that Texas law change on abortion is yet another certain indicator of the Republican's steady stomp to an authoritarian fascist state.. ramped up into the bright lights by Trump's corrupt and unlawful activities.. with the GOP now girding itself for further steps over the next few years to continue along this path…
pretty much all authoritarian regimes and dictators take some considerable time to get there… cause a skirmish over there… pit citizens against one another over here… tweak the judiciary there… amend the constitution here… purge the public service there… change the military here… and then one day while all these things have steadily been pushed into place, make the final move…
And so the Texas law trashes the US constitution… resulting from a tweaked judiciary willing to turn a blind eye… and pitting citizens against each other with bounty-hunters…
It is all so very predictable… such is history always repeating this well-trodden path…
The Texas law should be yet another warning to not only the US, but also the world… that the Republicans are stepping through the necessary steps to enable a final grab at total power..
the US is heading down this track at an increasingly rapid rate…
Interesting that Shane Te Pou on Marae this morning says he has reliable connections that reckon Judith’s only got about another week or so left as leader of the Nats
Interesting systemic analysis of how some people end up distrusting vaccination – click on the tweet inside the tweet to see the rest of the chain of them.
She said: “I recently found myself ‘misgendered.’ I received a university publication, with news items relating to alumni, where I was referred to as ‘they’, not ‘she.’
“My books were ‘their books.’ I wasn’t singled out – the other alumni were similarly treated.
“I thought: ‘Being a woman means a lot to me. I do not want my womanhood confiscated in print.’”
The absurdity of "gender-neutral pronouns" was in full display again this afternoon as Grant Robertson referred repeatedly to "The Terrorist" as “they”. There is no confusion or uncertainty about the gender of The Terrorist; Robertson like everyone else is perfectly aware that The Terrorist is a male.
September 26th German Federal elections are looking interesting for a Left Left Green government. They'll have to come to an agreement on NATO membership though.
With the current Nat leader smoothly claiming on telly that Covid would kill a trifling 500 of us each year at 70-75% vaccination levels, this actual evidence might prove useful:
Tame almost had Collins on toast but didn't close for the kill. He got to the point where he'd made it clear that a 70% (or whatever) vaccination rate isn't a target in itself, it's an enabler of other outcomes – and those outcomes are your real targets.
Those real targets might include measures such as excess deaths, excess hospitalisations, productivity lost through excess illness, number of days in lockdown, no. of people able to cross the border, amount spent on wage subsidies, etc. Collins didn't have any of these real targets – and to pretend that an arbitrary vaccination rate plucked from your nether regions constitutes a target is nonsense. It's simply cover for indulging your ideological predilections against restricting business activity.
A sane, honest person works bottom up from these real targets and with luck comes up with a combination of vaccination rate plus residual public health measures (masks, border controls) that gets us somewhere close to them.
The epidemiologist Jim mora interviewed this morning on Sunday (RNZ) said that excess death analysis showed that covid had killed 4 times as many people as shown on the worldometer site…that is 18 million rather than 4.5 million. Also it had caused life expectancy in the USA to drop by 18 months.
These figures are clearly being covered up by Boris ScoMo et al. I wonder why? (Sarc)
The paper notes the uncertainty in both alpha and delta variants that were increasing at the time of the paper.
A high rate of vaccination is a necessity for NZ to constrain delta and its increasing risk,along with enhanced border controls for border staff,and international flight crews (vaccinated or otherwise such as specialist transport etc)
Limitation of cross border transport during local outbreaks maybe also necessary to enhance both economic wellbeing,and to allow other medical facilities to be available in the event of a black swan event.
For an example of how not to do things well look at Canada during an election cycle as the fourth wave rises.
Highly misleading of him to claim there is no replacement plan for the DHBs whose failings have become all too obvious to the public in the last year or two.
In the middle of a pandemic, the government is dismantling its structures (DHBs) responsible for ensuring the provision of hospital and community health services. Destabilising a system in a pandemic is madness. It is close to criminally insane to do this with little idea about what will replace it.
Well, if you happen to have a link to the new agreed and decided structure with all the relevant details that would be appreciated
AFAIK, there’s no “dismantling” happening yet although the current system is crumbling and buckling under the pressure; it is only going to get worse, which is why the current Covid-19 strategy is the only viable option for Aotearoa-New Zealand, IMHO.
He has an interesting piece on Cuba's health system (not a lot of spare cash to throw around, but a much less individualistic culture) and the ways we might learn from each other.
Powell's piece had very little discussion of the trials needed for vaccine approval. This appears to be the much bigger obstacle to vaccine development and use. Developing vaccines seems to be fairly straightforward, proving that they're safe and effective is the hard bit. That proof also requires the trial participants to be exposed to a lot of disease, which we in NZ have shown we're willing to take fairly stringent measures to avoid.
All in all, it just came across as a "let's have lots more doctors and healthcare workers". Kind of an unsurprising position for the former Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists.
So yeah, nah, I'm not seeing lessons from Cuba for us to follow. Not from that piece, anyways.
Me too. Still, imho NZ could do with "more doctors and healthcare workers", for the health & wellbeing of both doctors/healthcare workers and their patients.
Based on this old dataset, we'd need ~2,500 more physicians to approach the per capita number in Australia (32.7 per 10,000 people). And Cuba (67.2); well forgetaboutit – only Qatar (77.4) and Monaco (71.7) had more.
Doctors and healthcare workers have to be trained and/or poached, and that takes money – another tricky balancing act.
Covid-19: Delta in NZ community would ‘risk collapsing or compromising our health system’
“Because hospitals are aging, and because our resilience to a pandemic situation is poor, because of the design of elderly hospitals with poor ventilation of wards, inadequate numbers of negative pressure rooms.”
Stapleton said on a normal day only about 25 of the roughly 220 ICU beds were free.
He said New Zealand’s ICU capacity was more like India’s – where hospitals were overrun – than Australia’s, and it needed to be doubled as the virus would become endemic in future years.
Dr Stapleton said the real pinch point was the lack of ICU nurses.
Yes, there is a good argument for beefing up our health system.
But that good argument doesn't come from comparison with Cuba. Nor does it come from the very rare and specific circumstances of a pandemic disease potentially getting into our population before widespread vaccination has happened.
The better argument comes from where we have lousy outcomes over sustained timeframes that are specifically attributable to under-resourcing, and we can point to peers that have better outcomes specifically attributable to better resourcing.
Lord knows there's no shortage of material to work with to make those better arguments.
All in all, it just came across as a "let's have lots more doctors and healthcare workers". Kind of an unsurprising position for the former Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists.
Andre, nice to know you believe "there is a good argument for beefing up our health system", despite concerns about the nature of Powell's advocacy.
Ian Powell was Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, the professional union representing senior doctors and dentists in New Zealand, for over 30 years, until December 2019.
For over 30 years! So difficult to know whose opinion to trust these days.
I don't think the trajectory of our health care industry over those thirty years makes a good argument for the quality of his advocacy.
I've seen plenty of deep-seated long-lasting systemic issues attempt to get improved. Even when the underlying problems are correctly identified and a reasonable model chosen to follow for improvement, it's still a chancy thing as to whether what comes out the other side is genuinely better.
But if the problems are misidentified right from the beginning leading to the choice of crap models to learn from, then in my experience improvement efforts have a record unblemished by any success whatsoever.
I don't think the trajectory of our health care industry over those thirty years makes a good argument for the quality of his advocacy.
Andre, do you feel that Powell's (30+ years of) advocacy was lacking in quality? If his peers shared this belief then it's simply staggering (to me) that he 'held on' to the position for as long as he did, but maybe you know something I don't, e.g. evidence that NZ's health care 'industry' would now be on a better path but for Powell?
Can help wondering if putting the boot into Powell's advocacy has less to do with 'trajectory', and more to do with 'union' and 'Cuba'.
New Executive Director appointed
Ian Powell signalled last year he will leave ASMS at the end of 2019. He has led the union since its formation in 1989.
ASMS President Professor Murray Barclay says Mr Powell’s departure is the most significant change in the union’s history.
“We undertook a rigorous external recruitment process. I am pleased to announce Sarah’s appointment as the new face of ASMS.
“Over the coming months we will farewell Ian, who built the union into the force it is today.”
ASMS represents more than 90% of senior doctors and dentists working in public hospitals, an extraordinary level of coverage by today’s standards.
As well as fighting for pay and conditions, Mr Powell positioned ASMS as an advocacy body for the public health service with a strong focus on research and policy analysis.
“Sarah will build on Ian’s legacy of strong leadership and advocacy.
“She relates well to members throughout the country and is respected by senior managers in DHBs. “Sarah has strengthened the voice of our women members through women’s networking initiatives,” Professor Barclay says.
Mr Powell said: “I’m delighted with the appointment and feel chuffed about being replaced with someone of Sarah’s calibre. She has been an outstanding industrial officer demonstrating strong insight, intellect, and emotional intelligence.”
“It feels good to be leaving the association in such good hands,” Mr Powell says.
The youngest New Zealanders surveyed (it starts at 15 – we can only assume that the characteristics of those under that age are even more pronounced) are the starkest reminder we have of the stakes here. Those aged 15-24 are roughly three times as likely to watch online video (91%) as linear television (36%). Similarly for streaming music (81%) over radio (31%). Newspapers, a decade ago fairly commonplace, are a daily habit for a quarter of the population as a whole, but only 7% of those aged 15-24.
Yes, it is dropping, but only slowly. Don’t forget that the current outbreak started with just one case (aka index case). Lockdown aims to get the R0 number down and break transmission chains; each chain can start a new chain/outbreak if not caught (in time). As always, testing levels tend to drop off over time and when we go down alert levels, our overall compliance levels tend to go down accordingly. This could have a long tail of short (!) chains of new community cases before we can and will go back to L2 or L1 even. It is only 111 days until Christmas.
But I kinda suspect that opportunity for customer-to-staff transmission is kinda low, compared to customer-to-customer and staff-to-customer.
If a customer is infected, they could spend quite a long time waiting in a queue with the same people 2m in front and 2m behind, with a bit of breathing air sharing going on. Also, most people tend to take a similar route through a store, so the people behind the infected person in the queue are potentially going around the store in a cloud of dilute infected air the infected person leaves behind them. Then there's the queue at the checkout, for another potential period of air-sharing. That's quite a long time for a potential customer-to-customer transmission to occur.
Then when the customer gets to the checkout, yes, there's a medium-ish time of close-ish proximity with equal-ish opportunity for transmission either way, and a checkout operator has a lot of people go past them every shift.
But an infected customer gets one go at infecting one staff member, if they're unlucky enough for their once every few days shopping trip to coincide with their infectious period. Compared to their somewhat stronger likelihood of infecting other customers.
Whereas an infected checkout operator has a chance of infecting each of the dozens or even hundreds of customers they serve during a shift, and may even end up working multiple shifts while infectious. Even if each individual staff-customer interaction has a much lower chance of resulting in a transmission.
The aim is to get as close to the edges of the outbreak as possible. This can be achieved by mandatory scanning/signing in, rapid contact tracing, and rapid testing, whilst slowing down transmission, e.g., through lockdown, mask-wearing, et cetera.
Just over 48 hours ago two cops had an experience more harrowing than can be described.
We've seen a million shots being fired by police and criminals and military in thousands of movies and tv shows for years. We turn them off and go to bed and maybe watch the same thing again the next day. It's normal.
But it's not normal. Seeing thousands being shot and killed inures us to the reality of two cops looking after us being in a situation of having to shoot someone. And doing it.
And then turn it off? Go home and, "How did your day go?"
"Just another day at the office, love. Come here kids, give your dad a cuddle."
Thank you to the officers who were there for us and acted as they did.
The book came out in 2018, about internal White House processes which occurred multiple years earlier.
Since that time we have had a global pandemic, a major economic collapse, two US Presidents, three changes in Senate majority, complete takeover of the US judiciary by hardcore Christian fundamentalists, and the collapse of the largest US military intervention since Vietnam.
You'd be one of those lost RSA guys complaining into his fourth DB of the afternoon, except you never served.
The book came out in 2018, about internal White House processes which occurred multiple years earlier.
The "White House process", as you call it, that Ben Rhodes revealed was his browbeating of Cuban government officials to deny a political refugee safe passage. That was not in any way "White House process": it was an extraordinary and—until he bragged about it in his dog of a book—highly secret action.
Since that time we have had a global pandemic, a major economic collapse, two US Presidents, three changes in Senate majority, complete takeover of the US judiciary by hardcore Christian fundamentalists, and the collapse of the largest US military intervention since Vietnam.
We have indeed. Could you explain how any of that serves to mitigate the viciousness and the contempt for human rights of what Rhodes did in 2013?
You'd be one of those lost RSA guys complaining into his fourth DB of the afternoon,
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
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 ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated. While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 19 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
The Tribunal had called on Minister for Children Karen Chhour to provide evidence at an urgent inquiry into the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Midjourney image by T.J. Thomson As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Nicole Sharwood, Injury epidemiologist | Expert Witness, UNSW Sydney Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related. Injuries can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Di Winkler, Adjunct Associate Professor, Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University Shutterstock/Ground PictureMany Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salman Shooshtarian, Senior Lecturer, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University Salman Shooshtarian Asbestos has been found in mulch used for playgrounds, schools, parks and gardens across Sydney and Melbourne. Local communities naturally fear for the health of their ...
Family First says that the latest abortion statistics make grim and upsetting reading, with a 25% increase in abortions since the decriminalisation of abortion in March 2020. According to an Official Information Act request received by Right to Life ...
Ipsos New Zealand's inaugural participation in a global study on populism reveals a pervasive sense of societal and economic decline among New Zealanders. MORE DETAILS AND FULL REPORT HERE Ipsos New Zealand's inaugural participation in a global study ...
rambling.. but my deadset 2c..
that Texas law change on abortion is yet another certain indicator of the Republican's steady stomp to an authoritarian fascist state.. ramped up into the bright lights by Trump's corrupt and unlawful activities.. with the GOP now girding itself for further steps over the next few years to continue along this path…
pretty much all authoritarian regimes and dictators take some considerable time to get there… cause a skirmish over there… pit citizens against one another over here… tweak the judiciary there… amend the constitution here… purge the public service there… change the military here… and then one day while all these things have steadily been pushed into place, make the final move…
And so the Texas law trashes the US constitution… resulting from a tweaked judiciary willing to turn a blind eye… and pitting citizens against each other with bounty-hunters…
It is all so very predictable… such is history always repeating this well-trodden path…
The Texas law should be yet another warning to not only the US, but also the world… that the Republicans are stepping through the necessary steps to enable a final grab at total power..
the US is heading down this track at an increasingly rapid rate…
watch out
The horrific state of the American empire. Chris Hedges spells it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXYsGuBdzM4
Terrifying and Ominous Robert. We must make the most of our relative security for tomorrow….. Hell might be real after all.
Interesting that Shane Te Pou on Marae this morning says he has reliable connections that reckon Judith’s only got about another week or so left as leader of the Nats
Whose next any tips ?
He did say that the word is that Simon is leading the push but that it wasn't clear if it was for himself or someone else
If Simon has learned from previous mistakes, life could get interesting for Labour.
Shane usually has reliable sources. Interesting level of detail from him..
https://twitter.com/PouTepou/status/1434030814019264518
If Simon is a stalking horse, could the main man be Mark Mitchell. He’s invisible in his electorate. Too busy campaigning in Wellington?
Is that the Mark Mitchell who was a “security contractor” in Iraq?
Interesting systemic analysis of how some people end up distrusting vaccination – click on the tweet inside the tweet to see the rest of the chain of them.
https://twitter.com/juliefairey/status/1434308592136450051
https://twitter.com/wekatweets/status/1434318179681988610?s=21
Hilary Mantel further down on that thread
The absurdity of "gender-neutral pronouns" was in full display again this afternoon as Grant Robertson referred repeatedly to "The Terrorist" as “they”. There is no confusion or uncertainty about the gender of The Terrorist; Robertson like everyone else is perfectly aware that The Terrorist is a male.
September 26th German Federal elections are looking interesting for a Left Left Green government. They'll have to come to an agreement on NATO membership though.
With the current Nat leader smoothly claiming on telly that Covid would kill a trifling 500 of us each year at 70-75% vaccination levels, this actual evidence might prove useful:
https://twitter.com/StrayDogNZ/status/1434307776826810371
Tame almost had Collins on toast but didn't close for the kill. He got to the point where he'd made it clear that a 70% (or whatever) vaccination rate isn't a target in itself, it's an enabler of other outcomes – and those outcomes are your real targets.
Those real targets might include measures such as excess deaths, excess hospitalisations, productivity lost through excess illness, number of days in lockdown, no. of people able to cross the border, amount spent on wage subsidies, etc. Collins didn't have any of these real targets – and to pretend that an arbitrary vaccination rate plucked from your nether regions constitutes a target is nonsense. It's simply cover for indulging your ideological predilections against restricting business activity.
A sane, honest person works bottom up from these real targets and with luck comes up with a combination of vaccination rate plus residual public health measures (masks, border controls) that gets us somewhere close to them.
Anyone saying that needs to be challenged, yes, starting with the obvious proxy figure..
https://twitter.com/SachaDylan/status/1434339583525675016
The epidemiologist Jim mora interviewed this morning on Sunday (RNZ) said that excess death analysis showed that covid had killed 4 times as many people as shown on the worldometer site…that is 18 million rather than 4.5 million. Also it had caused life expectancy in the USA to drop by 18 months.
These figures are clearly being covered up by Boris ScoMo et al. I wonder why? (Sarc)
Thanks, I previously linked to a Stuff piece on this: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/126211034/longterm-public-health-measures-needed-alongside-vaccination-for-borders-to-reopen
National and Judith seemingly ignore stuff that doesn’t fit with their narrative or twist it.
The paper notes the uncertainty in both alpha and delta variants that were increasing at the time of the paper.
A high rate of vaccination is a necessity for NZ to constrain delta and its increasing risk,along with enhanced border controls for border staff,and international flight crews (vaccinated or otherwise such as specialist transport etc)
Limitation of cross border transport during local outbreaks maybe also necessary to enhance both economic wellbeing,and to allow other medical facilities to be available in the event of a black swan event.
For an example of how not to do things well look at Canada during an election cycle as the fourth wave rises.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2021/08/30/Governments-Wont-Stop-COVID-Up-To-Us/?fbclid=IwAR2W9ymPCXVH27rZkeKKEkSjdr7rSoH82oJ-l63WcV7FE5-J0qAXMqofk_g
This is a very good article showing the constraints on outcomes on vaccination without concomitant public health measures.
A very good opinion piece by Dr Ian Powell on the failings, not failure, of the overall Covid-19 response and the (public) health system in general.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300399082/our-covid-strategy-has-been-a-success–but-we-cant-ignore-the-governments-serious-failings
Highly misleading of him to claim there is no replacement plan for the DHBs whose failings have become all too obvious to the public in the last year or two.
Well, if you happen to have a link to the new agreed and decided structure with all the relevant details that would be appreciated
AFAIK, there’s no “dismantling” happening yet although the current system is crumbling and buckling under the pressure; it is only going to get worse, which is why the current Covid-19 strategy is the only viable option for Aotearoa-New Zealand, IMHO.
The plan is effectively the Simpson report being implemented by the 'transition unit' in DPMC, as Powell well knows.
The Simpson report (https://systemreview.health.govt.nz/)? Yeah, nah.
Anyway, the current train wreck is chugging along ‘nicely’ towards the cliff’s edge and it is more harmful than a locomotive ending up in Picton harbour (https://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/300399401/kiwirail-retrieves-locomotive-from-bottom-of-picton-harbour).
He has an interesting piece on Cuba's health system (not a lot of spare cash to throw around, but a much less individualistic culture) and the ways we might learn from each other.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/09/05/guest-blog-ian-powell-lessons-for-nz-from-cuba-the-covid-19-vaccine-powerhouse/
Ta
I'd much rather be here in NZ than Cuba. Even just from a covid and vaccination perspective, let alone all the other factors.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/cuba/
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=NZL~AUS~CUB
Powell's piece had very little discussion of the trials needed for vaccine approval. This appears to be the much bigger obstacle to vaccine development and use. Developing vaccines seems to be fairly straightforward, proving that they're safe and effective is the hard bit. That proof also requires the trial participants to be exposed to a lot of disease, which we in NZ have shown we're willing to take fairly stringent measures to avoid.
All in all, it just came across as a "let's have lots more doctors and healthcare workers". Kind of an unsurprising position for the former Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists.
So yeah, nah, I'm not seeing lessons from Cuba for us to follow. Not from that piece, anyways.
Me too. Still, imho NZ could do with "more doctors and healthcare workers", for the health & wellbeing of both doctors/healthcare workers and their patients.
Based on this old dataset, we'd need ~2,500 more physicians to approach the per capita number in Australia (32.7 per 10,000 people). And Cuba (67.2); well forgetaboutit – only Qatar (77.4) and Monaco (71.7) had more.
Doctors and healthcare workers have to be trained and/or poached, and that takes money – another tricky balancing act.
Yes, there is a good argument for beefing up our health system.
But that good argument doesn't come from comparison with Cuba. Nor does it come from the very rare and specific circumstances of a pandemic disease potentially getting into our population before widespread vaccination has happened.
The better argument comes from where we have lousy outcomes over sustained timeframes that are specifically attributable to under-resourcing, and we can point to peers that have better outcomes specifically attributable to better resourcing.
Lord knows there's no shortage of material to work with to make those better arguments.
Andre, nice to know you believe "there is a good argument for beefing up our health system", despite concerns about the nature of Powell's advocacy.
For over 30 years! So difficult to know whose opinion to trust these days.
I don't think the trajectory of our health care industry over those thirty years makes a good argument for the quality of his advocacy.
I've seen plenty of deep-seated long-lasting systemic issues attempt to get improved. Even when the underlying problems are correctly identified and a reasonable model chosen to follow for improvement, it's still a chancy thing as to whether what comes out the other side is genuinely better.
But if the problems are misidentified right from the beginning leading to the choice of crap models to learn from, then in my experience improvement efforts have a record unblemished by any success whatsoever.
Andre, do you feel that Powell's (30+ years of) advocacy was lacking in quality? If his peers shared this belief then it's simply staggering (to me) that he 'held on' to the position for as long as he did, but maybe you know something I don't, e.g. evidence that NZ's health care 'industry' would now be on a better path but for Powell?
Can help wondering if putting the boot into Powell's advocacy has less to do with 'trajectory', and more to do with 'union' and 'Cuba'.
https://healthcentral.nz/opinion-ian-powell-leadership-needed-on-safe-staffing/
NZ On Air's regular tracking research shows how fast younger people have switched away from broadcast radio and TV. https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/03-09-2021/confronting-new-research-shows-just-how-fast-traditional-media-lost-young-nz/
Nice little Covid progress detail from a local data scientist.
https://twitter.com/Thoughtfulnz/status/1434342891514519553
Thanks.
Yes, it is dropping, but only slowly. Don’t forget that the current outbreak started with just one case (aka index case). Lockdown aims to get the R0 number down and break transmission chains; each chain can start a new chain/outbreak if not caught (in time). As always, testing levels tend to drop off over time and when we go down alert levels, our overall compliance levels tend to go down accordingly. This could have a long tail of short (!) chains of new community cases before we can and will go back to L2 or L1 even. It is only 111 days until Christmas.
The number of Locations of Interest are an interesting trend to monitor as well.
https://twitter.com/TheGradyConnell/status/1434322941504720897
I'm very curious about how many transmissions to customers are believed to have occurred at those locations of interest after the lockdown started.
Further, if any transmissions occurred, how many were staff-to-customer and how many were customer-to-customer.
and customer to staff..
Well, yeah.
But I kinda suspect that opportunity for customer-to-staff transmission is kinda low, compared to customer-to-customer and staff-to-customer.
If a customer is infected, they could spend quite a long time waiting in a queue with the same people 2m in front and 2m behind, with a bit of breathing air sharing going on. Also, most people tend to take a similar route through a store, so the people behind the infected person in the queue are potentially going around the store in a cloud of dilute infected air the infected person leaves behind them. Then there's the queue at the checkout, for another potential period of air-sharing. That's quite a long time for a potential customer-to-customer transmission to occur.
Then when the customer gets to the checkout, yes, there's a medium-ish time of close-ish proximity with equal-ish opportunity for transmission either way, and a checkout operator has a lot of people go past them every shift.
But an infected customer gets one go at infecting one staff member, if they're unlucky enough for their once every few days shopping trip to coincide with their infectious period. Compared to their somewhat stronger likelihood of infecting other customers.
Whereas an infected checkout operator has a chance of infecting each of the dozens or even hundreds of customers they serve during a shift, and may even end up working multiple shifts while infectious. Even if each individual staff-customer interaction has a much lower chance of resulting in a transmission.
Ta
The aim is to get as close to the edges of the outbreak as possible. This can be achieved by mandatory scanning/signing in, rapid contact tracing, and rapid testing, whilst slowing down transmission, e.g., through lockdown, mask-wearing, et cetera.
Just over 48 hours ago two cops had an experience more harrowing than can be described.
We've seen a million shots being fired by police and criminals and military in thousands of movies and tv shows for years. We turn them off and go to bed and maybe watch the same thing again the next day. It's normal.
But it's not normal. Seeing thousands being shot and killed inures us to the reality of two cops looking after us being in a situation of having to shoot someone. And doing it.
And then turn it off? Go home and, "How did your day go?"
"Just another day at the office, love. Come here kids, give your dad a cuddle."
Thank you to the officers who were there for us and acted as they did.
Harrowing indeed! Though I believe the police are very good at giving counselling to staff who have had that experience
Very poignant, today being fathers day and all.
A comically inept Obama staffer has written a book; it was a bad idea. For him.
"A level of sustained and conscious lying that can be explained only by sociopathy."—Glenn Greenwald
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfcOcwcEpd8
The book came out in 2018, about internal White House processes which occurred multiple years earlier.
Since that time we have had a global pandemic, a major economic collapse, two US Presidents, three changes in Senate majority, complete takeover of the US judiciary by hardcore Christian fundamentalists, and the collapse of the largest US military intervention since Vietnam.
You'd be one of those lost RSA guys complaining into his fourth DB of the afternoon, except you never served.
The book came out in 2018, about internal White House processes which occurred multiple years earlier.
The "White House process", as you call it, that Ben Rhodes revealed was his browbeating of Cuban government officials to deny a political refugee safe passage. That was not in any way "White House process": it was an extraordinary and—until he bragged about it in his dog of a book—highly secret action.
Since that time we have had a global pandemic, a major economic collapse, two US Presidents, three changes in Senate majority, complete takeover of the US judiciary by hardcore Christian fundamentalists, and the collapse of the largest US military intervention since Vietnam.
We have indeed. Could you explain how any of that serves to mitigate the viciousness and the contempt for human rights of what Rhodes did in 2013?
You'd be one of those lost RSA guys complaining into his fourth DB of the afternoon,
Your disdain for old soldiers is duly noted.
except you never served.
?? Never served whom?
Insomnia
by Faithless (Music Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8JEm4d6Wu4
Great recommendation. On point.
Rolle looks like a black Bela Lugosi.
Lovely structure that accelerates very carefully into a proper London House.