Just imagine the weapons to be found in a hardware store. Slashers, pitch forks etc and the list would be endless, taken across all trades and services. If NZ is not immune from terrorism then maybe it's time to lock down all dangerous items, like cigarettes and spray paint?? haha. H & S might blow a fuse with all the work going forward.
Why should it matter if building stores are in city centres or not? I guess tradies and farmers are more likely to have knives on them as a matter of course, but such a work tool (especially if folding & unlockable!) isn't really much of a weapon. "Big strong builders" are certainly not the only customers at hardware stores, and who can say for certain how they would react in a moment of crisis if not trained for it (and even then without warning)?
I don't think I would call the Lynn Mall Terrorist cowardly; deranged – sure, but it has to take some level of courage to perpetrate such attacks with a melee weapon rather than a firearm, vehicle, or explosive. He had to know that his options afterwards were likely; death, deportation, or prison.
Saw this on RNZ earlier and still have the tab open:
Tomlinson, a paramedic of 10 years… said there were three or four of them "yelling at him and giving him instruction to drop the knife".
Them being involved was quite impressive, he said.
"I've had years of emergency training to deal with emergency situations, but for those people they didn't have that.
Mega10 in my hometown is at a mall, next to Countdown, Harvey Normans and many more. Everytime I shop Mega10 there's 200-300 people in there. The Cafe and Garden centre full of woman and children. Builders all outside in the drivethru. It would be hideous if an attack was to happen. How many tradies are black belt in self defence, not many I'd think the rest would take cover. I hope this doesn't become a new normal terrorist attack, nearly impossible to stop.
It is little more than virtue signalling, especially when you see the plethora of glass bottles in supermarkets. Of course if police were aware that their subject had an obsession with knives, they might have reasonably been expected to be stationed in the relevant aisle.
Captain hindsight strikes again: your "reasonably expected" is a bunch of BS before the fact.
As for the term "virtue signalling", maybe you could try getting your head around the fact that a lot of people get weirded out in similar places after something like this.
Is that feeling rational? Nope.
Is it normal? Yep.
Do staff like working in places where everyone instinctively keeps an uncoscious eye on who is loitering near the kitchen utensils? Nope.
Do customers do the same? Yep.
And if basic human consideration isn't a motive for you, do businesses like to see their customers happy so they come in and buy stuff rather than going somewhere else? Most definitely.
So sure, mock companies showing a bit of awareness about normal human reactions. Says more about you than them.
Police were criticised for their lack of urgent action. They inadvertently killed one of the hostages. The terrorist, like ours, was on bail at the time of the attack. It is very sad when history repeats itself.
An urgent inquiry is needed here to ensure whatever mistakes might have been made are not repeated in the future.
As someone who has scant knowledge of these matters, it does seem to me that NZ places too much emphasis on the punishment side of criminal activity and not nearly enough on the rehabilitation of the individuals concerned. Many of them are profoundly damaged mentally due to their upbringing and/or past experiences. According to this expert the terrorist was one of them:
New Zealand peaked at 10,600 in 2018 and are down this year to 8,600.
I do think you point to a really hard question:
When every applicable part of the intelligence, immigration, Police, judiciary, and policy settings have been used on one person and they still get to commit a terror attack, what more must the state do to stop them?
Since they forecast annual death and injury from COVID as worth decreasing everyone's human rights for, then they can do it with terrorism as well.
It's like: we're getting ready for nationwide permanent Level 2 for public health. What about Security Level 2?
Couple of reasons, one because it's pointless in practise and the other because it's significantly more complex theoretically.
The yanks, and other nations, have tried "alert levels" ever since 2001. Fucking useless. Yanks ditched their colour-coding system in 2011. Most people have no idea what they were supposed to do in a "high" level as opposed to "elevated", let alone "guarded" vs "low".
From a theoretical level, we know that if person A has a communicable virus, close contacts are all in significant danger and need to be tested.
But if person B has a tendency towards violence in Dunedin, the next similar attack can happen in Auckland, by person Q. And nobody has a pcr-level test for individual actions, do they? Otherwise economists would all be in agreement, and correct.
Viruses have a given probability of infection, hospitalisation, and death. We can make estimates based on those probabilities.
The Rand corporation tried that sort of modelling for violence in the 60s, and people periodically try ever since, but it doesn't work because individuals have so much variation. The assumption-based errors are a mile wide. Every prediction with a reasonable assumption spread would point to a likelihood that includes "no problems" and "human extinction".
Speaking of people with "a tendency towards violence in Dunedin", the person (allegedly) responsible for the Dunedin Central Countdown attacks was reported on in the ODT at 9:32am on the morning of the 3rd of September. Found myself wondering if the news had made it up to Auckland radio (or whatever internet the terrorist was allowed – which I understand was subject to conditions), before he set out to Lynn Mall Countdown. There may not be a connection (difficult to ask him now), but that's a fair coincidence!
The case for the man who allegedly stabbed four people in a Dunedin supermarket has stalled as the court awaits a psychological report…
Crown prosecutor Richard Smith told the court today that the clinician assessing the defendant needed more time to complete their report.
Justice Robert Osborne remanded the man in custody until November.
The issue of name suppression, Mr Smith said, would likely be determined by the contents of the report.
People (especially terrorists) love to think of terrorists as criminal masterminds, intricately planning bold masterstrokes to hold the world in fear.
And fair enough there was a bit of that before governments started targeting coordinators and engineers (rather than the disgruntled teens with two hand grenades and a dream). And, like plugging leaks in a roof, security started getting more professional at spotting vulnerabilities before terrorists could exploit them.
These days, most "terrorists" seem to be, well, sad dicks or sadly disturbed/foolish individuals, generally working with badly-written crap they collected off the internet, and with a lot of personal shit going on in their lives.
People like the coffee-bar hostage taker in Aus, who wanted the cops to get him an ISIS banner because he brought the wrong one, and was up for serious non-political charges at the same time, too.
"Since they forecast annual death and injury from COVID as worth decreasing everyone's human rights for, then they can do it with terrorism as well"
Yeah – though there may be a hierarchy of human rights at play here. The COVID crisis involves restricting freedom of movement (arguably a lesser right) to maximise right to life (arguably a greater one). Crudely stated – there's a net increase in rights that comes out of this calculation and trade off. Whereas stopping terrorism may require going into darker territory, such as taking people out of circulation because of their opinions in order to stop a statistically insignificant amount of harm (compared to a pandemic at least). And that I feel just makes getting the right balance a whole lot harder.
Each policy instrument applied on both entails pretty significant losses of rights, and there's no time like the whole of the population losing a set of rights to start a reasonable debate about whether state control mechanisms are really working.
We've managed not to get too dark after the Christchurch mosque massacre. IMHO we are the more mature for it.
But this current guy should never have been in the country. He have been deported years ago for getting here on fraudulent documents. Why they weren't able to have the Deportation hearing is beyond me.
From what I've seen over the years, Corrections is hopelessly underfunded, our prisons are full of people who're recalcitrant gang members, some of whom are violent thugs virtually running some units & sometimes even dictating terms to warders, recruitment centres for gang membership & training centres for anti-social & criminal activities.
With chronically insufficient money or other resources for in-house education, psychiatric and psychological services for damaged individuals and mentally ill inmates or criminally insane psychopaths – like Bell & Burton appear to be.
Attempts to divert young offenders may not actually be working that well. Last year I read in Stuff somewhere that remand prisoners were clogging up the prisons again. Dunno how the numbers are. Courts seem clogged too.
Our mental health services are seemingly woefully under-resourced.
I'm trying to do a bit of reading up on Islamic de-radicalisation programmes, most seem to involve extremists in custody being taught that Islam is now a peaceful religion by non-radical, orthodox Imams. Not read that much so far. But from google hits headlines they seem to be a bit hit & miss. There's been at least one notable failure in the UK, where someone actually attending such a programme after his release went on a stabbing rampage.
Problem is Islam's a mixture of a multi-faceted religion, ideology & Islamic (Sharia) law. The Quran is pretty muddled in places. Hadiths & Sunnah also complicate what's taught. Open to multiple fatwa interpretations. Taliban, Islamic State, Al Qaeda, Sunni, Shiite, Sufi, Wahhabi, Salafists etc – all can claim they've got the right interpretation.
Hard to shift some people's minds if they're fixated or fanatical & not naturally empathic or they've got narcissistic or psychopathic/sociopathic personalities. One criticism of the UK's programmes was that an evaluation claimed some of these radicals will tell you what you want to hear but remain dangerous.
Cheers Anne. Coincidentally, I've just come across this, which details the parlous state of Corrections funding & resourcing for the rehabilitative services I referred to above.
Just wondering why the attacker was absolutely determined to challenge his deportation while showing such hatred for the western society he lived in here. Would it have been better for him to be back in Sri Lanka where he had family. Did he ever have a working life, friends, mosque contacts? Was he ever a student, apart from apparently initially getting here on a student visa. Nothing has come out about how he spent his time here, apart from time in prison and the various legal/immigration complications going on for many years.
I agree completely. His rationale for claiming refugee status was that his father was a government official that ran afoul of a local Tamil Tiger commander. However the Tamil Tigers were defetaed as an effective military force by 2009 and his father did not flee Sri Lanka like his son. He would have had much more support at home and should NEVER have been granted refugee status at all.
Which govt was in power when he was granted refugee status.Judith Collins was justice minister at the time and ditched reforming the laws around extradition dangerous migrants saying there was no need for such legislation now she is saying we need urgent reform of extradition.The Clark govt so called overstretch of terror laws in the early 2000's ,yet those some of those were found using and training with ak47 style guns.better to be safe than sorry.
It was granted on appeal, rather than by Immigration NZ in this particular case – INZ wanted to decline it and have taken all legal steps since to deport him.
He lied on his application he had a hidden agenda .rehabilitating a fundamentalist good luck with that.
The govt is supposed to be everything to every body with a meagre budget due to our very low tax rates.Prisons,Hospital's,education system etc all underfunded so how are we supposed to rehabilitate and have a proper mental health system ,train enough health worker and retain them. Only 8 new psychology training places for a country of 5 million successive govt's have relied on migrants from poorer countries to fill these positions as it is cheaper than training local people,who many go to wealthier countries.
OECD average 33.8%; NZ 32.3%. So (slightly) below the average, and decreasing?
Revenue Statistics 2020 – New Zealand [pdf] The OECD’s annual Revenue Statistics report found that the tax-to-GDP ratio in New Zealand decreased by 0.6 percentage points from 32.9% in 2018 to 32.3% in 2019. Between 2018 and 2019 the OECD average decreased from 33.9% to 33.8%.
The bar graph at the bottom of the first page puts things in perspective, imho.
NZ is the only OECD country that formally has no social security contributions.
is around the average for the OECD. It is certainly not at a very low level.
That's a meaningless statistic. The tax take needs to be wherever it needs to be to provide optimum services to the public. That is the debate, not where we are compared to other countries.
It is not actually. There is a widely held view is that at some level the economic performance of the country starts to diminish once the overall tax burden reaches a certain percentage of the overall economy. Now you might not subscribe to this but a significant body of people do. That is why there is push back against a much higher tax burden than we have now.
Gosman we have had this argument before I proved you wrong you name the country I 'all prove you wrong .Start with Australia if you like Headline taxes are all the OECD is looking at.
State taxes average 5•5% over and above federal base tax. Then Medicare 3% then self funding pensions 9%.State stamp duties and land taxes vary.
That's over 12% higher than NZ
France headline taxes average 33% but healthcare tax 8% pension tax over 9% and like much of europe you pay indemnity insurance as well.my daughter and husband
Live their and on slightly more than the average wage pay 66% tax.
In the US taxes between state and federal the health insurance around 66 cents in the dollar.
Just wondering why the attacker was absolutely determined to challenge his deportation while showing such hatred for the western society he lived in here.
They are not mutually exclusive. He wanted to remain here possibly because he saw the opportunity to do most harm here.
It must have been into millions of dollars that was spent on this terrorist over many years through police, judiciary, justice system, lawyers, legal aid, possibly social welfare. I hope the proposed legislation will be water tight enough to prevent this type of utter waste of taxpayer money. There are too many other needs to be funded.
I suppose so, but what I'm wondering, semantically and logically, is whether the label "terrorist" can only be applied to someone who intentionally seeks or succeeds in creating terror in a population, by employing actions that create terror, as a method. If this person struck out with only the intention of killing, not hoping as well to inspire terror in the community, does the table fit?
For clarity, I'm not trying to minimise anything, just wondering about labels.
Many organisations that were officially labelled terrorist by the governments they opposed were not in fact seeking to create terror in the wider population so if we used your definition that would seriously reduce who is officially defined as a Terrorist. I'm not stating that isn't necessarily a desirable outcome just that it needs to be taken in to account if the change in definition is adopted.
Yes, I agree with your comment. Personally, I think the too-casual use of the lable "terrorist" exacerbates the fear felt by people in the wider society. Roblogic (below) describes the person as "the knife attacker" which would terrify readers and listeners far less, imo, than describing them as "the terrorist" and given that it should be beholden upon authorities to reduce the fear felt by the community, more care could be taken with applying these labels.
A common definition of terrorism is the "systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective."[2] However, unlike some other jurisdictions,[3] New Zealand has actually defined terrorism in an Act of Parliament
…
The major piece of terrorist-related legislation in New Zealand is the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002.[4] The Act was introduced by the Government to strengthen its counter-terrorism powers, in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States.[5] The Terrorism Suppression Act defines terrorism, in New Zealand or elsewhere, as an act that "is carried out for the purpose of advancing an ideological, political, or religious cause"[4]and with the following intention:
to induce terror in a civilian population; or
to unduly compel or to force a government or an international organisation to do or abstain from doing any act.
And if it results in one or more of the following outcomes:[4]
the death of, or other serious bodily injury to, one or more persons (other than a person carrying out the act):
a serious risk to the health or safety of a population:
destruction of, or serious damage to, property of great value or importance, or major economic loss, or major environmental damage, if likely to result in one or more outcomes specified in points 1, 2 and 4:
serious interference with, or serious disruption to, an infrastructure facility, if likely to endanger human life:
introduction or release of a disease-bearing organism, if likely to devastate the national economy of a country.
Alternatively, instead of the listed outcomes, "it occurs in a situation of armed conflict and is, at the time and in the place that it occurs, in accordance with rules of international law applicable to the conflict".[4]
Terrorism is usually defined as the use of violence to influence politics or political leadership.
I conciously noted this when when seeking entry to the UK and that the definition on the form was clearly something the UK govt was guilty of in Iraq. Of course the same can be said of certain NZ institutions like the SIS.
The main thing holding it up was appeals as far as I can tell. Maybe instead of throwing the whole thing out, fund the appellate tribunal better (delays have been an issue for years) and expedite the appeals in these instances?
Good riddance. Here’s a bit more on Williams, for those who appreciate the hilariously inept:
Ruining the broadcast of a basketball game in 1983 , offending Cindy Crawford in the 1990s when he carved out a miserably short career as the most incompetent “foreign correspondents” in television history , and championing Don Brash in 2019…
just started reading this book, written by TVNZ journo Jehan Casinader in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks. good stuff for mental health in these crazy lockdown days.
Just started reading this. He's a compelling writer, but the first chapter is surprisingly intense for something written for seriously depressed or stressed people.
Whether we like it or not, we are being asked to bend, flex and adapt in ways we never knew were possible, which were previously thought to be flat-out impossible. We’re doing well. Stick to the public health guidance. Don’t cut corners now [ENDS]
Curious thing. I only discovered today this site has a policy apparently conforming (or similar) to Ardern's policy of not naming the Christchurch or LynnMall terrorist attackers – which I will respect, of course, if I want to post about these attackers here.
My personal view on this is different tho. As soon as their names were publicly known & suppressions lifted, I've been perfectly content to use them. It makes life easier. And it doesn't make any practical difference to how they're portrayed.
But … I'm 95% sure that with the Christchurch terrorist, once suppression was lifted, all our msm tv channels & Stuff & Herald continued for months to not publish or use his name.
Ardern's applying the same policy to the LynnMall terrorist. Which is fair.
But all the msm tv channels & online news outlets aren't. They all seem to be naming him. (Making it difficult to post some links.)
Yawn… You are probably looking for a conspiracy when none exists. This is a volunteer site where volunteer moderators have limited time to moderate. In the case of the ChCh terrorist, the suppression lasted throughout his trial and may even be still in place. I don’t know because what the suppression orders are in place isn’t listed in a searchable form anywhere that I know of.
Apply Occams razor and look for the simplest explanation rather than a complex or ideological conspiracy. Just assume lack of time.
It is entirely possible that a moderation was plugged in when suppression is in effect and not changed afterwards. This makes it easier for time constrained moderators to ensure that suppression breaking comments are not added to our site – and allows us to not have to approve every comment – thereby slowing the debate. It also means that I don’t get to spend time in court because of some dickhead commentator.
I did a brief look and didn’t see a moderation for Lynmall guy. But since I never bothered to find out his name, that isn’t conclusive.
So live with that possible constraint. There is of course another alternate explanation. There is an automatic constraint based on the number of links in a comment. That is there to cause problems for spammers and astroturfers..
You seem to be using quite a lot of links… ~11 in the last comment that I had to release – most of then appear to be copies from where ever you copied the text from. Could you constrain those down. And use the quote control when you use quotes so that others know what are your words, and what are those of others. Italics are less useful than a specific quote tool.
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I understand your site policy. It's fine. I've posted elsewhere where the names were able be used once suppressions lapsed.
What I'm curious about is why the mainstream media seem to be applying a different rule. Naming this guy as soon as suppression was lifted. Name suppression was eventually lifted for the Christchurch shooter but media carried on not naming him for some time beyond that.
PS: Yes, sorry – I’ve noticed my article excerpts have been a bit long, with double-ups. Will try to cut them back in future.
There was an element of suspicion the Christchurch fuckwit was a glory-hound, in his own perverted demented way. Hence his live-streaming. Not using his name is a minor means of denying him the twisted recognition he craved.
With our New Lynn fuckwit, there doesn't seem to be the same suggestion he was in it for personal gain. Unless maybe he thought there were 72 virgins waiting for him in the afterlife. In any case, he's dead now, whether his name gets used or not has no potential effect on him. Nor is using his name, or not, likely to be influential in whether others get inspired to copy-cat his repugnant actions.
That's an interesting point & makes sense. I see Newshub made a point out of naming the Chch shooter when others still weren't.
Straight off the bat the news chiefs all agreed on one thing: we were going to keep naming the alleged gunman. The Prime Minister had said she wasn't going to name him and implored others to do the same; she didn't want him to gain the notoriety he sought. But the editors were of one mind: in covering his trial, we would name [redacted].
[If you copy someone else’s words to this site, you have to either link, or provide a clear reference. If the URL contains a word that might be a problem for the site, let the mods deal with it. In this case, I added the link via a phrase instead of straight, as you can see. You can do this yourself if you use the comment editor, ask if you are not sure – weka]
Gezza, if you want to link to a comment elsewhere on The Standard and just have it appear as a naked link, just make sure there's some text in the same line as the link. Even just a full stop before the link does the trick.
For instance, here's one of your earlier comments today with a full stop just in front:
if you just paste the link by itself, for some reason the #commentnumber gets chopped off and the link you end up with just goes to the post, not the comment.
Or if you want to embed a link, just select the text that you want to appear in blue to indicate it's the link, then click the button that looks like two Cs facing each other with a dash in between on a 45 degree angle(far left second row on my display), then paste the URL into the dialog box that pops up.
Let's see what happens when a non-mod tries to embed a link with a moderation list word in the URL. I'm pretty sure I tried it before, and the site said no. But maybe the latest comment editor will let it through.
edit: comment editor still says no. But it lets me edit, which I don’t think happened last time.
As soon as their names were publicly known & suppressions lifted, I've been perfectly content to use them. It makes life easier. And it doesn't make any practical difference to how they're portrayed.
This site is not a (commercial) news site or part of MSM.
It is also not about making your life easier by turning their names into household names.
They don’t deserve name recognition or fame.
It could stoke a competitive element with other deranged who would want to go down into the history books as the ‘greatest’. Nobody needs that.
I’m sure you’ll find a way to say what you’d want to say without the need to name them.
We don't like different opinions here do we? That's okay, it's been moderated to the point of irrelevancy. Perhaps the knitting circle of conformist views gather round the small kitchen table to share the echo chamber when alert levels permit.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[Looks like we have a sockpuppet here!
I just love it when banned commenters try to bypass their ban and then draw attention by preaching to us about moderation here and being an echo chamber. Such stupidity is rare and it never stops to amaze me.
This sockpuppet is now banned permanently – Incognito]
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Buzz from the Beehive Hurrah. Today we found something fresh on the Beehive website, Beehive.govt.nz, which claims to be the best place to find Government initiatives, policies and Ministerial information. It wasn’t from Finance Minister Grant Robertson, whose reaction to the latest inflation figures would have been appreciated. So, too, ...
Smiling And Waiving A Golden Opportunity: Chris Hipkins knew that the day at Ratana would be Jacinda’s day – her final opportunity to bask in the unalloyed love and support of her followers. He simply could not afford to be seen to overshadow this last chance for his former boss ...
Extremism Consumes Itself: The plot of “Act of Oblivion” concerns the relentless pursuit of the “regicides” Edward Whalley and William Goffe – two of the fifty-nine signatories to King Charles I’s death warrant. As with his many other works of historical fiction, Robert Harris’s novel brings to life a period ...
To challenge the Government’s promotion of co-governance, to share power between Maori and public authorities and agencies, is to invite accusations of racism. An example: this article by Martyn Bradbury on The Daily Blog headed Luxon’s race baiting hypocrisy at Ratana. The article was triggered by National leader Christopher Luxon, ...
A very informative video discussion: Are we getting the whole story about Ukraine? | Robert Wright & Ivan Katchanovski Getting objective information on the situation in Ukraine and the cause of this current war is not easy. There is the current censorship and blatant mainstream media bias – which ...
Yesterday the Herald ran an op-ed from Mayor Wayne Brown titled “The case for light rail is lighter than ever” and a few things stood out. However, it’s getting more and more tricky to make a strong economic case for spending up to $29 billion on a single route of ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Samantha Harrington Imagine it’s a cold February night and your furnace breaks. You want to replace it with an electric heat pump because you’ve heard that tax credits will help pay for the switch. And you know that heat pumps can reduce ...
In 2005, then-National Party leader based his entire election campaign on racism, with his infamous racist Orewa speech and racist iwi/kiwi billboards. Now, Christopher Luxon seems to want to do it all again: Fresh off using his platform at this week's Rātana celebrations to criticise the government's approach to ...
Inflation is showing little sign of slowing down, posing a problem for freshly minted PM Chris Hipkins. According to that old campaigner Richard Prebble, Hipkins should call a snap election. If he waits till October, he risks being swept away. The dilemma for the new leader is that fighting an election ...
Buzz from the Beehive A great deal has happened since January 19. Among other things, a new Prime Minister and deputy have been sworn in and our leaders (past, present and aspiring) have delivered speeches at Ratana. Newshub reported that politicians of all stripes had descended upon Rātana for the ...
It’s a big day for New Zealand; our 41st Prime Minister has taken office and the new, “Chippy” era of politics is underway. Or, on the other hand, the Labour Party continues to govern with an overall majority and much the same leadership team in place. Life goes on and ...
New Zealand has another Prime Minister who does not have a basic grasp of the three articles of the Treaty of Waitangi. THOMAS CRANMER writes: It is simply astonishing that New Zealand’s next Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, is unable to give even a brief explanation of the three articles ...
A statue of a semi-naked Nick Smith puts the misogyny debate into perspective. GRAHAM ADAMS writes … In the wake of Ardern’s abrupt resignation, the mainstream media are determined to convince us she was hounded from office mainly because she is a woman and had to fall on her sword ...
A Different Kind Of Vibe: In the days and weeks ahead, as the Hipkins ministry takes shape, the only question that matters is whether New Zealand’s new prime minister possesses both the wisdom and the courage to correct his party’s currently suicidal political course. If Chris “Chippy” Hipkins is ...
An editorial in the NZ Herald last week, titled “Nimbyism goes bananas as housing intensifies“, introduced Herald readers to a couple of acronyms that go along with the now-familiar NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard): “bananas” (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone) “cave” dwellers (citizens against virtually everything). The editorial ...
Back in the dark autumn of 2020, when the prospect of Covid was freaking the country out, Finance Minister Grant Robertson set himself and Treasury a series of questions about what a post-Covid economy might look like. Those were fearful days, and the questions in part reflected a series ...
Buzz from the Beehive Yet another day has passed without Ministers of the Crown posting something to show they are still working for us on the Beehive website. Nothing new has been posted since January 17. Perhaps the ministers are all engaged in the bemusing annual excursion ...
Incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has already indicated he intends making the tax system “fairer”. That points to the route a government facing an election could take to tilt the odds towards winning in its favour, given Labour’s support in the last months of the Ardern era had been ...
NewsHub has a poll on the cost-of-living crisis, which has an interesting finding: the vast majority of kiwis prefer wage rises to tax cuts: When asked whether income has kept up with the cost of living, 54.8 percent of people surveyed said no and according to 58.6 percent of ...
Labour has begun 2023 with the centre-left bloc behind in the polls and losing ground. That being so, did his colleagues choose Chris Hipkins as the replacement for Jacinda Ardern because they think he has a realistic shot at leading them to victory this year, or because he‘s the best ...
Two Flags, Two Masters? Just as it required a full-scale military effort to destroy the first attempt at Māori self-government in the 1850s and 60s (an effort that divided Maoridom itself into supporters and opponents of the Crown) any second attempt to establish tino rangatiratanga, based on the confiscatory policies ...
The first of Kiwirail’s big network shutdowns to fix the foundations on our tracks is now well underway with the Southern Line closed between Otahuhu and Newmarket. This is following on from the network wide Christmas/New Year shutdown, during which Kiwirail say that nearly 1,300 people working across 69 different ...
This is a re-post from the Citizens' Climate Lobby blogIn last year’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Congress included about $20 billion earmarked for natural climate solutions. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for deciding how those funds should be allocated to meet the climate ...
You’ve really got to wonder at the introspection, or lack thereof, from much of the mainstream media post Jacinda Ardern stepping down. Some so-called journalists haven’t even taken a breath before once again putting the boot in, which clearly shows their inherent bias and lack of any misgivings about fueling ...
Over the weekend I was interviewed by a media outlet about the threats that Jacinda Ardern and her family have received while she has been PM and what can be expected now that she has resigned. I noted that the level of threat she has been exposed to is unprecedented ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes: The days of the Labour Government being associated with middle class social liberalism look to be numbered. Soon-to-be Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni are heralding a major shift in emphasis away from the constituencies and ideologies of liberal Grey ...
A Different Kind Of Vibe: In the days and weeks ahead, as the Hipkins ministry takes shape, the only question that matters is whether New Zealand’s new prime minister possesses both the wisdom and the courage to correct his party’s currently suicidal political course. If Chris “Chippy” Hipkins is able to steer ...
The days of the Labour Government being associated with middle class social liberalism look to be numbered. Soon-to-be Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni are heralding a major shift in emphasis away from the constituencies and ideologies of liberal Grey Lynn and Wellington Central towards the ...
Following the surprise resignation of Jacinda Ardern last week, her replacement, Chis Hipkins, has said: Over the coming week, Cabinet will be making decisions on reining in some programs and projects that aren’t essential right now That messaging is similar to what Jacinda Ardern said late last year and as ...
Much of what will mark the early days of Chris Hipkins’ Prime Ministership would have happened anyway. By December, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister were making it clear the summer break and early days of this year were going to be spent on a reset of government policy. ...
Going to try to get into the blogging thing again (ha!) what with an election coming up and all that. So today I thought I'd start small and simple, by merely tackling the world's (second) richest man.I'm no fan of Elon Musk. You don't want to know why, but I'll ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 15, 2023 thru Sat, Jan 21, 2023. Story of the Week State of the climate: How the world warmed in 2022With a new year underway, most of the climate data for ...
Well, that was a disappointment. As of today, the New Zealand Labour Caucus opted for Chris Hipkins as our new Prime Minister, and I cannot help but let loose a cynical cackle. ...
Get ready for a major political reset once Chris Hipkins is sworn in as Prime Minister this week. Labour’s new leader is likely to push the Government to the right economically, and do his best to jettison the damaging perceptions that Labour has become “too woke” on social issues. Overall, ...
Things have gone sideways… and it’s only the third week of January? It was political earthquake time. For some the Prime Minister made a truly significant announcement. For others – did you have this on your bingo card? – a body double did so (sit tight, you’ll understand later, ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
The Government is maintaining its strong trade focus in 2023 with Trade and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visiting Europe this week to discuss the role of agricultural trade in climate change and food security, WTO reform and New Zealand agricultural innovation. Damien O’Connor will travel tomorrow to Switzerland to attend the ...
The Government has extended its medium-scale classification of Cyclone Hale to the Wairarapa after assessing storm damage to the eastern coastline of the region. “We’re making up to $80,000 available to the East Coast Rural Support Trust to help farmers and growers recover from the significant damage in the region,” ...
The Government is making an initial contribution of $150,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Tairāwhiti following ex-Tropical Cyclone Hale, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “While Cyclone Hale has caused widespread heavy rain, flooding and high winds across many parts of the North Island, Tairāwhiti ...
Rural Communities Minister Damien O’Connor has classified this week’s Cyclone Hale that caused significant flood damage across the Tairāwhiti/Gisborne District as a medium-scale adverse event, unlocking Government support for farmers and growers. “We’re making up to $100,000 available to help coordinate efforts as farmers and growers recover from the heavy ...
New Zealand is ranked second equal with Finland in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index, Denmark is now clearly at the top of the ranking. New Zealand’s score dropped one point to 87 while Denmark improved by 2 points scoring 90. This is only the third ...
Analysis: In juggling his cabinet, the new prime minister said he sought to balance stability with renewal, writes Toby Manhire.There were some massive shifts reflected in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced this afternoon – it’s just we knew about them already. Specifically: Mt Albert MP ...
Auckland Emergency Management has issued an Emergency Mobile Alert (EMA) warning of the potential for further extremely heavy rain to hit the Auckland region tonight. The alert asks Aucklanders to act immediately if they see rising water, due to how quickly flooding can happen. They should evacuate to high ...
Ayesha Verrall will become the minister of health and moves to the front bench, taking the portfolio over from Andrew Little. Kieran McAnulty will join cabinet and take over the local government portfolio. Meanwhile, Little drops seven spots on the list, Phil Twyford is no longer a minister, and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Graycar, Professor of Public Policy, University of Adelaide Just months after Australia legislated to establish the long-anticipated National Anti-Corruption Agency, our standing is back on the rise in Transparency International’s annual Global Corruption Perceptions Index. This is a small but important ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sally Ferguson, Director, Appleton Institute, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock After a few difficult years of lockdowns and travel restrictions, people are finally winging their way across the globe again; families are being reunited and sights are being seen. Yet the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Goodwin, Lecturer, The University of Melbourne Terren Hurst on Unsplash In May, we predicted Tony Burke’s joint portfolio of workplace relations and the arts was an opportunity to address some of the challenges facing the arts and cultural sector. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danny Kingsley, Visiting Fellow, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University Shutterstock Unless you’ve spent your summer on a digital detox, you’ve probably heard of ChatGPT: the latest AI chatbot taking the world by storm. ...
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists welcomes former ASMS member Dr Ayesha Verrall into her new role as Minister of Health. "Dr Verrall brings significant professional experience sharpened by her time in Parliament serving as the Associate ...
Today the Prime Minister announced the appointment of Kieran McAnulty as the new Minister of Local Government. “We welcome Minister McAnulty to the role and call on him to follow the Review into the Future of Local Government’s recommendation ...
The Taxpayer’s Union has welcomed the appointment of a new Minister for Local Government and encouraged Kieran McAnulty to press pause on the Three Waters reforms. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said: “A new Minister for ...
COMMENTARY:By Gavin Ellis It is unlikely that the Mayor of Auckland, Wayne Brown, took any lessons from the city’s devastating floods but the rest of us — and journalists in particular — could learn a thing or two. Brown’s demeanour will not be improved by a petition calling for ...
RNZ Pacific The headquarters of the Malvatumauri of National Council of Chiefs of Vanuatu has burned down. The fire broke out about 1am Monday local time. Police are investigating the cause of the fire in Port Vila. The Malvatumauri nakamal is a custom parliament for all Vanuatu’s chiefs. “This nakamal ...
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown is under fire for calling New Zealand journalists “drongos”, blaming them for having to cancel a round of tennis with friends on Sunday as the city dealt with the aftermath of record rainfall and flooding that left four dead. It comes after widespread criticism of ...
Things are acutely uncomfortable for Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown right now, but can he recover to save his mayoralty? Less than a month after Wayne Brown was sworn in as Mayor of Auckland, a leading figure in central government was asked privately how the city might handle this unconventional figure ...
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) welcomes Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall to the Minister of Health role. NZNO Chief Executive Paul Goulter said the organisation and its members are looking forward to working ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced Jan Tinetti, Ayesha Verrall, Willie Jackson and Kiri Allan are being shifted up the Labour rankings, with Nanaia Mahuta and Andrew Little dropping down. Watch here. ...
Jamie Wall reviews Invincible by WJ Moloney, which covers Andrew (Son) White’s life and experiences of World War I, rugby and survival.“He saw it, and all the other memorials, was conceived and created for what was lost, by those who survived. Stark and imposing, thoughtfully designed and inscribed with ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week to meet with Australian PM Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins said. The meeting marks ...
A state of emergency has been declared in Northland as the region braces for more rain. Metservice is forecasting up to 140mm of rain across Northland, with some areas in the north and east getting 220mm, peaking at 40mm per hour. The state of emergency is effective as of 1pm ...
Never thought you’d order Uber Eats from the Coffee Club? You might have and not even known it, writes Sam Brooks.I spend a lot of my time scrolling through the Uber Eats app. Only half of the time is it because I’m looking for something to eat. The other ...
Consumers have been warned to prepare for fruit and vegetable shortages as floodwaters in the upper North Island impact food safety. The weekend’s flooding will exacerbate supply issues caused by rainy conditions this summer in much of the country, leading to higher prices nationwide. Anne-Marie Arts of industry group United ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Director, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre; Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University In 2016, the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence released its findings following an exhaustive 13-month inquiry. In it were 227 recommendations to ...
In recognition of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Problem Gambling Foundation will launch a new wānanga series of online videos on Waitangi Day, featuring conversations with Māori influencers about the systemic injustices experienced by Māori including ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eliza Middleton, Biodiversity Management Officer, University of Sydney Overall winner of the 2018 competition, a Growling Grass Frog (_Litoria raniformis_) by EnviroDNA @enviro_DNA@enviro_DNA, CC BY-NC Almost 2,000 native species are officiallylisted as “threatened” in Australia – but how many have ...
Youthtown is launching [email protected] with two online after school programs aimed at giving kids a safe and supervised environment. Minecraft Monday and Imagination Lab - STEAM Kits are hosted in secure online groups that enable children to get a ...
The more hard surfaces we build, the more stormwater we need to drain. Here’s how we can future-proof our urban design as climate change bites. We’ve built our cities to be vulnerable to – and exacerbate – major weather events such as the one we saw in Auckland on Friday. ...
The soaring cost of living is fuelling an education crisis for New Zealand children living in poverty. To coincide with the start of the new school year, KidsCan is launching its 2023 Back to School campaign with the aim to bring on board 450 new ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nina Sivertsen, Senior Lecturer (Nursing), Flinders University Getty Images It’s good practice for employers to consult staff when forming policies or guidelines. However, for some staff from diverse backgrounds, this creates extra work and pressure. “Cultural load” in the ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union has launched a petition calling for schools to have the authority to make their own decisions about emergency closures based on local circumstances rather than be beholden to bureaucrats in Wellington. Taxpayers’ ...
Duncan Greive founded The Spinoff in 2014. Today he has decided to hand the torch to his colleague and friend Amber Easby. He explains why.I swear I thought of it first. Or at least, in parallel. I remember walking up the stairs to work on January 9, and for ...
Today’s launch of Waipuna aa rangi, the formal body set to represent hapū and iwi across Te Tai Tokerau and Tāmaki Makaurau in the Three Waters reforms, has been postponed by the ongoing extreme weather event. “The latest red warning for parts ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics AO, University of Newcastle Pexels/Anna Shvets Ever feel a bit stressed or need a concentration boost? Research suggests one remedy may be right under your nose. Chewing has benefits for brain function, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danny C Price, Senior research fellow, Curtin University Midjourney, Author provided Some 540 million years ago, diverse life forms suddenly began to emerge from the muddy ocean floors of planet Earth. This period is known as the Cambrian Explosion, and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camilla Nelson, EG Whitlam Research Fellow at the Whitlam Institute, and Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame Australia April Fonti/AAP There is much to be excited about in Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’s draft Family Law Amendment Bill 2023, the first in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Naylor, Senior Lecturer, Massey University Getty Images The clean-up from Auckland’s devastating floods last week is just beginning but insurance companies will need to start thinking about what the record-breaking weather event will mean for future coverage. Over ...
A coalition of anti-poverty and welfare advocacy groups has called for urgent government action to support people affected by flooding in Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, and Waikato. The Fairer Future group - which called for increases in income support ...
<img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2301/634c21cb071ff0232051.jpeg" width="720" height="221"> “Raising the legal age for buying cigarettes to 20 is a good move, but effectively banning e-cigarettes is disappointing ...
Hospital waiting lists grow Chris Hipkins is expected to announce his cabinet reshuffle today. There’s been some speculation that Andrew Little may lose the health portfolio to Ayesha Verrall. As Stuff’s Bridie Witton reported, Little said he was happy to stick it out as the health minister. ...
In the December 2022 quarter, 0.4 percent of home transfers were to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship or a resident visa, Stats NZ said today. This compares with 0.4 percent in the December 2021 quarter, and 0.5 percent in the September 2022 ...
New Zealand is well behind the rest of the world when it comes to transferring money between banks. Shane Marsh and James McEniery discovered this when they were living in Singapore and started Aotearoa’s first real time payment mobile wallet. They aim to bring banking in New Zealand into the ...
MetService satellite imaging shows a deepening low moving towards New Zealand. It’s expected to bring more heavy rain to areas already impacted by the record-breaking rainfall on Friday that caused severe flooding in Auckland. Red and orange heavy rain warnings have been issued. Red warnings are issued when rain is ...
Our uniforms are overpriced and so packed with plastics they’ll outlive our great-great-grandchildren, write the student journalists of Balmoral Intermediate. Last year, Balmoral Intermediate’s student-run newspaper Kawepūrongo released a multi-part investigation into their polyester-packed school uniforms. The first instalment, titled “What Really Goes Into Our Uniform?” was initially sparked by ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that a Police dog handler’s decision to command his dog to restrain two young people while arresting them for attempting to steal a car was a justified, necessary and proportionate response in ...
While the upper North Island braces for more heavy rain, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown remains adamant he’s not resigning as a new text message about “media drongos” sent by Brown comes to light, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The ...
The Environmental Defence Society says that the National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry (NES-PF) are failing to protect the coastal marine environment from the significant adverse effects of sedimentation associated with plantation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danny C Price, Senior research fellow, Curtin University Midjourney, Author provided Some 540 million years ago, diverse life forms suddenly began to emerge from the muddy ocean floors of planet Earth. This period is known as the Cambrian Explosion, and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Davies, Research Associate, Charles Darwin University The world’s largest wild population of water buffalo now roam Australia. As does the largest wild herd of camels. We have millions of feral goats and deer. For these introduced species, Australia is a paradise. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Juliana Segura-Salazar, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Planetary Resources We know the world must move to cleaner energy sources to head off the worst effects of climate change, but the technology required for the transition is very mineral-intensive. So ...
Two new polls put Labour under Chris Hipkins suddenly ahead of Chris Luxon’s National. Toby Manhire assesses some strikingly similar numbers. Come on now. The news in New Zealand is meant to yawn gently out of bed in January. A sprinkling of set-pieces, scene setting and sloganeering, that’s all. But ...
Filmed in rural New Zealand during the Covid-19 pandemic, Pearl was one of the biggest critical darlings of 2022. But, as Stewart Sowman-Lund reports, there are still no plans to release it here. It cost New Zealand taxpayers more than$1.5m. It was filmed entirely on our shores. It raked in ...
Carmel Sepuloni's appointment as Deputy Prime Minister has been rightly celebrated, but how will she fare as Chris Hipkins' right-hand woman? She's well-liked in the Labour caucus and seen as a safe pair of hands - but has Carmel Sepuloni got what it takes to be the Deputy Prime Minister? ...
The epic deluge and subsequent flooding across Auckland broke just about every record in the book. Newsroom has pulled the data together to show just how unprecedented this storm was. ...
Guy Somerset is Team Sussex I’m Team Sussex. I came to Harry’s memoir predisposed towards both him and Meghan. I believe them. They seem genuine. A bit flaky perhaps. A bit, yes, woke. But not the criminals they’ve been made out to be. Not the Machiavellian manipulators they’re portrayed as. ...
'When you have the support of many to help carry you and role models who completely smash glass ceilings, how can you not dare to dream?' Auckland University’s first female Pacific Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific shares what the appointment of Carmel Sepuloni as Deputy Prime Minister means to her.Comment: Nafanua, well-known in ...
Multiple world champion archer Danielle Brown experienced the ultimate highs and lows of sport. Now with the help of two great Kiwi athletes, she's written an award-winning book, Angela Walker reports. Danielle Brown knows what inclusion looks like. It has enabled the archery champion to stand on the sport's highest ...
Dr Eric Crampton argues national and local regulation, including a clause in the Grocery Industry Competition Bill going through Parliament, make it more difficult for other players to enter the supermarket. ...
Increasingly frequent encounters between humans and sea lions in the Catlins and Clutha coast has conservationists calling for vehicle bans on beaches The world’s rarest species of sea lion is clawing its way back into prominence on Southland beaches - but road traffic on the seashore could send them back into ...
For political nerds and tragics the 2020 election was about as boring as it could get with no race to be seen and an inevitable landslide victory for Labour. Monday night’s polls show 2023 will be a return to MMP - a race down to the wire and the result ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Former deputy prime minister John Anderson is one of the six- member committee launched on Monday to spearhead the “no” case in the Voice referendum. The Voice No Case Committee’s “Recognise a Better Way” campaign ...
RNZ Pacific New Caledonia’s pro-independence Union Calédonian has proposed September 24 this year as the date by which an accord be reached with France to complete decolonisation. The party, which wants independence for the territory by 2025, has chosen the date because it will mark the 170th anniversary of New ...
Pacific Media Watch Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat reports today on how Fiji has fared under the draconian Media Industry Development Act that has restricted media freedom over the past decade. There are hopes that state-endorsed media censorship will stop in Fiji following last month’s change in government to the People’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Treasurer Jim Chalmers has rejected as “laughable” criticism he has turned his back on the Hawke-Keating reform era in his blueprint for “values-based capitalism”. In this podcast Chalmers also reveals he spoke with Paul ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jo Caust, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow (Hon), School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne It’s finally been launched. A new cultural policy for Australia. After years (actually decades) of neglect, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today launched a new national ...
Labour’s new leader Chris Hipkins has brought along a significant poll bump, with Labour now ahead in both the 1News Kantar Public and Newshub Reid Research polls. Both major television networks have released the first polls of Hipkins’ premiership tonight. But while both polls now have Labour ahead, both also predict ...
It’s a big evening for political tragics, with both the major television networks set to reveal a first glance at the popularity of new prime minister Chris Hipkins. TVNZ and Newshub have announced they will both be airing the poll results at 6pm tonight. It’ll show whether or not there ...
Countdown to take knives and scissors off their shelves as a reaction to Lynmall incident. https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/knives-taken-off-supermarket-shelves-in-new-zealand-after-terrorist-attack/ar-AAO7X5n?li=BBqdg4K.
Just imagine the weapons to be found in a hardware store. Slashers, pitch forks etc and the list would be endless, taken across all trades and services. If NZ is not immune from terrorism then maybe it's time to lock down all dangerous items, like cigarettes and spray paint?? haha. H & S might blow a fuse with all the work going forward.
It's probably more about helping their staff and customers feel safe, rather than actual OSH.
Leave it a while. Not many people going into mitre10 right now, anyway.
More 10 visitors more likely to be big strong builders cowardly attackers wouldn't last long .Besides building stores are not usually in city centres.
Why should it matter if building stores are in city centres or not? I guess tradies and farmers are more likely to have knives on them as a matter of course, but such a work tool (especially if folding & unlockable!) isn't really much of a weapon. "Big strong builders" are certainly not the only customers at hardware stores, and who can say for certain how they would react in a moment of crisis if not trained for it (and even then without warning)?
I don't think I would call the Lynn Mall Terrorist cowardly; deranged – sure, but it has to take some level of courage to perpetrate such attacks with a melee weapon rather than a firearm, vehicle, or explosive. He had to know that his options afterwards were likely; death, deportation, or prison.
Saw this on RNZ earlier and still have the tab open:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/450843/man-chased-by-lynnmall-terrorist-says-kiwis-stood-up-for-what-s-right
Sounds like he wasn't all there.
Why I said that is because terrorists want the maximum publicity .
Mega10 in my hometown is at a mall, next to Countdown, Harvey Normans and many more. Everytime I shop Mega10 there's 200-300 people in there. The Cafe and Garden centre full of woman and children. Builders all outside in the drivethru. It would be hideous if an attack was to happen. How many tradies are black belt in self defence, not many I'd think the rest would take cover. I hope this doesn't become a new normal terrorist attack, nearly impossible to stop.
You are right, Greenbus.
It is little more than virtue signalling, especially when you see the plethora of glass bottles in supermarkets. Of course if police were aware that their subject had an obsession with knives, they might have reasonably been expected to be stationed in the relevant aisle.
Captain hindsight strikes again: your "reasonably expected" is a bunch of BS before the fact.
As for the term "virtue signalling", maybe you could try getting your head around the fact that a lot of people get weirded out in similar places after something like this.
Is that feeling rational? Nope.
Is it normal? Yep.
Do staff like working in places where everyone instinctively keeps an uncoscious eye on who is loitering near the kitchen utensils? Nope.
Do customers do the same? Yep.
And if basic human consideration isn't a motive for you, do businesses like to see their customers happy so they come in and buy stuff rather than going somewhere else? Most definitely.
So sure, mock companies showing a bit of awareness about normal human reactions. Says more about you than them.
You mentioned the Lindt cafe terrorist attack.
Police were criticised for their lack of urgent action. They inadvertently killed one of the hostages. The terrorist, like ours, was on bail at the time of the attack. It is very sad when history repeats itself.
An urgent inquiry is needed here to ensure whatever mistakes might have been made are not repeated in the future.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-40024143
Not urgent.
Careful, methodical, and precise.
Like the coronial inquiry you linked to, released ~2.5 years after the attack.
Guess what – we'll have a coroner's inquest, too. And multiple other reviews. You're calling for action that has already, in some instances, begun.
As someone who has scant knowledge of these matters, it does seem to me that NZ places too much emphasis on the punishment side of criminal activity and not nearly enough on the rehabilitation of the individuals concerned. Many of them are profoundly damaged mentally due to their upbringing and/or past experiences. According to this expert the terrorist was one of them:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/450835/missed-opportunities-to-deradicalise-lynnmall-attacker-says-criminologist
Very sad. I wonder how many of these people, if properly treated, would go on to lead useful lives.
New Zealand peaked at 10,600 in 2018 and are down this year to 8,600.
I do think you point to a really hard question:
When every applicable part of the intelligence, immigration, Police, judiciary, and policy settings have been used on one person and they still get to commit a terror attack, what more must the state do to stop them?
Since they forecast annual death and injury from COVID as worth decreasing everyone's human rights for, then they can do it with terrorism as well.
It's like: we're getting ready for nationwide permanent Level 2 for public health. What about Security Level 2?
Not sure the parallel goes through, there.
Couple of reasons, one because it's pointless in practise and the other because it's significantly more complex theoretically.
The yanks, and other nations, have tried "alert levels" ever since 2001. Fucking useless. Yanks ditched their colour-coding system in 2011. Most people have no idea what they were supposed to do in a "high" level as opposed to "elevated", let alone "guarded" vs "low".
From a theoretical level, we know that if person A has a communicable virus, close contacts are all in significant danger and need to be tested.
But if person B has a tendency towards violence in Dunedin, the next similar attack can happen in Auckland, by person Q. And nobody has a pcr-level test for individual actions, do they? Otherwise economists would all be in agreement, and correct.
Viruses have a given probability of infection, hospitalisation, and death. We can make estimates based on those probabilities.
The Rand corporation tried that sort of modelling for violence in the 60s, and people periodically try ever since, but it doesn't work because individuals have so much variation. The assumption-based errors are a mile wide. Every prediction with a reasonable assumption spread would point to a likelihood that includes "no problems" and "human extinction".
Speaking of people with "a tendency towards violence in Dunedin", the person (allegedly) responsible for the Dunedin Central Countdown attacks was reported on in the ODT at 9:32am on the morning of the 3rd of September. Found myself wondering if the news had made it up to Auckland radio (or whatever internet the terrorist was allowed – which I understand was subject to conditions), before he set out to Lynn Mall Countdown. There may not be a connection (difficult to ask him now), but that's a fair coincidence!
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/crime/case-supermarket-stabbing-accused-stalls
People (especially terrorists) love to think of terrorists as criminal masterminds, intricately planning bold masterstrokes to hold the world in fear.
And fair enough there was a bit of that before governments started targeting coordinators and engineers (rather than the disgruntled teens with two hand grenades and a dream). And, like plugging leaks in a roof, security started getting more professional at spotting vulnerabilities before terrorists could exploit them.
These days, most "terrorists" seem to be, well, sad dicks or sadly disturbed/foolish individuals, generally working with badly-written crap they collected off the internet, and with a lot of personal shit going on in their lives.
People like the coffee-bar hostage taker in Aus, who wanted the cops to get him an ISIS banner because he brought the wrong one, and was up for serious non-political charges at the same time, too.
Sad characters, many of them.
"Since they forecast annual death and injury from COVID as worth decreasing everyone's human rights for, then they can do it with terrorism as well"
Yeah – though there may be a hierarchy of human rights at play here. The COVID crisis involves restricting freedom of movement (arguably a lesser right) to maximise right to life (arguably a greater one). Crudely stated – there's a net increase in rights that comes out of this calculation and trade off. Whereas stopping terrorism may require going into darker territory, such as taking people out of circulation because of their opinions in order to stop a statistically insignificant amount of harm (compared to a pandemic at least). And that I feel just makes getting the right balance a whole lot harder.
Each policy instrument applied on both entails pretty significant losses of rights, and there's no time like the whole of the population losing a set of rights to start a reasonable debate about whether state control mechanisms are really working.
We've managed not to get too dark after the Christchurch mosque massacre. IMHO we are the more mature for it.
But this current guy should never have been in the country. He have been deported years ago for getting here on fraudulent documents. Why they weren't able to have the Deportation hearing is beyond me.
From what I've seen over the years, Corrections is hopelessly underfunded, our prisons are full of people who're recalcitrant gang members, some of whom are violent thugs virtually running some units & sometimes even dictating terms to warders, recruitment centres for gang membership & training centres for anti-social & criminal activities.
With chronically insufficient money or other resources for in-house education, psychiatric and psychological services for damaged individuals and mentally ill inmates or criminally insane psychopaths – like Bell & Burton appear to be.
Attempts to divert young offenders may not actually be working that well. Last year I read in Stuff somewhere that remand prisoners were clogging up the prisons again. Dunno how the numbers are. Courts seem clogged too.
Our mental health services are seemingly woefully under-resourced.
I'm trying to do a bit of reading up on Islamic de-radicalisation programmes, most seem to involve extremists in custody being taught that Islam is now a peaceful religion by non-radical, orthodox Imams. Not read that much so far. But from google hits headlines they seem to be a bit hit & miss. There's been at least one notable failure in the UK, where someone actually attending such a programme after his release went on a stabbing rampage.
Problem is Islam's a mixture of a multi-faceted religion, ideology & Islamic (Sharia) law. The Quran is pretty muddled in places. Hadiths & Sunnah also complicate what's taught. Open to multiple fatwa interpretations. Taliban, Islamic State, Al Qaeda, Sunni, Shiite, Sufi, Wahhabi, Salafists etc – all can claim they've got the right interpretation.
Hard to shift some people's minds if they're fixated or fanatical & not naturally empathic or they've got narcissistic or psychopathic/sociopathic personalities. One criticism of the UK's programmes was that an evaluation claimed some of these radicals will tell you what you want to hear but remain dangerous.
I expect some White Supremacists are the same.
Thanks for that Gezza. Informative.
Cheers Anne. Coincidentally, I've just come across this, which details the parlous state of Corrections funding & resourcing for the rehabilitative services I referred to above.
"8:38 am on 11 August 2021
Department of Corrections is under resourced, leaving inmates waiting years for psychological help and rehab programmes, the Parole Board says."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/448927/parole-board-says-prisoners-waiting-for-rehab-psych-help
Pretty depressing reading.
Just wondering why the attacker was absolutely determined to challenge his deportation while showing such hatred for the western society he lived in here. Would it have been better for him to be back in Sri Lanka where he had family. Did he ever have a working life, friends, mosque contacts? Was he ever a student, apart from apparently initially getting here on a student visa. Nothing has come out about how he spent his time here, apart from time in prison and the various legal/immigration complications going on for many years.
I agree completely. His rationale for claiming refugee status was that his father was a government official that ran afoul of a local Tamil Tiger commander. However the Tamil Tigers were defetaed as an effective military force by 2009 and his father did not flee Sri Lanka like his son. He would have had much more support at home and should NEVER have been granted refugee status at all.
Which govt was in power when he was granted refugee status.Judith Collins was justice minister at the time and ditched reforming the laws around extradition dangerous migrants saying there was no need for such legislation now she is saying we need urgent reform of extradition.The Clark govt so called overstretch of terror laws in the early 2000's ,yet those some of those were found using and training with ak47 style guns.better to be safe than sorry.
You may well be right. I am no fan of Collins. However that does not excuse the inaction of the current government on this issue as well.
It's all Judith Collins' fault.
It's all Judith Collins' fault.
It's all Judith Collins' fault.
It's all Judith Collins' fault.
Now do you really have anything useful to contribute?
[you obviously don’t have anything useful to contribute today, so take the rest of the day off – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 11:12 am.
It was granted on appeal, rather than by Immigration NZ in this particular case – INZ wanted to decline it and have taken all legal steps since to deport him.
He lied on his application he had a hidden agenda .rehabilitating a fundamentalist good luck with that.
The govt is supposed to be everything to every body with a meagre budget due to our very low tax rates.Prisons,Hospital's,education system etc all underfunded so how are we supposed to rehabilitate and have a proper mental health system ,train enough health worker and retain them. Only 8 new psychology training places for a country of 5 million successive govt's have relied on migrants from poorer countries to fill these positions as it is cheaper than training local people,who many go to wealthier countries.
Our tax burden as a percentage of our GDP is around the average for the OECD. It is certainly not at a very low level.
OECD average 33.8%; NZ 32.3%. So (slightly) below the average, and decreasing?
The bar graph at the bottom of the first page puts things in perspective, imho.
NZ is the only OECD country that formally has no social security contributions.
That's a meaningless statistic. The tax take needs to be wherever it needs to be to provide optimum services to the public. That is the debate, not where we are compared to other countries.
It is not actually. There is a widely held view is that at some level the economic performance of the country starts to diminish once the overall tax burden reaches a certain percentage of the overall economy. Now you might not subscribe to this but a significant body of people do. That is why there is push back against a much higher tax burden than we have now.
There is, particularly the Laffer curve, but 33% isn't it.
Gosman we have had this argument before I proved you wrong you name the country I 'all prove you wrong .Start with Australia if you like Headline taxes are all the OECD is looking at.
State taxes average 5•5% over and above federal base tax. Then Medicare 3% then self funding pensions 9%.State stamp duties and land taxes vary.
That's over 12% higher than NZ
France headline taxes average 33% but healthcare tax 8% pension tax over 9% and like much of europe you pay indemnity insurance as well.my daughter and husband
Live their and on slightly more than the average wage pay 66% tax.
In the US taxes between state and federal the health insurance around 66 cents in the dollar.
Just wondering why the attacker was absolutely determined to challenge his deportation while showing such hatred for the western society he lived in here.
They are not mutually exclusive. He wanted to remain here possibly because he saw the opportunity to do most harm here.
I guess he hated the west so much that he preferred to stay on and attack it from inside.
It must have been into millions of dollars that was spent on this terrorist over many years through police, judiciary, justice system, lawyers, legal aid, possibly social welfare. I hope the proposed legislation will be water tight enough to prevent this type of utter waste of taxpayer money. There are too many other needs to be funded.
Was his intention to create terror in the community, or was it to kill people he hated? Has this been made clear (can it be made clear?)
Surely the later would lead to the former?
I suppose so, but what I'm wondering, semantically and logically, is whether the label "terrorist" can only be applied to someone who intentionally seeks or succeeds in creating terror in a population, by employing actions that create terror, as a method. If this person struck out with only the intention of killing, not hoping as well to inspire terror in the community, does the table fit?
For clarity, I'm not trying to minimise anything, just wondering about labels.
Many organisations that were officially labelled terrorist by the governments they opposed were not in fact seeking to create terror in the wider population so if we used your definition that would seriously reduce who is officially defined as a Terrorist. I'm not stating that isn't necessarily a desirable outcome just that it needs to be taken in to account if the change in definition is adopted.
Yes, I agree with your comment. Personally, I think the too-casual use of the lable "terrorist" exacerbates the fear felt by people in the wider society. Roblogic (below) describes the person as "the knife attacker" which would terrify readers and listeners far less, imo, than describing them as "the terrorist" and given that it should be beholden upon authorities to reduce the fear felt by the community, more care could be taken with applying these labels.
Interesting point.
A common definition of terrorism is the "systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective."[2] However, unlike some other jurisdictions,[3] New Zealand has actually defined terrorism in an Act of Parliament
…
The major piece of terrorist-related legislation in New Zealand is the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002.[4] The Act was introduced by the Government to strengthen its counter-terrorism powers, in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States.[5] The Terrorism Suppression Act defines terrorism, in New Zealand or elsewhere, as an act that "is carried out for the purpose of advancing an ideological, political, or religious cause"[4]and with the following intention:
And if it results in one or more of the following outcomes:[4]
Alternatively, instead of the listed outcomes, "it occurs in a situation of armed conflict and is, at the time and in the place that it occurs, in accordance with rules of international law applicable to the conflict".[4]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_New_Zealand
I think the LynnMall stabber revelled in the panic & terror he plainly did cause. As did the mosque shooter.
How would you define a terrorist?
Terrorism is usually defined as the use of violence to influence politics or political leadership.
I conciously noted this when when seeking entry to the UK and that the definition on the form was clearly something the UK govt was guilty of in Iraq. Of course the same can be said of certain NZ institutions like the SIS.
The main thing holding it up was appeals as far as I can tell. Maybe instead of throwing the whole thing out, fund the appellate tribunal better (delays have been an issue for years) and expedite the appeals in these instances?
The knife attacker's family wrote a heartfelt letter to his Kiwi victims…
LynnMall terrorist's family: 'We are heartbroken' | RNZ News
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/126293423/peter-williams-to-retire-from-magic-talk-radio
And not a moment too soon.
I can forgive a good golfer most things, but not racism, misogyny, and stupidity.
I'm pleased to hear that – he was a smooth anti-vaxxer.
Good riddance. Here’s a bit more on Williams, for those who appreciate the hilariously inept:
Ruining the broadcast of a basketball game in 1983
, offending Cindy Crawford in the 1990s when he carved out a miserably short career as the most incompetent “foreign correspondents” in television history , and championing Don Brash
in 2019…
. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17-07-2019/#comment-1637754
Joking about President Duterte in 2016…
. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17122016/#comment-1276952
Another right wing toady bites the dust.
I can even forgive a good golfer for playing golf.
just started reading this book, written by TVNZ journo Jehan Casinader in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks. good stuff for mental health in these crazy lockdown days.
This Is Not How It Ends: How Rewriting Your Story Can Save Your Life by Jehan Casinader (goodreads.com)
Just started reading this. He's a compelling writer, but the first chapter is surprisingly intense for something written for seriously depressed or stressed people.
More good stuff from Sarb Johal,
Curious thing. I only discovered today this site has a policy apparently conforming (or similar) to Ardern's policy of not naming the Christchurch or LynnMall terrorist attackers – which I will respect, of course, if I want to post about these attackers here.
My personal view on this is different tho. As soon as their names were publicly known & suppressions lifted, I've been perfectly content to use them. It makes life easier. And it doesn't make any practical difference to how they're portrayed.
But … I'm 95% sure that with the Christchurch terrorist, once suppression was lifted, all our msm tv channels & Stuff & Herald continued for months to not publish or use his name.
Ardern's applying the same policy to the LynnMall terrorist. Which is fair.
But all the msm tv channels & online news outlets aren't. They all seem to be naming him. (Making it difficult to post some links.)
Why the difference? Anybody got views?
no need to give twisted psychos (or their pathetic manifestos) a moment of fame
Yawn… You are probably looking for a conspiracy when none exists. This is a volunteer site where volunteer moderators have limited time to moderate. In the case of the ChCh terrorist, the suppression lasted throughout his trial and may even be still in place. I don’t know because what the suppression orders are in place isn’t listed in a searchable form anywhere that I know of.
Apply Occams razor and look for the simplest explanation rather than a complex or ideological conspiracy. Just assume lack of time.
It is entirely possible that a moderation was plugged in when suppression is in effect and not changed afterwards. This makes it easier for time constrained moderators to ensure that suppression breaking comments are not added to our site – and allows us to not have to approve every comment – thereby slowing the debate. It also means that I don’t get to spend time in court because of some dickhead commentator.
I did a brief look and didn’t see a moderation for Lynmall guy. But since I never bothered to find out his name, that isn’t conclusive.
So live with that possible constraint. There is of course another alternate explanation. There is an automatic constraint based on the number of links in a comment. That is there to cause problems for spammers and astroturfers..
You seem to be using quite a lot of links… ~11 in the last comment that I had to release – most of then appear to be copies from where ever you copied the text from. Could you constrain those down. And use the quote control when you use quotes so that others know what are your words, and what are those of others. Italics are less useful than a specific quote tool.
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I understand your site policy. It's fine. I've posted elsewhere where the names were able be used once suppressions lapsed.
What I'm curious about is why the mainstream media seem to be applying a different rule. Naming this guy as soon as suppression was lifted. Name suppression was eventually lifted for the Christchurch shooter but media carried on not naming him for some time beyond that.
PS: Yes, sorry – I’ve noticed my article excerpts have been a bit long, with double-ups. Will try to cut them back in future.
There was an element of suspicion the Christchurch fuckwit was a glory-hound, in his own perverted demented way. Hence his live-streaming. Not using his name is a minor means of denying him the twisted recognition he craved.
With our New Lynn fuckwit, there doesn't seem to be the same suggestion he was in it for personal gain. Unless maybe he thought there were 72 virgins waiting for him in the afterlife. In any case, he's dead now, whether his name gets used or not has no potential effect on him. Nor is using his name, or not, likely to be influential in whether others get inspired to copy-cat his repugnant actions.
That's an interesting point & makes sense. I see Newshub made a point out of naming the Chch shooter when others still weren't.
Won't post the link cos it names him.
Link for quote.
[If you copy someone else’s words to this site, you have to either link, or provide a clear reference. If the URL contains a word that might be a problem for the site, let the mods deal with it. In this case, I added the link via a phrase instead of straight, as you can see. You can do this yourself if you use the comment editor, ask if you are not sure – weka]
mod note for you, please respond.
Already did, see below.
Thanks. I didn't want to make work for a mod deleting the name, as here, earlier:
. https://thestandard.org.nz/the-politics-of-the-new-lynn-attack/#comment-1813967
I don't know how to create a short link like that, using the comment editor Weka. 😰
Gezza, if you want to link to a comment elsewhere on The Standard and just have it appear as a naked link, just make sure there's some text in the same line as the link. Even just a full stop before the link does the trick.
For instance, here's one of your earlier comments today with a full stop just in front:
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06-09-2021/#comment-1813942
if you just paste the link by itself, for some reason the #commentnumber gets chopped off and the link you end up with just goes to the post, not the comment.
Or if you want to embed a link, just select the text that you want to appear in blue to indicate it's the link, then click the button that looks like two Cs facing each other with a dash in between on a 45 degree angle(far left second row on my display), then paste the URL into the dialog box that pops up.
Thanks Andre. I was trying to link to this comment:
.https://thestandard.org.nz/the-politics-of-the-new-lynn-attack/#comment-1813967
And ta for the short link guidance too. Will use in future.
LynnMall guy's name is in the Moderation list (down the bottom). Comment in back end.
Let's see what happens when a non-mod tries to embed a link with a moderation list word in the URL. I'm pretty sure I tried it before, and the site said no. But maybe the latest comment editor will let it through.
edit: comment editor still says no. But it lets me edit, which I don’t think happened last time.
Thanks, very helpful, I didn’t know that.
A work around would be to put links in a reply. Will have to wait for a mod to release but won’t hold up the comment.
Depends on the Mod, it seems. I also delete/moderate links that contain certain words; it doesn’t matter to me where exactly the words appear.
not really following you there. Do you mean some mods won't let the link on its own through?
left a note for you in the back end about something else.
This site is not a (commercial) news site or part of MSM.
It is also not about making your life easier by turning their names into household names.
They don’t deserve name recognition or fame.
It could stoke a competitive element with other deranged who would want to go down into the history books as the ‘greatest’. Nobody needs that.
I’m sure you’ll find a way to say what you’d want to say without the need to name them.
Yep, certainly can & will avoid using their names here.
We don't like different opinions here do we? That's okay, it's been moderated to the point of irrelevancy. Perhaps the knitting circle of conformist views gather round the small kitchen table to share the echo chamber when alert levels permit.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[Looks like we have a sockpuppet here!
I just love it when banned commenters try to bypass their ban and then draw attention by preaching to us about moderation here and being an echo chamber. Such stupidity is rare and it never stops to amaze me.
This sockpuppet is now banned permanently – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 5:33 pm.
do we like difference of opinion on this site or do we moderate it to an echo chamber of irrelevance?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Read the site Policy and find out. I’ve changed your name to something not designed to wind people up. No point in starting out as a troll, is there.
Much depends on whether the opinion is informed.
Prejudices – vagrant opinions loitering without means of support – may attract rebuttal.