTA enters into force from today, and is one of the seven new or upgraded Free Trade Agreements negotiated by Labour to date,” Prime ...
The Government will reform outdated surrogacy laws to improve the experiences of children, surrogates, and the growing number of families formed through surrogacy, by adopting Labour MP Tāmati Coffey’s Member’s Bill as a Government Bill, Minister Kiri Allan has announced. “Surrogacy has become an established method of forming a family ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little departs for Singapore tomorrow to attend the 20th annual Shangri-La Dialogue for Defence Ministers from the Indo-Pacific region. “Shangri-La brings together many countries to speak frankly and express views about defence issues that could affect us all,” Andrew Little said. “New Zealand is a long-standing participant ...
Research, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall and the Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang met in Wellington today and affirmed the two countries’ long-standing science relationship. Minister Wang was in New Zealand for the 6th New Zealand-China Joint Commission Meeting on Science and Technology Cooperation. Following ...
5 percent uplift clearer and simpler to navigate Domestic productions can access more funding sources 20 percent rebate confirmed for post-production, digital and visual effects Qualifying expenditure for post-production, digital and visual effects rebate dropped to $250,000 to encourage more smaller productions The Government is making it easier for the ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs (Pacific Region) Carmel Sepuloni will represent New Zealand at Samoa’s 61st Anniversary of Independence commemorations in Apia. “Aotearoa New Zealand is pleased to share in this significant occasion, alongside other invited Pacific leaders, and congratulates Samoa on the milestone of 61 ...
The Government is continuing to support retailers with additional funding for the highly popular Fog Cannon Subsidy Scheme, Police and Small Business Minister Ginny Andersen announced today. “The Government is committed to improving retailers’ safety,” Ginny Andersen said. “I’ve seen first-hand the difference fog cannons are making. Not only do ...
The Government has received the first independent review of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says. The review, considered by the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, was presented to the House of Representatives today. “Ensuring the safety and security of New Zealanders is of the utmost ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has expressed condolences on behalf of New Zealand to the Kingdom of Tonga following the death of Her Royal Highness Princess Mele Siu’ilikutapu Kalaniuvalu Fotofili. “New Zealand sends it’s heartfelt condolences to the people of Tonga, and to His Majesty King Tupou VI at this time ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has expressed condolences on behalf of New Zealand to the Kingdom of Tonga following the death of Her Royal Highness Princess Mele Siu’ilikutapu Kalaniuvalu Fotofili. “New Zealand sends it’s heartfelt condolences to the people of Tonga, and to His Majesty King Tupou VI at this time ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little and Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta have today announced the extension of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) deployment to Solomon Islands, as part of the regionally-led Solomon Islands International Assistance Force (SIAF). “Aotearoa New Zealand has a long history of working alongside the Royal Solomon ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will travel to the Republic of Korea today to attend the Korea–Pacific Leaders’ Summit in Seoul and Busan. “Korea is an important partner for Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific region. I am eager for the opportunity to meet and discuss issues that matter to our ...
Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor joined ministerial representatives at a meeting in Detroit, USA today to announce substantial conclusion of negotiations of a new regional supply chains agreement among 14 Indo-Pacific countries. The Supply Chains agreement is one of four pillars being negotiated within the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework ...
Our most spoken Pacific language is taking centre stage this week with Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa – Samoa Language Week kicking off around the country. “Understanding and using the Samoan language across our nation is vital to its survival,” Barbara Edmonds said. “The Samoan population in New Zealand are ...
Over 90 per cent of New Zealanders are expected to receive this year’s nationwide test of the Emergency Mobile Alert system tonight between 6-7pm. “Emergency Mobile Alert is a tool that can alert people when their life, health, or property, is in danger,” Kieran McAnulty said. “The annual nationwide test ...
ENGLISH: Whakatōhea and the Crown sign Deed of Settlement A Deed of Settlement has been signed between Whakatōhea and the Crown, 183 years to the day since Whakatōhea rangatira signed the Treaty of Waitangi, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Whakatōhea is an iwi based in ...
Elizabeth Longworth has been appointed as the Chair of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, Associate Minister of Education Jo Luxton announced today. UNESCO is the United Nations agency responsible for promoting cooperative action among member states in the areas of education, science, culture, social science (including peace and ...
Tourism and hospitality employer accreditation scheme to recognise quality employers Better education and career opportunities in tourism Cultural competency to create more diverse and inclusive workplaces Innovation and technology acceleration to drive satisfying, skilled jobs Strengthening our tourism workers and supporting them into good career pathways, pay and working conditions ...
Tourism and hospitality employer accreditation scheme to recognise quality employers Better education and career opportunities in tourism Cultural competency to create more diverse and inclusive workplaces Innovation and technology acceleration to drive satisfying, skilled jobs Strengthening our tourism workers and supporting them into good career pathways, pay and working conditions ...
Greater access to primary care, including 193 more front line clinical staff More hauora services and increased mental health support Boost for maternity and early years programmes Funding for cancers, HIV and longer term conditions Greater access to primary care, improved maternity care and mental health support are ...
Greater access to primary care, including 193 more front line clinical staff More hauora services and increased mental health support Boost for maternity and early years programmes Funding for cancers, HIV and longer term conditions Greater access to primary care, improved maternity care and mental health support are ...
Act’s plan to cut red tape and regulation was not a snappy soundbite policy, but while party faithfuls may need to re-read the fine print on what David Seymour announced today, they left the annual conference feeling confident ahead of this year’s election A sold-out party conference this year for Act left ...
Commenting on ACT’s ‘Policing Red Tape and Regulation’ policy announcement, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said: “Red tape and regulation are some of the biggest hand brakes on New Zealand’s prosperity. They make it more ...
Real Change Now, SkyCity Theatre, 4 June 2023 Introduction Thank you, and what a show! Is it too late to call it ‘ACT’s got talent?’ It’s just as well, ACT’s talent is as real as the problems New Zealand faces. Simon Court is a civil engineer. ...
New Minister and Ministry of Regulation to police red tape and hold Ministers and departments accountable Regulatory Standards Bill to require regulation meets good lawmaking principles Strong enforcement mechanisms to police new and existing regulations ...
This proposed ministry would be given the powers to evaluate new regulatory proposals, review red tape and change laws to remove surplus regulation. ...
Over 600 people crammed into the SkyCity Theatre today to demand real change as ACT MPs and candidates outlined a fresh vision for New Zealand. “The size of this crowd, and the enthusiasm they showed for ACT’s people and policies, shows that ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori announce Takuta Ferris will contest the Te Tai Tonga seat at this year’s General Election. “Takura ran for the Te Tai Tonga seat for Te Pāti Māori in 2020. It takes tremendous courage and commitment to put your hand ...
Claire Mabey reviews Josie Shapiro’s debut novel Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, winner of the inaugural Allen & Unwin Fiction Prize.The aggressive misogyny of the early 2000s is the skeezy world in which Josie Shapiro’s quietly magnetic character, Mickey Bloom, comes of age. As a reader of the ...
Jack Santa Barbara asks if we've created a 'doomsday machine' by bringing artificial intelligence to a growth economy Comment: If you have the sense the world is fraying at the edges and things are getting worse faster than they are getting better, you wouldn’t be alone. Various scholars and organisations have ...
How political parties have influenced our desire to own our own homes, says Professor Sebastian KohlOpinion: In the late 20th Century, in most countries and even cities in the world, the majority of residents were homeowners. Some 20 years later that picture has shifted considerably, leading many to question whether ...
Bard Billot on the barbarian BrownLast one out, turn off the lights Some months had passed Since Alaric the Brown had stormed the gates Of the Mighty Cosmopolis of Auk, Burning and Thrashing and Laying Waste. Now Alaric wandered his vast estates As the passion and ...
If I moved through the world with pulsing red lines across my body, would that allow others to see the reality of my pain? The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Ned Wenlock.I sit on a grey plastic chair, ...
From body horror to beige homeware, Alex Casey counts all the ways The Kardashians makes for a joyless watch in 2023.Watch enough seasons of reality TV and you will start to see parallels with the real seasons. In summer, where anything feels possible and everyone is merrily bashing around ...
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says he did not forward councillors a string of abusive emails that called them "dip shits", saying they were sent by staff "in a fit of excitement". ...
By Tess Brunton, RNZ News reporter New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins faced a grilling by University of Otago students during his trip to Ōtepoti yesterday. Students, staff and community members have been fighting against the university’s request for staff to consider redundancies in a bid to save $60 million. ...
RNZ Pacific Transparency International Papua New Guinea has welcomed the conviction of lawyer Paul Paraka as the police confirm they are widening the investigation into the fraud case. The NGO admits the depths of Paraka’s activities, revealed by the case, are very worrying. Paraka, who had operated his own eponymous ...
Government and the tech sector are considering principles for an AI strategy, but there seems little urgency from ministers and no sign of action before the election. ...
Government and the tech sector are considering principles for an AI strategy, but there seems little urgency from ministers and no sign of action before the election. ...
Susan Wardell’s first picture book is nominated in two categories at this year’s New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults. She tells Claire Mabey about the genesis of the book, and what she thinks of the state of children’s publishing in Aotearoa. Claire Mabey: What was the inspiration ...
In June 1997, a new reality TV juggernaut arrived on New Zealand screens. Tara Ward and Alex Casey look back on a quarter-century of Treasure Island mayhem. Twenty-six years ago this month, we watched 12 fresh-faced New Zealanders arrive on a Fijian beach with nothing but their hopes and dreams ...
Love, Instagram, and a new bed, from a dazzling new short story collection Alice had wanted a heart-shaped bed since she was sixteen, which was when she had started wanting most of the things she wanted now. She had imagined she would meet some Lolita-loving, Sugar Daddy type who ...
Governments around the world are searching for how to fix housing affordability, but the solutions will have to be local and community based, writes Nicole Gurran of the University of SydneyOpinion: From Sydney to San Francisco, the housing affordability crisis is affecting communities across the world. Younger generations priced out of ...
A lack of female football stars in the media didn't stop Claudia Bunge on her journey to the top; now the Football Fern hopes a new campaign helps girls see what they can become The first time Claudia Bunge watched a women’s football game, it featured some of the Football Ferns she now ...
Councillors still weighing up their options before next week’s budget vote say there has been insufficient information, communication and time to assess the consequences of a full selldown of airport shares Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is famous for his straight to the bone style of communication, but Thursday’s budget announcement ...
Every day, pets are being removed from domestic violence situations around the country. Alex Casey talks to one of the workers on the front line. This story contains discussion of domestic violence and emotional abuse, please take care.Alice Hayward has never been busier. As a caseworker for Pet Refuge, ...
As the country contends with a cost-of-living permacrisis and an election year, is it too much to ask that our politicians don’t spend a week playing petty games?It would be fitting to reflect on this week in politics by simply dropping this gif and, as with Succession itself, calling ...
As part of a weekly showcase of future leaders and inspirational young New Zealanders from the Hyundai Pinnacle Programme, Jennifer Palmer wants to know how we can treat neurodegenerative diseases more effectively | Content Partnership When Jennifer Palmer was growing up, her nickname was Chatterbox. “I’d always be saying, ‘Why? ...
This is The Detail's Long Read – one in-depth story read by us every weekend. This week, we're diving into the back catalogues. It's The Preppers Next Door by Tom Doig, published in New Zealand Geographic magazine's November/December 2022 issue. You can read the full article, with accompanying photos by Cameron James McLaren, here. When Tom Doig ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author-poet and advocate for West Papuan independence has condemned a reported threat against the life of a New Zealand hostage pilot, Philip Mehrtens, held by Papuan liberation fighters and appealed to them to “keep Philip safe”. Jim Aubrey, a human rights activist who has campaigned ...
RNZ Pacific Members of Fijian communities in Auckland and Wellington are eager to meet Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka next week when he arrives on his first official state visit to Aotearoa New Zealand. Rabuka and wife Sulueti are expected to arrive in Auckland on Monday before meeting with the local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told a regional security forum that dialogue is a vital “guardrail” in dealing with China, and praised US President Joe Biden’s effort to establish “reliable and open” US-China channels of ...
Flood-ravaged West Aucklanders are rejoicing after the government announced it will offer buyout options to people whose land is too risky to rebuild on. ...
Wayne Brown has sent councillors copies of insulting emails from the public, including one that called them "dip shits", while the deputy mayor says the mayor is not making the budget process easier. ...
The National Party wildly underestimated how popular its leader would be when he visited New Plymouth on Friday and had to turn people away at the door. Political editor Jo Moir found a patch of wall to lean against as Christopher Luxon got all sorts of questions and advice, not ...
By Repeka Nasiko in Lautoka The University of the South Pacific will be receiving additional funding from the Fiji government in the 2023-2024 national budget, says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad. Speaking at a public consultation in Lautoka this week, he said the additional funding ...
By Gorethy Kenneth in Port Moresby The National Court has ordered the Papua New Guinea government to disclose the full details of the gold refinery deal it entered into with a Singapore-based company, National Gold Corporation. The court ordered Prime Minister James Marape (first defendant), Planning Minister Renbo Paita (second ...
Asia Pacific Report A new edition of the Okinawan Journal of Island Studies features social justice island activism, including a case study of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Pacific Media Centre, in what the editors say brings a sense of “urgency” in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion in scholarship. In ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Preliminary findings of a yet-to-be released Transparency International survey has found sextortion — demanding sexual favours in return for public services — is a major issue in parts of the Pacific. Papua New Guinea, the Federated States of Micronesia and Solomon Islands have higher ...
RNZ News New Zealand’s Media Freedom Council has called Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s exclusion of some media outlets from his budget speech today “unacceptable”. In an appearance at Auckland Transport’s Viaduct headquarters, Brown took time out of pitching his plan to sell the city’s holdings in Auckland Airport to complain ...
There are parallels between Indonesia’s Aceh where anAustralian surfer faced a flogging, and West Papua where a New Zealand pilot may be facing death. Both provinces have fought brutalguerrilla wars for independence. One has been settled through foreign peacekeepers. The other still rages as outsiders fear intervention.By Duncan ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tina Hinton, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, University of Sydney Shutterstock The latest health trend on TikTok has been dubbed “nature’s own Ozempic”. It’s the herbal preparation berberine. Influencers have been enthusiastically claiming its success in helping them lose weight, ...
The Government has announced new regulations to ensure venues and gambling societies uphold their responsibilities to prevent problem gambling and gambling harm. These regulations will apply to pubs, clubs and TAB NZ venues and will come into effect ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dean Aszkielowicz, Lecturer, Murdoch University On Thursday, Justice Anthony Besanko of the Federal Court dismissed defamation proceedings brought by former Special Air Service soldier Ben Roberts-Smith against several Australian news outlets. The court found that reporting by Nick McKenzie, Chris Masters ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Toby Walsh, Professor of AI, Research Group Leader, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock The world missed the boat with social media. It fuelled misinformation, fake news, and polarisation. We saw the harms too late, once they had already started to have a ...
The parliamentary petition calling for a national food strategy launched on the 1st of June and will remain open for signatures for eight weeks. The call is led by Eat New Zealand, Freedom Farms and Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Aotearoa (VAWA). ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock While plants can’t walk, they can certainly travel. Some species have travelled vast distances over millennia, moving by different and varied modes. Some ...
Duncan Greive is joined by The Spinoff staff writer Shanti Mathias and The Bulletin editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell to discuss the Safer Online Services and Media Platforms document, and its implications for the future of digital media. For a very special episode of The Fold, Duncan Greive analyses the Safer Online ...
Yes, they’re phenomenally expensive at the moment. But if you manage to track down a bargain or are keen on a splurge, there’s plenty of ways to make the kūmara worth it. As a child, there was no doubt in my mind: kūmara was the world’s best vegetable. This belief ...
Yes, they’re phenomenally expensive at the moment. But if you manage to track down a bargain or are keen on a splurge, there’s plenty of ways to make the kūmara worth it. As a child, there was no doubt in my mind: kūmara was the world’s best vegetable. This belief ...
Wayne Brown called most of his councillors ‘financially illiterate’ during a press conference yesterday morning. He then went back to the office and sent them emails from constituents who called them ‘dip shits’.Auckland mayor Wayne Brown spent a good portion of Thursday morning berating his councillors. In a 9.30am press ...
Wayne Brown called most of his councillors ‘financially illiterate’ during a press conference yesterday morning. He then went back to the office and sent them emails from constituents who called them ‘dip shits’.Auckland mayor Wayne Brown spent a good portion of Thursday morning berating his councillors. In an 8.30am press ...
Budget 2023’s promise of significant additional ECE funding has the potential to help many centres avoid financial unviability and hardship, as long as the current 20-hours conditions are kept, prompting the Early Childhood Council to withdraw its ...
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 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Chatto & Windus, $37)Let’s get quizzical: ...
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 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Chatto & Windus, $37)Let’s get quizzical: ...
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care is being challenged in court by two of the institutions it is investigating Two churches have filed applications for a judicial review of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, arguing that they don't bear responsibility for care of ...
* This is an excerpt from Rec Room. Sign up for regular Friday dispatches here. It’s a long weekend for most, so you might be keen to try out some new shows. Whatever you do, don’t start with HBO’s Succession successor The Idol (Neon). Billed as an over-sexed journey into ...
* This is an excerpt from Rec Room. Sign up for regular Friday dispatches here. It’s a long weekend for most, so you might be keen to try out some new shows. Whatever you do, don’t start with HBO’s Succession successor The Idol (Neon). Billed as an over-sexed journey into ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoffrey Browne, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock When a driver and a pedestrian approach a T-intersection, who has to give way? In newly published research we tested over 1,000 road users’ knowledge ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Khoo, Associate Professor of International Politics, University of Otago Getty Images Russia’s war with Ukraine is now at a critical turning point. The relentless missile and drone strikes on the capital Kyiv may look like a sign of strength, ...
New Zealand scored highest in a recent global survey on protection against discrimination of transgender people, but for some, that sentiment did not extend to access to single-sex facilities. The latest global survey from Ipsos – the LGBT+ Pride 2023 survey – shows that 84% of New Zealanders believe transgender ...
New Zealand scored highest in a recent global survey on protection against discrimination of transgender people, but for some, that sentiment did not extend to access to single-sex facilities. The latest global survey from Ipsos – the LGBT+ Pride 2023 survey – shows that 84% of New Zealanders believe transgender ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Today’s contentMEDIA REGULATION AND CODE OF CONDUCT, BROADCASTING Glenn McConnell (Post): ‘The cost will be everyday Kiwis’: New media regulation concerns civil society (paywalled) ...
With at least four local actors in front of camera and two comedy vets behind the scenes, shouldn’t it be ‘The Office Australasia’? It’s The Office, with a twist. “We figured the world is ready for a loveable, flawed, lady boss”, said BBC Studios ANZ general manager Kylie Washington. Indeed, ...
New Zealand’s trade deficit narrowed to $3.2 billion dollars in the March 2023 quarter, compared with $3.9 billion in the March 2022 quarter, according to data released by Stats NZ today. The main contributor to the narrowing of the deficit ...
Amazon’s top-selling digital reading device now offers much more than just books on a screen. But is that a good thing? All day, I think about words. From the moment I open my laptop, I tap away at my keyboard, turning letters into words, words into sentences and sentences into ...
The seat is the first on the general roll contested by Te Pāti Māori this election, with Skipworth shifting her attention there after Meka Whaitiri defected to the party. ...
Climate Justice Taranaki criticises the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)’s proposals to enable vast expansion of renewable energy generation and transmission by removing policy barriers. “The proposed national policy statements ...
Today, President of Te Pāti Māori, John Tamihere has confirmed that Heather Te-Au Skipworth will stand for Te Pāti Māori in the Tukituki electorate this election. Heather Te-Au Skipworth was previously confirmed as the candidate for the Ikaroa-Rawhiti ...
Really not looking forward to the media frenzy of sanctimonious lecturing and 20/20 hindsight that will now ensue after yesterdays events in New Lynn. Probably just won't read any of it until about next Wednesday, like a lot of people I suspect I get my COVID news from watching the 1pm briefing and my other news from publications (LRB, TLS, The Atlantic, several reputable Youtube channels) other than most of the NZ MSM.
It's like sadness overload.
Few ppl are boycotting the sites that screened the video of the man being shot. I've not seen it, bloody ghoulish really.
Kim Hill dealt with the central scandal in the first ten minutes of her show this morning – the glacial pace of progress of anti-terror law changes under successive governments. That is a failure that must now be immediately rectified. The rest of the coverage will be either right wing partisan flacks frantically trying to pin it on the government or "how do you feel" ghouls.
Gosh Sanctuary, is it Wednesday already?
Rip Van Winkling. 🙂
Her chat with Law professor Andrew Geddes was interesting subsequently. Clips will be here eventually: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/20210904
His point about the law change not necessarily preventing what happened yesterday was well made. For the earlier offending he may not have received any extra time. Yesterday appears to have been a completely opportunistic act.
Specific link inside tweet:
https://twitter.com/BMHayward/status/1433906979446018051
My sentiments too. The fact he presumably didn't come with a knife on him and grabbed one off a supermarket shelf suggests it was a spur of the moment act.
He may well have been incentifised to take some form of action by the ISIS terrorist attack on Kabul Airport a few days ago.
Nothing spur of the moment about it. He needed to be carrying a cutting tool like scissors to help remove the knife from its packaging. Had also been charged with planning exactly that sort of attack in exactly that sort of place.
Let's focus our kindness on the people affected by his actions.
He took advantage of a situation. That, in my book, constitutes a spur of the moment act. It doesn't mean he didn't intend to commit such an act, but rather took the opportunity when it presented itself.
If you are inferring… by my response to part of mickysavage's comment @ 2.2.1, that I am somehow not "focusing our kindness on the people affected by his actions" then I take that as a personal insult.
I am saying let's not find reasons to excuse this guy. I disagree with both you and Greg that there is any evidence this was opportunistic.
Who said mickey's comment or mine were in any way "finding reasons to excuse this guy."
Its a sad world if one cannot contemplate what may have (note: may have) gone through the perpetrator's mind at the precise moment he began to attack without it being interpreted as "making excuses".
Understanding how the minds of these types of people work is part of the prevention process the appropriate authorities have to take into account.
I tend to think of oppertunist crime being more like, I was driving home and I saw someone was moving house and had left their property unattended, so I nicked their coffee table (please excuse the trite example under these sad circumstances0.
I haven't read a lot of the details, but it seems the guy had been planning a terrorist attack and had homicial ideation over many years. He may have decided yesterday was the day, or he may have just reached a point where he acted on his thoughts.
I know very little about the legislation but surely planning a terrorist attact or planning to kill someone should land you in jail????
My sympathies to the victims and their families.
My thanks to the police, who would have had a very tedious job of tailing this guy over a long period of time and then acted promptlywhen they needed. to
I agree with you Anne
He may well have had homicidal urges and contemplated how he would execute such an attack as well as taken the opportunity there and then
I dont see how such a notion is excusing the guy
Thanks francesca. To contemplate the state of mind of the individual at the time is a valid point of discussion.
My apologies. Police now saying it could be considered that way. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/126285369/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-says-government-was-hurrying-new-terror-laws-after-supermarket-terrorist-was-released-into-the-community
"She also said the Government had sought to hurry changes to the terrorism laws in the months after the man was released into the community. The justice minister made a phone call to make this happen the day the attack happened.".
What bad luck that he carried out his mad action yesterday. In a couple of weeks the new law would have been in place. How sad that the urgency was just a bit late.
The complete let down here is that he was never assessed on his mental health status. If he would have, he might never have been in the supermarket in the first place but behind closed doors. This was a neglect of protocol and no amount of deflection will steer away from that. This does not excuse what he did but it would explain that he had the opportunity and it might well have been preventable. No fault to anybody but perhaps follow protocol if known on the outset that a fanatic is being held. I hope there is something to be learned here.
Nothing can be changed now but the families affected and the people who were traumatized by it all need our support and help.
Therapeutic. Best read out loud.
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/oh-my-fucking-god-get-the-fucking-vaccine-already-you-fucking-fucks
if you edit your comment and add width="100%" to inside the end of the tag, the image will fit the screen instead of being oversized. I've edited it now.
Good, so 100% is working now?
I think it always was, I just could never remember how to do it. I have the code saved now.
The kids are alright:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/02/texas-abortion-law-tiktok-reddit-whistleblower
Thanks for posting Arkie
That's hilarious, the kids are alright!
Many if not all organisations in NZ are starting to confront the issue of vaccination requirements for their staff and customers.
Lawyerly consensus seems to be that requiring vaccination for new hires is fairly straightforward. But imposing it as a new condition on existing employees is somewhat problematic.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/126254100/covid19-employers-seek-help-to-navigate-vaccination-minefield
Seems to me that here is where the government could help out by passing legislation specifically enabling the addition of a vaccination clause to existing employment contracts, as a health and safety measure for the workplace.
I find it interesting that in 'murica, land of freedumb and lawsuits, employers aren't the slightest bit shy about imposing vaccine mandates.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vaccine-mandates-are-lawful-effective-and-based-on-rock-solid-science/
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/majority-us-companies-may-mandate-covid-19-vaccine-coming-months-survey-2021-09-01/
I'm just grateful that everyone I work with on even a semi-regular basis is already vaccinated. Mostly they're young immigrants that grew up seeing the devastation widespread disease causes and how vaccinations really do prevent that devastation.
Can we presume now that some of the most malicious propagandists in the world will now be shunned, instead of given a free platform, by Kim Hill?
RNZ National, Saturday 4 September 2021, 10:10 a.m.
In the course of an interesting discussion about the evolution of ethics, Kim Hill mentioned to her guest, the moral philosopher Tim Dean, that a certain "shock jock" in New Zealand regularly provokes outrage, and upsets people. Dr Dean counselled against wasting our time getting outraged about such provocateurs. It was better, he said, to not amplify them by retweeting their nonsense.
I hope Kim Hill took that advice to heart. I sent her the following email to encourage her in her resolve….
So no more free platforms for guests who use the media to destroy people?
Dear Kim,
Your guest Tim Dean this morning advised us to avoid giving publicity to people who seek to destroy others via Twitter and other media platforms. You seemed to agree with that. I take it that we can therefore presume that you will no longer give a free platform to the likes of Jonathan Freedland and Simon Schama, both of whom used your show in 2019 to spray evidence-free accusations against Jeremy Corbyn, and Alex Gibney, who in 2013 used your show to pour ridicule on the political dissident Julian Assange.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday
The epidemiologist guy on Kim Hill, RNZ at 9am this morning, was clearly in favour of saliva testing, saying it is accurate. He is sitting on the panel advising the government and was (while being diplomatic) clearly surprised these tests were not yet in use in NZ.
It occurs to me that this might work well as a border control mechanism. Negative Covid test 72 hours before flying and an instant saliva test on arrival.
The saliva tests I have seen mentioned use the same PCR testing as current nasal swabs. Far from instant.
If there is indeed an 'instant' variety, how accurate is that compared with the PCR tests?
I thought the saliva tests were really fast…I may be wrong on this. Having said that I head a doctor say on RNZ a couple of weeks ago that they can turn round a nasal test in 90 minutes in a hospital.
Covid Yesterday just reported:
NSW 1533 cases (Pop 8.2m)
NZ 20 cases (Pop 5.1m)
90 minutes will be because they have labs onsite and probably push the covid test to top of the work queue. And maybe the hardware they're working with in that particular lab.
If you're doing, say, 200 people off a plane and need to courier the samples across town, then process those samples and use limited lab resources while prioritising other contracted tests, the time per test might be the same or less but the time between swab and notification could be considerably longer.
Why not run the tests on the plane and in-flight?
Because Jetstar would still manage to offload the passengers and tests at different airports? lol
There'd still be the courier and bulk processing problems, and we'd also be ceding control of test administration to someone else.
Frankly, airport testing isn't even something I'd support with 30sec turnaround. It's a level up from preflight tests, but still insufficient in time-sensitivity to do away with MIQ (i.e. Jimjane might be exposed in a transit lounge and still have a low enough load that they don't ping a test when they get off the plane). And we already do 2 tests in MIQ, so extra testing isn't really needed.
I meant, why not process the samples on board? A PCR instrument is just a small benchtop instrument and could easily fit in a plane. Airlines handle a lot of official paperwork already.
Could reliable sample preparation and PCR testing with +ve and -ve controls be performed in-flight? Is the process is more streamlined now?
Coronavirus testing – how does it work?
Or 'sample' the plane's cabin air filters – turn the flight around if positive?
Sure, why not? Many testing kits contain positive, negative, and other quality controls. Refrigeration is available, if necessary. Anything could be tested in theory: air (filters), saliva samples, and wastewater. Methodology and protocols will have to be developed, optimised, and validated, of course. Plenty of time too during intercontinental flights.
'Why not?' is the question. Air turbulence?
Maybe ASSURED PCR-based COVID-19 in-flight tests will be developed and used routinely at some stage, but I'm not holding my breath.
Antigen-based testing seems more likely, at least for the symptomatic, but who knows? It's an active market – time will tell.
https://www.finddx.org/covid-19/
https://www.nbcnews.com/shopping/wellness/best-home-covid-tests-n1275687
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/nih-study-suggests-rapid-antigen-and-pcr-tests-for-covid-19-are-equally-reliable-when-used
Development of a new field-deployable RT-qPCR workflow for COVID-19 detection [pdf]
Portable RT-PCR System: a Rapid and Scalable Diagnostic Tool for COVID-19 Testing
https://www.universalweather.com/products-and-services/aircraft-pcr-testing/
Some people have been tested 2 to 3 times with the PCR test and haven't shown a positive result yet after a 3 or 4 th test have tested positive.
Saliva testing is messy and creates risks for those testing spitting into spoon then transferring that to vial.
This information might help:
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-public/assessment-and-testing-covid-19/how-covid-19-testing-works#timing
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-public/assessment-and-testing-covid-19/covid-19-test-results-and-their-accuracy#accuracy
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-public/assessment-and-testing-covid-19/covid-19-test-results-and-their-accuracy#what
Google is your friend.
Useful addition, but obviously no substitute for pre-flight testing.
Mustn't jeopardize the 'mission'
More tools, diverse tools, complementary tools, smarter use of existing tools (e.g., two shots of different vaccines instead of the same), innovative thinking, so-called ‘out of the box’ thinking, for example, don’t need to deter from ‘the mission’, but they could help it. IMHO.
"onboard your own aircraft"
quite
Please don’t get sidetracked by the market segment to which they are pitching. It is about the principle and technical feasibility of in-flight PCR testing. It can be done, apparently 🙂
Anything can be done for enough money – that's where the segment comes in.
But clinical managers are not likely to rely on self-analysed tests unless solid pre-launch validation tells them otherwise. I would say even self-administration variability is one reason they require a handful of saliva tests to equate to one nasal swab test using the same PCR process, let alone if untrained airline staff are running the analysis process.
One word: accreditation.
How much money is NZ already spending on testing? The enormous queues at the beginning of the outbreak were unnecessary and avoidable, IMO. Testing willy-nilly just as jabbing willy-nilly is not smart use of precious resources and money.
Clinical managers should have no or very little say in this!
Keeping abreast of new approaches/tools – all good. NZ's lucky – for any relatively resource-hungry implementation phase, we can select from a (diverse) range of tools already tested by others.
Time will tell if the (technically feasible) in-flight PCR testing of passengers for COVID is implemented on bog-standard international flights. I'm guessing not, but have been well wrong before.
Routine pre/post-flight COVID testing of passengers and crew will continue for a while in our South Pacific bubble.
In other regions some countries have already relaxed pre-flight COVID test requirements, particularly for the fully-vaccinated.
Vive la diversité!
Personally, I don’t think we can afford the ‘luxury’ of being picky & choosy, but many good and not so good ideas end up in the bin without any due consideration because they are deemed: too hard, too costly, too threatening to fragile egos of control freaks running their little fiefdoms.
Relaxing pre-flight Covid testing is not a smart thing to do, IMO, and it will send a wrong message of false security from vaccination. What numpties!
Yes – hope Kiwis will be encouraged not to relax too soon. It’s prudent to keep our guard up for at least a few months more, imho.
The intricacies of it aren't my field. But it's a lot to put into a transtasman run between swabbing and testing the swabs, we'd need lab techs on the planes, and the obvious questions are around how the process and the machine itself will deal with turbulence.
But even then, we'd still have the "infected, but too early to detect" problem. So if we ramp up to even just 10k arrivals a week, how long before a positive [insert here the next variant that will make the sky fall if these trends continue] passenger starts wandering around the community? At 95% sensitivity and even 0.1% of passengers with an infection (lowballing the MIQ proportion of +tests to people going through), that's a hundred a week and 5 false negatives resulting in community exposure.
People taking their masks off to spit into a spoon to transfer to a vial or just spitting into a vial with dribble going every where. Not as good as a nasal swab going straight into a vial.
Saliva tests have many advantages over nasal swabs. For example, you can do it yourself without having to travel to a testing station where you might come into closer contact with many others.
You don’t actually “spit” into a spoon, you drool.
For your information and edification: https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/pages/saliva-testing-general-faqs-9aug21.pdf
Great factsheet, thank you. Also confirms the current saliva test is not fast:
Yes, the PCR assay is the same, once the sample has been pre-processed. Logistics & admin always add more time too. Downside of current saliva tests is that genomic testing is not possible, as mentioned in the fact sheet.
Google is our friend.
Which saliva test the quick test has a 60% efficay rate and to be accurate needs several tests to bring up its efficacy to the PCR nasal or saliva test .saliva being spat into spoons or vials is far more messy and risks the testers health.
Does anyone else think about this issue (and/or want to read about it)?
"The colonial project is the ongoing strategic occupation and exploitation of Indigenous lands for the purposes of the colonizers. 2 Africa, Australia, the Americas, Southeast Asia, and New Zealand are the Indigenous lands to which I refer. As part of the imperial project, these continents and countries were respatialized. 3 Entire landscapes were re-ordered to fragment, disorient, and ultimately destroy the social ecologies of the peoples who inhabited them. Now the question is unignorable: How, in the umbra of decolonization, should these landscapes be redesigned? How can environmental designers participate in the struggle of peoples who have lived through a brazen confiscation of their precolonial spatialities in order to reimagine the way they live together, within the vast re-ordering of planet earth that is the Anthropocene? And is this not itself, after all, the hugest of all hyperobjects? The most ambitious and most thorough colonization of the globe by a hegemonic mentalité to date? Demanding nothing less than the co-option of all peoples to a planetary master narrative that is by its very nature out of control?
I’m hardly the only landscape architect currently mobilizing concepts from theories and practices of decolonization (or decol). 4 But since I’ve recently relocated to my homeland Aotearoa New Zealand, in this essay I’m using Aotearoa as my example. Therefore Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa, are central to my inquiry."
https://placesjournal.org/article/redesigning-colonial-landscapes/
Thanks Robert, sounds interesting
I have often thought our fisheries needed decolonizing – locals scarcely see any seafood these days unless they catch it themselves. The artisanal fishers that supported and enriched local families and communities have largely faded away like the eels above the elver-proof Waitaki dams.
Yep – and the ability to catch it yourself doesn't come cheap. With the denuding of inshore stocks you need a boat (or a decent kayak at a minimum) to catch fish reliably. This further limits its availability.
Colonisers had a system to disenfranchise indigenous people .De humanize dislocate etc.Keep indigenous people on the bottom of the heap impoverished and powerless.
The British Empire used Ireland as a template for its world wide imperial conquests.
Buying off leaders,making the indigenous language illegal ,starving the population,stealing their land.
And even after Ireland gained independence tariff's were imposed from 1922 till 1972 when Ireland became a member of the EU.Britain sided with the free market side in the civil war in Ireland .
Similar tactics to breakdown Maori by portraying them as inferior keeping Maori poor systematically imprisoning Maori continually making Maori look bad.All the while profiteering out stolen land and land they were conned and bullied off,insider trading and fraud it's called today .Then only compensating Maori 1%to3% not including the loss of income and economic status caused by the illegal dispossesion.
While others had 100% legal rights to illegal land transactions Maori were denied.
From the sidebar, Bryan Gould very briefly says the Herald has decided Judith's time has come: https://bryangould.com/a-grim-future-for-national/
Bring back Siomon ?
Yeah the gossip is swirling
https://twitter.com/David_Cormack/status/1434027727745474563?s=20
Several people whose sources have been good in past, yes.
Trev will be aswoon at the prospect of Ponyboy (or a clone thereof) resuming his rightful place on the throne.
Some good news only 20 community cases today Thanks my fellow 5 million.
Indeed wonderful & encouraging news. I'm sitting at the jab drive thru at the Edgar Centre & I'm so impressed with the people running this! Music, sun, professional. Very happy to be living in NZ right now.
Imagine what the number would be if National were in power.
None on paper and 2000 odd on or waiting for ventilators.
touché
They wouldn’t be counted because they’re no longer part of the community.
It would be like NSW and all the numbskulls out there (and there's plenty of them) would be expressing their sympathy for the Nat. government…convinced it was not their fault.
Given just about all conservative constituencies have uncontrollable outbreaks ,no mask wearing,slow or no lockdown ,much lower comparative vaccination rates,low tax poor public health funding.
With National in charge we would have hospitals over run a complete melt down especially given they can't even organize their own caucus.
Then look at the number of Cock ups in the Canterbury earthquake rebuild the South Canterbury Finance debacle National is a hands off govt.
Private contractors like in Australia's response to border control is the reason why they are in such a mess.
testing
Family in NSW are really worried. They already have two 18 year olds sick with Delta.
Their whole family is fully vaccinated, and the girls are through the worst, but were really sick.
The failure to contain Delta in NSW and the attitude of the leadership is really upsetting, with casual throw away lines of "living with the virus", 8 million having freedom to decide!!
My brother's family consisting of 17 people, are really at risk. They say the lock downs were late and light, and really useless.
Sorry about the "really"!! The edit feature vanished.
Patricia part of the Problem is that no one wanted to follow Gladys's orders because of her Morality she had been outed cheating on her husband for up to 10 yrs and implicated in corruption.
If you want people to follow you have to set an example.