Apparently, in Finland, a lot of the land is state owned; perhaps we should nationalize a lot of land in NZ. Also, the implementation of such policies takes many years, suggesting that a bi-partisan political approach would be needed.
A bi-partisan approach would require a reawakening of social responsibility among the Gnats – this is not to be expected while covert neoliberals remain within Labour, poisoning the well.
Nationals political treatment of education, health and infrastructure rather than just fund it as population dictates puts us where we are.
Key and blinglish did a lot of damage by not continuing to build and spend. Playing politics with kids futures, kiwis health, RONS and a general hatred of public transport etc.
Emmissions trading of course, is a fraud – greenwashing inaction. Tesla might look on paper like a greenish enterprise, but every carbon credit they earn offsets carbon production elsewhere. The net result of all the subsidies is nothing.
And where are the commensurate outcomes? Lord knows they collaborated on the creation of the housing crisis for long enough.
What do we have to do to get it through their thick skulls that they are paid to take the country forward, not chase their personal rainbows or line their pockets.
We are a nation of sheep led by goats and monkeys.
We currently have about 30% of New Zealand land owned by the State.
Just how much more would you think was necessary to accomplish your aims?
Ihumatao land was supposed to be used for housing. Protestors occupied it of course and that stopped anything happening at the time. Have things changed or is the land still bare?
Well, at a guess, the same amount we had before Roger Douglas's great leap backward set us on the path to poverty, ignorance, and entrenched political corruption.
The last is the kicker. The current government spent $50 million not building a cycle bridge – Sochi-level corruption – yet no-one has been incarcerated for it. I imagine National colludes because their own corruption in the Christchurch rebuild will not bear scrutiny.
I am not greatly interested in this topic but it appears that there is a great deal of publicly owned land within the Auckland area.
If this linked story is accurate there are 93,500 ha of publicly owned land and of that 41,500 ha is publicly owned open space.
The larger figure is described as "That doesn't include roads, railway lines or waterways. It does include schools, hospitals, parks, Housing New Zealand holdings and community halls used traditionally by groups who often don't realise they don't own the land they meet on"
The smaller amount is described as being open space though and there must surely be a reasonable amount that could be used for housing.
Any time I have encountered Finnish people in my working life, I've been impressed. Well educated, pragmatic people who get shit done.
There is a lot to like about this pathway to address homelessness. But then again NZ has some distinct aspects that we'd need to consider. One is that our building industry struggles with cost, the other is that if you live in Australia you can see plenty of good examples of housing densification that NZ could do a lot more of.
The other element of concern would be how to manage the impact of gangs and criminality infiltrating these units.
It appears as though their Ministry of housing, directly subsidises the building of rental housing. Which is definitely an interesting approach (though probably anathema to those lefties who think that private enterprise has no place in housing)
The state supports the production of affordable and social rented housing by paying interest subsidies on loans taken out for this purpose and issuing a state guarantee for them. These loans, known as long-term interest-subsidy loans, generally have a loan period of 40 years. During this time, tenants must be selected on social grounds and the rent must be determined based on the cost price principle.
Yes – when we first started building to rent 20+ years ago we approached the then HNZ in Porirua for some guidance, because according to their website at the time there was some sort of similar pathway available. I forget the exact details, but it offered a guaranteed contract for a minimum of 10 years. The incentive was that HNZ would not only offer market rent, no management fee, full maintenance and a renovation package back to original standard on handing back to the owner.
Given we were also build to a Universal Access standard, the person we spoke to was initially very encouraging, but for reasons that have slipped off into the mists of memory, we never finished up pursuing it. I got the impression they were either not quite ready – or there was no reality behind it. I could be wrong.
Or maybe we did not quite fit their desired profile; but my point is that someone did a bunch of work on this already in NZ. Not sure what became of it.
This is an example of what we mean in psychiatry when we differentiate between a delusional and culturally entrenched belief that would otherwise be delusional. This seems to be borne out of the culture where kids are having to come up with more outrageous grievances for likes.
Is the internet/social media creating belief based social constructs that are akin to religion except they are created very fast and there are many, many of them.
I'll add that I think there are religious people who are rational and know how to use google to fact check things, and there are religious people who hold some out there beliefs and don't seem to be able to tell the difference between metaphor and literality.
To Weka at 2 : Agree with your observation that some cannot differentiate between metaphor and literality, and have long thought this fact predominates in contemporary global problems, emphasising the need for education that includes e.g. critical thinking and world history rather than patriotic.
the critical thinking part is really hard to address, because. you need to have some degree of critical thinking to understand where the limits on your critical thinking are. I agree education would make the difference. Not sure how that could be done. Government probably can't touch it directly, maybe NGOs?
to weka at 2.1.1 : I was envisaging an ideal world scene with optimal universal access to education. Dreams don't cost and if the huge global wealth presently squandered in war games was diverted to providing higher human needs (education being specific to this column), wonders could be achieved .
integrating into the education system shouldn't be that hard if the will was there. I was thinking more about those outside of the education system and how to reach them.
More allegoric, representing through fiction, than metaphoric, comparing unrelated things. One person's inability to differentiate doesn't alter the truth of the allegory.
I wish it were one person's inability instead of whole swathes of people. The English obviously did eat the Irish, just not in the way she meant. Truth among humans relies heavily on being able to parse and communicate historical reality. Even allowing for different interpretations there are still facts and some ways of relating to them are better than others.
The swallows will probably keep coming back and won't be persuaded to leave. Our carport has been guano city for a few years. The upside is going into the garage at night and seeing 3-4 newly fledged swallows fast asleep and perched on the ledge just above my head. Nothing seems to disturb them – flashing lights, banging doors or rubbish bin lids clattering.
From my desk, as I type, pink and grey galahs lined up on a branch, black cockatoos hooning about, a couple of pelicans crusing, a mass of black sheerwaters fishing, and a pair of rainbow lorikeets feeding their fledglings.
for anyone interested in knowing what Speak up for Women are all about (especially with the latest attempt by Stuff and the disinformation project to associate them with Alt right, Nazis etc, this is well worth a read.
It is extremely well written and very clear about where SUFW stand
yes but I suspect it will not be read/understood by the trans 'masses'…too well written, calm knowledgeable and nuanced. However good resource for others to have.
Aftern the unbalanced, once over lightly effort by Stuff on 6/5 I have decided to forego my sub to The Post.
I suddenly thought on Saturday 'this is not difficult' ie to get balance, write a balanced story and I fail to see why I should actually pay for dis/misinformation. I had already made the move to getting Saturday's edition only as it has had less of a tabloid feel than during the week. I have had a continuous sub to both Wellington dailies since October 1973, latterly just Saturdays.
It is known as "transperbole" and there is a lot of it about. Any failure to afford them the "validation" they desire is seen as an attack on their "right to exist".
It is known as "transperbole" and there is a lot of it about. Any failure to afford them the "validation" they desire is seen as an attack on their "right to exist".
kind of supports their point. If you are talking about trans people as a class all wanting validation and seeing failure in that as an attack on their right to exist, it comes across as bigoted, thus never speaking up for the humanity of trans people.
I don't think it is a failure to want validation at all. But it seems for some trans people unless you actively validate their gender identity (think pro nouns, affirming any stereotypical female behaviour the trans women has engaged with and even endorsing their belief that they are a woman) they feel that you are intent on annihilating them and wish for them not to exist. IMO such an extreme need to external validation is unhealthy as it is in anyone who needs constant validation and is unable to tolerate it if they don't get it. By this I mean any non trans person who requires such an extreme amount of validation.
BTW when I say unhealthy it isn't meant as a judgement. Maybe a better word would be extremely unhelpful.
I am sure not all trans people want such a high degree of validation. I think SUFW make that point i.e that some trans people.
Humanity goes both ways. If trans people were concerned about the humanity of women and/or the humanity of lesbians they would not be demanding that they be admitted to all our services and spaces – literally and figuratively.
I have known trans people for decades and one of the things I find most jarring is how different todays "trans rights activists" are from the trans people of the past. I used to collect the key to a lesbian club I helped to run in Wellington about 50 years ago from Carmen's Coffee Bar. Carmen sublet us the premises and at the end of the night we had to take the key back and pay the rent. There were no conflicts between the lesbian community and the trans communities then – they were same sex attracted and very much part of the Gay community.
These days one cannot have a club for lesbians, or a lesbian dating service without being required to admit any man who opens his mouth and utters the magical incantation "I identify as". Our sexuality is described as a "genital fetish" which we should overcome in order to validate the requirements of autogynephiliac men.
My problem is with you arguing as if all trans people believe the same ideology and act accordingly. They don't. It's easy enough to talk about TRAs instead, but when you talk about trans this and trans that, it's enabling bigotry.
And one of the inconvenient truths for people trying to smear Kellie Jay and the Let Women Speak event as Alt Right/Nazi Aligned is that Mana Wahine Korero were one of two groups who invited and hosted Kelly Jay to NZ. Doesn't quite fit does it that a Maori Womens group would be so involved in bringing a Nazi to NZ
Doesn't quite fit does it that a Maori Womens group would be so involved in bringing a Nazi to NZ.
Big problem there Anker. Nobody with journalistic integrity accused Posie Parker (or whatever her name was but its the one she chose for her public personna) of being a Nazi. What they did note is that she attracted such people to her cause which, quite rightly, caused many to question the validity of her campaign. Big difference.
If you and your friends want people to take you seriously, then don't allow extremists to align themselves with your cause.
It is a very thorough review of the NZ medias narrative that Parker was associated with the far right. Of course one of the most absurb of all the media claims was Three News, who blacked out what they claimed was Parker giving a white supremicist signal on a video clip ("too blah, blah blah to show you)". But once the clip was no longer blacked out, it was plan to see Parker was playing with her jersy zipper. After that pics circulated on the internet of a range of people giving the white supremiscist signal (this included Jacinda Ardern, and Shaneel Lal himself. Of course Parker wasn't even giving it)
There are no Nazis associated with any of the gender critical causes I know, including Parkers. And I am involved in many GC networks in NZ.
Took me 10secs to find. You are in denial Anker. We saw them on the telly. Right wing extremists in all their ugly glory. Some were at Albert Park, others were kicking up their heels close by. One on a motorbike tried to run Marama Davidson over. Yet Posie and co. seemed quite happy to have them attach themselves to her campaign. Very bad look.
Not taking part in this one eyed debate apart from this one-off. Off to bed to read a good John Le Carré. Much more illuminating.
Anne, given your oft-repeated experience of vilification at work (which sounds horrendous, and even more so, because it is believable), I would expect some form of due diligence and reservation at believing everything that is spoon-fed to you about others.
However, if John Le Carré is where you want to spend your time, I'm not going to stop you.
I leave these alternate links for others who might want to know more before taking such a strong position.
Bravo Kellie-Jay. You did the job that needed to be done.
For all the talk in the days preceding Keen’s arrival in New Zealand of countering free speech with ‘more free speech’, that was never going to happen. We don’t have The Oxford Union or Speaker’s Corner. That’s not how we debate ideas downunder.
The die was cast from the moment our Immigration Minister, Michael Wood, announced that Keen would be permitted to enter the country despite, in his words, her “inflammatory, vile and incorrect world views”. The Minister declared that he would prefer it if Keen “never set foot in New Zealand” and added, “I find many of her views repugnant, and am concerned by the way in which she courts some of the most vile people and groups around including white supremacists.”
The message had been sent – by all means, come to New Zealand, but you’ll be on your own. Keen’s hotel cancelled her booking as she was mid-flight to New Zealand, and her security arrangements were also cancelled without explanation.
In New Zealand, there is not a single right denied to people because they identify as gender diverse. The demand for males to be able to self-identify into women’s sport, to access women’s changing rooms, and for the sex on their birth certificate to be altered to state something that isn’t true is not a demand for rights. It is a demand for special treatment for a particular subset of people that requires women to put their dignity, privacy, and safety second.
As for all those women saying “you don’t speak for me”. Remember how outraged you were when a group of women in the US gave away the reproductive rights of all women? Remember your anger, your marches, and your tears. Well you’re now them.
You don’t get to give up other women’s sex specific spaces, services, and sports. You don’t get to say that a survivor of rape is not entitled to a female only space. You don’t get to say that a Muslim woman is not entitled to a female only swim session. And you do not get to give away the words that have described us for millennia. Woman. Mother. Daughter. Sister.
If you want to be a menstruator, vagina-haver, or pregnant person then go for it. If you want to share your changing room, public toilet, or sports team with a male who identifies as a woman then go for it. But you don’t speak for me.
I have been thinking Molly that all the women who want to give away women only spaces could be asked to support changing mens toilets and change rooms to unisex. That way these women who are so keen to give our spaces away to support transwomen, could support them by using the mens (unisex).
The women's only remain women's only for women and girls.
Interested to know what women who trumpet the trans cause think of that as a solution?
Well Anne, I just had a look at your article and this is what it says.
While the groups do not see eye to eye and some have routinely bad-mouthed one another, their various analyses shared a few elements: support for Keen-Minshull’s position; anger at the counter-protesters’ wall of sound which made it impossible for the British speaker to be heard; disgust at the examples of violence that were recorded at the Auckland event (though I could find no condemnation of the the incident in which a motorcycle hit Marama Davidson on a pedestrian crossing); and fury at the police for not stepping in sooner.
You may have saw right wing extremists at Albert Park. Its an open space. Posie Parker could hardly stop them being their. Not sure how you were able to identify them. What I saw was an angry mob who intimated and were violent towards women (many older women, many lesbian).
As for Marama's incident, I condemned it. But the accounts I read and the photographic evidence seems to suggest Marama wasn't run over but was bumped by a handlebar of a bike as she stood on a road taking a selfie. I couldn't say that is definitely what happened but that is the evidence I saw produced. Surely if Marama had have been run over the police would have found and charge the culprit by now????
So, what did you see and what is just your opinion and what you thought you saw? Hard to tell with nothing to differentiate which is which. I'm surprised a moderator hasn't stepped in and admonished you.
Anyways… your comment makes little sense and I suspect quoted out of context.
"While the groups do not see eye to eye and some have routinely bad-mouthed one another, their various analyses shared a few elements: support for Keen-Minshull’s position; anger at the counter-protesters’ wall of sound which made it impossible for the British speaker to be heard; disgust at the examples of violence that were recorded at the Auckland event (though I could find no condemnation of the the incident in which a motorcycle hit Marama Davidson on a pedestrian crossing); and fury at the police for not stepping in sooner."
"We saw them on the telly. Right wing extremists in all their ugly glory. Some were at Albert Park, others were kicking up their heels close by. One on a motorbike tried to run Marama Davidson over. "
From Annes comment above.
You are saying that because there were right wingers close by (I imagine you mean Tamakis mob on Queen Street) that what? KJK shouldn't have held her event? That because we share one view with other groups that makes us right wing? That we should drop our gender critical views because some on the right agree with us? Is that what you are saying?
I have no doubt the Disinformation Project will be looking into and reporting back on Ahi Wi- Hongi's claims. Unless, of course, their's is the right sort of disinformation.
“Hattotuwa and Hannah have managed to gain a great deal of media coverage about their social media research, largely because they make quite extraordinary and colourful statements about what is going on online and it makes for good stories.
Last week, for example, Hattotuwa claimed that in the aftermath of the Posey Parker visit levels of vitriol directed at the trans community had risen to “genocidal” levels. He argued that nefarious disinformation spreaders had entered into the transgender debate spreading hate about the transgender community, and claimed that it represents the importation of content from foreign “neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, anti-Semitic networks and individuals”.
“These claims received plenty of sympathetic media coverage without question. Although commentator Thomas Cranmer said the claims about genocide were “absurd” and “outlandish”, and only serve “to highlight that the Disinformation Project lacks any perspective or objectivity”.
“The Disinformation Project’s lack of scrutiny towards government officials and medical “experts” has raised concerns about its impartiality, with some accusing the organisation of being an extension of Labour.
“The abundance of material available for scrutiny only adds to the suspicion that the project’s motives for avoiding criticism of the government may be motivated by ulterior political or ideological motives”.
Spent way too long searching and reading them and about them. I had read somewhere (unreferenced) they had been set up as by/part of the PM's office. (I forget the official title). Trying to ascertain how they are funded too.
In their own words:
"The Disinformation Project is an independent research group studying misinformation and disinformation in Aotearoa New Zealand"
"… including discourse shifts over time."
Sums up Ahi Wi- Hongi and the quickly deleted Stuff article nicely. The discourse shifted a little too rapidly for Stuff by the sounds of it.
I'm with Anker, the langauge they use, the framing of their pronouncements, the self importance… tdp (I can't take them seriously enough to capitalise their initials).
Yes, what TDP report can sound histrionic sometimes, while I find the main media interface person writes in a rather irritating tone.
However, what TDP do is plumb the sewagey depths of our social media, when we only see the surface. The Telegram channels full of hate and lies; conspiracy pile-ons like Nuremberg 2, which drew up death lists of NZ politicians, dear Dr Bloomfield, etc; posted by the same people who brought nooses to Parliament. I saw a post around then where someone said they wanted to kill and eat Neve, Ardern's daughter. Those kinds of sewers.
TDP sort through rhetoric that inspires NZ fruitloops of any persuasion to go out with a knife, a gun, a 4×4 people-smasher, or a bomb for Ernie. Even more, those ideas and memes, like 'Jabcinda', percolate into our daily discourse, shifting our broader society to a less tolerant, more polarised place. If you want hide your head in the sand, go ahead and call TDP discredited. That doesn't invalidate their work, or their messages.
Wake up to the NZ alt-right conspiracy 'rent-a-crowd' anti-vaxers. They have picked up (or more accurately, been fed) anti-trans messaging as the latest outrage of the month, amping up the violent talk.
Not helped by dear Posie Parker, who would like men who 'carry' in the US to protect their fragile womenfolk from ravening trans women perverts, by going into womens' toilets to keep them safe. With their gun(s).
"DP sort through rhetoric that inspires NZ fruitloops of any persuasion to go out with a knife, a gun, a 4×4 people-smasher, or a bomb for Ernie. Even more, those ideas and memes, like 'Jabcinda', percolate into our daily discourse, shifting our broader society to a less tolerant, more polarised place. If you want hide your head in the sand, go ahead and call TDP discredited. That doesn't invalidate their work, or their messages".
I am sure there are these people out there. But why isn't it our security service doing this work? If there are very bad actors who are a threat (by that I mean violent threat) then it is the job of our security services to monitor them. They are the professionals. To my knowledge they don't publish much about what they are up to, because they need to keep a low profile to carry out their role.
The publicity seeking DP are using their apparent finding for political purposes and to try and get contracts for funding. The fact that they engage in such hyperbolie shows them for what they are .
Sure you do, but I maintain firmly that you are misinterpreting TDP’s research.
FYI, have a look at TDP’s resources (https://thedisinfoproject.org/resources/) and you’ll see that what you alleged @ 4.3.2 is simply not at all what TDP are doing.
The other stuff in your comment is a school of red herrings.
If you don’t like the message, don’t take it out on the messenger.
I don't doubt that during the Covid pandemic and lockdown conspiracy theories were circulating, particularly amongs the anti vaxers. There have always been conspiracy theorists and most of us are capable of judging this for ourselves.
That buried in the internet there were some bad faith actors that were possible threats I wouldn't doubt either. (i think one has been jailed recently for some plot to blow something up. Good).
I don't doubt there are alt right people on telegram or 4 chan (sorry I don't really know what these things are, but have heard them referenced). I hope the security service is following them up and if it helps to use any of the research mthods that the DP use, well fine.
The problem with the DP is they make public statements alleging an outrageous amount of threat (in one of the articles I posted above it means a significant amount of NZders are engaging in hate speech.) So they are alarmist and it is both polictically and financially motivated.
And from the link above posted by Red logix 4.3 From Mana Wahine Korero.
"Māori history, culture, and knowledge (mātauranga) are carried forth orally and visually through the generations—via stories, songs, proverbs, carvings, tattoos, and performing arts. These have meaning beyond artistic expression and technical skill; they tell the genealogies of individuals, families, and tribes that have gone before, and mark great moments in their histories. There are no examples of anything resembling western ideas about “gender” in any of these cultural traditions.
Nor are there any carvings,waiata (songs), or mōteatea (poetic tales of sadness, farewell, or grieving, put to music) dedicated to such themes. Not one mōteatea references the sorrow of a child “born in the wrong body.”
When you say gender – do you mean sex, or a form of personal expression?
(And also, so what? Many traditional societies have a history of misconceptions and misunderstandings – they tend to change over time. And can often be misconstrued or reinterpreted by later revisionism.)
The question is not really about gender though, I see the expression of different identities at any time throughout history as unremarkable. Just showing that expression of difference is part of human life through the ages and often welcomed, or at least not railed against..
What the current queries are all about though is sex. Apart from very small numbers of intersex or where sex at birth is not able to be immediately observed there are only two sexes.
So the magic thinking that a man can turn into a women with the application of words, chemicals or surgery is a nonsense biologically.
"Quillette was founded in 2015 by Claire Lehmann, an Australian who in 2017 also served as an on-air contributor to the Canadian far-right, anti-Muslim network Rebel Media, where she once delivered a “report” titled “How feminism has fuelled obesity crisis.”
"Lehmann has said she started Quillette to counter what she calls “blank slate fundamentalism,” or the proposition that educational outcomes, career success, capacity for ethics, and economic class are determined more by environmental factors than genetic ones. That is to say, she believes that social status, morality or immorality, and, yes, income itself are all genetically based."
Quillette has been rated by media-rating orgs as a bit right-biased, producing articles with a range of factual integrity, ie it does little fact-checking. The Nation is an Aussie progressive opinion magazine.
I put up this info not to address the content of the article (but note the Māori organisation mentioned is closely associated with NZ Speak up for Women). I put it up so that TS readers are aware of Quillette's ideological position when they cruise the back catalogue.
"I put up this info not to address the content of the article (but note the Māori organisation mentioned is closely associated with NZ Speak up for Women). I put it up so that TS readers are aware of Quillette's ideological position when they cruise the back catalogue."
Isn't that always the case though tWiggle?
Thank you for your concern that people's critical thinking may not be impaired by source, and your attempt to rectify that.
Adults are often capable of following through on aspects in articles, to check out for themselves.
1. No Debate means the usual outlets that progressives would get published in have closed their doors. This is in part ideological, and in part fear of being cancelled. The neoliberal left's enabling of this means that they can't complain about progressives publishing in non-left media. Or they can, but it's disingenuous to do so (we don't publish you and if you get published elsewhere you will be scorned, so basically fuck off Naziterf).
2. if the genderist left won't read non-left media, they're in a bubble that will eventually implode. It's a disturbing theme across the left currently, an inability or unwillingness to tolerate dissent and difference which is why the left didn't see VFF coming and still don't have a good understanding of what is going on
2 You are 'on a hiding to nothing', as they say, in trying 'to push a barrow' that women's issues have a strong left right political component. I know from talking, reading that women's issues and this issue in particular is apolitical. In different countries the impetus is coming from different ends of the political spectrum.
So the shock, horror value in making a comment that a publication & its editorial slant come from a particular political leaning is not there.
Following on from Molly I too would welcome you responding to the queries that people may have raised or acknowledging work, in an effort to see where the arguments (and possible points of agreement) are. As an example it would have been great to have had views/answers to my queries. As it is we seem to have to go back to ground zero every time the issue is raised.
I know thus supporting my view that people supporting women's issues are likely to be issues-based rather than political-side based.
And surely that is the way we would want it to be, universal truths/needs are not or should not be the preserve only of a certain political leaning/party. If we can use our links to the political parties/side we support to achieve the ends we want that is a different matter.
1 Why are men not urged to accept and protect non conforming males into their spaces. 2 Why provisions could not be made for separate facilities to be built?
I did not answer these questions because you advocate for removal of existing access of transgender women to e.g. female toilets and women-only sessions at swimming pools, which has been going on for years in NZ with no issue. You want to segregate people that you personally feel uncomfortable around from public spaces they currently share with you.
Hence the onus is not on me to reply to your two proposed 'solutions' to what appears very strongly to be a non-existent problem in NZ. It is on you to justify your assertion that there is a problem, using solid facts and figures from our own society.
I have already covered this in my posts around the 22 April, which you appear not to have read. I'm still waiting for the hard data from NZ that proves the problem you claim: please answer MY questions from 22nd April.
I post here on this topic to provide a small balance for others who see mostly only your points of view. I post my own interpretation primarily, I am not parroting a party line. I analyse the information sources you post, because I believe that who someone's fellow travellers are says something significant about the social value of their argument.
Thanks……I was mainly after your point of view. I do not quote a party line, mine are views honed over years including formal women's studies research and with a family background in women's issues.
The point about harm though is that as perceptive and far sighted indiviudals countries we should not have to wait until the harm that has been found overseas manifests itself here in NZ before taking steps to minmise the potential. So if this is your view the real query is
how many women in NZ have to be harmed before we say the trend has been demonstrated?
or are we sensible as a country and put in palce mitigations so our female population does not need to be experimented with?
Is there some reason you are now saying transgender?
Does anyone else have a view as to these queries. tWiggles views about my views, are incorrect.
As a matter of scholarship and getting to grips with the transwomen argument for allowing male bodied people (many who do not have any steps along the way such as surgery or use of chemicals to enhance the characteristics of femaleness) into womens places and sports.
1 Why are men not urged to accept and protect non conforming males into their spaces.
2 Why provisions could not be made for separate facilities to be built?
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How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
Asia Pacific Report Barangay New Zealand’s Rene Molina has interviewed the country’s first Filipino Green MP Francisco Hernandez who was sworn into Parliament yesterday as the party’s latest member. This is the first interview with Hernandez who replaces former Green Party co-leader James Shaw after his retirement from politics to ...
An Australian Strategic Policy Institute report says Pillar Two could raise the industry to state of the art capability - or "crush" it "under the weight of the globe's biggest player". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marlene Longbottom, Associate Professor, Indigenous Education & Research Centre, James Cook University ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the violence experienced by First Nations people in encounters with the Australian carceral system. It also contains references to ...
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The Finns can do it – and it saves money – so, let us hear no more neoliberal excuses.
How Finland Found A Solution To Homelessness – YouTube
Apparently, in Finland, a lot of the land is state owned; perhaps we should nationalize a lot of land in NZ. Also, the implementation of such policies takes many years, suggesting that a bi-partisan political approach would be needed.
A bi-partisan approach would require a reawakening of social responsibility among the Gnats – this is not to be expected while covert neoliberals remain within Labour, poisoning the well.
True that.
Nationals political treatment of education, health and infrastructure rather than just fund it as population dictates puts us where we are.
Key and blinglish did a lot of damage by not continuing to build and spend. Playing politics with kids futures, kiwis health, RONS and a general hatred of public transport etc.
Interesting times.
100% tc.
National-Labour unity has been done before on multiple major legislative proposals, including this term and previous term.
No reason it couldn't happen, none at all.
Sure, all things are possible in Heaven and earth.
But little good will come of Labour, and none whatsoever of the current Gnats.
NZ needs something a bit more progressive and forward-looking than Brownlean motion.
Housing Supply Bill December 2021, both sides of House voted support.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/bill-boost-housing-supply-passes
Emissions Trading Reform Bill May 2022, both sides of the house voted support.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300583605/climate-change-national-endorses-governments-carbon-budgets-act-opposes
Both were groundbreaking legislation. Just takes dogged officials and skilled politicians.
Emmissions trading of course, is a fraud – greenwashing inaction. Tesla might look on paper like a greenish enterprise, but every carbon credit they earn offsets carbon production elsewhere. The net result of all the subsidies is nothing.
And where are the commensurate outcomes? Lord knows they collaborated on the creation of the housing crisis for long enough.
What do we have to do to get it through their thick skulls that they are paid to take the country forward, not chase their personal rainbows or line their pockets.
We are a nation of sheep led by goats and monkeys.
We currently have about 30% of New Zealand land owned by the State.
Just how much more would you think was necessary to accomplish your aims?
Ihumatao land was supposed to be used for housing. Protestors occupied it of course and that stopped anything happening at the time. Have things changed or is the land still bare?
Apparently it may take another 5 years to have any sort of outcome
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ihumatao-group-appointed-soon-but-decision-on-lands-future-could-take-five-years/A4J4V336BZ7VCGZGRG6E7QY4WM/
Well, at a guess, the same amount we had before Roger Douglas's great leap backward set us on the path to poverty, ignorance, and entrenched political corruption.
The last is the kicker. The current government spent $50 million not building a cycle bridge – Sochi-level corruption – yet no-one has been incarcerated for it. I imagine National colludes because their own corruption in the Christchurch rebuild will not bear scrutiny.
A very large chunk of that will be the Conservation Estate – generally not suitable for housing at all.
If we want to emulate Finland we would need to locate the necessary housing in towns and cities.
I am not greatly interested in this topic but it appears that there is a great deal of publicly owned land within the Auckland area.
If this linked story is accurate there are 93,500 ha of publicly owned land and of that 41,500 ha is publicly owned open space.
The larger figure is described as "That doesn't include roads, railway lines or waterways. It does include schools, hospitals, parks, Housing New Zealand holdings and community halls used traditionally by groups who often don't realise they don't own the land they meet on"
The smaller amount is described as being open space though and there must surely be a reasonable amount that could be used for housing.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/auckland-mapped-every-pocket-of-public-land-now-identified#:~:text=The%20Crown%20owns%2027%20percent,local%20government%20owns%2040%20percent.
Any time I have encountered Finnish people in my working life, I've been impressed. Well educated, pragmatic people who get shit done.
There is a lot to like about this pathway to address homelessness. But then again NZ has some distinct aspects that we'd need to consider. One is that our building industry struggles with cost, the other is that if you live in Australia you can see plenty of good examples of housing densification that NZ could do a lot more of.
The other element of concern would be how to manage the impact of gangs and criminality infiltrating these units.
It looks as though a large chunk of the government-owned land in Finland is also conservation estate – so probably comparable to NZ.
https://www.metsa.fi/en/lands-and-waters/state-owned-areas/
It appears as though their Ministry of housing, directly subsidises the building of rental housing. Which is definitely an interesting approach (though probably anathema to those lefties who think that private enterprise has no place in housing)
https://ym.fi/en/rented-housing
Yes – when we first started building to rent 20+ years ago we approached the then HNZ in Porirua for some guidance, because according to their website at the time there was some sort of similar pathway available. I forget the exact details, but it offered a guaranteed contract for a minimum of 10 years. The incentive was that HNZ would not only offer market rent, no management fee, full maintenance and a renovation package back to original standard on handing back to the owner.
Given we were also build to a Universal Access standard, the person we spoke to was initially very encouraging, but for reasons that have slipped off into the mists of memory, we never finished up pursuing it. I got the impression they were either not quite ready – or there was no reality behind it. I could be wrong.
Or maybe we did not quite fit their desired profile; but my point is that someone did a bunch of work on this already in NZ. Not sure what became of it.
Approx 1/3 of New Zealand is State owned. Approx 8 million hectares.
this is fascinating. A tiktoker says her Irish family say the English ate her ancestors, and she thinks it's probably literally true.
https://twitter.com/hatpinwoman/status/1655194238890520576
One of the replies,
https://twitter.com/lascapigliata8/status/1655218862114086915
Is the internet/social media creating belief based social constructs that are akin to religion except they are created very fast and there are many, many of them.
I'll add that I think there are religious people who are rational and know how to use google to fact check things, and there are religious people who hold some out there beliefs and don't seem to be able to tell the difference between metaphor and literality.
To Weka at 2 : Agree with your observation that some cannot differentiate between metaphor and literality, and have long thought this fact predominates in contemporary global problems, emphasising the need for education that includes e.g. critical thinking and world history rather than patriotic.
the critical thinking part is really hard to address, because. you need to have some degree of critical thinking to understand where the limits on your critical thinking are. I agree education would make the difference. Not sure how that could be done. Government probably can't touch it directly, maybe NGOs?
to weka at 2.1.1 : I was envisaging an ideal world scene with optimal universal access to education. Dreams don't cost and if the huge global wealth presently squandered in war games was diverted to providing higher human needs (education being specific to this column), wonders could be achieved .
integrating into the education system shouldn't be that hard if the will was there. I was thinking more about those outside of the education system and how to reach them.
More allegoric, representing through fiction, than metaphoric, comparing unrelated things. One person's inability to differentiate doesn't alter the truth of the allegory.
thanks, yes allegoric is better.
I wish it were one person's inability instead of whole swathes of people. The English obviously did eat the Irish, just not in the way she meant. Truth among humans relies heavily on being able to parse and communicate historical reality. Even allowing for different interpretations there are still facts and some ways of relating to them are better than others.
Indeed. The inability to identify allegory is quite something.
lol, nice one.
To joe90 at 2.2 : agree
Our tūī have arrived. They're three weeks late so I've not begun a count, but they're here, and they're warbling up a storm.
btw, I thought the welcome swallows had buggered off after their chicks fledged but they've decided to use the back porch as a winter roosting spot.
Thanks for the guano, guys.
The swallows will probably keep coming back and won't be persuaded to leave. Our carport has been guano city for a few years. The upside is going into the garage at night and seeing 3-4 newly fledged swallows fast asleep and perched on the ledge just above my head. Nothing seems to disturb them – flashing lights, banging doors or rubbish bin lids clattering.
I'm going to do a shameless topping on that!
From my desk, as I type, pink and grey galahs lined up on a branch, black cockatoos hooning about, a couple of pelicans crusing, a mass of black sheerwaters fishing, and a pair of rainbow lorikeets feeding their fledglings.
https://www.speakupforwomen.nz/post/responses-to-media-questions
for anyone interested in knowing what Speak up for Women are all about (especially with the latest attempt by Stuff and the disinformation project to associate them with Alt right, Nazis etc, this is well worth a read.
It is extremely well written and very clear about where SUFW stand
yes but I suspect it will not be read/understood by the trans 'masses'…too well written, calm knowledgeable and nuanced. However good resource for others to have.
Aftern the unbalanced, once over lightly effort by Stuff on 6/5 I have decided to forego my sub to The Post.
I suddenly thought on Saturday 'this is not difficult' ie to get balance, write a balanced story and I fail to see why I should actually pay for dis/misinformation. I had already made the move to getting Saturday's edition only as it has had less of a tabloid feel than during the week. I have had a continuous sub to both Wellington dailies since October 1973, latterly just Saturdays.
Vive la change!
Good on you Shanreagh. Are you going to let them know?
Oh yes!
Brilliant. Way to go Shanreagh!
Thanks Anker
How anyone could characterise that eminently sensible and considered response as hate speech and an attempt to erase transpeople is unfathomable
Utterly ridiculous
It is known as "transperbole" and there is a lot of it about. Any failure to afford them the "validation" they desire is seen as an attack on their "right to exist".
For a local example – see this one.
kind of supports their point. If you are talking about trans people as a class all wanting validation and seeing failure in that as an attack on their right to exist, it comes across as bigoted, thus never speaking up for the humanity of trans people.
Well yes and no Weka.
I don't think it is a failure to want validation at all. But it seems for some trans people unless you actively validate their gender identity (think pro nouns, affirming any stereotypical female behaviour the trans women has engaged with and even endorsing their belief that they are a woman) they feel that you are intent on annihilating them and wish for them not to exist. IMO such an extreme need to external validation is unhealthy as it is in anyone who needs constant validation and is unable to tolerate it if they don't get it. By this I mean any non trans person who requires such an extreme amount of validation.
BTW when I say unhealthy it isn't meant as a judgement. Maybe a better word would be extremely unhelpful.
I am sure not all trans people want such a high degree of validation. I think SUFW make that point i.e that some trans people.
Humanity goes both ways. If trans people were concerned about the humanity of women and/or the humanity of lesbians they would not be demanding that they be admitted to all our services and spaces – literally and figuratively.
I have known trans people for decades and one of the things I find most jarring is how different todays "trans rights activists" are from the trans people of the past. I used to collect the key to a lesbian club I helped to run in Wellington about 50 years ago from Carmen's Coffee Bar. Carmen sublet us the premises and at the end of the night we had to take the key back and pay the rent. There were no conflicts between the lesbian community and the trans communities then – they were same sex attracted and very much part of the Gay community.
These days one cannot have a club for lesbians, or a lesbian dating service without being required to admit any man who opens his mouth and utters the magical incantation "I identify as". Our sexuality is described as a "genital fetish" which we should overcome in order to validate the requirements of autogynephiliac men.
Things have changed.
My problem is with you arguing as if all trans people believe the same ideology and act accordingly. They don't. It's easy enough to talk about TRAs instead, but when you talk about trans this and trans that, it's enabling bigotry.
Speaking of transperbole, I have a plump friend who has chosen to identify as slim, they are trans-slender.
I'm aware this has done the rounds on the web, but since I heard it, I can't get it out of my head.
On a different note – and apols if someone has already referenced this – I found this article tackling yet another aspect of this debate.
https://quillette.com/2023/05/04/fictionalizing-indigenous-history-in-the-name-of-gender-activism/
Its a great article Red Logix.
And one of the inconvenient truths for people trying to smear Kellie Jay and the Let Women Speak event as Alt Right/Nazi Aligned is that Mana Wahine Korero were one of two groups who invited and hosted Kelly Jay to NZ. Doesn't quite fit does it that a Maori Womens group would be so involved in bringing a Nazi to NZ
Big problem there Anker. Nobody with journalistic integrity accused Posie Parker (or whatever her name was but its the one she chose for her public personna) of being a Nazi. What they did note is that she attracted such people to her cause which, quite rightly, caused many to question the validity of her campaign. Big difference.
If you and your friends want people to take you seriously, then don't allow extremists to align themselves with your cause.
With all due respect Anne, your sentence "nobody with journalistic integrity accused Posie Parker of being a Nazi" needs challenging.
Of course we could debate which journalists in NZ have integrity.
But the enclosed article I think best describes the role the NZ media had in vilifying and accsuing. Parker of being alt right/white supremicist/Nazi.
https://quillette.com/2023/05/04/the-auckland-mobbing-of-kellie-jay-keen-was-fuelled-by-media-peddled-misinformation/
It is a very thorough review of the NZ medias narrative that Parker was associated with the far right. Of course one of the most absurb of all the media claims was Three News, who blacked out what they claimed was Parker giving a white supremicist signal on a video clip ("too blah, blah blah to show you)". But once the clip was no longer blacked out, it was plan to see Parker was playing with her jersy zipper. After that pics circulated on the internet of a range of people giving the white supremiscist signal (this included Jacinda Ardern, and Shaneel Lal himself. Of course Parker wasn't even giving it)
There are no Nazis associated with any of the gender critical causes I know, including Parkers. And I am involved in many GC networks in NZ.
You have fallen for the smear Anne
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/28-03-2023/how-nz-fringe-groups-latched-on-to-the-posie-parker-controversy
Took me 10secs to find. You are in denial Anker. We saw them on the telly. Right wing extremists in all their ugly glory. Some were at Albert Park, others were kicking up their heels close by. One on a motorbike tried to run Marama Davidson over. Yet Posie and co. seemed quite happy to have them attach themselves to her campaign. Very bad look.
Not taking part in this one eyed debate apart from this one-off. Off to bed to read a good John Le Carré. Much more illuminating.
Enjoy Anne love JLC.
Anne, given your oft-repeated experience of vilification at work (which sounds horrendous, and even more so, because it is believable), I would expect some form of due diligence and reservation at believing everything that is spoon-fed to you about others.
However, if John Le Carré is where you want to spend your time, I'm not going to stop you.
I leave these alternate links for others who might want to know more before taking such a strong position.
A couple of local blog articles:
https://cranmer.substack.com/p/violent-suppression-of-free-speech?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
https://plainsight.nz/posie-parker-and-the-problem-of-inconvenient-truths/
I have been thinking Molly that all the women who want to give away women only spaces could be asked to support changing mens toilets and change rooms to unisex. That way these women who are so keen to give our spaces away to support transwomen, could support them by using the mens (unisex).
The women's only remain women's only for women and girls.
Interested to know what women who trumpet the trans cause think of that as a solution?
Well Anne, I just had a look at your article and this is what it says.
While the groups do not see eye to eye and some have routinely bad-mouthed one another, their various analyses shared a few elements: support for Keen-Minshull’s position; anger at the counter-protesters’ wall of sound which made it impossible for the British speaker to be heard; disgust at the examples of violence that were recorded at the Auckland event (though I could find no condemnation of the the incident in which a motorcycle hit Marama Davidson on a pedestrian crossing); and fury at the police for not stepping in sooner.
You may have saw right wing extremists at Albert Park. Its an open space. Posie Parker could hardly stop them being their. Not sure how you were able to identify them. What I saw was an angry mob who intimated and were violent towards women (many older women, many lesbian).
As for Marama's incident, I condemned it. But the accounts I read and the photographic evidence seems to suggest Marama wasn't run over but was bumped by a handlebar of a bike as she stood on a road taking a selfie. I couldn't say that is definitely what happened but that is the evidence I saw produced. Surely if Marama had have been run over the police would have found and charge the culprit by now????
So, what did you see and what is just your opinion and what you thought you saw? Hard to tell with nothing to differentiate which is which. I'm surprised a moderator hasn't stepped in and admonished you.
Anyways… your comment makes little sense and I suspect quoted out of context.
I can't easily tell which are your words and which are quotes. Please make quotes clear in future.
"While the groups do not see eye to eye and some have routinely bad-mouthed one another, their various analyses shared a few elements: support for Keen-Minshull’s position; anger at the counter-protesters’ wall of sound which made it impossible for the British speaker to be heard; disgust at the examples of violence that were recorded at the Auckland event (though I could find no condemnation of the the incident in which a motorcycle hit Marama Davidson on a pedestrian crossing); and fury at the police for not stepping in sooner."
Sorry the above is from Anne's link.
"We saw them on the telly. Right wing extremists in all their ugly glory. Some were at Albert Park, others were kicking up their heels close by. One on a motorbike tried to run Marama Davidson over. "
From Annes comment above.
You are saying that because there were right wingers close by (I imagine you mean Tamakis mob on Queen Street) that what? KJK shouldn't have held her event? That because we share one view with other groups that makes us right wing? That we should drop our gender critical views because some on the right agree with us? Is that what you are saying?
What is your rationale for that?
Thanks for the read, Red.
I have no doubt the Disinformation Project will be looking into and reporting back on Ahi Wi- Hongi's claims. Unless, of course, their's is the right sort of disinformation.
You are misinterpreting the kind of research TDP does, which leads you to making wrong assumptions and baseless allegations.
Oh come on Incognito, the DP have been completely discredited across the political spectrum.
I guess if you want me to provide links I can, but there are so many!
https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2023/04/11/thomas-cranmer-from-academic-research-to-news-headlines-the-disinformation-projects-influence-on-nz-media/
What’s this got to do with my comment? It is a red herring.
As to your link: yawn
Try this link then Incognito. I have more if you like
https://democracyproject.nz/2023/04/12/bryce-edwards-the-need-to-take-disinformation-seriously/
“Hattotuwa and Hannah have managed to gain a great deal of media coverage about their social media research, largely because they make quite extraordinary and colourful statements about what is going on online and it makes for good stories.
Last week, for example, Hattotuwa claimed that in the aftermath of the Posey Parker visit levels of vitriol directed at the trans community had risen to “genocidal” levels. He argued that nefarious disinformation spreaders had entered into the transgender debate spreading hate about the transgender community, and claimed that it represents the importation of content from foreign “neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, anti-Semitic networks and individuals”.
“These claims received plenty of sympathetic media coverage without question. Although commentator Thomas Cranmer said the claims about genocide were “absurd” and “outlandish”, and only serve “to highlight that the Disinformation Project lacks any perspective or objectivity”.
Why should I try this link or that link? Did I even ask for a link? Try what?
And if someone is yawning at your links, you simply do a copy-pasta dump to force them to read the stuff you want them to read?
My reply was to gsays who made a specific yet misleading allegation. If you don’t know what it is about you could have asked.
Discredited, or railed against?
https://www.chrislynchmedia.com/news-items/thedisinformationproject
Or this on the Disinformation Project
“The Disinformation Project’s lack of scrutiny towards government officials and medical “experts” has raised concerns about its impartiality, with some accusing the organisation of being an extension of Labour.
“The abundance of material available for scrutiny only adds to the suspicion that the project’s motives for avoiding criticism of the government may be motivated by ulterior political or ideological motives”.
More spamming with a copy-pasta dump. You’re starting to come across as a troll.
I think I have a handle on them.
Spent way too long searching and reading them and about them. I had read somewhere (unreferenced) they had been set up as by/part of the PM's office. (I forget the official title). Trying to ascertain how they are funded too.
In their own words:
"The Disinformation Project is an independent research group studying misinformation and disinformation in Aotearoa New Zealand"
"… including discourse shifts over time."
Sums up Ahi Wi- Hongi and the quickly deleted Stuff article nicely. The discourse shifted a little too rapidly for Stuff by the sounds of it.
I'm with Anker, the langauge they use, the framing of their pronouncements, the self importance… tdp (I can't take them seriously enough to capitalise their initials).
Yes, what TDP report can sound histrionic sometimes, while I find the main media interface person writes in a rather irritating tone.
However, what TDP do is plumb the sewagey depths of our social media, when we only see the surface. The Telegram channels full of hate and lies; conspiracy pile-ons like Nuremberg 2, which drew up death lists of NZ politicians, dear Dr Bloomfield, etc; posted by the same people who brought nooses to Parliament. I saw a post around then where someone said they wanted to kill and eat Neve, Ardern's daughter. Those kinds of sewers.
TDP sort through rhetoric that inspires NZ fruitloops of any persuasion to go out with a knife, a gun, a 4×4 people-smasher, or a bomb for Ernie. Even more, those ideas and memes, like 'Jabcinda', percolate into our daily discourse, shifting our broader society to a less tolerant, more polarised place. If you want hide your head in the sand, go ahead and call TDP discredited. That doesn't invalidate their work, or their messages.
Wake up to the NZ alt-right conspiracy 'rent-a-crowd' anti-vaxers. They have picked up (or more accurately, been fed) anti-trans messaging as the latest outrage of the month, amping up the violent talk.
Not helped by dear Posie Parker, who would like men who 'carry' in the US to protect their fragile womenfolk from ravening trans women perverts, by going into womens' toilets to keep them safe. With their gun(s).
[deleted quote without link]
Verbatim from Posie's video (which I've seen, but which is now deleted).
tWiggle not sure what your point is there.
Something Parker said that has now been deleted.
The point is that she has said it, allegedly, and she cannot un-say it.
The interwebs are forever.
https://twitter.com/mimmymum/status/1355525072400875527
there are multiple videos of that quote online that you can link to for those quotes, please supply one and I will reinstate your comment.
Yes, I have read the packet too, but didn't drink the Kool Aid.
tdp is long and loud on rhetoric and very low on evidence.
Another outfit making a living on the public test.
Pepsi vs. Coca Cola.
"DP sort through rhetoric that inspires NZ fruitloops of any persuasion to go out with a knife, a gun, a 4×4 people-smasher, or a bomb for Ernie. Even more, those ideas and memes, like 'Jabcinda', percolate into our daily discourse, shifting our broader society to a less tolerant, more polarised place. If you want hide your head in the sand, go ahead and call TDP discredited. That doesn't invalidate their work, or their messages".
I am sure there are these people out there. But why isn't it our security service doing this work? If there are very bad actors who are a threat (by that I mean violent threat) then it is the job of our security services to monitor them. They are the professionals. To my knowledge they don't publish much about what they are up to, because they need to keep a low profile to carry out their role.
The publicity seeking DP are using their apparent finding for political purposes and to try and get contracts for funding. The fact that they engage in such hyperbolie shows them for what they are .
Because it is outside the role of NZ’s security services to debunk mis- and disinformation for the general public.
Sure you do, but I maintain firmly that you are misinterpreting TDP’s research.
FYI, have a look at TDP’s resources (https://thedisinfoproject.org/resources/) and you’ll see that what you alleged @ 4.3.2 is simply not at all what TDP are doing.
The other stuff in your comment is a school of red herrings.
If you don’t like the message, don’t take it out on the messenger.
I don't doubt that during the Covid pandemic and lockdown conspiracy theories were circulating, particularly amongs the anti vaxers. There have always been conspiracy theorists and most of us are capable of judging this for ourselves.
That buried in the internet there were some bad faith actors that were possible threats I wouldn't doubt either. (i think one has been jailed recently for some plot to blow something up. Good).
I don't doubt there are alt right people on telegram or 4 chan (sorry I don't really know what these things are, but have heard them referenced). I hope the security service is following them up and if it helps to use any of the research mthods that the DP use, well fine.
The problem with the DP is they make public statements alleging an outrageous amount of threat (in one of the articles I posted above it means a significant amount of NZders are engaging in hate speech.) So they are alarmist and it is both polictically and financially motivated.
I am
And from the link above posted by Red logix 4.3 From Mana Wahine Korero.
"Māori history, culture, and knowledge (mātauranga) are carried forth orally and visually through the generations—via stories, songs, proverbs, carvings, tattoos, and performing arts. These have meaning beyond artistic expression and technical skill; they tell the genealogies of individuals, families, and tribes that have gone before, and mark great moments in their histories. There are no examples of anything resembling western ideas about “gender” in any of these cultural traditions.
Nor are there any carvings, waiata (songs), or mōteatea (poetic tales of sadness, farewell, or grieving, put to music) dedicated to such themes. Not one mōteatea references the sorrow of a child “born in the wrong body.”
And yet, many Polynesian societies recognised more than two genders societally, from pre-colonial times.
As did Babylonian Jews, apparently.
ttps://lilith.org/articles/debut-124/
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-eight-genders-in-the-talmud/
When you say gender – do you mean sex, or a form of personal expression?
(And also, so what? Many traditional societies have a history of misconceptions and misunderstandings – they tend to change over time. And can often be misconstrued or reinterpreted by later revisionism.)
The question is not really about gender though, I see the expression of different identities at any time throughout history as unremarkable. Just showing that expression of difference is part of human life through the ages and often welcomed, or at least not railed against..
What the current queries are all about though is sex. Apart from very small numbers of intersex or where sex at birth is not able to be immediately observed there are only two sexes.
So the magic thinking that a man can turn into a women with the application of words, chemicals or surgery is a nonsense biologically.
“And yet, many Polynesian societies recognised more than two genders societally, from pre-colonial times.”
There's a few societies that recognise and practice female genital mutlation.
Oops, probably a poor example.
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/quillette-fascist-creep/
"Quillette was founded in 2015 by Claire Lehmann, an Australian who in 2017 also served as an on-air contributor to the Canadian far-right, anti-Muslim network Rebel Media, where she once delivered a “report” titled “How feminism has fuelled obesity crisis.”
"Lehmann has said she started Quillette to counter what she calls “blank slate fundamentalism,” or the proposition that educational outcomes, career success, capacity for ethics, and economic class are determined more by environmental factors than genetic ones. That is to say, she believes that social status, morality or immorality, and, yes, income itself are all genetically based."
Quillette has been rated by media-rating orgs as a bit right-biased, producing articles with a range of factual integrity, ie it does little fact-checking. The Nation is an Aussie progressive opinion magazine.
I put up this info not to address the content of the article (but note the Māori organisation mentioned is closely associated with NZ Speak up for Women). I put it up so that TS readers are aware of Quillette's ideological position when they cruise the back catalogue.
"I put up this info not to address the content of the article (but note the Māori organisation mentioned is closely associated with NZ Speak up for Women). I put it up so that TS readers are aware of Quillette's ideological position when they cruise the back catalogue."
Isn't that always the case though tWiggle?
Thank you for your concern that people's critical thinking may not be impaired by source, and your attempt to rectify that.
Adults are often capable of following through on aspects in articles, to check out for themselves.
As I did, after your request, here:
.https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-20-04-2023/#comment-1946795
Which despite the time and effort expended at your request, you never responded to.
No matter.
But it remains an example of how people can fact check without needing someone to pre-approve sources for them.
two observations.
1. No Debate means the usual outlets that progressives would get published in have closed their doors. This is in part ideological, and in part fear of being cancelled. The neoliberal left's enabling of this means that they can't complain about progressives publishing in non-left media. Or they can, but it's disingenuous to do so (we don't publish you and if you get published elsewhere you will be scorned, so basically fuck off Naziterf).
2. if the genderist left won't read non-left media, they're in a bubble that will eventually implode. It's a disturbing theme across the left currently, an inability or unwillingness to tolerate dissent and difference which is why the left didn't see VFF coming and still don't have a good understanding of what is going on
The points to note are
1 Laura Lopez has been here on TS
https://thestandard.org.nz/how-i-answered-the-census-gender-question/
2 You are 'on a hiding to nothing', as they say, in trying 'to push a barrow' that women's issues have a strong left right political component. I know from talking, reading that women's issues and this issue in particular is apolitical. In different countries the impetus is coming from different ends of the political spectrum.
So the shock, horror value in making a comment that a publication & its editorial slant come from a particular political leaning is not there.
Following on from Molly I too would welcome you responding to the queries that people may have raised or acknowledging work, in an effort to see where the arguments (and possible points of agreement) are. As an example it would have been great to have had views/answers to my queries. As it is we seem to have to go back to ground zero every time the issue is raised.
https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-20-04-2023/#comment-1946802
22 April 2023 at 10:32 am
Hvaing said all of this Media bias fact check is a good source.
Laura Lopez has contributed to the Standard!!!????!!! That must make her……a left winger……………………..
I know thus supporting my view that people supporting women's issues are likely to be issues-based rather than political-side based.
And surely that is the way we would want it to be, universal truths/needs are not or should not be the preserve only of a certain political leaning/party. If we can use our links to the political parties/side we support to achieve the ends we want that is a different matter.
LOL gsays!
Your questions were:
1 Why are men not urged to accept and protect non conforming males into their spaces. 2 Why provisions could not be made for separate facilities to be built?
I did not answer these questions because you advocate for removal of existing access of transgender women to e.g. female toilets and women-only sessions at swimming pools, which has been going on for years in NZ with no issue. You want to segregate people that you personally feel uncomfortable around from public spaces they currently share with you.
Hence the onus is not on me to reply to your two proposed 'solutions' to what appears very strongly to be a non-existent problem in NZ. It is on you to justify your assertion that there is a problem, using solid facts and figures from our own society.
I have already covered this in my posts around the 22 April, which you appear not to have read. I'm still waiting for the hard data from NZ that proves the problem you claim: please answer MY questions from 22nd April.
I post here on this topic to provide a small balance for others who see mostly only your points of view. I post my own interpretation primarily, I am not parroting a party line. I analyse the information sources you post, because I believe that who someone's fellow travellers are says something significant about the social value of their argument.
Thanks……I was mainly after your point of view. I do not quote a party line, mine are views honed over years including formal women's studies research and with a family background in women's issues.
The point about harm though is that as perceptive and far sighted indiviudals countries we should not have to wait until the harm that has been found overseas manifests itself here in NZ before taking steps to minmise the potential. So if this is your view the real query is
how many women in NZ have to be harmed before we say the trend has been demonstrated?
or are we sensible as a country and put in palce mitigations so our female population does not need to be experimented with?
Is there some reason you are now saying transgender?
Does anyone else have a view as to these queries. tWiggles views about my views, are incorrect.
As a matter of scholarship and getting to grips with the transwomen argument for allowing male bodied people (many who do not have any steps along the way such as surgery or use of chemicals to enhance the characteristics of femaleness) into womens places and sports.
1 Why are men not urged to accept and protect non conforming males into their spaces.
2 Why provisions could not be made for separate facilities to be built?