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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Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
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The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
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While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
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On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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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?