With the election silly season fast approaching I feel tempted to make some predictions/observations (yes, just my ‘reckons.’)
First, Chippy will take Labour to north of 35% and could even be touching 40%. Chippy is very relatable, and a consummate politician; he will slaughter Luxon in any televised leaders debate.
Expect Seymour to agitate for a wider leaders panel than just Labour and National, in an effort to shore up support for the right.
Luxon was an a-licker as he rose through the corporate business ranks and surrounded himself with a-lickers as a CEO. He’s not used to people questioning him (and it shows) and he’s politically shallow – a repeater of meaningless slogans and empty catch-phrases. He will be hopelessly outclassed in any debates.
National will barely make 30% under Luxon (but could touch 33% under Willis) and the greater % Act achieves, the lesser the Natz will get.
Willis would be a disaster for NZ (another Ruth Richardson). She has zero sympathy for bottom feeders (about the only thing she agrees with her CEO on); her ‘hard-working taxpayers’ are her own upper middle class, whose concern about the cost of living crisis is whether they can only afford the Gold Coast rather than the Turkish Riviera for their second overseas trip this year.
Seymour is going to be a very busy boy this election cycle. The Act party lacks even a modicum of talent outside Seymour and perhaps van Velden; to be fair, Seymour has held the party together silently and tightly these last few years, but he must be terrified one of his largely anonymous MPs will say or do something outrageous. Particularly the NRA gun-nut lady.
Act could very possibly reach 15%, but that’s about their limit, unless they start robbing the Natz of votes. If Act reach 20% the Natz will plummet to a record low (even lower than Bill English managed).
The Greens will achieve their customary 10% and could/will do much better, maybe north of 15% (at Labour’s expense). Most thinking people recognise the Greens as the party of environmental and social change, and with climate change biting us on the bum big time, most realise that the only way we may be able to get through the crisis is with a strong, well-resourced and interventionist government.
A party [Natz] that promises to make the wealthy more wealthy, the bottom-feeders more desperate, to flood the country with cheap labour, to hock off parts of the health and education systems and service industries so their mates can make a quick bob or two (ref. water services in England) is so very very out of touch.
Te Paarti Maori could/will be the dark horse of this election. If they can marshal their voting base to secure four or five seats, while I don’t believe they’ll hold the balance of power, they could, with the Greens, force Labour to the left.
A lot depends on the Labour tax policy. If it is progressive it may take some of the support the Greens will enjoy, but I’m not holding my breath!
This election really is a ‘me’ vs ‘we’ election; with the boomers staging their last stand (a bit like General Gordon at Khartoum in 1883; the defence lasted a long time, but failed in the end), the voting momentum has swung to the younger generations, and if they turn out to vote in numbers, we shall have a third term Labour government with the Greens and TPM achieving some spectacular concessions!
The politcal polls are close to junk esp re minor parties now at least part of the panel is self selecting. There has been a pretty concerted effort to sign up to the panels with a view to essentially trolling / manipulating the polling companies. Eminates from a couple reddit subs.
Well done Tony. Of course Nat/Act won't be interested in the poorer people or their vote and therefore their message is for the rich and the would/be rich.
Wonder why the very rich are investing big money in Nat/Act?
“. Most thinking people recognise the Greens as the party of environmental…”- pity that impression is very misplaced – whist their constitution places this prominently they continue to select list candidates that on their bios make little or no mention. Action speaks louder than hollow words !!!I commented this when their list at the last election came out and of those that were to make parliament based on the polls at the time only 2 made any environmental claims !!I bet only a few older supporters would know anything about “ban the dam” song or its history! Time to call the greens out I am sorry they are not the environmental party of the 1990’s but still trade on that. And for your climate change any party that believes that we can buy Carbon credits form overseas to cover for our failure to meet international commitments, by action IMO displays that they do not take this seriously.
Get personal instead of addressing any issues raised – Typical. And the world continues to get hotter and we are let down by a lack lustre Green Party and supporters who accept blindly.
as I said the Green party today and an inferior image of what was. And as an aside do you know with searching the environmental history of this country and John Hanlon’s song ??
perhaps you need to educate yourself ??🤫 thinking you are not.
Tony has made some nice points here. To respond to just two…Act MP Nicole McKee of COLFO (NZ Council of Licensed Firearms Owners) fame downplayed her “love is a warm gun” views since becoming an MP. COLFO did have links to the American NRA via International Sports Shooting organisations, but the references were deleted from their online presence. COLFO makes out it is a grassroots outfit but in reality more represents the gun industry and lobby.
Get ’em enrolled, get ’em on the Māori roll, and importantly–get ’em voting! At Kaitaia market every Sat an Electoral Commission stand has been doing good business. The guy in charge has full moko and has been around a bit.
Some of my reckons are…the generational voter shift is starting to become evident, though it will likely be 2026 before it fully impacts.
The rise of Act in parliamentary politics was initiated by the Natzos Epsom deal, without that life support they would have been out of Parliament years ago. ACT is AO/NZ’s MAGA in many ways and their policy if ever allowed, would swing a wrecking ball through Te Tiriti, Fair Pay Agreements, and hundreds of other incremental reforms achieved in the last few years.
The primary task is to keep Natzo/Act preferably well away, or even a seat away if it comes down to it, from political office on October 14.
Bartholomew Frintin Smurth, Humphrey Wigbert Porter. and Quinton Breckenridge have been suspended by the Marylebone Cricket Club because of frightfully bad behaviour over Australia cheating at cricket.
You won't believe it, but the education establishment is actually doing something clever! Naturally, teachers are freaking out in response:
Science teachers are shocked that an advance version of the draft school science curriculum contains no mention of physics, chemistry or biology.
The so-called "fast draft" said science would be taught through four contexts – the Earth system, biodiversity, food, energy and water, and infectious diseases. It was sent to just a few teachers for their feedback ahead of its release for consultation next month, but some were so worried by the content they leaked it to their peers.
Teachers who had seen the document told RNZ they had grave concerns about it. It was embarrassing, and would lead to "appalling" declines in student achievement, they said.
Teachers predicting the future. Fearfully so. You can see the tacit assumption operating: we must do as we've always done, and pretend that global disaster isn't happening.
Dunno who we ought to credit for steering education towards survival and resilience. Run it by any youngsters you know, see if they like the idea of learning how to survive.
"What we are pushing towards with the current fast draft is more of a holistic approach to how the different science concepts interact with each other rather than a purist, siloed approach."
Nat/Lab voters will be bamboozled by this. They are congenitally unable to think in such a sophisticated manner. Silos forever!
The Ministry of Education said it was still finalising the draft document. "We are currently in the process of completing the draft science content based on feedback from fast testing, as well as being guided by national and international research such as PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). We will then go out for wider sector and public feedback from August to late October this year, with a full draft, and sufficient time for people to give us feedback," it said.
Actually being wholistic about science is a good idea. Most topics are multi "subject". Imagine dealing with flooding as having many legs with Biology and Physics and Chemistry involved. Would a Chemistry trained expert be much help?
If such a person had specialised in biochem, then yes. Focus would be on remedial action such as desalinating sea incursions into arable land, or the effect of excess silt & clay from river floods…
Has a year nine lad visit to help with his homework. While he worked on his computer, I bottled a brew.
The science involved in that! Alcohol by volume, yeast working, airborne yeasts and contamination, vinegar, sugar and CO2, sterilisation of bottles, accuracy of measurement with hydrometers and with ingredients, specific gravity, optimum temperatures for brewing, secondary fermentation…. it goes on.
A science teacher at my school taught science by brewing beer. However, the boys weren't allowed to sample the finished product. Some staff did help out.
A few years back I read a description of bacteria riding air currents in the upper atmosphere – part of Gaia. Invisible ecosystems up above.
That contamination effect you mention reminds us that we breathe in such organisms routinely too. Cilia in the lungs evolved to remove particles we breathe in but maybe we absorb organisms into our microbiome too…
My guess is that the new curriculum is written by people with education PhDs – which are considered joke qualifications among others with PhDs.
In my experience they are generally not very bright and spend a lot of time promoting philosophical ideas they don't really understand. I have zero confidence that these changes will be positive.
In view of the track record of our educational establishment, such scepticism is inevitable. However traditionalism = collective brain death nowadays. So any innovative trend ought to be encouraged.
I specifically agree with you re the promoting/applying interface. Leftwingers usually default towards idealism, and thus impracticality. It's vital to get the application of any survival strategy right. Education must not produce another generation of virtue-signallers. Enough of that shit already!
Return to first principles by examining the root of the word:
there are two different Latin roots of the English word "education." They are "educare," which means to train or to mold, and "educere," meaning to lead out. While the two meanings are quite different, they are both represented in the word "education." Thus, there is an etymological basis for many of the vociferous debates about education today.
The opposing sides often use the same word to denote two very different concepts. One side uses education to mean the preservation and passing down of knowledge and the shaping of youths in the image of their parents. The other side sees education as preparing a new generation for the changes that are to come–readying them to create solutions to problems yet unknown. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ724880
It's that latter meaning which provides the survival skill. The former will merely produce another generation of suitwearing dorks failing at everything they do.
Your comment is rude, biased, and ignorant. You trash Education PhDs based on hearsay, without any rational & reasonable argument, and without any evidence to back it up. I guess that you have no idea of what Science is or how to teach it. You have drawn a conclusion based on virtually nothing other than hot air about a leaked but non-disclosed document without even knowing what’s in it. I consider your comment a sick joke.
I find it incredible the Tenancy Tribunal considers $12000 a high award. It should be 10x that as a starting point. The pathetically small penalties NZ’s amateur landlords face are no disincentive for criminal behaviour.
Soundly based on our neocolonial history, therefore impossible to invalidate, his thesis stands. However our economy is based on more than that triad. It ramped up to a tetrad via the inclusion of tech as 4th element. Invention, innovation, know-how, are all fundamental drivers of western economies.
Just look at the transformative effect of refrigeration in the 1880s, that produced seven or eight decades of wealth flow from Britain to here. I recall NZ being identified as having the highest standard of living in the world when I was a kid.
Which really does force us to include trade as a 5th element, ramping the whole up into a pentad. But look at the interesting part of his 2nd pillar: migrant workers. I heard on the radio recently folks discussing Labour's immigration stats – apparently last year back up to record inflow. Doesn't matter if infrastructure can't cope & the country gets constipated in consequence, jam more foreigners in somehow. Shanty-towns along the desert road could become a tourist attraction…
So much of our intellectual, artistic and call work can be done from anywhere now that the centralisation of work to main centres could be reversed and jobs spread more widely across rural areas. This would add to rural economies, boost Maori employment into better quality sustainable work, make NZ more resilient and reduce pressure on urban infrastructure.
We only don't do this due to a failure of our poor management elite to be able to cope and adapt despite the high undeserved salaries they are paid.
It is time for government to take a lead on this who are likely one of the worst at taking jobs away from regions and sticking them in main centres – to the point that departments like IRD, TEC, MBIE etc have no boots on the ground.
The world's average temperature reached a new high on Monday 3 July, topping 17 degrees Celsius for the first time.
US researchers said the new record was the highest in any instrumental record dating back to the end of the 19th century. Last month has also been confirmed as the world's warmest June yet recorded.
So Labour & National are on the right track. Suit-wearers will be delighted that their culture is producing such dramatic results. Grab a Nat/Lab politician & slap them on the back, tell them to remain staunch & they can reach further new heights of achievement.
Historical Notes affirms that "Plato wished to burn all the writings of Democritus that he could collect". In his own lifetime, Plato was not in a position to destroy all copies of his rival's writings, but Plato's purpose was largely achieved through the choices made by scribes in later Classical times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_book-burning_incidents
Operation Dark Heart, memoir by Anthony Shaffer (by the U. S. Dept. of Defense). On September 20, 2010, the Pentagon bought and burned 9,500 copies of Operation Dark Heart, nearly all the first run copies for supposedly containing classified information.
The Conseil scolaire catholique Providence that oversees elementary and secondary schools in Southwestern Ontario held a "flame purification" ceremony in 2019, burning and burying 5,000 books from 30 Southwestern Ontario French-language schools for depicting racist stereotypes of Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Tintin in America and Asterix and the Great Crossing were among the burned books.
That shit happened all the time at the school I was at.
Would have been nice at the time if people were concerned at all about stopping it. Like this instance those in charge i.e. teachers were part of the problem in condoning it.
Guess it was supposed to make you a man.
About twenty years ago I met an 88 year old man. The father of a colleague. She happened to mention to him that I too had gone to the same school as he had. The mere mention of the school had him visibly shaking. Took us half an hour to calm him down. His treatment at that school had him scarred and hurt for life. His daughter was completely unaware of the trauma he had gone through.
We have heard similar stories from the recent enquiries into abuse in state care. How the fuck is this still happening? The more the rhetoric of crime and punishment is pushed, the more the bring back the cane it didn't do me any harm brigade pushes their message, the more gangs push the don't nark, might is right attitude and behaviour the more it will continue.
While the extreme right attitudes and the community culture in gangs mirror each other in the survival of the fittest approach this will continue.
Years ago, the anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about clay pots, tools for hunting, grinding-stones, or religious artifacts.
But no. Mead said that the first evidence of civilization was a 15,000 years old fractured femur found in an archaeological site. A femur is the longest bone in the body, linking hip to knee. In societies without the benefits of modern medicine, it takes about six weeks of rest for a fractured femur to heal. This particular bone had been broken and had healed.
Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, you cannot drink or hunt for food. Wounded in this way, you are meat for your predators. No creature survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. You are eaten first.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that another person has taken time to stay with the fallen, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended them through recovery. A healed femur indicates that someone has helped a fellow human, rather than abandoning them to save their own life.
No doubt Israel Adesanya and his gym mates are heroes of many of the inmates in the Oranga Tamariki residence. I wonder if the aim of the fighting in this instance was entertainment, (in MMA/UFC smashing someone's head in is great entertainment) or to see someone 'get a hiding.'
Could the staff instead have taken the young people out for a game of league with whooping and hollering for big hits, the bigger the smashes the louder the acclamation?
All of Shanidar 1’s injuries show signs of healing, so none of them resulted in his death. In fact, scientists estimate he lived until 35–45 years of age. He would have been considered old to another Neandertal, and he would probably not have been able to survive without the care of his social group.
The poem was written in response to Meads' findings but in late 2019 into early 2020 as some descended into various dark tunnels during Covid this was a great revelation hence the references to being woke, to compassion, to caring.
This sits so well with post #8 about the 10 symptoms of the woke virus.
Law and order are going to be a major policy plank for the Nats etc. So I went looking for answers to the issue society is having with youth crime. Looking at the range of articles I found on Google Scholar, we are not alone.
”To summarize these changes and overall impact of COVID-19 in the words of an essential employee from the Northeast United States [U.S.], “It’s f***ing chaos” (M.B., personal communications, May 13, 2020).”
Despite all the platitudes coming from the likes of Mark Mitchell, there are no easy answers.
”COVID-19 as a Seminal Event for Ongoing Reform
Community-based diversionary practices show to be more cost-effective and safer for youths’ health. We hope to see even greater implementation of evidence-based practices that account for youths’ risks and needs by responding accordingly with proper services and resources in the community. We also recommend that we learn from the lived experiences of juvenile justice-involved youths, staff, and other essential personnel. By directly asking their insights on an unprecedented situation and lessons learned for the future, we can better support our juvenile populations and essential employees.”
Fat chance an intelligent debate will be had with the vacuous Luxon, and Mitchell banging the Laura Norder drum.
I think the Kiri Allen situation is a massive beat up… But the PM is making a massive mistake by not seeing her face to face before he goes to Europe.
All he's going to get in Europe are questions about her and whatever dirt nationals got on some other minister mp.
It's weird af that he's not seeing her before he goes and means the issue is going to fester and be the top story every day for two weeks till he sees her when he gets back.
He should have demanded to see her this week and then expressed confidence or fired her not leave it up in the air or make excuse like "she needs time with her family" so do most workers, but they can't get a day off.
He should see her, express confidence or fire her and then to change the narrative, announce an election policy, then fly out to Europe.
Labour has been horrendously bad at coms for two years now.
Spray and walk away, change the narrative
Announcing a tax package just before he goes wouldn't be a bad idea.
People are getting quite sick and tired of hearing policies from every other party, and whenever a party comes up with a new idea, labour shrugs and craps all over the idea, without telling us their ideas.
It makes labour look like National in 2017. Whenever any idea was thrown out national would say no and pretend there's no problem and that we should change nothing.
Agree Hipkins should deal with this..and by not doing so opens himself up to incessant (irrelevant) questioning for the next period.
Can only assume that for whatever reason they (Labour) believe this is the best way of dealing with it….as you note, their form to date dosnt inspire confidence.
who watched the rude and hectoring interrogation by manbum ryuan bridges of Kelvin Davis on the telly this morning. I was disgusted by his behaviour and if this is so called civil society then I will go he.
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There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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 ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
In this extract from The Bulletin, Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the proposed law and the ongoing concern about it. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Where we’re at with the fast-track ...
The revamped school lunch programme is budgeting $3 per lunch, rather than the current $8. But is it really so simple to cut costs? Shanti Mathias investigates. Last week, associate education minister and Act Party leader David Seymour announced the government’s revamped school lunch programme, which will provide food to ...
A rest home with a concierge, iced tea fountain, hybrid Jaguars to drive, and caviar on the menu. That’s not imaginary or from some far-flung country – it’s reality here in Aotearoa. Oceania Healthcare just officially opened ‘The Helier’ – a retirement apartment and aged-care complex in the Auckland suburb ...
Exactly 100 years ago, on the eve of another Paris Olympics, young Kiwi Gwitha Shand was the talk of the swimming world. The 19-year-old from Christchurch had broken the world record in the 440-yard freestyle multiple times leading up to the 1924 Olympics, and was described in newspapers as one ...
The New Zealand book trade is still reeling after the shock news that Penguin has axed its head of publishing. The redundancy comes just as the biggest week of the year in New Zealand literature is set to take place. The winners of the Ockham national book awards are announced ...
The USA and China are beefing, Winston Peters is getting sued by some Australian guy, and Helen Clark and Don Brash are friends now? Here’s everything you need to know about Aukus but were too afraid to ask. What is Aukus?Aukus, which stands for Australia, the United Kingdom, and ...
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Opinion: The cold weather and spikes in power demand have been well handled by the electricity system The post No need to shock with a fake crisis appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Asia Pacific Report About 1000 people in Aotearoa New Zealand gathered for a two-hour rally in central Auckland today and marched down Queen Street and returned to Aotea Square to mark the Nakba three days early — and protest over Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. They called for an immediate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As it looks to an election next year when holding up Labor’s female vote will be vital, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has declared Tuesday will bring “a budget for mums and middle Australia”. “The primary ...
By Repeka Nasiko in Suva “Justice has won,” says Fiji’s acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku following the sentencing of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho. Speaking to The Fiji Times, Rabuku said that while they welcomed the judgment by acting Chief Justice Salesi ...
The foreign affairs minister has landed in Solomon Islands for the first leg of his Pacific tour, and an audience with the newly elected Prime Minister. ...
On an unusually hot night in January 2019, a little boy’s lifeless body was found face up in a small town’s sewage oxidation pond. To the police, it was an open and shut case: three-year-old Lachlan Jones had run away from his home in the Southland town of Gore, climbed ...
PNG Post-Courier New Zealand High Commissioner Peter Zwart and PNG Defence Minister Dr Billy Joseph welcomed a C-130 Hercules to Port Moresby this week to support Papua New Guinea’s response to the March 24 earthquake and recent severe flooding. “Papua New Guinea has requested New Zealand’s assistance to transport emergency ...
Grub Street King Luxon rode through the streets Of King’s Landing, and was troubled By the sight of hungry urchins in the mud. “Who would be the best of my Lords To deal with this negative optic?” He pondered. The answer came to him instantly. “Seymour!” he said to himself. ...
“The Bill does not provide environmental protection, good quality decision making, certainty, public participation or speed. It should be withdrawn.” ...
RNZ News Television New Zealand has breached its collective agreement with the E tū union when deciding on discontinuing programmes, the Employment Relations Authority has ruled. It was announced in March that 68 staff members who work for news programmes Midday and Tonight, consumer justice programme Fair Go, current affairs ...
Asia Pacific Report Barangay New Zealand’s Rene Molina has interviewed the country’s first Filipino Green MP Francisco Hernandez who was sworn into Parliament yesterday as the party’s latest member. This is the first interview with Hernandez who replaces former Green Party co-leader James Shaw after his retirement from politics to ...
An Australian Strategic Policy Institute report says Pillar Two could raise the industry to state of the art capability - or "crush" it "under the weight of the globe's biggest player". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marlene Longbottom, Associate Professor, Indigenous Education & Research Centre, James Cook University ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the violence experienced by First Nations people in encounters with the Australian carceral system. It also contains references to ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
The New Zealand comedy legend takes us through her life in television, including the time she hugged Elton John and the unshakeable legacy of a girl named Lyn. In 1981, Ginette McDonald stood on the stage of Auckland’s St James Theatre and directly addressed Queen Elizabeth II. It was a ...
An essay by Lily Duval from the just-released anthology Otherhood: Essays on being childless, childfree and child adjacent.I was 22 when my friend Alice gave birth in the living room of our pokey Addington flat. She laboured in the blow-up pool for hours. Garish fish swam along the inflated ...
Ella Borrie on the best books about motherhood she’s come across so far. Over the past few years I’ve been drawn to books about motherhood. I’m fascinated by the joys and horrors of becoming a parent. The question of children also feels more pressing than it used to. It’s like ...
Out of gift ideas for mum? You can’t go wrong with a bottle of toilet cleaner and a new squeegee. Emily Writes is the writer and editor of Emily Writes Weekly. This week marks five years since I published a post on The Spinoff about Mother’s Day marketing titled ‘A ...
My husband is posted overseas for 12 months and I’m armed with an expensive, newfangled vibrator. Will I miss him? The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.A few days after my husband leaves, a new sex toy arrives at the front door. Nestled ...
Jaimie Baird’s new book Here Today Gone Tomorrow is a record of four decades of graffiti and street art in Wellington, told through more than 1,200 photographs. He spoke with Joel MacManus about what inspired the book. How did you first get interested in photographing street art? I remember ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at a busy week where food of all political leanings dominated. Sometimes you’re just going about your week thinking you’ve got a good handle on what might be coming as far as news topics and then someone (usually a politician) says something so ridiculous that ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
In a week of cold rain and frost, the climate in courtroom four upstairs at the Invercargill courthouse was simmering with restrained indignation. At times it felt like the famous Mexican standoff scene from Reservoir Dogs, or, as someone watching the proceedings described it, there was so much throwing of ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
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With the election silly season fast approaching I feel tempted to make some predictions/observations (yes, just my ‘reckons.’)
This election really is a ‘me’ vs ‘we’ election; with the boomers staging their last stand (a bit like General Gordon at Khartoum in 1883; the defence lasted a long time, but failed in the end), the voting momentum has swung to the younger generations, and if they turn out to vote in numbers, we shall have a third term Labour government with the Greens and TPM achieving some spectacular concessions!
Nice summary Veitchy…I hope you are right.
TPM got 7% in yesterday's Roy Morgan and could be more of a force than you think.
The politcal polls are close to junk esp re minor parties now at least part of the panel is self selecting. There has been a pretty concerted effort to sign up to the panels with a view to essentially trolling / manipulating the polling companies. Eminates from a couple reddit subs.
Well done Tony. Of course Nat/Act won't be interested in the poorer people or their vote and therefore their message is for the rich and the would/be rich.
Wonder why the very rich are investing big money in Nat/Act?
“. Most thinking people recognise the Greens as the party of environmental…”- pity that impression is very misplaced – whist their constitution places this prominently they continue to select list candidates that on their bios make little or no mention. Action speaks louder than hollow words !!!I commented this when their list at the last election came out and of those that were to make parliament based on the polls at the time only 2 made any environmental claims !!I bet only a few older supporters would know anything about “ban the dam” song or its history! Time to call the greens out I am sorry they are not the environmental party of the 1990’s but still trade on that. And for your climate change any party that believes that we can buy Carbon credits form overseas to cover for our failure to meet international commitments, by action IMO displays that they do not take this seriously.
Ah, but I did say 'thinking' people!
Get personal instead of addressing any issues raised – Typical. And the world continues to get hotter and we are let down by a lack lustre Green Party and supporters who accept blindly.
as I said the Green party today and an inferior image of what was. And as an aside do you know with searching the environmental history of this country and John Hanlon’s song ??
perhaps you need to educate yourself ??🤫 thinking you are not.
None of the political parties address the issue of climate change with the urgency it requires!
But . . . the Greens are light years ahead of the Natz, and Act don't even believe climate change is a thing!
Give me the Greens any day over ALL the rest!
Tony has made some nice points here. To respond to just two…Act MP Nicole McKee of COLFO (NZ Council of Licensed Firearms Owners) fame downplayed her “love is a warm gun” views since becoming an MP. COLFO did have links to the American NRA via International Sports Shooting organisations, but the references were deleted from their online presence. COLFO makes out it is a grassroots outfit but in reality more represents the gun industry and lobby.
Re Te Pāti Māori, being the er, “dark horse”…
TPM are well aware of the age bubble re young Māori numbers…
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/maori-population-estimates-at-30-june-2022/
Get ’em enrolled, get ’em on the Māori roll, and importantly–get ’em voting! At Kaitaia market every Sat an Electoral Commission stand has been doing good business. The guy in charge has full moko and has been around a bit.
Some of my reckons are…the generational voter shift is starting to become evident, though it will likely be 2026 before it fully impacts.
The rise of Act in parliamentary politics was initiated by the Natzos Epsom deal, without that life support they would have been out of Parliament years ago. ACT is AO/NZ’s MAGA in many ways and their policy if ever allowed, would swing a wrecking ball through Te Tiriti, Fair Pay Agreements, and hundreds of other incremental reforms achieved in the last few years.
The primary task is to keep Natzo/Act preferably well away, or even a seat away if it comes down to it, from political office on October 14.
Should add that Act of course did have a higher profile previous to the collapse of the ’00s. All sorts of scandals with their various MPs over the years–Mr Garrett swiping a dead kids ID, that sort of thing.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4130949/MP-used-dead-childs-birth-certificate
Natzos came to the rescue of course for MMP reasons, amusing now as Baldrick struggles.
Bartholomew Frintin Smurth, Humphrey Wigbert Porter. and Quinton Breckenridge have been suspended by the Marylebone Cricket Club because of frightfully bad behaviour over Australia cheating at cricket.
For the many not the few.
That was a spoof report. It's been doing the rounds and some have been taken in, but the names are made up.
ah ok…thanks Observer. Sounded too good to be true.
You won't believe it, but the education establishment is actually doing something clever! Naturally, teachers are freaking out in response:
Teachers predicting the future. Fearfully so. You can see the tacit assumption operating: we must do as we've always done, and pretend that global disaster isn't happening.
Dunno who we ought to credit for steering education towards survival and resilience. Run it by any youngsters you know, see if they like the idea of learning how to survive.
Nat/Lab voters will be bamboozled by this. They are congenitally unable to think in such a sophisticated manner. Silos forever!
Actually being wholistic about science is a good idea. Most topics are multi "subject". Imagine dealing with flooding as having many legs with Biology and Physics and Chemistry involved. Would a Chemistry trained expert be much help?
Would a Chemistry trained expert be much help?
If such a person had specialised in biochem, then yes. Focus would be on remedial action such as desalinating sea incursions into arable land, or the effect of excess silt & clay from river floods…
Has a year nine lad visit to help with his homework. While he worked on his computer, I bottled a brew.
The science involved in that! Alcohol by volume, yeast working, airborne yeasts and contamination, vinegar, sugar and CO2, sterilisation of bottles, accuracy of measurement with hydrometers and with ingredients, specific gravity, optimum temperatures for brewing, secondary fermentation…. it goes on.
A science teacher at my school taught science by brewing beer. However, the boys weren't allowed to sample the finished product. Some staff did help out.
airborne yeasts
A few years back I read a description of bacteria riding air currents in the upper atmosphere – part of Gaia. Invisible ecosystems up above.
That contamination effect you mention reminds us that we breathe in such organisms routinely too. Cilia in the lungs evolved to remove particles we breathe in but maybe we absorb organisms into our microbiome too…
My guess is that the new curriculum is written by people with education PhDs – which are considered joke qualifications among others with PhDs.
In my experience they are generally not very bright and spend a lot of time promoting philosophical ideas they don't really understand. I have zero confidence that these changes will be positive.
In view of the track record of our educational establishment, such scepticism is inevitable. However traditionalism = collective brain death nowadays. So any innovative trend ought to be encouraged.
I specifically agree with you re the promoting/applying interface. Leftwingers usually default towards idealism, and thus impracticality. It's vital to get the application of any survival strategy right. Education must not produce another generation of virtue-signallers. Enough of that shit already!
Return to first principles by examining the root of the word:
It's that latter meaning which provides the survival skill. The former will merely produce another generation of suitwearing dorks failing at everything they do.
FFS!
Your comment is rude, biased, and ignorant. You trash Education PhDs based on hearsay, without any rational & reasonable argument, and without any evidence to back it up. I guess that you have no idea of what Science is or how to teach it. You have drawn a conclusion based on virtually nothing other than hot air about a leaked but non-disclosed document without even knowing what’s in it. I consider your comment a sick joke.
There's a post up about it now
.https://thestandard.org.nz/new-curriculum-science-to-be-taught-in-the-context-of-the-great-challenges-of-our-time/
Well done! I'll contemplate how to frame a contribution.
I find it incredible the Tenancy Tribunal considers $12000 a high award. It should be 10x that as a starting point. The pathetically small penalties NZ’s amateur landlords face are no disincentive for criminal behaviour.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/132468594/vulnerable-tenants-subject-to-dreadful-living-conditions-with-absentee-landlord
A register for property owners and their agents is crucial. The Greens are the only party demanding this.
Analysts often use triadic framing (due to 3 influencing mental processes – because it's an archetype). Here's Bomber's economic triad:
Soundly based on our neocolonial history, therefore impossible to invalidate, his thesis stands. However our economy is based on more than that triad. It ramped up to a tetrad via the inclusion of tech as 4th element. Invention, innovation, know-how, are all fundamental drivers of western economies.
Just look at the transformative effect of refrigeration in the 1880s, that produced seven or eight decades of wealth flow from Britain to here. I recall NZ being identified as having the highest standard of living in the world when I was a kid.
Which really does force us to include trade as a 5th element, ramping the whole up into a pentad. But look at the interesting part of his 2nd pillar: migrant workers. I heard on the radio recently folks discussing Labour's immigration stats – apparently last year back up to record inflow. Doesn't matter if infrastructure can't cope & the country gets constipated in consequence, jam more foreigners in somehow. Shanty-towns along the desert road could become a tourist attraction…
So much of our intellectual, artistic and call work can be done from anywhere now that the centralisation of work to main centres could be reversed and jobs spread more widely across rural areas. This would add to rural economies, boost Maori employment into better quality sustainable work, make NZ more resilient and reduce pressure on urban infrastructure.
We only don't do this due to a failure of our poor management elite to be able to cope and adapt despite the high undeserved salaries they are paid.
It is time for government to take a lead on this who are likely one of the worst at taking jobs away from regions and sticking them in main centres – to the point that departments like IRD, TEC, MBIE etc have no boots on the ground.
So Labour & National are on the right track. Suit-wearers will be delighted that their culture is producing such dramatic results. Grab a Nat/Lab politician & slap them on the back, tell them to remain staunch & they can reach further new heights of achievement.
Ten symptoms of woke mind virus:
1. You read books, and don't burn them.
2. You embrace science.
3. You are willing to change your mind when new information becomes available.
4. You understand that most issues aren't black and white.
5. You believe in true equality for all people.
6. You like to share.
7. You embrace cooperation.
8. You respect others' rights.
9. You believe culture and the arts has value.
10. You care for the planet and all of its life.
So that's the virus I've got. At the moment I have more symptoms including coughing, congestion and sore throat….. and it hurts to laugh!
Excellent listing there. Problem is the dichotomy between that and wokeist behaviour, hmm? Your viral thesis seems to be based on a flawed assumption.
Re #1, christians weren't the only folks into public fire rituals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_burning
Here's #11: You can laugh at yourself
Hi Newshub and Christopher, MMA/UFC is to blame for this, not Oranga Tamariki.
Stop. Selling. Violence.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/07/christopher-luxon-says-mma-style-fight-video-in-youth-justice-residence-is-heartbreaking-and-sickening.html
totally.
From that link:
Luxon wouldn't say if National would build more of these youth justice facilities.
"I don't know, I haven't thought that part through".
Like his sentencing policy at the conference, he simply doesn't bother to do any homework at all. He's the emptiest leader National have ever had.
Luxon confronted by reality.
"I don't know, I haven't thought that part through."
That is so revealing.
That shit happened all the time at the school I was at.
Would have been nice at the time if people were concerned at all about stopping it. Like this instance those in charge i.e. teachers were part of the problem in condoning it.
Guess it was supposed to make you a man.
About twenty years ago I met an 88 year old man. The father of a colleague. She happened to mention to him that I too had gone to the same school as he had. The mere mention of the school had him visibly shaking. Took us half an hour to calm him down. His treatment at that school had him scarred and hurt for life. His daughter was completely unaware of the trauma he had gone through.
We have heard similar stories from the recent enquiries into abuse in state care. How the fuck is this still happening? The more the rhetoric of crime and punishment is pushed, the more the bring back the cane it didn't do me any harm brigade pushes their message, the more gangs push the don't nark, might is right attitude and behaviour the more it will continue.
While the extreme right attitudes and the community culture in gangs mirror each other in the survival of the fittest approach this will continue.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/remyblumenfeld/2020/03/21/how-a-15000-year-old-human-bone-could-help-you-through-the–coronavirus/?sh=19b3c7d137e9
Years ago, the anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about clay pots, tools for hunting, grinding-stones, or religious artifacts.
But no. Mead said that the first evidence of civilization was a 15,000 years old fractured femur found in an archaeological site. A femur is the longest bone in the body, linking hip to knee. In societies without the benefits of modern medicine, it takes about six weeks of rest for a fractured femur to heal. This particular bone had been broken and had healed.
Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, you cannot drink or hunt for food. Wounded in this way, you are meat for your predators. No creature survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. You are eaten first.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that another person has taken time to stay with the fallen, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended them through recovery. A healed femur indicates that someone has helped a fellow human, rather than abandoning them to save their own life.
No doubt Israel Adesanya and his gym mates are heroes of many of the inmates in the Oranga Tamariki residence. I wonder if the aim of the fighting in this instance was entertainment, (in MMA/UFC smashing someone's head in is great entertainment) or to see someone 'get a hiding.'
Could the staff instead have taken the young people out for a game of league with whooping and hollering for big hits, the bigger the smashes the louder the acclamation?
Getting suitable staff must be very difficult.
Sadly, I suspect some staff are also fans of fighting as entertainment.
And encouraged it.
Wrote this sonnet two years ago in response to the Mead article.
Dry Bones
A fractured femur is the clue. Broken
Bones do not heal in nature, where predators
Will sóon kíll animals hurt or lame.
Healed bones instead are a blesséd relic,
A sign our cave ancestors were awoken
To know civil folk cared for each other,
Bound wounds, found foods, tended without blame
Those who could not run to hunt, too sick
To forage in the forest. Compassion
Is no new millennial phenomenon
But part of our species' habituation.
Loving concern, never to be despised,
Preconditions us to being civilised.
Care is core to our continuation.
Meet Nandy.
All of Shanidar 1’s injuries show signs of healing, so none of them resulted in his death. In fact, scientists estimate he lived until 35–45 years of age. He would have been considered old to another Neandertal, and he would probably not have been able to survive without the care of his social group.
https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/shanidar-1
The poem was written in response to Meads' findings but in late 2019 into early 2020 as some descended into various dark tunnels during Covid this was a great revelation hence the references to being woke, to compassion, to caring.
This sits so well with post #8 about the 10 symptoms of the woke virus.
Humanity is at a choosing point.
Law and order are going to be a major policy plank for the Nats etc. So I went looking for answers to the issue society is having with youth crime. Looking at the range of articles I found on Google Scholar, we are not alone.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12103-020-09549-x
”To summarize these changes and overall impact of COVID-19 in the words of an essential employee from the Northeast United States [U.S.], “It’s f***ing chaos” (M.B., personal communications, May 13, 2020).”
Despite all the platitudes coming from the likes of Mark Mitchell, there are no easy answers.
”COVID-19 as a Seminal Event for Ongoing Reform
Community-based diversionary practices show to be more cost-effective and safer for youths’ health. We hope to see even greater implementation of evidence-based practices that account for youths’ risks and needs by responding accordingly with proper services and resources in the community. We also recommend that we learn from the lived experiences of juvenile justice-involved youths, staff, and other essential personnel. By directly asking their insights on an unprecedented situation and lessons learned for the future, we can better support our juvenile populations and essential employees.”
Fat chance an intelligent debate will be had with the vacuous Luxon, and Mitchell banging the Laura Norder drum.
I put a post up about it
.https://thestandard.org.nz/new-curriculum-science-to-be-taught-in-the-context-of-the-great-challenges-of-our-time/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/waikato/132482735/national-backs-third-medical-school-in-waikato
so something to vote National for. I heard Reti say about a year ago, he had costed a new medical school
Pity he did not cost repairing the plumbing in the Whangarei Hospital Anker. No votes in that for him?
Not Reti, it was Nats 2017 election policy, and I don't think he was around then. It would be set up at Waikato, according to RNZ item.
I think the Kiri Allen situation is a massive beat up… But the PM is making a massive mistake by not seeing her face to face before he goes to Europe.
All he's going to get in Europe are questions about her and whatever dirt nationals got on some other minister mp.
It's weird af that he's not seeing her before he goes and means the issue is going to fester and be the top story every day for two weeks till he sees her when he gets back.
He should have demanded to see her this week and then expressed confidence or fired her not leave it up in the air or make excuse like "she needs time with her family" so do most workers, but they can't get a day off.
He should see her, express confidence or fire her and then to change the narrative, announce an election policy, then fly out to Europe.
Labour has been horrendously bad at coms for two years now.
Spray and walk away, change the narrative
Announcing a tax package just before he goes wouldn't be a bad idea.
People are getting quite sick and tired of hearing policies from every other party, and whenever a party comes up with a new idea, labour shrugs and craps all over the idea, without telling us their ideas.
It makes labour look like National in 2017. Whenever any idea was thrown out national would say no and pretend there's no problem and that we should change nothing.
She's on holiday, mate.
Just imagine the slant the media would put on a special meeting between the two. It's a no win situation.
Agree Hipkins should deal with this..and by not doing so opens himself up to incessant (irrelevant) questioning for the next period.
Can only assume that for whatever reason they (Labour) believe this is the best way of dealing with it….as you note, their form to date dosnt inspire confidence.
What do you crackpots not understand about a person being on holiday?
Enjoy your holiday…and add to the chance you lose the position that enables the holiday
Honestly, this is typical right wing thought. A person’s duty is to authority rather than their own children.
Rot in hell.
Think you may be the 'rights' greatest asset
Please don't pretend you are of the socially conscious left. None of your comments on this forum back that up.
who watched the rude and hectoring interrogation by manbum ryuan bridges of Kelvin Davis on the telly this morning. I was disgusted by his behaviour and if this is so called civil society then I will go he.
I thought you would be more disgusted by the video showing staff encouraging the people in their care to beat the shit out of each other.
I know you are a triggered gammon, but would you please explain what it is you are excised about this particular time?
Ryan Bridges is just another National Party Poodle always was, always will be.