They did get away with it – Roger Douglas has still not received punishment commensurate with his crimes against his countrymen – but hey, rainbow squirrel!
Conversion therapy is torture which is already illegal. So all that's really required is recognition within the legal system that it is torture. Basically, it could be done in about half a day so not exactly a huge distraction.
As far as that goes, the 'therapy' would fall under the mental health act.
There are rights to refuse, to be respected, to have the company of others etc.
No doubt often honored in the breach, but the smacking law comparison is apt – no cases were affected by the electorally fatal insistence on that legislation. There are an almost infinite number of serious issues more deserving of parliamentary time.
Though I reckon he'd still try, I'd bet even Andrew Little couldn't save someone who posts "but hey, rainbow squirrel" in a debate about the need to halt homo/transphobic torture from continuing to occur on these shores.
Believing that governments have a wide focus regarding policy and are able to proceed with more than one piece of legislation at a time, it obviously doesn't have to be an either or thing, but if it were, I'd forgo negotiations on workers rights until the horrific abuses were made illegal first.
According to the tvnz vote compass survey, 72% want what is still legal, to be banned in NZ, if you're not one of the 12% who don't know, then you're in the 14% that see no reason to end the immediate suffering and long term damage inflicted on the poor sods who have to go through it.
Well, the USA is morphing the last few steps into a Nazi Gilead state, so no time like the present.
If there's no current need, it spells it out for the future. If there is a current need, it makes illegal an intervention that might triple the suicide rate in affected youths.
Either way, I like that the policy cup is even half full. I won't demand it be tipped out just because it doesn't have my favourite half. The, in my case, generally comes from the Greens.
What we have too much on in the left is viewing policies that are not our own priorities as "distractions", even if those policies are priorities for other lefties.
All that leads to is incessant whinging because there will never be a policy announcement that satisfies everyone.
Well I've waited twenty-five years. I no longer expect anything good from Labour – but they'll pick up any kind of dodgy pc crap faster than you can say 'knife'. Looks like this is one of those.
Yes – it must be a heady thing to have all the apparatus of state bent to one's personal whim instead of serving the public good for which it was created. But it would be more persuasive to document the prevalence or otherwise of the practice here.
Chris Carter had to be let go. His virtues were less apparent than he supposed.
It wasn't his virtues that were the problem, it was his political vices. Getting caught sending anonymous letters to the press gallery to knobble your leader is not a long term career move.
Firstly, define the activities that are "psychological procedures".
Secondly, show how they are "psychological" in nature, rather than, say, "spiritual" or "cultural".
Thirdly, demonstrate that parents cannot consent to "psychological procedures" or indeed any medical procedures on behalf of their children.
Fourth, demonstrate harm to a level that overrules parental rights.
Fifth, start the child protection process.
OR:
First, notify the parents and operator that : "This violates the prohibition on 'conversion therapy', and is grounds for a protection order on behalf of the child", or something along those lines.
Second, continue the rest of the child protection process.
Still not getting the Chris Carter in the making bit. It's like you want to say something about the young man but don't have the same sort of courage he clearly has to do so.
See, just as I don't need to know rape statistics or numbers of domestic violence victims to know it's wrong, and that these crimes against a person's health, safety and personal dignity should be legislated against – The same with conversion therapy. You?
Conversion therapy is covered by several different pieces of existing legislation. So what's really happening here? Is the young man acting in the public interest, or taking the shortest possible path to publicity and reputation?
Whatever his motive, even your suggestion which does read as quite mean spirited, the fact remains that conversion therapy is still legal here, and a majority (in public and in the next parliament) want it stopped before it damages more young New Zealanders. No biggie.
Or you could take that, since it is already illegal on several counts under existing law, the young fellow should concern himself with obtaining redress for those threatened by it or having suffered it, instead of requiring a whole new law.
But that's just it, it isn't illegal, hence why there will be a new law after the election.
Edit:
“Currently, it is regarded as “unethical behaviour” to provide conversion therapy. However, this only applies to licenced therapists and counsellors. Technically, anyone in New Zealand can claim to offer services in conversion therapy, and suffer no legal repercussions.”
Assault might apply, but it's not physical force as punishment and frankly a lot of these fuckers are more about mental abuse rather than physical. And when it's done under the transferred authority of the parents, that ,ight be a hard legal row to hoe.
One might think OT would be able to step in, but then they get into discussions about definitions of ill treatment and whether the "therapy" is good or bad for the child.
But an explicit legal "conversion therapy is bad, m'kay" cuts through all those QC-level arguments.
Tell those affected it shouldn't be a priority. What's interesting is how collins wouldn't give a view on it because she needs to know more. It's more likely she's not opposed to it but doesn't want to lose the liberal vote.
IMO, her praying in church in front of the cameras indicate that she's all for it or, at the very least, won't do anything about it so that other God Fearing practitioners can continue to abuse their children without being sent to jail.
Torture, Kidnapping, Abuse, Assault – just to name a few. All of which are already illegal.
As I've said before, what we really need is a law that prevents any product coming on to the market until it has been properly classified and regulated.
His Father and I told the Dr. that was why we and our son were changing to the other Dr. in the practice, as he did not let his personal views and religion interfere with medicine or treatment. Talk about lose faith!!
That was 15 years ago. We were 'gobsmacked ' it was being touted when our son was 38 at the time.
So yes and it is demeaning as it sent a "you are not normal you are broken" message.
lol. Judith certainly made hard work of answering any questions Suzy fired at her. And her parting quips about being 'energised' be being on the programme held a subtle undercurrent of menace. So I agree, RNZ had better hope the Natz don't win!
Last night Collins accused Labour party leader Jacinda Ardern of disrespecting the pacific nation after Ardern called her claims "factually incorrect".
Damn pesky facts. If the Gnats get in they will be gone by lunchtime.
so, in the last few weeks ,collins has pretended to like farmers, children, christians , now samoans are current besties. who will be collins next crush?
Jane Patterson is a neutral political journalist who likes to point out the flaws on the Left and gloss over the flaws on the Right. Rumours of her getting "support" from the National Party are so very untrue.
Actually was a bit of a harsh call this morning, particularly after seeing the interview and the rest of the article. Just glanced at this:
#Collins' Samoan husband and her "Talofa" greeting generated a fair amount of feedback in the first debate and it was mention of Samoa's record on Covid that provoked an angry retort with the National leader telling Ardern "not to disrespect Samoa". She had not, insisted Ardern, and couldn't figure out why Collins had reacted so strongly. Afterwards Collins said she felt "possessive" of the Pacific nation and felt it had been disrespected when Samoa has done so well managing Covid#
which is fairly slack ol wedgetable politics, but yeh, not such a haigiography.
Steve Braunias declares it for Guardian readers: The winner of the third NZ election leaders' debate? Death. Hovering in the wings, I presume, since I didn't see it onstage.
It was the third debate of the election campaign and both leaders brought their B-game. Nothing new in that from Ardern.
She’s been generally kind of like actually completely hopeless in every debate; a bit of a total howling bore, unwilling or unable to say a single memorable thing.
There was one change in her performance on Tuesday, though: she moved. She went full-on jazz hands, and came very close to busting out some tasty air guitar.
Two newspaper editors moderated the debate, and demonstrated that the last people you want moderating a debate are two newspaper editors.
Asked what kind of cars they drove, Ardern said she had a Hyunda EV, Collins said she had a BMW. There was a stir from the studio audience; if the siren song of the debate was death, Collins’s reply was a reminder of the one truly good Oasis song, Supersonic, in which Liam Gallagher sings: “Can I ride with you in your BMW?”
I like Joe Walsh with his Maserati, does one-eighty-five, I lost my licence, Now I don't drive. That's more JC style actually. Don't worry about global warming, farming; keep on smarming JC (apparently getting a christian high on her initials)! Just remember JC life's been good so far, and the real JC had to suffer for his beliefs and values, so don't pretend to actually care about Christ-like agape-love, you'll never make it and it's bad to see you trying to fake it.
Have a decadent moment with Walsh who is revelling in decadent as he records:
What is the actual point of these onstage political debates?
It's not as if the skills needed to "win" a debate have any overlap with the skills needed to govern well. Policy substance never ever gets explored, at best there might be a surface once-over-lightly. Performance art for an audience isn't leadership, it's not persuasion, it's not bringing together different viewpoints to form a workable solution.
The rare instances that a debate actually produces a game-changing moment, it's because of its theatrical impact, not actual governing substance. Such as "there you go again" or "show me the money" or someone glancing at their watch.
to sell advertising?televised political debates are a long way from televised blood sports. closer to competitive cooking shows, and there isnt much point to those. think arkie has it about right. when the star of a televised political debate is either the worm or the host(sometimes, the same thing), it shows just how pointless they are.
Scoring ‘points’ to improve your personal and/or team ‘rankings’ is one point. Another point is the ‘promotion’ of the ‘sport’, i.e. the whole circus is an ‘ad’ in and of itself. It is also building relationships with the media. The NZ press & media landscape is tiny and narrow and yet we’ve had three leaders debates with the same names popping up again and again. Just my views.
the small size of nz press and media is a double edged sword. as we have seen, many of last weeks truth tellers become next weeks spin doctors. still dont see any real point to televised political debates. the polies all know the media by now. the veiwing public deserve something better than this rubbish, wheres julie christy with another reality shitshow? a combo of dancing with stars(?) and competitive cooking,with the live audience given missiles to throw. now, THAT I would watch, at least up to the first ad break(bone breaks would keep me watching).
The purpose of the debates is to deliver viewers to advertisers.
Nobody ever 'wins' or 'loses' them because there can be no objective measure of winning or losing – mostly they just confirm viewers in their existing opinions.
When determinations are made of who 'won' or 'lost' these are usually based on the frisson generated by trivial inter-personal moments (who looked grumpy/frustrated/lost for words, etc.) rather than some overall sense of that party's fitness to govern.
They could be replaced by long-form one-on-one interviews with intelligent and well-informed interviewers who have zero interest in 'gotchas' or self-aggrandisement – but such people don't exist in the contemporary media landscape.
so, who, apart from political junkies are there target audience? most kiwis with a pulse, would rather watch something(anything?) else.Im with incognito.
Woods said she wanted to increase the supply of affordable housing “without radically readjusting house prices so that people are losing equity in their homes”.
“What we want to see is some stabilisation of prices,” Woods said.
I party-voted Green an hour ago. The local candidate list didn't show a Green option so I quizzed the polling booth officials about that (I'd done the zoom selection meeting months ago, read his bio, a 17 year old Indian guy living in PN, keen).
Getting the gist that he hadn't made it down the home straight, I ended up voting for Glen Beck, the Labour guy. Like Obama, a community organiser. Since I've been telling people for years that we got too much individualism & now need more community, I'm cool with his vocation.
Naturally, as an archetypal individualist, I frame this as personal development! I can go further & posit attainment of a high level of maturity late in life, eh? Except Gabby would rightfully draw attention to an element of pretension in such a pose.
Anyway good on you for going Green. I had you picked as staunch Labour due to relentless extreme left stances. Got that wrong!
Oh, btw, emailed our GP organiser & she promptly informed me she'd notified us back when he had to pull out. The branch emails have operated on a hit or miss basis the past couple of years, for reasons I couldn't be bothered investigating, and I know it didn't reach me. Could be the Russians, perhaps…
I'm not sure why you would think someone with an extreme left stance would think Labour were a better bet over the Greens? Have you compared the policy?
As for your green mail, check whatever spam filters you have in your email client and also running on your webmail. I found that my Orcon account was deciding randomly that some green emails were spam. Not all, just the odd one, which was odd. I ended up disabling the thing entirely.
Good spam filters work on a combination of trigger/keywords, which may make them appear ‘random’. Think about it, too crude would let too many through or block too many.
We could face 4 more years of Trump, due largely to this hopeless gerontocracy
One of the most embarrassing politicians in all of American history is the ridiculous NY congressman Jerrold Nadler, who achieved immortality by claiming that alleged Russian hacking in 2016 constituted an "act of war" equivalent to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
Trump is terrible and in any functioning democracy he and his cronies from hell would be long gone—but the incompetence of the Democratic gerontocracy, from the doddering Diane Feinstein, to the smiling and ineffectual Nancy Pelosi, to the hilarious Nadler, and of course Sleepy Joe Biden, means that it's still uncertain as to whether he will be defeated next month.
As Matt Christman points out at the end of this clip, "These people are not doing the job you are fantasising they do. They are mentally and physically incapable."
As Matt Christman points out at the end of this clip,
"These people are not doing the job you are fantasising they do. They are mentally and physically incapable."
I don't know who M Christman is but he said an intelligent mouthful there. It really is the piece of resistance (Peter Sellers) of out post-modern political scene.
(Where did that surname come from? It sounds so phony. Does it reflect his deeper leanings, or is it part of his sponsorship. There would be money in that, having the blessing of Nike on you every time you sign/say your name, would you get paid in a lump sum of just on clickbait counts.)
Christman is a fairly common surname. I know a couple of people in Auckland with the name. Matt Christman is, as you obviously picked up, a brilliant and trenchant political commentator. The Chapo Trap House podcast is always outstanding; it restores one's faith in the future of America to hear young, thoughtful, serious people talking with such wit and such insight. Highly recommended!
Its always uncertain until there's an election Mo – but it looks like an old man will certainly win, and its unlikely to be your pick. Your pigeon-holing of being old as doddering, ineffectual, incompetent, sleepy, hopeless (with more words related to shitting and farting, etc in your attachment), says something very weird about you, and nothing whatsoever about a congressman on the other side of the world.
I didn't and I don't pigeon-hole old people. I, and obviously many disgusted Americans also, do indeed see Pelosi, Feinstein, Nadler, Biden as doddering, ineffectual, incompetent, sleepy, and hopeless. They were equally disastrous thirty years ago.
There are many people in the United States, far older than those four, who are bright, thoughtful and fully engaged in public life. Bernie Sanders, for instance. And Noam Chomsky.
Land in Wellington has so much history embedded in it – it's not just handy spare ground to build houses on as a quick fix to the years of neglect of proper provision of necessary infrastructure by government.
Two Anglican priests wearing their collars walked into a Labour Party office. "We have not seen anyone praying and holding her hands like Judith Collins in an Anglican church in thirty years".
What NZ non-Muslim women could do is to start wearing a scarf over the head tied at the neck. That would give the passers-by on the street the experience of seeing similar to the Muslim head covering of the hijab (without half-veil).
Someone I know did that and said it was noticeable that a rather large young boy going past fixed his eye on her and just stared. Nothing said or done, but the steady gaze was noticeable. So why not give it a try, show some solidarity – not as much as the wearing of the yellow star by the Danish in WW2. (Which apparently was a fable. This would be real.)
When the Australian right is too toxic for a Faux news talking head.
"It's incredibly selfish of older people or neurotic people who are timid & afraid & won't come out of their basements to confine children & young people to miss out on the most important part of their lives" – Fox News is now straight up blaming old & vulnerable people for Covid pic.twitter.com/mLhiwDHmrN
Bonus Question for yesterday's Trump Covid game, worth triple points:
Down 10% in polls and the election 4 weeks away that you desperately need to win for your future to not include a lot of orange jumpsuit, and a lot of your electorate out of work and wondering how they will pay their bills and even just eat, do you:
A – Publicly work hard with all the lawmakers you need to pass a relief package helping out those in desperate straits and make it clear there will be more where that came from if needed after the election
B – Flounce out of negotiations in a hissy fit vowing to not even consider a relief package until after the election
Anyone experiencing polling booths not open for early voting in their areas. Devonport a rather twee quaint area of our Auckland North Shore has two out of the three booths closed because it is school holidays and kids need the buildings for their holiday activities.
Now I am not going to hammer the littlies for their activities but I am head scratching here as to what is more important – a once in three year event to vote in the next Government or keeping our kids occupied during the holidays. The area is crammed with elderly and retired folk and there will be some without cars.
The pleading with people to vote early as to keep the pesky bug at bay and not clutter up the booths on the final day was a damp squib this afternoon for a relative of mine trapsing all over to find a booth open.
Well, the North Shore Rugby Club on Cambridge Terrace is open for early voting every day except Saturday. There's other places nearby for Saturday early voting. So it doesn't look to me like Devonporties are deprived of opportunity for early voting.
Making her way down the affluent suburb’s main stretch from the Seed Heritage store toward the Ponsonby Central eatery, Collins was greeted by smiling people speaking praise for Collins and National and congratulating her on last night’s debate.
It later transpired many of them had been installed there for the cameras. National’s Auckland Central candidate Emma Mellow admitted as much when asked by media.
When only 2 people unplanned have chance interactions on your lonely campaign walkabout in Posonby, spin it like a Trump to the media needling you.
"That tells me that there is a real problem, and that problem is the fact that, you know, businesses are shut, people are simply not out and about much … I actually think that's showing the downturn in the economy.”
Poor Judith, perhaps Lyttleton's economy was better.
The Herald was running it as their top story online this afternoon, with a big picture of a smiling Collins. Very odd as it was 2 days old and from another news site.
10 hours ago — Several polls in recent months have put Labour not just heading for victory, but capable of governing as a single-party majority Government – …
'Several' polls? The last 21 (!) CB, RR, RM, UMR and Curia polls have all put Labour between 47% and 60%, with about 18 of them suggesting Labour could govern alone.
"There's no gain without pain" well, obviously for these Covid Fortunates ..
'Billionaire wealth reached record high levels amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a report by UBS and PwC found, as a rally in stock prices and gains in technology and healthcare helped the wealth of the world's richest break the $10 trillion mark ($NZ15 trillion).'
"A US House of Representatives panel looking into abuses of market power by four of the biggest technology companies found they used "killer acquisitions" to block rivals, charged exorbitant fees and forced small businesses into "oppressive" contracts in the name of profit."
I remember (many !) years back, hearing a talk by a guy on RNZ warning of the rise of Facebook. This when it was first starting. Very prescient. And I never did join it.
"The head of the World Food Programme is using his new platform to tell billionaires to share their wealth that has increased during Covid-19 to help the world's hungry."
Since none of you bastards talk at night like normal people (me), I'll carry on anyway. Climate Change is everything — vote Green. Complacence of comfort describes all other views. Not an argument.
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When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
Despite a popular and unifying leader of the governing party, divisions both in policy and culture will test the progressive movement, writes Peter McKenzie.‘I think we’re confused.” Marlon Drake is an organiser for the Living Wage Movement. His job takes him all over Wellington, trying to convince businesses to increase ...
Covid-19 Recovery Minister Chris Hipkins says vaccinations should be available to the public by the middle of the year, but other countries are prioritised. ...
It’s as true now as it ever has been: nowhere else offers an education experience like that of Dunedin. But rather than resting on their laurels, the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic have plans to make the city an even more inspiring place for students.From high in the summit ...
Haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky may not be a traditional spread for a summer gathering in NZ, but trust Auckland city councillor and Kiwi-Scot Cathy Casey on this one. Gie it laldy! Rule one: Hold it on (or near) January 25Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. Since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University It could be argued artificial intelligence (AI) is already the indispensable tool of the 21st century. From helping doctors diagnose and treat patients to rapidly advancing new drug discoveries, it’s our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University Through recent natural disasters, global upheavals and a pandemic, Australia’s political centre has largely held. Australians may have disagreed at times, but they have also kept faith with governmental norms, eschewing the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW Health workers are at higher risk of COVID infection and illness. They can also act as extremely efficient transmitters of viruses to others in medical and aged care facilities. That’s why health workers have been prioritised to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Orchard, Adjunct Lecturer, Monash University Last week, somewhat overshadowed by the events in Washington, the Democrats took control of the US Senate. The Democrats now hold a small majority in both the House and the Senate until 2022, giving President-elect Joe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mittul Vahanvati, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Heatwaves, floods, bushfires: disaster season is upon us again. We can’t prevent hazards or climate change-related extreme weather events but we can prepare for them — not just as individuals ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandie Shean, Lecturer, School of Education, Edith Cowan University Starting school is an important event for children and a positive experience can set the tone for the rest of their school experience. Some children are excited to attend school for the first ...
Some families in emergency housing are reporting their children are becoming emotionally distressed because of their living conditions. Demand for emergency accommodation has escalated this past year with the number of emergency housing grants increasing by half. Data showed nearly 10,000 people were given an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant between ...
Summer reissue: Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are back for a second season of On the Rag, and where better to start than with the mysterious, exhausting world of wellness?First published June 23, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
With few Covid-19 infections and negiligible natural immunity, New Zealand faces being a victim of its own success when it is left till last to get the vaccines, argues Dr Parmjeet Parmar. ...
Steve Braunias reports on a literary cancelling. The Corrections department has refused to allow Jared Savage's best-selling book Gangland inside prison on the grounds that it "promotes violence and drug use". An inmate at Otago Corrections Facility in Dunedin was sent a copy of the book – but it was ...
New data from the CTU’s annual work life survey shows a snapshot of working people’s experiences and outlook heading out of 2020 and into the new year. Concerningly 42% of respondents cite workplace bullying as an issue in their workplace - a number ...
An international player, selector and self-confessed cricket stats nerd, Penny Kinsella has now played a hand in recording the rich history of the women's game in New Zealand. Penny Kinsella’s cricketing career was perched on the cusp of change for the White Ferns. “My first tour to Australia, we ...
The dramatic capsize of American Magic brought out the best in the America's Cup sailing fraternity. But, Suzanne McFadden asks, what does it mean to the crippled New York Yacht Club campaign and to the Prada Cup? It was a scene as unreal as it was calamitous. Right at the moment the ...
The current number of members of parliament is starting to get too low for the job we expect them to do, argues Alex Braae. As a general rule, with the possible exception of their families, nobody likes backbench MPs. But it’s nevertheless time we accepted that parliament should have more of ...
The experience in the Brazilian city of Manaus reveals how mistaken, and dangerous, the herd-immunity-by-infection theory really is. As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop ...
As New Zealand gears up to fight climate change, experts warn that we need to actually reduce emissions, not just plant trees to offset our greenhouse gases. ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
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.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
The debate over cutting down a large macrocarpa to make way for a new residential development has highlighted a wider agreement between developers and protesters: that we also need to be planting far more trees. At the corner of Great North Road and Ash Street in Avondale, a 150-year-old macrocarpa stands its ground ...
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in ...
Andrew Little is awesome
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/10/nz-election-2020-andrew-little-hits-back-at-suggestion-that-labour-shouldn-t-prioritise-conversion-therapy-ban.html
If only he were as quick to support workers interests – that used to be the raison d'etre for the party before they sold out.
He would have got away with it if it wasn't for those pesky gay kids 🙄
TA – That sounds a bit skewed – I think Andy Pandy is the good guy here, and nothing more needs to be said.
Not by you if you can't see the paraphrased Scooby Doo reference is supportive of Andrew Little
They did get away with it – Roger Douglas has still not received punishment commensurate with his crimes against his countrymen – but hey, rainbow squirrel!
Fastest growing inequality in the OECD. An unprecedented housing crisis and no substantial attempt to address it. Mass low-wage unskilled immigration so prevalent that employers are publicly confessing their prejudices against NZ workers.
Conversion is not very prevalent in NZ, but it's poised to be the next anti-smacking vote losing issue if folk want to double down on it.
Conversion therapy is torture which is already illegal. So all that's really required is recognition within the legal system that it is torture. Basically, it could be done in about half a day so not exactly a huge distraction.
Throwing in a bit about it legally being recognised as the unscientific BS that it is would also help.
As far as that goes, the 'therapy' would fall under the mental health act.
There are rights to refuse, to be respected, to have the company of others etc.
No doubt often honored in the breach, but the smacking law comparison is apt – no cases were affected by the electorally fatal insistence on that legislation. There are an almost infinite number of serious issues more deserving of parliamentary time.
Unless you're a child and the parents are having it done to you.
I can't think of anything more deserving of parliamentary time than the extension of the protection of the law to all.
Though I reckon he'd still try, I'd bet even Andrew Little couldn't save someone who posts "but hey, rainbow squirrel" in a debate about the need to halt homo/transphobic torture from continuing to occur on these shores.
Believing that governments have a wide focus regarding policy and are able to proceed with more than one piece of legislation at a time, it obviously doesn't have to be an either or thing, but if it were, I'd forgo negotiations on workers rights until the horrific abuses were made illegal first.
By all means show us this "need".
Have there been cases here? Because if there haven't been, it becomes pretty reasonable to ask why this is suddenly important.
According to the tvnz vote compass survey, 72% want what is still legal, to be banned in NZ, if you're not one of the 12% who don't know, then you're in the 14% that see no reason to end the immediate suffering and long term damage inflicted on the poor sods who have to go through it.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/vote-compass-most-new-zealanders-want-conversion-therapy-banned
Don't wait for me to do your googling for you, get stuck in to some research, or just take a side on principle and let us know how you get on.
Well, the USA is morphing the last few steps into a Nazi Gilead state, so no time like the present.
If there's no current need, it spells it out for the future. If there is a current need, it makes illegal an intervention that might triple the suicide rate in affected youths.
Either way, I like that the policy cup is even half full. I won't demand it be tipped out just because it doesn't have my favourite half. The, in my case, generally comes from the Greens.
I take my manifestos as cocktails, not neat.
Well my part of the curate's egg, fisheries, is always left to keep rotting.
Excuse me if I don't cheer for yet another dose of rainbow distraction.
Not cheering is fair enough.
What we have too much on in the left is viewing policies that are not our own priorities as "distractions", even if those policies are priorities for other lefties.
All that leads to is incessant whinging because there will never be a policy announcement that satisfies everyone.
Well I've waited twenty-five years. I no longer expect anything good from Labour – but they'll pick up any kind of dodgy pc crap faster than you can say 'knife'. Looks like this is one of those.
dodgy pc crap
Thanks for clarifying things, at least we know now that you are just an arsehole.
[Can you please dial down the insult level, thanks – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 9:32 PM.
It's only "dodgy pc crap" to you because you don't think you or anyone you know is affected by it.
It seems to be a hobby horse of Shaneel Lal.
No doubt another Chris Carter in the making.
I suppose undergoing thought control procedures and being told you're not who you are will, for the strong ones, force push back.
Explain “No doubt another Chris Carter in the making” a bit more, ta.
push back
Yes – it must be a heady thing to have all the apparatus of state bent to one's personal whim instead of serving the public good for which it was created. But it would be more persuasive to document the prevalence or otherwise of the practice here.
Chris Carter had to be let go. His virtues were less apparent than he supposed.
It wasn't his virtues that were the problem, it was his political vices. Getting caught sending anonymous letters to the press gallery to knobble your leader is not a long term career move.
The procedures are psychological – which makes them subject to medical ethical considerations like consent.
An extremely debatable position.
Firstly, define the activities that are "psychological procedures".
Secondly, show how they are "psychological" in nature, rather than, say, "spiritual" or "cultural".
Thirdly, demonstrate that parents cannot consent to "psychological procedures" or indeed any medical procedures on behalf of their children.
Fourth, demonstrate harm to a level that overrules parental rights.
Fifth, start the child protection process.
OR:
First, notify the parents and operator that : "This violates the prohibition on 'conversion therapy', and is grounds for a protection order on behalf of the child", or something along those lines.
Second, continue the rest of the child protection process.
Still not getting the Chris Carter in the making bit. It's like you want to say something about the young man but don't have the same sort of courage he clearly has to do so.
See, just as I don't need to know rape statistics or numbers of domestic violence victims to know it's wrong, and that these crimes against a person's health, safety and personal dignity should be legislated against – The same with conversion therapy. You?
Conversion therapy is covered by several different pieces of existing legislation. So what's really happening here? Is the young man acting in the public interest, or taking the shortest possible path to publicity and reputation?
Whatever his motive, even your suggestion which does read as quite mean spirited, the fact remains that conversion therapy is still legal here, and a majority (in public and in the next parliament) want it stopped before it damages more young New Zealanders. No biggie.
mean spirited
Or you could take that, since it is already illegal on several counts under existing law, the young fellow should concern himself with obtaining redress for those threatened by it or having suffered it, instead of requiring a whole new law.
But that's just it, it isn't illegal, hence why there will be a new law after the election.
Edit:
“Currently, it is regarded as “unethical behaviour” to provide conversion therapy. However, this only applies to licenced therapists and counsellors. Technically, anyone in New Zealand can claim to offer services in conversion therapy, and suffer no legal repercussions.”
https://www.equaljusticeproject.co.nz/articles/nothing-to-be-proud-of-conversion-therapy-in-new-zealand2020
Which legislation?
It's not any of the Mental Health acts, because sexual orientation is not a recognised mental condition.
DtB's idea that it's torture might be limited by the fact that torture is narrowly defined and can only be committed by public officials.
Assault might apply, but it's not physical force as punishment and frankly a lot of these fuckers are more about mental abuse rather than physical. And when it's done under the transferred authority of the parents, that ,ight be a hard legal row to hoe.
One might think OT would be able to step in, but then they get into discussions about definitions of ill treatment and whether the "therapy" is good or bad for the child.
But an explicit legal "conversion therapy is bad, m'kay" cuts through all those QC-level arguments.
SM @ 1.1 Talk to Willie, the Employment Minister. Andrew is Justice.
I've talked and written to them for decades – and they have done nothing, and been rude about it to boot.
Tbf I don't actually see it being that much of a priority either given the Covid situation and the economy.
Would be interested to hear Little's idea for how it is going to be policed when it happens behind closed doors and what you charge them with.
Tell those affected it shouldn't be a priority. What's interesting is how collins wouldn't give a view on it because she needs to know more. It's more likely she's not opposed to it but doesn't want to lose the liberal vote.
I would put more priority on our atrocious rates of infant and child abuse,
Edit: But hey. Maybe my priorities are stupid
In many cases, it is child abuse.
Other forms of child abuse are already illegal.
Fair enough. But I would point out conversion therapy isn't always just kids.
But adding it to the child abuse category is fine by me.
Still can't see how they police it, but shouldn't take that long.
At $200/hr I think it will be fairly easy to police. Especially if those people try to take it to the blackmarket.
I have learnt something new. Thanks.
I actually, probably stupidly assumed it was done in the church, behind closed doors and not openly advertised by counsellors.
And that Riddell bloke in your link should be the first in the line of screwing over btw.
IMO, her praying in church in front of the cameras indicate that she's all for it or, at the very least, won't do anything about it so that other God Fearing practitioners can continue to abuse their children without being sent to jail.
Maybe, although I'd say she doesn't care and that her public position would be whichever loses her the least votes, hence her fence-sitting.
What to charge them with?
Torture, Kidnapping, Abuse, Assault – just to name a few. All of which are already illegal.
As I've said before, what we really need is a law that prevents any product coming on to the market until it has been properly classified and regulated.
Do tell when you think it should be a priority to stop torturing people for existing?
I think that we are concentrating on what is vitally important for the whole of NZ in this time envelope. Concentrate. concentrate.
Well it's vitally important that a bunch of NZers stop behaving like arseholes. I'd've thought.
It depends on how many people it is actually happening to.
I know the figures for people abusing the shit out of kids everyday and our stupid amounts of deaths, but conversion therapy seems a bit vague.
Conversion Therapy:
[Content deleted because it contained too many links that triggered Auto-Moderation]
Doesn't seem that vague.
ChrisT our son was offered that type of "help",
His Father and I told the Dr. that was why we and our son were changing to the other Dr. in the practice, as he did not let his personal views and religion interfere with medicine or treatment. Talk about lose faith!!
That was 15 years ago. We were 'gobsmacked ' it was being touted when our son was 38 at the time.
So yes and it is demeaning as it sent a "you are not normal you are broken" message.
Oh dear…..Miss Collins unravelling .
RNZ best hope she dosnt win the election as they'll be gone by lunchtime.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018767251/election-2020-collins-standing-by-samoa-claims
Cheers Pat.
lol. Judith certainly made hard work of answering any questions Suzy fired at her. And her parting quips about being 'energised' be being on the programme held a subtle undercurrent of menace. So I agree, RNZ had better hope the Natz don't win!
Collins brazens it out…unsuccessfully.
From the summary on the above Radionz link.
Last night Collins accused Labour party leader Jacinda Ardern of disrespecting the pacific nation after Ardern called her claims "factually incorrect".
Damn pesky facts. If the Gnats get in they will be gone by lunchtime.
so, in the last few weeks ,collins has pretended to like farmers, children, christians , now samoans are current besties. who will be collins next crush?
The Opposition benches.
woodart 10/10
That's what leaders do, Robert.
Eddie van Halen!
Sad!
You write like Trump tweets.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54443394?at_custom2=twitter&
Jane Patterson carrying a bit of a candle for Collins? Keen on the beat up and not so keen to call BS BS and move on.
Ah y'all already heard/read it
Jane Patterson is a neutral political journalist who likes to point out the flaws on the Left and gloss over the flaws on the Right. Rumours of her getting "support" from the National Party are so very untrue.
Actually was a bit of a harsh call this morning, particularly after seeing the interview and the rest of the article. Just glanced at this:
#Collins' Samoan husband and her "Talofa" greeting generated a fair amount of feedback in the first debate and it was mention of Samoa's record on Covid that provoked an angry retort with the National leader telling Ardern "not to disrespect Samoa". She had not, insisted Ardern, and couldn't figure out why Collins had reacted so strongly. Afterwards Collins said she felt "possessive" of the Pacific nation and felt it had been disrespected when Samoa has done so well managing Covid#
which is fairly slack ol wedgetable politics, but yeh, not such a haigiography.
Jacinda called it "We are all lucky to live here".
Judith is showing the manipulation of stats she became famous for.
We hope New Zealanders pull together to keep this virus under control.
As Jacinda says, we will face this again, and we can only have certainty if we can interact carefully and record those interactions.
Human nature is to be a bit slack, so keep up the good work so we can all look forward to Christmas and unwrap a Labour and Greens Government.
Steve Braunias declares it for Guardian readers: The winner of the third NZ election leaders' debate? Death. Hovering in the wings, I presume, since I didn't see it onstage.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/06/the-winner-of-the-third-nz-election-leaders-debate-death-jacinda-ardern-judith-collins
I like Joe Walsh with his Maserati, does one-eighty-five, I lost my licence, Now I don't drive. That's more JC style actually. Don't worry about global warming, farming; keep on smarming JC (apparently getting a christian high on her initials)! Just remember JC life's been good so far, and the real JC had to suffer for his beliefs and values, so don't pretend to actually care about Christ-like agape-love, you'll never make it and it's bad to see you trying to fake it.
Have a decadent moment with Walsh who is revelling in decadent as he records:
What is the actual point of these onstage political debates?
It's not as if the skills needed to "win" a debate have any overlap with the skills needed to govern well. Policy substance never ever gets explored, at best there might be a surface once-over-lightly. Performance art for an audience isn't leadership, it's not persuasion, it's not bringing together different viewpoints to form a workable solution.
The rare instances that a debate actually produces a game-changing moment, it's because of its theatrical impact, not actual governing substance. Such as "there you go again" or "show me the money" or someone glancing at their watch.
So, what is the point?
Revenue and relevance for the media organisation hosting them?
The same point as of any blood sport that’s televised.
to sell advertising?televised political debates are a long way from televised blood sports. closer to competitive cooking shows, and there isnt much point to those. think arkie has it about right. when the star of a televised political debate is either the worm or the host(sometimes, the same thing), it shows just how pointless they are.
Scoring ‘points’ to improve your personal and/or team ‘rankings’ is one point. Another point is the ‘promotion’ of the ‘sport’, i.e. the whole circus is an ‘ad’ in and of itself. It is also building relationships with the media. The NZ press & media landscape is tiny and narrow and yet we’ve had three leaders debates with the same names popping up again and again. Just my views.
the small size of nz press and media is a double edged sword. as we have seen, many of last weeks truth tellers become next weeks spin doctors. still dont see any real point to televised political debates. the polies all know the media by now. the veiwing public deserve something better than this rubbish, wheres julie christy with another reality shitshow? a combo of dancing with stars(?) and competitive cooking,with the live audience given missiles to throw. now, THAT I would watch, at least up to the first ad break(bone breaks would keep me watching).
Split-screen, both leaders "putting on" their faces in the morning would do it.
the many faces of judith…yeah nah
I didn’t watch and haven’t seen any of debates, not one second.
The purpose of the debates is to deliver viewers to advertisers.
Nobody ever 'wins' or 'loses' them because there can be no objective measure of winning or losing – mostly they just confirm viewers in their existing opinions.
When determinations are made of who 'won' or 'lost' these are usually based on the frisson generated by trivial inter-personal moments (who looked grumpy/frustrated/lost for words, etc.) rather than some overall sense of that party's fitness to govern.
They could be replaced by long-form one-on-one interviews with intelligent and well-informed interviewers who have zero interest in 'gotchas' or self-aggrandisement – but such people don't exist in the contemporary media landscape.
so, who, apart from political junkies are there target audience? most kiwis with a pulse, would rather watch something(anything?) else.Im with incognito.
It gives pundits something to blather about when they interview one another.
Woods said she wanted to increase the supply of affordable housing “without radically readjusting house prices so that people are losing equity in their homes”.
“What we want to see is some stabilisation of prices,” Woods said.
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/107402/why-labour-believes-taxpayers-need-underwrite-housing-developments-and-how-it-plans
So Labour happy to accept median ratios of over 7 (and 9 in Auckland) when its considered severely unaffordable
This is why I'll be voting Green.
I party-voted Green an hour ago. The local candidate list didn't show a Green option so I quizzed the polling booth officials about that (I'd done the zoom selection meeting months ago, read his bio, a 17 year old Indian guy living in PN, keen).
Getting the gist that he hadn't made it down the home straight, I ended up voting for Glen Beck, the Labour guy. Like Obama, a community organiser. Since I've been telling people for years that we got too much individualism & now need more community, I'm cool with his vocation.
Naturally, as an archetypal individualist, I frame this as personal development! I can go further & posit attainment of a high level of maturity late in life, eh? Except Gabby would rightfully draw attention to an element of pretension in such a pose.
Anyway good on you for going Green. I had you picked as staunch Labour due to relentless extreme left stances. Got that wrong!
Oh, btw, emailed our GP organiser & she promptly informed me she'd notified us back when he had to pull out. The branch emails have operated on a hit or miss basis the past couple of years, for reasons I couldn't be bothered investigating, and I know it didn't reach me. Could be the Russians, perhaps…
I'm not sure why you would think someone with an extreme left stance would think Labour were a better bet over the Greens? Have you compared the policy?
As for your green mail, check whatever spam filters you have in your email client and also running on your webmail. I found that my Orcon account was deciding randomly that some green emails were spam. Not all, just the odd one, which was odd. I ended up disabling the thing entirely.
Good spam filters work on a combination of trigger/keywords, which may make them appear ‘random’. Think about it, too crude would let too many through or block too many.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graymail_(email)
We could face 4 more years of Trump, due largely to this hopeless gerontocracy
One of the most embarrassing politicians in all of American history is the ridiculous NY congressman Jerrold Nadler, who achieved immortality by claiming that alleged Russian hacking in 2016 constituted an "act of war" equivalent to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
https://theintercept.com/2018/02/19/a-consensus-emerges-russia-committed-an-act-of-war-on-par-with-pearl-harbor-and-911-should-the-u-s-response-be-similar/
Trump is terrible and in any functioning democracy he and his cronies from hell would be long gone—but the incompetence of the Democratic gerontocracy, from the doddering Diane Feinstein, to the smiling and ineffectual Nancy Pelosi, to the hilarious Nadler, and of course Sleepy Joe Biden, means that it's still uncertain as to whether he will be defeated next month.
As Matt Christman points out at the end of this clip, "These people are not doing the job you are fantasising they do. They are mentally and physically incapable."
I don't know who M Christman is but he said an intelligent mouthful there. It really is the piece of resistance (Peter Sellers) of out post-modern political scene.
(Where did that surname come from? It sounds so phony. Does it reflect his deeper leanings, or is it part of his sponsorship. There would be money in that, having the blessing of Nike on you every time you sign/say your name, would you get paid in a lump sum of just on clickbait counts.)
Christman is a fairly common surname. I know a couple of people in Auckland with the name. Matt Christman is, as you obviously picked up, a brilliant and trenchant political commentator. The Chapo Trap House podcast is always outstanding; it restores one's faith in the future of America to hear young, thoughtful, serious people talking with such wit and such insight. Highly recommended!
Its always uncertain until there's an election Mo – but it looks like an old man will certainly win, and its unlikely to be your pick. Your pigeon-holing of being old as doddering, ineffectual, incompetent, sleepy, hopeless (with more words related to shitting and farting, etc in your attachment), says something very weird about you, and nothing whatsoever about a congressman on the other side of the world.
I didn't and I don't pigeon-hole old people. I, and obviously many disgusted Americans also, do indeed see Pelosi, Feinstein, Nadler, Biden as doddering, ineffectual, incompetent, sleepy, and hopeless. They were equally disastrous thirty years ago.
There are many people in the United States, far older than those four, who are bright, thoughtful and fully engaged in public life. Bernie Sanders, for instance. And Noam Chomsky.
Not convincing – other than their age, you don't explain why you judge them in this way.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/427778/land-on-old-wellington-prison-site-too-sacred-for-housing-mau-whenua
Land in Wellington has so much history embedded in it – it's not just handy spare ground to build houses on as a quick fix to the years of neglect of proper provision of necessary infrastructure by government.
This is not the start of a bad joke!
Two Anglican priests wearing their collars walked into a Labour Party office. "We have not seen anyone praying and holding her hands like Judith Collins in an Anglican church in thirty years".
As seen by meself a few minutes ago.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/generation-next/story/2018766702/teacher-affected-by-terror-attacks-pleads-for-other-cultures-to-be-embraced
What NZ non-Muslim women could do is to start wearing a scarf over the head tied at the neck. That would give the passers-by on the street the experience of seeing similar to the Muslim head covering of the hijab (without half-veil).
Someone I know did that and said it was noticeable that a rather large young boy going past fixed his eye on her and just stared. Nothing said or done, but the steady gaze was noticeable. So why not give it a try, show some solidarity – not as much as the wearing of the yellow star by the Danish in WW2. (Which apparently was a fable. This would be real.)
That's something NZ nonmuslim large young boys could do.
When the Australian right is too toxic for a Faux news talking head.
Covita
Very funny!
Very very dark twisted humour, yes.
Bonus Question for yesterday's Trump Covid game, worth triple points:
Down 10% in polls and the election 4 weeks away that you desperately need to win for your future to not include a lot of orange jumpsuit, and a lot of your electorate out of work and wondering how they will pay their bills and even just eat, do you:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-coronavirus-stimulus-delay-twitter_n_5f7cee46c5b61229a058cd6a
Anyone experiencing polling booths not open for early voting in their areas. Devonport a rather twee quaint area of our Auckland North Shore has two out of the three booths closed because it is school holidays and kids need the buildings for their holiday activities.
Now I am not going to hammer the littlies for their activities but I am head scratching here as to what is more important – a once in three year event to vote in the next Government or keeping our kids occupied during the holidays. The area is crammed with elderly and retired folk and there will be some without cars.
The pleading with people to vote early as to keep the pesky bug at bay and not clutter up the booths on the final day was a damp squib this afternoon for a relative of mine trapsing all over to find a booth open.
My grouch for the day.
Well, the North Shore Rugby Club on Cambridge Terrace is open for early voting every day except Saturday. There's other places nearby for Saturday early voting. So it doesn't look to me like Devonporties are deprived of opportunity for early voting.
https://vote.nz/map/index.html?id=8&modified=20201007154708
Mangakakahi Rotorua 10th of October…. yes WK.
Judith having a nightmare in Ponsonby.
Staged interactions.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/123011800/election-2020-a-terrible-day-on-the-campaign-trail-for-judith-collins
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07-10-2020/judith-collins-walks-into-a-nightmare-on-ponsonby-road/
Message from Judge Judy to Judith Collins:
Wait for Jacinda in Dunedin 6 pm news yay..lol
When only 2 people unplanned have chance interactions on your lonely campaign walkabout in Posonby, spin it like a Trump to the media needling you.
"That tells me that there is a real problem, and that problem is the fact that, you know, businesses are shut, people are simply not out and about much … I actually think that's showing the downturn in the economy.”
Poor Judith, perhaps Lyttleton's economy was better.
https://m.facebook.com/jacindaardern/posts/10157376466627441
Stuff was running this earlier today, but now seems to have dropped it:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/05-10-2020/how-judith-collins-and-national-win-the-2020-election/
The Herald was running it as their top story online this afternoon, with a big picture of a smiling Collins. Very odd as it was 2 days old and from another news site.
Further to this, this is the Herald's intro text:
'Several' polls? The last 21 (!) CB, RR, RM, UMR and Curia polls have all put Labour between 47% and 60%, with about 18 of them suggesting Labour could govern alone.
"There's no gain without pain" well, obviously for these Covid Fortunates ..
'Billionaire wealth reached record high levels amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a report by UBS and PwC found, as a rally in stock prices and gains in technology and healthcare helped the wealth of the world's richest break the $10 trillion mark ($NZ15 trillion).'
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/427812/billionaires-reach-record-wealth-during-covid-19-pandemic
"A US House of Representatives panel looking into abuses of market power by four of the biggest technology companies found they used "killer acquisitions" to block rivals, charged exorbitant fees and forced small businesses into "oppressive" contracts in the name of profit."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/427792/us-congressional-probe-finds-big-tech-abuses-power-but-does-not-urge-break-up
I remember (many !) years back, hearing a talk by a guy on RNZ warning of the rise of Facebook. This when it was first starting. Very prescient. And I never did join it.
"The head of the World Food Programme is using his new platform to tell billionaires to share their wealth that has increased during Covid-19 to help the world's hungry."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/428011/nobel-prize-winner-appeals-to-billionaires-to-aid-world-s-hungry
Yep, you vampires.
Since none of you bastards talk at night like normal people (me), I'll carry on anyway. Climate Change is everything — vote Green. Complacence of comfort describes all other views. Not an argument.