Great news for dunners and future proofing for us all
The Government announced last week it was dedicating $19.97million of provincial growth funding to re-establish the workshop as a mechanical hub and heavy engineering facility to service KiwiRail's trains.
Most work at Hillside ended in 2012, after KiwiRail awarded an estimated $29million manufacturing contract to a Chinese company, in what was seen at the time as a terminal blow to the workshops.
The new investment meant KiwiRail would be able to earthquake-proof ageing buildings, get rid of asbestos, overhaul equipment at the site and more.
"…we know that the Wellington Twitteratti operate blacklists on secret Facebook pages naming anyone who has breached woke mantra (those screenshots will be embarrassing if released before the election), but the recent wins of censorship at Massey University and the Pride Parade abortion seem to have emboldened woke theology to new heights of dangerously alienating self importance."
In the mid 1970s, NZ saw one of the most shameful acts of politically motivated racist bashing in modern history. South Pacific islanders – who had been encouraged to come to NZ as cheap labour by a previous National govt. – were rounded up at dawn and iirc taken to Mt Eden prison to be interrogated. It went down as one of the darkest hours of our political history.
The idiots who put the story together claimed Norman Kirk was the architect of the policy when it was, of course, Rob Muldoon:
I'm sorry Anne but I don't think you will find your claim to be true.
The raids started in 1974 when we had a Kirk Labour Government. They certainly continued, and increased in scale when Muldoon was PM but they did start in Kirk's time.
Actually @ BG, it reminds me of an incident I encountered only a couple of years ago when one of those 'old school' type coppers came up to me in a supermarket (somewhere in NuZull up north from where I am) to tell me how embarrassed he felt having to witness what was going on at the time. I now realise he was probably on the 'force' at the time of those 'dawn raids'. We'd both witnessed the same thing.
Effectively dawn raids on a different demographic, and not at dawn. I wish to Christ now that we'd swapped details.
Kirk died in August 1974. Yes, there would have been an immigration led investigation to ascertain the extent of visa over-staying, but I doubt it had much to do with the Kirk government. It would have been part and parcel of the Immigration Department's normal work processes.
To infer as the TV item seemed to infer that the policy of targeting Pacific Islanders and introducing mass dawn raids was the work of Norman Kirk (who was a strong supporter of indigenous peoples around the world) showed gross ignorance on the part of TV1 news.
What's more it was TVNZ who produced the documentary linked to… which describes the entire episode in detail. They have no excuses.
‘Three-month visas were in place from 1964, and annual quotas were set in 1967. But because the 1960s and early 1970s were years of economic expansion and labour shortages, the temporary visas and quotas were not strictly enforced. While the demand for unskilled labour remained high, the government in effect turned a blind eye to Samoans and other Pacific Islanders arriving on temporary visas and staying on, or arriving in greater numbers than the quotas allowed.
Pacific Island migration in the 1970s
The 1974 immigration policy review reaffirmed the free access to New Zealand of those born in the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau. It also stated that Western Samoa, as a territory formerly administered by New Zealand, ‘holds a special place in the policy’.
By the mid-1970s, demand for Pacific Island labour had diminished. The tolerance towards migrant workers on temporary permits from Western Samoa, Tonga and Fiji came to an end.
The 1974 review sought to make a clear distinction between migrants with a legal right to remain permanently in New Zealand and those who had overstayed after entering on visitor or temporary permits. Enforcing the distinction led to dawn raids on Pacific Island households in Auckland, and other measures.’
.
but The statistics of prejudice A study carried out in 1985–86 was revealing: it showed that whereas Pacific Island people comprised only a third of overstayers, they made up 86% of all prosecutions for overstaying.
Citizens from the United States and the United Kingdom who also made up almost a third of those overstaying, represented only 5% of prosecutions.
Yes. The doco I linked to @4 and Bearded Git @ 4.2.1 does cover most of your points. What, in essence, happened: Muldoon took advantage of a situation to have a particular group of people targeted for party political purposes, and it was not the only time he did that sort of thing.
I recall the "list of 100" names of people he released to the press who were supposed to have been "Communists". It included people who were not – and never had been – members of communist organisations but their reputations were permanently damaged. If I remember correctly he was taken to court by a few of them and was forced to pay them a few bob in damages. Well, I expect the tax payer paid them. People in high places could almost commit murder and never be brought to account.
Don't get too bitter about it all though @ Anne. These master of the universe 'types' eventually fuck themselves up one way or another. The more you comment, the more I realise we've probably witnessed many of the same sort of shit going on. (why the 4.2.1.1 above).
The more you comment, the more I realise we've probably witnessed many of the same sort of shit going on. (why the 4.2.1.1 above).
It was 4.2.1. Yes I think we have. There are some seriously bad stories to tell from that period – stories that should be brought out into the open now that 40 years have passed.
There are actually a couple of things that could lead to positive change (as that history is starting to rhyme).
One is that people who've been part of it all. and don't like what they've seen, and who've taken it on…….. never EVER agree to any sort of confidentiality agreement. (In a way, it's a shame Hager did with his settlement, but you can understand why).
To my mind, it's all a bit sad that this coalition have, and are making unnecessary work for themselves, and as a result, have to waste so much time playing catch-up
A couple of things I'm keeping an eye on at the mo' are the growing number of allegations of bullying in the Federales (and there are more elsewhere); Maori 'versus' govt. relations re OT and elsewhere; and the RCEP negotiations.
Whilst Damian O'C might find he can grovel enough to strike a deal over the "2 cow" farmer in India (if he doesn't get choked to death on the way through pollution – and even that's going to be a hard ask), he might just find that down the track, the 2 cow farmer doesn't want a bar of it after what Shane said, and after how manyfamily members have been royally ripped by a 'lil 'ole NuZull experience
The problem with the Muldoon era is that he and his mates (not all of them were in parliament btw) used information gathered by Public Service departments to score political points and to conduct vengeful acts against those he/they perceived to be enemies. The fault did not lie with the agencies who gathered the information, but rather the way Muldoon and his lackeys chose to use them.
We saw similar behaviour by the Key government although as far as I know that government didn't target individuals to the extent the Muldoon govt. did.
It should not be any surprise to anyone that it is always National governments who behave in this way. It's in their DNA to be deceitful and act in a spiteful manner when it suits them. Example… the Winston Peters court case which started in the High Court today.
Was at the folks place on sunday who insist on listening to red neck radio. Sure enough on comes Rimmer whining about the proposal the govt has to monitor the cyber world over mis-information.
He stated the govt can't be trusted to do this so and offered no alternatives…my there's a surprise that old self regulated approach that's worked so well.
Also we're 'legalising' MJ in a referendum next year they said, you could almost hear the knuckles being dragged around the studio floor dog whistling up a storm.
I heard today that in Queenstown dealers are now lacing tinnies ($20 of cannabis wrapped in foil) with P!!!! Apparently it's an easy way to introduce and get kids hooked on P.
Yet another demonstration on why we need to regulate and legalise cannabis.
If a Queenstown tinnie is laced with P that’s probably the safest thing it’s got in it. Last tinnie I saw here was some unidentifiable combustible matter that may have been vegetative, with a strange chemical smell. When it was lit up it smelled like a burning gumboot. I politely excused myself.
That’s why we need to legalise and regulate cannabis
Maybe it's also a reason why we also need to think about the sad state of the world and life that causes us to need to keep swallowing, smoking or sucking on something to make it bearable or provide pleasure.
Fact is, folk get on the fries because they want to and because the shit is so popular, no one need bother lacing weed to attract new customers.
In the seventies moral hysteria had dealers lacing buddha sticks with smack and in 2006, TVNZ breathlessly speculated that marijuana was being laced with P, too.
Those moral outrages were arrant nonsense then and they're arrant nonsense today.
Julie Anne Genter wrote the members bill already before parliament. Outlined here:
Cannabis (including medicinal cannabis)
Make cannabis legal for personal use, including possession and cultivation.
Introduce a legal age limit for personal use.
Assess evidence from overseas jurisdictions with legal cannabis markets to determine the best model for New Zealand.
While waiting for broader law change for cannabis, remove penalties for any person with a terminal illness, chronic or debilitating condition to cultivate, possess or use cannabis and/or cannabis products for therapeutic purposes, with the support of a registered medical practitioner.
Accelerate the process by which medical cannabis products are licensed for use.
Lower barriers for manufacturers to submit new cannabis products for funding applications to PHARMAC.
I agree in regards to legalisation and regulation however I highly doubt that the economics of drug dealing allow the lacing of marijuana with a much more expensive substance such as methamphetamine.
A better argument, in my opinion, is that any regulations, specifically age restrictions, are not possible to implement in a black market.
however I highly doubt that the economics of drug dealing allow the lacing of marijuana with a much more expensive substance such as methamphetamine.
Yes, thought the same so I asked and the reply was…. P is cheaper than Pot.
I asked how.. response was… From a manufacturing/economic/labour intensive angle, weed takes 90 days to grow and maintain (power, water, security) and another two weeks to dry. Compared with hours to make P.
Except that marijuana is far far less expensive than P in pure monetary terms, that really is the be-all-end-all in these situations, unless we're talking about industrial-scale producers instead of the type of dealer who sells $20 worth a time.
You must have missed the consistent raids by Police to snare those serving to minors. You also missed the license renewal hearings in which alcohol sellers get grilled for really bad behaviour. Get out more.
Bad regulation amounts to just bullying by the state.
I was involved in a sting against alcohol retailers in my youth. The actions you are describing are because of a regulated market. They are actions enforcing the regulation.
I must have missed when the police raided the tinny houses to make sure they weren’t selling to minors. And when the gangs had to renew their license to sell marijuana and they got grilled for it. You’re coming across a little condescending.
Is your argument that current alcohol regulation is bullying by the state?
currently both are banned and thus adults as much as kids and their dogs don't have access.
And this – lazing weed with a stronger drug to create addicts is one of the scare stories that might have a bit of truth to it – is a reason, one of many, as to why cannabis should be liberated, legalized, regulated and taxed in the same way as is booze.
Depends whether mining ore or alluvial gold. Alluvial gold doesn't need chemicals like cyanide as separation is done on density. No problems with acid leaching either as everything has been well rolled down a river.
Tailings dams: got to wonder how well engineered they are, been spectacular failures of some for various reasons. Waihi is not that far from active faults & Coromandel has been known to get heavy rain.
Helen Kelly RIP – two years on, what Dylan has to say is fresh and shoulg be bright in our minds. This remaining bit and a full year coming, the pace needs to intensify, the moves be co-ordinated. Another term of Labour Coalition is essential.
The Smithsonian had a great image. What about some of the resorts in the Pacific sponsoring underwater statues that shelter the fish when the coral reefs are dead or suffering from heat? They could charge for trips in little submersibles and ask for donations for ongoing remediation of the reef.
This image was in a 2014 article – five years later why isn't this top news with massive projects?
Climate change and the Gulf stream with maps and coloured pictures. Almost as good as tv. I hadn't seen this explanation so here it is from the Beeb if you didn't see it in 2018.
During my youth I was fortunate enough to enjoy all that Motiti offered.
This decision has made my day.
Environmentalists and residents of a small island are celebrating a "significant" court win in their bid to protect fish and seabirds.
Six elderly kuia and kaumātua from Motiti Island took on the combined might of the Crown, local government, powerful iwi and the commercial fishing industry.
The tiny hapū won, backed by Forest and Bird "groundbreaking" rulings in the Environment and High courts in 2017 that gave local councils powers to regulate fishing to protect native species. But the Government appealed the decision.
Now the Court of Appeal has ruled regional councils can use the Resource Management Act to control fishing to protect biodiversity.
I'm just coming on interesting stuff – not trying to take over the blog! The weather is good, everyone spring planting?
Here is a great example of the overbearing attitudes to morality with an inability to decide what is perversion, what counts as prurience, and what is just simple pride of body or privately sexual. This teacher had an image of the privately sexual between her and her male adult friend who was also a teacher at the school; it was broadcast to the swine, and the school rubbished the pearls. Naked bodies are not bad, and we are not in Victorian times, and the uptight, prurient people who would sack a teacher and spoil her career have got dirty minds.
I think that part of sexual education for teenagers, should include full naked body pictures of both sexes and then discussions on having respect for each other, and what the teenagers need to know and want to know about growing up and the sexualisation seen regularly.
However there is a woman teacher, or was, who liked to fiddle with her Marlborough teenage pupil's penises. Now that is inappropriate, and has gone before the Courts.
So, what would you do as a fresh Green Mayor with a territory that encloses a mine permit on a massive trove of fossils, and wanting to make your mark?
And here it is Rosemary – I hadn't seen it before, very instructional. I think that it should be used by all secondary schools that want to turn out well-informed young adults. But as it contains material some will find of objectionable nature and against the mores of society, I place it here at the bottom of yesterday's post. So all the naughty boys and girls who make the effort to seek it out can enjoy it away from the main thrust of political argument that perverts our minds and limits our endeavours to make a better life.
This is sad. And the news piece is good because it fills in the background somewhat so we know what's behind it.
Over-production of racehorses and dealing with them brutally, tomorrow the wealthy callous will do it to us. Falun Gong and Uighur for instance. How do we get change?
Why don't they change the date for guy fawkes to a winter date move if forward 2 months less fire risk and more night hours.
That's awesome that the Koala Bears that were caught in a Australia Bush fire are being treated for their burns.
Money needs to be changed to a system that rewards good behaviour and does not reward bad behaviour.
Innovation to Create Equitable Neighbourhood is a great idea you app will be a great secess.
Yes it all comes down to the design if one puts enough effort into the design so everything can live in harmony in the Neighbourhood. Papatuanuku has been perfecting her creature design for billions of years.
What up set me is all the alcohol shops gambling bars all placed around low social economics places I smell something bad going down there.
Here we are this is a great idea installing a huge Solar farm to save carbon and putea. Congratulations on making the correct move for your business and Aotearoa.
The country's largest solar farm is to be built at Marsden Pt after Refining NZ decided to go ahead with the $37m project.
The solar farm will cover 31ha and is intended to reduce the cost of electricity for Refining NZ's operations at the Marsden Pt Refinery.
The solar farm will supply 26.7 MW – about 10 per cent of the refinery's electricity needs. The project was mooted earlier this year but has just received the approval of its board.
I say the opposite that mass migration in Aotearoa is designed to take Mana away from Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa.
How well if we only had 4 million people the percentage of Maori and our Pacific Cousin would be 40 % and that is when we can truly have a say on what happens on the political screen in Aotearoa. What I see is what is good for Māori is also good for our Pacific Cousin.
Its good that fireworks is being banned from the Taramaki Makaru volcano cones.
I tau toko tangata whenua advocateing a ban on driving on the beach in Taramaki Makaru the vehicle are making a mess of our shellfish living in that environment.
I great to see heaps of Te tamariki joining Te Kapa Haka roopu.
I say $26 million should have been spent on rooftop solar subsidies at 20 % that would could draw in $130 million private putea total investment in solar $156 million. We don’t need a satellite to tell us what we already know their is to much carbon being pumped into our atmosphere.
The way I see it national is the cause of these social security problems rents are spiking. Who kept making those statements there is know housing shortage who also flooded Aotearoa with new people. The Coalition government has made live much easier for the lower class look at what happen to Winz under a national government national prioritie is to line there own pockets.
Look a the garden lady do you think it's a coincidence that she is stepping down with what Winston is occupied with at the minute I think not.
The climate change deniers have bagged Solar and Wind power for decades now we can see that the combination of solar wind and batteries can be used as base load power. We have some back seats warmers who will not do the correct thing and back Aotearoa new climate laws I bet they will vote no.
Wind turbines at Kennedy Energy Park in Queensland.
The answer to the renewable energy industry’s biggest challenge is emerging in the Australian outback.
Early next year, one of the first power projects that combine solar and wind generation with battery storage is planning to start up in northern Queensland state. The Kennedy Energy Park, just outside the sleepy town of Hughendon, will combine 43 megawatts of wind and 20 megawatts of solar with a 2-megawatt Tesla Inc. lithium-ion battery
How do you end up with a person running a organisation that clearly knows nothing about the cultures of the people they have to interact with the most.
Its a good start to our journey to a zero-carbon future for our Mokopuna.
Mr Titi its OK for tangata whenua who are doing great in this system to cast judgement but your views are biest if only you could see what Eco Maori see you would soon change your mind.
Hine sue get people to donate start a give a little page. I think a bit of cheating has gone down.
That's awesome to see 3 Wahine Maori becoming lawyers.
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
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I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
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One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
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Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
2024 is now officially my best-ever year for short stories. My 1,850-word dark fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens, has been accepted for the upcoming solstice edition of Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/), thereby making that six published short stories for the calendar year. As always, see the Bibliography page for ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker.Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...
The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...
A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...
If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...
Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...
The government has confirmed its plan to break up Te Pūkenga / New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology and re-establish independent polytechnics. ...
Great news for dunners and future proofing for us all
I am just about to post on that one.
Great news Marty.
Demolition work in and around Mercury Lane starts today for the K Rd underground station.
Have the Greens moved out of their office there?
Is Bradbury approaching peak self-parody??
"…we know that the Wellington Twitteratti operate blacklists on secret Facebook pages naming anyone who has breached woke mantra (those screenshots will be embarrassing if released before the election), but the recent wins of censorship at Massey University and the Pride Parade abortion seem to have emboldened woke theology to new heights of dangerously alienating self importance."
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/11/03/the-woke-cancellation-of-cindy-sheehan-helen-steel-plus-what-happens-when-the-wellington-woke-find-out-the-new-feminism-conference-venue/
If ever there was a 'best example' of the sheer ignorance among the media of today this one has to take the cake:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/our-biggest-tv-moments-50-years-since-first-network-news-bulletin-aired-in-nz
In the mid 1970s, NZ saw one of the most shameful acts of politically motivated racist bashing in modern history. South Pacific islanders – who had been encouraged to come to NZ as cheap labour by a previous National govt. – were rounded up at dawn and iirc taken to Mt Eden prison to be interrogated. It went down as one of the darkest hours of our political history.
The idiots who put the story together claimed Norman Kirk was the architect of the policy when it was, of course, Rob Muldoon:
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/dawn-raids-2005
The item starts at 1:42 mins. Sorry, forgot to include.
You mean at 1.12 Anne……thanks for the post btw.
Oops: that's what happens when you're doing two things at once.
I'm sorry Anne but I don't think you will find your claim to be true.
The raids started in 1974 when we had a Kirk Labour Government. They certainly continued, and increased in scale when Muldoon was PM but they did start in Kirk's time.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/ethnic-and-religious-intolerance/page-4
"Raids on the homes of alleged overstayers – usually at dawn, to catch people before they woke – began in 1974."
Most of the over-stayers of the time were not, in fact, from the Pacific Islands. There were more from Britain I believe.
Rubbish Alwyn it was all Muldoon…watch this video from 6.15 onwards
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/dawn-raids-2005
+1
Oh how history rhymes. Turns out it isn't just one damn thing after another.
And these days, there hasn't seemed to be many "learnings going forwards"
But "ultimately"……the latest f'up is more likely to blow up in our faces
Actually @ BG, it reminds me of an incident I encountered only a couple of years ago when one of those 'old school' type coppers came up to me in a supermarket (somewhere in NuZull up north from where I am) to tell me how embarrassed he felt having to witness what was going on at the time. I now realise he was probably on the 'force' at the time of those 'dawn raids'. We'd both witnessed the same thing.
Effectively dawn raids on a different demographic, and not at dawn. I wish to Christ now that we'd swapped details.
I'm sure many of the police hated the whole thing…they are probably haunted by it to this day.
I'm sure many of the police hated the anti-Springbok tour thing in 1981 too.
I wish someone would thoroughly research that era. Nicky Hager perhaps. So many hushed up stories to tell.
Kirk died in August 1974. Yes, there would have been an immigration led investigation to ascertain the extent of visa over-staying, but I doubt it had much to do with the Kirk government. It would have been part and parcel of the Immigration Department's normal work processes.
To infer as the TV item seemed to infer that the policy of targeting Pacific Islanders and introducing mass dawn raids was the work of Norman Kirk (who was a strong supporter of indigenous peoples around the world) showed gross ignorance on the part of TV1 news.
What's more it was TVNZ who produced the documentary linked to… which describes the entire episode in detail. They have no excuses.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/immigration-regulation/page-6
‘Three-month visas were in place from 1964, and annual quotas were set in 1967. But because the 1960s and early 1970s were years of economic expansion and labour shortages, the temporary visas and quotas were not strictly enforced. While the demand for unskilled labour remained high, the government in effect turned a blind eye to Samoans and other Pacific Islanders arriving on temporary visas and staying on, or arriving in greater numbers than the quotas allowed.
Pacific Island migration in the 1970s
The 1974 immigration policy review reaffirmed the free access to New Zealand of those born in the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau. It also stated that Western Samoa, as a territory formerly administered by New Zealand, ‘holds a special place in the policy’.
By the mid-1970s, demand for Pacific Island labour had diminished. The tolerance towards migrant workers on temporary permits from Western Samoa, Tonga and Fiji came to an end.
The 1974 review sought to make a clear distinction between migrants with a legal right to remain permanently in New Zealand and those who had overstayed after entering on visitor or temporary permits. Enforcing the distinction led to dawn raids on Pacific Island households in Auckland, and other measures.’
.
but
The statistics of prejudice
A study carried out in 1985–86 was revealing: it showed that whereas Pacific Island people comprised only a third of overstayers, they made up 86% of all prosecutions for overstaying.
Citizens from the United States and the United Kingdom who also made up almost a third of those overstaying, represented only 5% of prosecutions.
Yes. The doco I linked to @4 and Bearded Git @ 4.2.1 does cover most of your points. What, in essence, happened: Muldoon took advantage of a situation to have a particular group of people targeted for party political purposes, and it was not the only time he did that sort of thing.
I recall the "list of 100" names of people he released to the press who were supposed to have been "Communists". It included people who were not – and never had been – members of communist organisations but their reputations were permanently damaged. If I remember correctly he was taken to court by a few of them and was forced to pay them a few bob in damages. Well, I expect the tax payer paid them. People in high places could almost commit murder and never be brought to account.
Don't get too bitter about it all though @ Anne. These master of the universe 'types' eventually fuck themselves up one way or another. The more you comment, the more I realise we've probably witnessed many of the same sort of shit going on. (why the 4.2.1.1 above).
It was 4.2.1. Yes I think we have. There are some seriously bad stories to tell from that period – stories that should be brought out into the open now that 40 years have passed.
There are actually a couple of things that could lead to positive change (as that history is starting to rhyme).
One is that people who've been part of it all. and don't like what they've seen, and who've taken it on…….. never EVER agree to any sort of confidentiality agreement. (In a way, it's a shame Hager did with his settlement, but you can understand why).
To my mind, it's all a bit sad that this coalition have, and are making unnecessary work for themselves, and as a result, have to waste so much time playing catch-up
A couple of things I'm keeping an eye on at the mo' are the growing number of allegations of bullying in the Federales (and there are more elsewhere); Maori 'versus' govt. relations re OT and elsewhere; and the RCEP negotiations.
Whilst Damian O'C might find he can grovel enough to strike a deal over the "2 cow" farmer in India (if he doesn't get choked to death on the way through pollution – and even that's going to be a hard ask), he might just find that down the track, the 2 cow farmer doesn't want a bar of it after what Shane said, and after how manyfamily members have been royally ripped by a 'lil 'ole NuZull experience
The problem with the Muldoon era is that he and his mates (not all of them were in parliament btw) used information gathered by Public Service departments to score political points and to conduct vengeful acts against those he/they perceived to be enemies. The fault did not lie with the agencies who gathered the information, but rather the way Muldoon and his lackeys chose to use them.
We saw similar behaviour by the Key government although as far as I know that government didn't target individuals to the extent the Muldoon govt. did.
It should not be any surprise to anyone that it is always National governments who behave in this way. It's in their DNA to be deceitful and act in a spiteful manner when it suits them. Example… the Winston Peters court case which started in the High Court today.
Yes – thought I was hearing things 😣
Was at the folks place on sunday who insist on listening to red neck radio. Sure enough on comes Rimmer whining about the proposal the govt has to monitor the cyber world over mis-information.
He stated the govt can't be trusted to do this so and offered no alternatives…my there's a surprise that old self regulated approach that's worked so well.
Also we're 'legalising' MJ in a referendum next year they said, you could almost hear the knuckles being dragged around the studio floor dog whistling up a storm.
I heard today that in Queenstown dealers are now lacing tinnies ($20 of cannabis wrapped in foil) with P!!!! Apparently it's an easy way to introduce and get kids hooked on P.
Yet another demonstration on why we need to regulate and legalise cannabis.
Indeed yes.
If a Queenstown tinnie is laced with P that’s probably the safest thing it’s got in it. Last tinnie I saw here was some unidentifiable combustible matter that may have been vegetative, with a strange chemical smell. When it was lit up it smelled like a burning gumboot. I politely excused myself.
That’s why we need to legalise and regulate cannabis
Maybe it's also a reason why we also need to think about the sad state of the world and life that causes us to need to keep swallowing, smoking or sucking on something to make it bearable or provide pleasure.
In the meantime, a P laced tinny for a recovering P addict would be akin to giving an alcoholic a beverage laced with booze and not telling them.
Cannabis needs to be regulated and legalized.
Thinking about the state of the world re swallowing, smoking or whatever, won't stop gangs lacing tinnies with P.
Peter That's just part of human society – people are always looking for something to make them out of themselves. Too far, too often though.
I think Homo sapiens have been swallowing, smoking or sucking on something for whatever reason since we dragged ourselves upright.
It's part of the condition.
So it would help that the substances we consume could be properly identified.
Let the people grow
Fact is, folk get on the fries because they want to and because the shit is so popular, no one need bother lacing weed to attract new customers.
In the seventies moral hysteria had dealers lacing buddha sticks with smack and in 2006, TVNZ breathlessly speculated that marijuana was being laced with P, too.
Those moral outrages were arrant nonsense then and they're arrant nonsense today.
Kids should be banned from cannabis full stop.
Lacing it with P not an argument for regulation.
Yes kids should be banned from it.
Lacing it with P is one of many arguments for regulation, but it needs to be legalised before it can be regulated.
At least next year we all get a choice. Now that’s a good thing for sure.
How?
What are your legislative measures?
From the performance of this government, following the referendum, there's a further term dicking around before we get to the legislating it.
Julie Anne Genter wrote the members bill already before parliament. Outlined here:
https://www.greens.org.nz/page/drug-law-reform-policy
The Greens wanted to have legislation ready to go following the referendum but you can thank NZ First for the ‘dicking around’.
No government policy then, and no government bill either.
The bullet points are just a set of questions without definitions or edges at all.
We don't even have a medicinal cannabis regulation regime yet.
Nothing will change next year – in fact there's a good chance the referendum question will be too hard to actually frame as well.
On this policy area I would rather see both sides of the house agree.
I'm sure both sides of the house will gladly agree to do nothing. Happy?
Really enjoying your input Arkie, thanks for your valuable insight, it's much appreciated.
There's plenty of info, measures, legislation from other countries to draw on.
No doubt many such questions will be answered next year, including what happens when the people vote yes, timeline etc.
No doubt? Really?
No one should seek to find truth in election year.
My bet is after the Parliamentary debacle of the euthanasia bill, Ardern will 'captain's call' it and dump the whole idea.
Plenty more useful things to burn your political capital on.
I bet you she won't.
Chocolate fish time?
It is part of the Greens coalition agreement. Ardern is not going to 'captain call' herself out of another term in gummint. You just talk twaddle.
I agree in regards to legalisation and regulation however I highly doubt that the economics of drug dealing allow the lacing of marijuana with a much more expensive substance such as methamphetamine.
A better argument, in my opinion, is that any regulations, specifically age restrictions, are not possible to implement in a black market.
Cannabis needs to be regulated and legalised.
Yes, thought the same so I asked and the reply was…. P is cheaper than Pot.
I asked how.. response was… From a manufacturing/economic/labour intensive angle, weed takes 90 days to grow and maintain (power, water, security) and another two weeks to dry. Compared with hours to make P.
Except that marijuana is far far less expensive than P in pure monetary terms, that really is the be-all-end-all in these situations, unless we're talking about industrial-scale producers instead of the type of dealer who sells $20 worth a time.
Stranger things have happened.
Every age restriction generates a black market.
Where you place that limit is a major instrument in the size of the black market.
There is a black market for alcohol? This is news to me.
Any regulation is superior to no regulation.
You must have missed the consistent raids by Police to snare those serving to minors. You also missed the license renewal hearings in which alcohol sellers get grilled for really bad behaviour. Get out more.
Bad regulation amounts to just bullying by the state.
I was involved in a sting against alcohol retailers in my youth. The actions you are describing are because of a regulated market. They are actions enforcing the regulation.
I must have missed when the police raided the tinny houses to make sure they weren’t selling to minors. And when the gangs had to renew their license to sell marijuana and they got grilled for it. You’re coming across a little condescending.
Is your argument that current alcohol regulation is bullying by the state?
I'm just waiting for anyone to put up a regulatory framework that will be good for New Zealand.
As I noted above, every age limit regulation generates a criminalizing line, which is what such stings achieve.
Plenty of people talk about a limit for personal use, but that's already in operation by the Police anyway in who they choose to prosecute.
I just can't see what the point of decriminalization is.
When things are up to police discretion there is an over-enforcement based on racial lines.
'Good for New Zealand' appears to be a nebulous concept also. If the framework provide above is flawed in any way, please point it out.
currently both are banned and thus adults as much as kids and their dogs don't have access.
And this – lazing weed with a stronger drug to create addicts is one of the scare stories that might have a bit of truth to it – is a reason, one of many, as to why cannabis should be liberated, legalized, regulated and taxed in the same way as is booze.
Yikes – environmental damage we do while we are looking for our 'precious'
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/environmental-disaster-gold-industry-180949762/
Gold mining = bird deaths. Tailings dams are full of nasty toxins and you better hope it's structurally sound Te Aroha.
I heard from a waihi local that the martha mine will be filled with water so the tunnels under the town don't collapse when it's finally all over.
Gold's like oil, valuable with many takers so the plunder continues.
Depends whether mining ore or alluvial gold. Alluvial gold doesn't need chemicals like cyanide as separation is done on density. No problems with acid leaching either as everything has been well rolled down a river.
Tailings dams: got to wonder how well engineered they are, been spectacular failures of some for various reasons. Waihi is not that far from active faults & Coromandel has been known to get heavy rain.
Helen Kelly RIP – two years on, what Dylan has to say is fresh and shoulg be bright in our minds. This remaining bit and a full year coming, the pace needs to intensify, the moves be co-ordinated. Another term of Labour Coalition is essential.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/01-11-2017/on-a-new-government-kindness-and-the-unfinished-legacy-of-my-mother-helen-kelly/
The Smithsonian had a great image. What about some of the resorts in the Pacific sponsoring underwater statues that shelter the fish when the coral reefs are dead or suffering from heat? They could charge for trips in little submersibles and ask for donations for ongoing remediation of the reef.
This image was in a 2014 article – five years later why isn't this top news with massive projects?
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/underwater-museum-180951559/
Climate change and the Gulf stream with maps and coloured pictures. Almost as good as tv. I hadn't seen this explanation so here it is from the Beeb if you didn't see it in 2018.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44875508
During my youth I was fortunate enough to enjoy all that Motiti offered.
This decision has made my day.
Environmentalists and residents of a small island are celebrating a "significant" court win in their bid to protect fish and seabirds.
Six elderly kuia and kaumātua from Motiti Island took on the combined might of the Crown, local government, powerful iwi and the commercial fishing industry.
The tiny hapū won, backed by Forest and Bird "groundbreaking" rulings in the Environment and High courts in 2017 that gave local councils powers to regulate fishing to protect native species. But the Government appealed the decision.
Now the Court of Appeal has ruled regional councils can use the Resource Management Act to control fishing to protect biodiversity.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/117140184/motiti-residents-win-significant-battle-to-protect-the-waters-around-their-island
+1
Oh great now the QMS is going to be managed by those inbred morons running tiny tinpot coastal councils.
Those MPI hardasses will serve them up like sushi.
The QMS is so bad any change cannot help but improve it.
I'm just coming on interesting stuff – not trying to take over the blog! The weather is good, everyone spring planting?
Here is a great example of the overbearing attitudes to morality with an inability to decide what is perversion, what counts as prurience, and what is just simple pride of body or privately sexual. This teacher had an image of the privately sexual between her and her male adult friend who was also a teacher at the school; it was broadcast to the swine, and the school rubbished the pearls. Naked bodies are not bad, and we are not in Victorian times, and the uptight, prurient people who would sack a teacher and spoil her career have got dirty minds.
I think that part of sexual education for teenagers, should include full naked body pictures of both sexes and then discussions on having respect for each other, and what the teenagers need to know and want to know about growing up and the sexualisation seen regularly.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/apr/19/lauren-miranda-teacher-topless-photo-speaks-out
However there is a woman teacher, or was, who liked to fiddle with her Marlborough teenage pupil's penises. Now that is inappropriate, and has gone before the Courts.
Didn't the Python lads do this already???
I'd link, but phone. Meaning of Life if memory serves…jolly good scene.
I'll have a look for that Rosemary. I can do with a laugh.
So, what would you do as a fresh Green Mayor with a territory that encloses a mine permit on a massive trove of fossils, and wanting to make your mark?
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dunedin-council-wants-buy-foulden-maar
Well, if you're Mayor Arron Perkins from Dunedin, you slap a Public Works Act notice on its ass.
Boom, Mr Perkins.
Didn't the Python lads do this already???
I'd link, but phone. Meaning of Life if memory serves…jolly good scene.
And here it is Rosemary – I hadn't seen it before, very instructional. I think that it should be used by all secondary schools that want to turn out well-informed young adults. But as it contains material some will find of objectionable nature and against the mores of society, I place it here at the bottom of yesterday's post. So all the naughty boys and girls who make the effort to seek it out can enjoy it away from the main thrust of political argument that perverts our minds and limits our endeavours to make a better life.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDoQFcQEpOQ
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018720667/melbourne-cup-marred-by-footage-of-horrific-horse-killings
This is sad. And the news piece is good because it fills in the background somewhat so we know what's behind it.
Over-production of racehorses and dealing with them brutally, tomorrow the wealthy callous will do it to us. Falun Gong and Uighur for instance. How do we get change?
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/apr/11/china-hi-tech-war-on-muslim-minority-xinjiang-uighurs-surveillance-face-recognition
Kia Ora Breakfast.
Why don't they change the date for guy fawkes to a winter date move if forward 2 months less fire risk and more night hours.
That's awesome that the Koala Bears that were caught in a Australia Bush fire are being treated for their burns.
Money needs to be changed to a system that rewards good behaviour and does not reward bad behaviour.
Innovation to Create Equitable Neighbourhood is a great idea you app will be a great secess.
Yes it all comes down to the design if one puts enough effort into the design so everything can live in harmony in the Neighbourhood. Papatuanuku has been perfecting her creature design for billions of years.
What up set me is all the alcohol shops gambling bars all placed around low social economics places I smell something bad going down there.
Ka kite Ano
Here we are this is a great idea installing a huge Solar farm to save carbon and putea. Congratulations on making the correct move for your business and Aotearoa.
The country's largest solar farm is to be built at Marsden Pt after Refining NZ decided to go ahead with the $37m project.
The solar farm will cover 31ha and is intended to reduce the cost of electricity for Refining NZ's operations at the Marsden Pt Refinery.
The solar farm will supply 26.7 MW – about 10 per cent of the refinery's electricity needs. The project was mooted earlier this year but has just received the approval of its board.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=12282426
I say the opposite that mass migration in Aotearoa is designed to take Mana away from Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa.
How well if we only had 4 million people the percentage of Maori and our Pacific Cousin would be 40 % and that is when we can truly have a say on what happens on the political screen in Aotearoa. What I see is what is good for Māori is also good for our Pacific Cousin.
New Zealand at 5 million
New Zealand's migrant boom is good news for Māori. It empowers us.
In April 2003, the year New Zealand’s population hit 4 million, statisticians were predicting the country would hit at 4.8 million people in 2046.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/05/new-zealands-migrant-boom-is-good-news-for-maori-it-empowers-us
Kia Ora 1 News
I think that we should keep cash going some people like using cash.
I thank the 11000 scientists and Sir David Attenborough for letting Te Papatuanuku know we have to act now to minimise and mitigate Global Warming.
The Papatuanuku rarest Sea Gulls thriving in Christchurch the Black beaked Gull that's cool.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Its good that fireworks is being banned from the Taramaki Makaru volcano cones.
I tau toko tangata whenua advocateing a ban on driving on the beach in Taramaki Makaru the vehicle are making a mess of our shellfish living in that environment.
I great to see heaps of Te tamariki joining Te Kapa Haka roopu.
Ka kite Ano.
Nukutaimemeha is the WAKA my Tupuna sailed to Aotearoa on.
Kia Ora Breakfast.
I say $26 million should have been spent on rooftop solar subsidies at 20 % that would could draw in $130 million private putea total investment in solar $156 million. We don’t need a satellite to tell us what we already know their is to much carbon being pumped into our atmosphere.
Ka kite Ano
The way I see it national is the cause of these social security problems rents are spiking. Who kept making those statements there is know housing shortage who also flooded Aotearoa with new people. The Coalition government has made live much easier for the lower class look at what happen to Winz under a national government national prioritie is to line there own pockets.
Look a the garden lady do you think it's a coincidence that she is stepping down with what Winston is occupied with at the minute I think not.
Ka kite Ano
The biggest gang in New Zealand is cheating again they are sending the council down to stuff with me
The climate change deniers have bagged Solar and Wind power for decades now we can see that the combination of solar wind and batteries can be used as base load power. We have some back seats warmers who will not do the correct thing and back Aotearoa new climate laws I bet they will vote no.
Wind turbines at Kennedy Energy Park in Queensland.
The answer to the renewable energy industry’s biggest challenge is emerging in the Australian outback.
Early next year, one of the first power projects that combine solar and wind generation with battery storage is planning to start up in northern Queensland state. The Kennedy Energy Park, just outside the sleepy town of Hughendon, will combine 43 megawatts of wind and 20 megawatts of solar with a 2-megawatt Tesla Inc. lithium-ion battery
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2019-11-05/answer-to-green-power-s-top-problem-emerges-from-sleepy-outback
Kia Ora 1 News.
That's good that Oranga tamariki is apologising to that young Wahine for their big mistakes.
Condolences to the people who died in the Remarkable in Queens Town family.
That's was shocking the family being shot by the New Mexico border.
That's sad that the study on Orcas in Antarctica has been cancelled. Why did the Canterbury University cancel it. A.
The Bear in the dumpster is qute.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
How do you end up with a person running a organisation that clearly knows nothing about the cultures of the people they have to interact with the most.
Its a good start to our journey to a zero-carbon future for our Mokopuna.
Mr Titi its OK for tangata whenua who are doing great in this system to cast judgement but your views are biest if only you could see what Eco Maori see you would soon change your mind.
Hine sue get people to donate start a give a little page. I think a bit of cheating has gone down.
That's awesome to see 3 Wahine Maori becoming lawyers.
Ka kite Ano.