Today we shall find out the spine count among Supercity Councillors–if several are even allowed to vote of course–the Natzo dirty politics department never sleeps…
I am as opposed to genuine conflicts of interest as anyone else into politics, but really share ownership since 1984 has been seen almost as a patriotic act in the neo liberal state.
Given John Key’s considerable shareholdings while Prime Minister–and media channels still giving him the hot towel and back rub treatment–it is rather obvious that Mayor Brown is being supported big time by his backers on flogging off a valuable asset, likely to roaming investment funds or venture capitalists.
If Auckland Councillors do not ensure “Brown goes down” on this Budget vote, they may as well go on gardening leave for the rest of their terms.
It should be added that during his time as Auckland DHB Chair, one of Brown’s first acts was to suspend standing orders in respect of declaration of conflicts of interest!–in a Metro magazine article which is no longer on line, but which I have posted previously.
If one reads the brief article below, “Browny’s” bumpkin style was more than apparent way back. So many were asleep at the wheel during the election with regard to his suitability.
Tamaki Makaurau iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has an easy out for Auckland mayor Wayne Brown’s financial crisis: sell back the port land that was stolen from Māori.
Brown said he had no comment at this stage but this was something the council could look at long-term.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei deputy chairman Ngarimu Blair said the iwi has made the offer to all former Auckland supercity mayors, including John Banks, to release the 55 hectares locked up at the Auckland waterfront.
He says the iwi has long sought the return of its harbours, which were taken without the tribe’s consent.
I have much sympathy for these people. The Insurance companies, despite their lovely friendly ads…could give a rats arse about them.
Best luck to those trying to fight to get it done.
Anyway…a not so small thing. I kinda wonder if climate change and its consequences..will be any part of their thinking? Maybe..I refer to the people flooded. (of course Insurance will go up..and /or uninsurable will increase . Money of course )
The problem with insuring now, and the removal of full replacement type insurance, is that you have to consider two quite distinct possibilities.
1. My house burns down.
This you can insure by working out the cost of replacement based on current costings. Bit of work but can be done.
2. There is a major event and lots of houses are affected e.g. flooding or earthquake.
Now you have to factor in that the cost will significantly increase post a major event and up your insurance accordingly.
You are forced into making a decision to pay the insurance companies a great deal more to cover off 2 – or to pay less on the basis of 1 being more likely but leaving yourself under-insured if 2 happens.
This despite the insurance companies having lifted your premiums if you are in a risk assessed area.
Previous full-replacement policies covered either risk.
This isn't particularly transparent. Maybe there needs to be better clarity with small event cover the norm and large event cover being a top up.
the results are in! SUFW commissioned a poll to see where NZ voters stood on gender self ID. Only 20% support this legislation. Only 30% of Labour voters support gender self ID.
Even of the Green party members only 41% support it
"Of the 6,609 submissions, 73% are against the changes with just 25% supportive of them!
The remaining 2% represent duplicated/ supplemental/ unclear submissions."
Survey number was 1000, but seems to indicate a stable percentage when compared to that analysis.
The latest global survey from Ipsos – the LGBT+ Pride 2023 survey – shows that 84% of New Zealanders believe transgender people should be protected from discrimination in employment, housing and access to businesses.
…
With the exception of health insurance subsidies, there was a global majority in favour of trans people accessing gender-affirming care, public facilities and having official documents offer more options than male and female for those who don’t identify as either.
"The latest global survey from Ipsos – the LGBT+ Pride 2023 survey – shows that 84% of New Zealanders believe transgender people should be protected from discrimination in employment, housing and access to businesses." From Arkies post and most if not all gender critical women would support that too.
I think that shows that NZ is a very tolerant space and the vast majority of people only want fairness for trans people. This is good news.
But that is different from trans women (biological males) trampling on the hard fought rights of women to their own spaces.
Do Ipsos normally poll in NZ? I have just scrolled through the political polls i.e. who would you vote for, conducted of late and I can't see IPSOS there. But perhaps they poll on other things. Curias result are within the margin of error for the other big polling companies e.g Reid research and the TV one poll.
Do you know how Ipsos conducted their research? How they recruited their samples?
"The latest global survey from Ipsos – the LGBT+ Pride 2023 survey – shows that 84% of New Zealanders believe transgender people should be protected from discrimination in employment, housing and access to businesses."
I'd be one of the 84%.
I don't support:
1. Males in female single-sex provisions,
2. Prioritisation of a fluid and undefined gender identity over the binary and immutable category of sex when sex matters – in policy and law;
3. The iatrogenic harm that is resulting from adoption of protocols from organisations such as WPATH, AAP and the the Endocrine Society which as mentioned in this comment are legally banding together to refuse providing the clinical evidence behind their recommendations: .https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-04-2023/#comment-1946321
5. Compelled language. The deliberate misuse of language which attempts to avoid clear discussion, and the danger of enshrining the use of such language in policy and legislation.
6. Failed safeguarding. Not just for women, but for children and young people too. The elimination of appropriate boundaries, and understanding of child development that sees them introduced to inappropriate and perhaps harmful to development material and ideas, that has been embedded in our recent RSE education.
7. The impact on lesbians, gays and bisexuals who have also lost their language, and have been force-teamed with those who have taken it, and appropriated the preceding good work that the LGB have done.
8. The spectacle of the left political parties taking an authoritarian position on this issue, actively promoting a #NoDebate stance, and vilifying – without evidence – anyone who did not comply. There is an added danger here, which will manifesting with the return of the hate speech legislation.
…slightly more than 50% of the population are generally considered ‘old school’ women with uteruses rather than “those new trendy women with cocks and balls” as comedian Ricky Gervais put it.
From a class left position I support the human rights of all oppressed and exploited people bar open fascists.
With the trans debate however, like any movement, there is the sharp end of the spear which is represented by certain activists. Some of them are just alienating previous and potential allies. Women fought hard for their own spaces and lives. Some of the staunchest allies in struggle you will ever encounter are politicised lesbian women. Trans activism too often appears to support the patriarchy and the ruling class divide and rule strategy.
Until anti capitalism prevails, these types of identity stoushes will be with us, but no one should be shut down for trying to work it all out in a positive manner.
I support those who are protesting at the woll being pulled over our eytes as far as discrimination and trans people is concerned.
My view is that there is a sizeable dose of misogyny and a not so big but still apparent dose of age-ism, floating around in the 'traniverse'. So older females cop the abuse on the grounds of sex plus age…..as we can see with the references to 'Karen'. The Karen trope is known as being aimed at older women.
But the most apparent anti voices are those who have taken the chance to indulge in a little bit of misogyny ie women hate, perhaps under the belief that they can do a snow job/smokescreen by referencing the rights argument as a cover. I'm sorry but that won't work.
There is excellent reason for the NZ anti-conversion therapy Bill 2022:
'Meaning of conversion practice (1) In this Act, conversion practice means any practice, sustained effort, or treatment that— (a) is directed towards an individual because of the individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression; and (b) is done with the intention of changing or suppressing the individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.'
For those who are interested, Caelan Conrad posed for a year as a concerned parent with a trans child. Starting with innocuous sounding support groups, they worked their way further into 'inner circles' where the mask was off. The anti-trans affirmation groups Caelan entered included people like Posie Parker as regular members.
Caelan's in-depth description of their investigation is important viewing to see the nasty (and illegal, depending on juristiction) 'conversion' practices pushed at these sites. Some parents even consider having their adult children declared mentally incompetent. For teenagers, the advice includes social isolation from the child's friends, and also neighbours or teachers who might report parents to child protection services. Not surprisingly, a section of the posters are parents who not longer have contact with their adult trans children.
Caelan has a good 6 hours of content, and has archived many conversations from these sites. The second 'conversion' video is most relevant to this discussion, and I admit, it's a committment to watch through it, even at 1.5 speed. However, I find Caelan's content is thorough and humane. Unlike the dehumanising hate speech sprinkled through posts on these 'inner circle' sites that actively sell anti-trans parenting practices .
If trans people were not protected under NZ law, their parents could legally apply the harmful conversion practices advocated at these sites. They could also be pushed into religious 'conversion' practices, such as have been applied to homosexual children and young adults that are harmful.
Once again no doubt there are practices aimed at both parents and children from both pro and anti trans. The key point for me, and it comes within the concept of parenting, and that is the idea of watchful waiting and the saying 'this too will pass'. Many of us will recall having ideas that were possibly agin those of our parents or where parents sought to exercise wise counsel. many of us are grateful that we were under the care and control of our parents when these ideas arose. Being ok to explore ideas and issues where the results can be undone such as haircuts, haircolours, clothes pale into insignificance when parent allow, for whatever reason, their children to partake/experience in actions that cannot be undone.
Parenting also comes with the idea of safeguarding and that is not inflicting or allowing concepts or actions to be inflicted on people who are not at an age to make up their own minds because of youth or lack of life experiences.
We also know about the social contagion evident at the moment.
Being part of child mutilation, that may result in a child being so damaged that they are not able to experience orgasm as an adult must be one of the most cruel things a parent can allow to be inflicted on a child.
So I am not against slowing down the process of transition to watchful waiting, and that includes counselling etc for gender disphoria, by whatever legal means our country has at its disposal.
Please be aware that there is a great difference from being pro women and children to being anti trans. Many pro trans supporters seem to conflate the two. It diminishes the strength of any argument if the argument can only work by slanging off at another group.
I feel that once a child has reached the age of majority then they can do what they like subject only to the advice from their parents. Children never stop being our children no matter what the age. I was for ever grateful for the advice of parents who always had my best at the forefront even if we may have differed on what happened, as an adult.
For me the teen years come with many pressures for child & parent and if we can get through with children who are able to see the issues from both sides then that is good. That is why it grieves me that some families lose touch over what has happened in those teen years, not just trans issues.
So I guess this undercover this or that leaves me cold really….are we in any shape or form better off? No.
Would any funds have been better spent on keeping doors open for both parent/child through access to good counselling etc, of course.
I will bookmark it – but I am more of a reader than a watcher.
This one may be of interest to you. As I haven't watched your links, it may be irrelevant but I'll post it here, because it is a logical link for the thread, and it means either of us can find it easily:
Thanks Molly for posting, but I don't want to listen to Helen Joyce, whose position is that trans people should be repressed and their numbers reduced because they are damaged and are too much trouble to accomodate 'in a sane world'.
Perhaps it may surprise you, but those on the trans inclusionary side of the debate do critically rebut GC arguments. That means presenting those arguments in the first place. So I am already aware of Joyce's ideas and the position of many other GC anti-trans advocates.
And it may surprise you also, but it has taken me a while to find in-depth pro-trans commentators and video essayists who discuss these ideas. When I first started commenting here on this topic months ago, it was my own interpretation of the material being posted at TS.
For example, I did my own research on the trans women are dangerous in toilets question in terms of data; I followed the 'autogynephilia' term to its original shonky paper, to the disgusting twitter site of the still-living coiner of that term, and to the careful studies that debunked his 'theory' that all female-attracted trans women have a perversion; and I hated Posie Parker's vlogged opinions and outright lies from first listen.
Guess what, it took time, but I eventually discovered that my self-formed opinions on the content I read at TS are also held by many others, feminists included. So I have not been brainwashed to my position. I have merely found people who have said it better, mostly.
I find sometimes the way GC beliefs are expressed here to be dehumanising, and to repeat accusations without providing scientific proof. I personally, through my lived experience, don't ascribe to gender essentalism ideas of womanhood and of the innate destructive power of the penis. So, much of the basis of the GC argument I find irrelevant. I see it for the philosophical ideology it is, and not an immutable fact embedded in our XY genes.
"Thanks Molly for posting, but I don't want to listen to Helen Joyce, whose position is that trans people should be repressed and their numbers reduced because they are damaged and are too much trouble to accomodate 'in a sane world'."
I haven't got much time at the moment, but a couple of responses to your comment.
"Helen Joyce, whose position is that trans people should be repressed and their numbers reduced because they are damaged and are too much trouble to accomodate 'in a sane world'."
This paraphase is out of context of the discussion which was about the iatrogenic harm that is occurring due to significant medical interventions after self-diagnosis. The numbers reduced in in regards to the numbers experiencing iatrogenic harm, which I would think everyone would be on board with.
I post the original source here, for people to make up their own mind, even though I am aware some will retain your perspective:
"Perhaps it may surprise you, but those on the trans inclusionary side of the debate do critically rebut GC arguments. That means presenting those arguments in the first place. "
It doesn't surprise me that you think you understand GC arguments. You repeatedly state this.
However, Gender Critical is as much use as the terms left-wing, feminist etc at the moment. There are so many different viewpoints and perspectives within that idea, that it is not useful to apply a certain viewpoint to all that claim it, or those you might label with it.'
I do feel that we have the possibilities that commenters here are perhaps not clear in articulating their position, that you understand it completely and provide robust responses to their actual positions, or that you miss the salient points and provide responses to assumed positions. Or of course a combination of the above.
I appreciate TS for the opportunity to converse person to person, without a need for a declaration of sides. Thanks for continuing your engagement.
With that in mind, can you please provide an example of this:
"I find sometimes the way GC beliefs are expressed here to be dehumanising" -and why you think that example is dehumanising, because while I aim for clarity – dehumanisation is a strong criticism – and should be considered to see whether it is justified.
In good faith, I attempted to watch the video clips you have posted twiggle, but after 45 minutes I gave up. This man makes many claims including gender critical thinking is a cult, but provides no definition of what a cult is, nor does he thing give any examples of how gender critical groups meet the criteria for being a cult.
The flashing of screen shots from gender critical sites, many at once does not give the opportunity to read what the screen shots are saying at all. After 35 plus minutes of this, I had had enough and couldn't be bothered waiting for this guy to present things in a way that back up any of his claims. (btw other than GC being a cult I wasn't sure what he is claiming.
One thing he said he came across in a GC parents group was words to the effect "of so you thnk your child is trans, well thats great, but have you thought of xxx" why that would be a problem is beyond me. There was a mention of autogynaphilia, which of course is a helpful theoretical psychological construct that tries to make sense of cross dressing.
My last criticism is that the guy himself is rather over the top and doesn't present in a serious way. Of course if in watching it for 45 minutes, I had of gleened there was useful or important information he had, I would have over looked his style. But there wasn't.
GC is very simply the idea that biological sex matters and it is not possible to change your sex. Therefore women's sex based rights need to be protected from men who identify as women. Other commenters on her might put it better, but I think that is a reasonable reflection of GC thinking. That the vast majority of people believe this and it has always been the case isn't a cult I am sorry.
In my research into what a cult is I was surprised to find it's a very broad definition. Institutions such as a School, or the Military or the Family share many of the characteristics of cults as far as people diagnosing them go. Because of this cults are better separated along the category of harmful cults.
This may be the rhetorical device being exploited by this reference.
"Following a record 106,000 submissions, oral hearings conducted at breakneck speed, with sometimes as few as two MPs present, the New Zealand “conversion therapy: bill was presented for its second reading on 8 February as the first item of business for 2022 and was passed into law a week later. (NZ Government, 2022 Ministry of Justice 2022.) This undue haste speaks to the influence that the LGBTQIA++ lobby has both in and outside of Parliament, as was the case with the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration (BDMRR) legislation. Together with the BDMRR Act, this new law is part of a suite of legislation embedding gender identity in New Zealand law that cement the idea that there are ‘transgender children’ in New Zealand who need medicine and new legal identities.
The main concern of opponents is not opposition to conversion therapy, but the way in which the new law conflates the concepts of gender identity and sexual orientation. In addition, there is international evidence of a strong thrust to equate exploratory counselling with conversion therapy (D’Angelo, 2020) that is reflected in the law. Unlike being gay or heterosexual, claiming a transgender identity is not a stable phenomenon, especially in children and young people. International research shows that most gender transitioners are actually same-sex attracted and/or have faced significant adverse childhood events and suffer from high levels of co-morbid mental health conditions including Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD)…"
The entire set of Caelan's video essay lay out why they think aspects of the GC movement are a cult. I admit, and said, it's a hard, but worthy watch. Again, I am posting on this topic to provide balance. I certainly don't expect those of you here with such fervent beliefs will change your ideas because of my position. I do appreciate that you take the time to engage with the material I post.
Personally I admire the depth of Caelan's investigative work, and kinda like the personality they inject into their vlog. Chacune à son goût.
tWiggle you do realise that since the Conversion therapy bill has been past there have been no complaints made don't you? This is despite the govt giving two million dollars to the HRC to hear complaints.
Perhaps that is because conversion therapy is mostly pushed on people by their family or church community, and those on the receiving end may want to retain some ongoing relationship, rather than cut out that part of their lives?
Or perhaps that it was never actually about "Gay" conversion as most of the things that were objected to about those practices are not lawful these days anyway.
Perhaps it was actually about making sure that nothing other than the Affirmation Only model is practiced when it comes to children and young people with sex based bodily dysmorphia.
I think it is more likely that as the govt RSE said there isn't much evidence that people are practicing conversion therapy on gays and lesbians and certainly no evidence of the sinister conversion therapy of the 1940s, 50, 60s and 70s.
I think the real conversion therapy that this bill enables is through gender affirming care. Most dysphoric teens turn out to be gay. But the rapidity with which their "gender identity" is affirm and the fast tracking them on to puberty blockers, then cross sex hormones is the thing that needs to be addressed. Do you realise the drugs that were prescribed to Alan Turing after he was found engaging in homosexual acts is one of the same drugs given to kids to supress their puberty? As you likely know, Alan was given the choice of having chemically castrating drugs or going to jail.
These drugs are not licences for use as puberty blockers to dysphoric teens
The PM would’ve said nothing to see, as would have Barry Sooner, DPF etc etc who are all part of the lynch mob. It wouldn’t have got legs the way this has.
The outrage is not the 1300 dollars that Wood might have made, but as always the incredible double standard with investment housing.
We’ve seen a leader of the opposition make policy on the fly which stands to make him significantly more wealthy. I’m at least the tens of thousands and possibly the millions.
An apology and a correction is all that would have happened to this if it were a Nat.
The way Hipkins has handled this has made it worse than it is and hints at him attempting to wound a future rival.
The promotion of a temporary transport minister with little connection to Auckland suggests cold feet on proper transport and density which will allow the middle class and below a chance in Auckland and a concern that there are no bottom lines.
Instead of just a privileged few politicians and other rich people owning shares, just imagine if every citizen in Auckland had a share in Auckland Airport.
That's precisely what it was like in the 1990s.
It was an actual citizen shareholding.
The New Zealand government and then the Auckland Regional Council developed that airport from the 1960s through to the 1980s, paid by our rates and taxes.
Central government should stand and buy the 18% off them as of today.
Why would Auckland ratepayers want the government to own their airport shares?
The assessment is the dividend return compared to cost of debt.
The Council should ask that council borrowing constraints are based on net debt and retain ownership of assets that deliver a return and sell those that do not – golf course land.
And talk to iwi with money and advocate their cause to government so that they have more money still.
I thought it was top 3 on the online Herald, but that article and headline is proving difficult to track down now! Maybe it’s the one Psycling has kindly put below from RNZ declaring the plan ‘dead’.
Climate Change Minister James Shaw told RNZ discussions have not stopped and National was "speculating into the void" for political gain.
"National are fighting with ACT over votes in the regions and in farming and rural communities and the ACT Party of course don't, as far as we know, even think climate change is real."
Yes, they certainly did. The only possibility. The Russians had blown the bridge from the Ukrainian side of the dam. So the only way explosives could have been fitted was from the Russian side. And, it was well known they had this set up since October last year.
From reports I have seen, it appears the Russians were intending a smaller result, enough to flood Ukrainian troops on centre islands on the river. But they blew up a lot more than intended, and ended up flooding a lot of their own troops as well.
Raging Canada wildfires threaten critical infrastructure, force evacuations
About 3.8 million hectares have already burned, some 15 times the 10-year average, said Federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair.
"Across the country as of today, there are 414 wildfires burning, 239 of which are determined to be out of control," he told a briefing. The giant eastern province of Quebec is among the worst affected.
The IAEA is aware of reports of damage at #Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam; IAEA experts at #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant are closely monitoring the situation; no immediate nuclear safety risk at plant.#ZNPP
"I encourage all of you to go out there and have more babies if you wish, that would be helpful.”
Someone should ask him if this is a reversal to the last National government's policy where sole parents having more babies was punished. Maybe "all of you" might be inclusive of sole parents.
Luxon and Willis are like a couple of very bad stand up comedians with their baby/worker statements.
Willis contradicting Luxon here. If it's a joke now as Willis says, why did Luxon use good oxygen saying it in the first place then, when he's supposed to be talking serious policy?
Keep it up guys (oops, no pun intended). This is great for Labour
The NIMBYs say no densification AND no sprawl, but they quite like the population growth and the cheaper services that go with that. They just don’t want them living anywhere near them, or on land that grows their food.
So they end up in the backs of cars and in boarding houses and lodges. Five of them burned to death a couple of weeks ago in one of those lodges, which was approved by regulators as fire safe, even though it had no sprinklers and the front door was barred.
And Wellington City Council has just discovered there are 25 more of these high density boarding houses in Wellington, four of which aren’t even approved as fire safe or fit for human habitation.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 July appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Today we shall find out the spine count among Supercity Councillors–if several are even allowed to vote of course–the Natzo dirty politics department never sleeps…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/300898850/second-auckland-councillor-declares-spouse-owns-shares-in-auckland-airport-hours-before-budget-vote
I am as opposed to genuine conflicts of interest as anyone else into politics, but really share ownership since 1984 has been seen almost as a patriotic act in the neo liberal state.
Given John Key’s considerable shareholdings while Prime Minister–and media channels still giving him the hot towel and back rub treatment–it is rather obvious that Mayor Brown is being supported big time by his backers on flogging off a valuable asset, likely to roaming investment funds or venture capitalists.
If Auckland Councillors do not ensure “Brown goes down” on this Budget vote, they may as well go on gardening leave for the rest of their terms.
Can't help thinking that Woods is just collateral damage from 'flush him down browns 'search for dirt on the anti sale councillors.
Yes, it will be interesting when or if a decent journalist, like Gordon Campbell say, follows the trail and timeline.
Whoever was doing the searching sure got a ‘bonus score’ when Michael Woods name popped up.
It should be added that during his time as Auckland DHB Chair, one of Brown’s first acts was to suspend standing orders in respect of declaration of conflicts of interest!–in a Metro magazine article which is no longer on line, but which I have posted previously.
If one reads the brief article below, “Browny’s” bumpkin style was more than apparent way back. So many were asleep at the wheel during the election with regard to his suitability.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-body-elections/130052175/auckland-mayoralty-doctors-dispute-browns-claims-of-dhb-success
Selling golf courses and selling stolen land back seem better options.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/ngati-whatua-orakei-offers-wayne-brown-an-alternative-to-massive-rates-rise-or-auckland-airport-share-sell-off
Tamaki Makaurau iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has an easy out for Auckland mayor Wayne Brown’s financial crisis: sell back the port land that was stolen from Māori.
Brown said he had no comment at this stage but this was something the council could look at long-term.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei deputy chairman Ngarimu Blair said the iwi has made the offer to all former Auckland supercity mayors, including John Banks, to release the 55 hectares locked up at the Auckland waterfront.
He says the iwi has long sought the return of its harbours, which were taken without the tribe’s consent.
I have much sympathy for these people. The Insurance companies, despite their lovely friendly ads…could give a rats arse about them.
Best luck to those trying to fight to get it done.
Anyway…a not so small thing. I kinda wonder if climate change and its consequences..will be any part of their thinking? Maybe..I refer to the people flooded. (of course Insurance will go up..and /or uninsurable will increase . Money of course )
Government go to advisors McKinsey Group developed the practice.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/mckinsey-insurance-scandal-before-buttigieg-joined
National and farmers say and you’re not getting a cent from our emissions, gfy!
The problem with insuring now, and the removal of full replacement type insurance, is that you have to consider two quite distinct possibilities.
1. My house burns down.
This you can insure by working out the cost of replacement based on current costings. Bit of work but can be done.
2. There is a major event and lots of houses are affected e.g. flooding or earthquake.
Now you have to factor in that the cost will significantly increase post a major event and up your insurance accordingly.
You are forced into making a decision to pay the insurance companies a great deal more to cover off 2 – or to pay less on the basis of 1 being more likely but leaving yourself under-insured if 2 happens.
This despite the insurance companies having lifted your premiums if you are in a risk assessed area.
Previous full-replacement policies covered either risk.
This isn't particularly transparent. Maybe there needs to be better clarity with small event cover the norm and large event cover being a top up.
Hi, thanks for detailed/insight reply. Yes, I think this Insure/unInsure will become a major issue in our ever changing (Climate change ) future..
https://www.speakupforwomen.nz/post/majority-of-new-zealanders-do-not-support-sex-self-id
the results are in! SUFW commissioned a poll to see where NZ voters stood on gender self ID. Only 20% support this legislation. Only 30% of Labour voters support gender self ID.
Even of the Green party members only 41% support it
How about posting the questions asked…?
Further details on Anker's provided link.
That's less than the submissions made in support of the legislation:
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FSpeakUp4WomenNZ%2Fposts%2F1210846262756868&show_text=true&width=500"
Survey number was 1000, but seems to indicate a stable percentage when compared to that analysis.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/02-06-2023/vast-majority-of-new-zealanders-believe-trans-people-should-be-protected-from-discrimination-poll
"The latest global survey from Ipsos – the LGBT+ Pride 2023 survey – shows that 84% of New Zealanders believe transgender people should be protected from discrimination in employment, housing and access to businesses." From Arkies post and most if not all gender critical women would support that too.
I think that shows that NZ is a very tolerant space and the vast majority of people only want fairness for trans people. This is good news.
But that is different from trans women (biological males) trampling on the hard fought rights of women to their own spaces.
Of course Arkie, this is not the point. I don't think many would support discrimination in employment, housing etc against trans people.
Asking for the rights of women to safe same sex spaces and in sport is not discrimination.
The whole and singular point is whether trans people should usurp the rights of others esp women.
But nice try as a diversion/red herring.
The results are not surprising, I believe the majority of submitters from the public did not support Self ID. The politicians ignored that.
Do Ipsos normally poll in NZ? I have just scrolled through the political polls i.e. who would you vote for, conducted of late and I can't see IPSOS there. But perhaps they poll on other things. Curias result are within the margin of error for the other big polling companies e.g Reid research and the TV one poll.
Do you know how Ipsos conducted their research? How they recruited their samples?
I'd be one of the 84%.
I don't support:
1. Males in female single-sex provisions,
2. Prioritisation of a fluid and undefined gender identity over the binary and immutable category of sex when sex matters – in policy and law;
3. The iatrogenic harm that is resulting from adoption of protocols from organisations such as WPATH, AAP and the the Endocrine Society which as mentioned in this comment are legally banding together to refuse providing the clinical evidence behind their recommendations: .https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19-04-2023/#comment-1946321
4. The determination to avoid providing quality exploratory therapy when assessing those that present at clinics for help. Baldly stated by a gender clinician Dame Sue Bagshaw – https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/475757/puberty-blocker-use-jumps-as-expert-backs-results – and further exacerbated by the passing of the conversion therapy bill, and the establishment of a centre aimed to prosecute those who may attempt to do so.
5. Compelled language. The deliberate misuse of language which attempts to avoid clear discussion, and the danger of enshrining the use of such language in policy and legislation.
6. Failed safeguarding. Not just for women, but for children and young people too. The elimination of appropriate boundaries, and understanding of child development that sees them introduced to inappropriate and perhaps harmful to development material and ideas, that has been embedded in our recent RSE education.
7. The impact on lesbians, gays and bisexuals who have also lost their language, and have been force-teamed with those who have taken it, and appropriated the preceding good work that the LGB have done.
8. The spectacle of the left political parties taking an authoritarian position on this issue, actively promoting a #NoDebate stance, and vilifying – without evidence – anyone who did not comply. There is an added danger here, which will manifesting with the return of the hate speech legislation.
Agree. And despite Stats NZ new approach…
https://www.stats.govt.nz/methods/data-standard-for-gender-sex-and-variations-of-sex-characteristics/
…slightly more than 50% of the population are generally considered ‘old school’ women with uteruses rather than “those new trendy women with cocks and balls” as comedian Ricky Gervais put it.
From a class left position I support the human rights of all oppressed and exploited people bar open fascists.
With the trans debate however, like any movement, there is the sharp end of the spear which is represented by certain activists. Some of them are just alienating previous and potential allies. Women fought hard for their own spaces and lives. Some of the staunchest allies in struggle you will ever encounter are politicised lesbian women. Trans activism too often appears to support the patriarchy and the ruling class divide and rule strategy.
Until anti capitalism prevails, these types of identity stoushes will be with us, but no one should be shut down for trying to work it all out in a positive manner.
I support those who are protesting at the woll being pulled over our eytes as far as discrimination and trans people is concerned.
My view is that there is a sizeable dose of misogyny and a not so big but still apparent dose of age-ism, floating around in the 'traniverse'. So older females cop the abuse on the grounds of sex plus age…..as we can see with the references to 'Karen'. The Karen trope is known as being aimed at older women.
But the most apparent anti voices are those who have taken the chance to indulge in a little bit of misogyny ie women hate, perhaps under the belief that they can do a snow job/smokescreen by referencing the rights argument as a cover. I'm sorry but that won't work.
There is excellent reason for the NZ anti-conversion therapy Bill 2022:
'Meaning of conversion practice (1) In this Act, conversion practice means any practice, sustained effort, or treatment that— (a) is directed towards an individual because of the individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression; and (b) is done with the intention of changing or suppressing the individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.'
For those who are interested, Caelan Conrad posed for a year as a concerned parent with a trans child. Starting with innocuous sounding support groups, they worked their way further into 'inner circles' where the mask was off. The anti-trans affirmation groups Caelan entered included people like Posie Parker as regular members.
Caelan's in-depth description of their investigation is important viewing to see the nasty (and illegal, depending on juristiction) 'conversion' practices pushed at these sites. Some parents even consider having their adult children declared mentally incompetent. For teenagers, the advice includes social isolation from the child's friends, and also neighbours or teachers who might report parents to child protection services. Not surprisingly, a section of the posters are parents who not longer have contact with their adult trans children.
Caelan has a good 6 hours of content, and has archived many conversations from these sites. The second 'conversion' video is most relevant to this discussion, and I admit, it's a committment to watch through it, even at 1.5 speed. However, I find Caelan's content is thorough and humane. Unlike the dehumanising hate speech sprinkled through posts on these 'inner circle' sites that actively sell anti-trans parenting practices .
If trans people were not protected under NZ law, their parents could legally apply the harmful conversion practices advocated at these sites. They could also be pushed into religious 'conversion' practices, such as have been applied to homosexual children and young adults that are harmful.
Once again no doubt there are practices aimed at both parents and children from both pro and anti trans. The key point for me, and it comes within the concept of parenting, and that is the idea of watchful waiting and the saying 'this too will pass'. Many of us will recall having ideas that were possibly agin those of our parents or where parents sought to exercise wise counsel. many of us are grateful that we were under the care and control of our parents when these ideas arose. Being ok to explore ideas and issues where the results can be undone such as haircuts, haircolours, clothes pale into insignificance when parent allow, for whatever reason, their children to partake/experience in actions that cannot be undone.
Parenting also comes with the idea of safeguarding and that is not inflicting or allowing concepts or actions to be inflicted on people who are not at an age to make up their own minds because of youth or lack of life experiences.
We also know about the social contagion evident at the moment.
Being part of child mutilation, that may result in a child being so damaged that they are not able to experience orgasm as an adult must be one of the most cruel things a parent can allow to be inflicted on a child.
So I am not against slowing down the process of transition to watchful waiting, and that includes counselling etc for gender disphoria, by whatever legal means our country has at its disposal.
Please be aware that there is a great difference from being pro women and children to being anti trans. Many pro trans supporters seem to conflate the two. It diminishes the strength of any argument if the argument can only work by slanging off at another group.
I feel that once a child has reached the age of majority then they can do what they like subject only to the advice from their parents. Children never stop being our children no matter what the age. I was for ever grateful for the advice of parents who always had my best at the forefront even if we may have differed on what happened, as an adult.
For me the teen years come with many pressures for child & parent and if we can get through with children who are able to see the issues from both sides then that is good. That is why it grieves me that some families lose touch over what has happened in those teen years, not just trans issues.
So I guess this undercover this or that leaves me cold really….are we in any shape or form better off? No.
Would any funds have been better spent on keeping doors open for both parent/child through access to good counselling etc, of course.
I will bookmark it – but I am more of a reader than a watcher.
This one may be of interest to you. As I haven't watched your links, it may be irrelevant but I'll post it here, because it is a logical link for the thread, and it means either of us can find it easily:
https://youtu.be/4gK48usGi7o
Thanks Molly for posting, but I don't want to listen to Helen Joyce, whose position is that trans people should be repressed and their numbers reduced because they are damaged and are too much trouble to accomodate 'in a sane world'.
Perhaps it may surprise you, but those on the trans inclusionary side of the debate do critically rebut GC arguments. That means presenting those arguments in the first place. So I am already aware of Joyce's ideas and the position of many other GC anti-trans advocates.
And it may surprise you also, but it has taken me a while to find in-depth pro-trans commentators and video essayists who discuss these ideas. When I first started commenting here on this topic months ago, it was my own interpretation of the material being posted at TS.
For example, I did my own research on the trans women are dangerous in toilets question in terms of data; I followed the 'autogynephilia' term to its original shonky paper, to the disgusting twitter site of the still-living coiner of that term, and to the careful studies that debunked his 'theory' that all female-attracted trans women have a perversion; and I hated Posie Parker's vlogged opinions and outright lies from first listen.
Guess what, it took time, but I eventually discovered that my self-formed opinions on the content I read at TS are also held by many others, feminists included. So I have not been brainwashed to my position. I have merely found people who have said it better, mostly.
I find sometimes the way GC beliefs are expressed here to be dehumanising, and to repeat accusations without providing scientific proof. I personally, through my lived experience, don't ascribe to gender essentalism ideas of womanhood and of the innate destructive power of the penis. So, much of the basis of the GC argument I find irrelevant. I see it for the philosophical ideology it is, and not an immutable fact embedded in our XY genes.
"Thanks Molly for posting, but I don't want to listen to Helen Joyce, whose position is that trans people should be repressed and their numbers reduced because they are damaged and are too much trouble to accomodate 'in a sane world'."
No problem, if you have no wish to watch. Others might. I've posted an article by Jan Rivers below as well – .https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08-06-2023/#comment-1953376 – benefit of quick read.
I haven't got much time at the moment, but a couple of responses to your comment.
"Helen Joyce, whose position is that trans people should be repressed and their numbers reduced because they are damaged and are too much trouble to accomodate 'in a sane world'."
This paraphase is out of context of the discussion which was about the iatrogenic harm that is occurring due to significant medical interventions after self-diagnosis. The numbers reduced in in regards to the numbers experiencing iatrogenic harm, which I would think everyone would be on board with.
I post the original source here, for people to make up their own mind, even though I am aware some will retain your perspective:
https://www.youtube.com/live/8_u1MQFjxvI?feature=share&t=283
"Perhaps it may surprise you, but those on the trans inclusionary side of the debate do critically rebut GC arguments. That means presenting those arguments in the first place. "
It doesn't surprise me that you think you understand GC arguments. You repeatedly state this.
However, Gender Critical is as much use as the terms left-wing, feminist etc at the moment. There are so many different viewpoints and perspectives within that idea, that it is not useful to apply a certain viewpoint to all that claim it, or those you might label with it.'
I do feel that we have the possibilities that commenters here are perhaps not clear in articulating their position, that you understand it completely and provide robust responses to their actual positions, or that you miss the salient points and provide responses to assumed positions. Or of course a combination of the above.
I appreciate TS for the opportunity to converse person to person, without a need for a declaration of sides. Thanks for continuing your engagement.
With that in mind, can you please provide an example of this:
"I find sometimes the way GC beliefs are expressed here to be dehumanising" -and why you think that example is dehumanising, because while I aim for clarity – dehumanisation is a strong criticism – and should be considered to see whether it is justified.
In good faith, I attempted to watch the video clips you have posted twiggle, but after 45 minutes I gave up. This man makes many claims including gender critical thinking is a cult, but provides no definition of what a cult is, nor does he thing give any examples of how gender critical groups meet the criteria for being a cult.
The flashing of screen shots from gender critical sites, many at once does not give the opportunity to read what the screen shots are saying at all. After 35 plus minutes of this, I had had enough and couldn't be bothered waiting for this guy to present things in a way that back up any of his claims. (btw other than GC being a cult I wasn't sure what he is claiming.
One thing he said he came across in a GC parents group was words to the effect "of so you thnk your child is trans, well thats great, but have you thought of xxx" why that would be a problem is beyond me. There was a mention of autogynaphilia, which of course is a helpful theoretical psychological construct that tries to make sense of cross dressing.
My last criticism is that the guy himself is rather over the top and doesn't present in a serious way. Of course if in watching it for 45 minutes, I had of gleened there was useful or important information he had, I would have over looked his style. But there wasn't.
GC is very simply the idea that biological sex matters and it is not possible to change your sex. Therefore women's sex based rights need to be protected from men who identify as women. Other commenters on her might put it better, but I think that is a reasonable reflection of GC thinking. That the vast majority of people believe this and it has always been the case isn't a cult I am sorry.
In my research into what a cult is I was surprised to find it's a very broad definition. Institutions such as a School, or the Military or the Family share many of the characteristics of cults as far as people diagnosing them go. Because of this cults are better separated along the category of harmful cults.
This may be the rhetorical device being exploited by this reference.
I gave it ten minutes, then another five scanning the timestamps.
Not my cup of tea for similar reasons as yours.
For anyone who i more of a reader, I had this 2022 article by Jan Rivers bookmarked:
https://genspect.org/nzs-conversion-practices-prohibition-law-a-wolf-in-wolfs-clothing/
The entire set of Caelan's video essay lay out why they think aspects of the GC movement are a cult. I admit, and said, it's a hard, but worthy watch. Again, I am posting on this topic to provide balance. I certainly don't expect those of you here with such fervent beliefs will change your ideas because of my position. I do appreciate that you take the time to engage with the material I post.
Personally I admire the depth of Caelan's investigative work, and kinda like the personality they inject into their vlog. Chacune à son goût.
By the way Caelan is a trans ally, not trans, as they are genderqueer.
"By the way Caelan is a trans ally, not trans, as they are genderqueer."
What relevance is this to the quality of their contribution?
tWiggle you do realise that since the Conversion therapy bill has been past there have been no complaints made don't you? This is despite the govt giving two million dollars to the HRC to hear complaints.
Perhaps that is because conversion therapy is mostly pushed on people by their family or church community, and those on the receiving end may want to retain some ongoing relationship, rather than cut out that part of their lives?
Or perhaps that it was never actually about "Gay" conversion as most of the things that were objected to about those practices are not lawful these days anyway.
Perhaps it was actually about making sure that nothing other than the Affirmation Only model is practiced when it comes to children and young people with sex based bodily dysmorphia.
I think it is more likely that as the govt RSE said there isn't much evidence that people are practicing conversion therapy on gays and lesbians and certainly no evidence of the sinister conversion therapy of the 1940s, 50, 60s and 70s.
I think the real conversion therapy that this bill enables is through gender affirming care. Most dysphoric teens turn out to be gay. But the rapidity with which their "gender identity" is affirm and the fast tracking them on to puberty blockers, then cross sex hormones is the thing that needs to be addressed. Do you realise the drugs that were prescribed to Alan Turing after he was found engaging in homosexual acts is one of the same drugs given to kids to supress their puberty? As you likely know, Alan was given the choice of having chemically castrating drugs or going to jail.
These drugs are not licences for use as puberty blockers to dysphoric teens
Share debate on rnz…for the first time ever I agree with what maurice williamson sez..
And c'mon..!..if a tory minister had done what wood dun…we'd be peeling you all off the ceiling…
The wood thing is totally self-induced..
Doubtful.
The PM would’ve said nothing to see, as would have Barry Sooner, DPF etc etc who are all part of the lynch mob. It wouldn’t have got legs the way this has.
The outrage is not the 1300 dollars that Wood might have made, but as always the incredible double standard with investment housing.
We’ve seen a leader of the opposition make policy on the fly which stands to make him significantly more wealthy. I’m at least the tens of thousands and possibly the millions.
An apology and a correction is all that would have happened to this if it were a Nat.
The way Hipkins has handled this has made it worse than it is and hints at him attempting to wound a future rival.
The promotion of a temporary transport minister with little connection to Auckland suggests cold feet on proper transport and density which will allow the middle class and below a chance in Auckland and a concern that there are no bottom lines.
The issue is not the shares…it is him ignoring 12 requests to divest…
It's as simple as that..
And to claim that hipkins is trying to kneecap a rival..when in fact hipkins is having a week from hell…is really groin-stretching..
And it is all woods own work…no right wing conspiracies needed here…
And now we are told he lied to.the media re conflict of interest…
Wood has to be dead man walking… surely..?
Instead of just a privileged few politicians and other rich people owning shares, just imagine if every citizen in Auckland had a share in Auckland Airport.
That's precisely what it was like in the 1990s.
It was an actual citizen shareholding.
The New Zealand government and then the Auckland Regional Council developed that airport from the 1960s through to the 1980s, paid by our rates and taxes.
Central government should stand and buy the 18% off them as of today.
That makes sense…
Why would Auckland ratepayers want the government to own their airport shares?
The assessment is the dividend return compared to cost of debt.
The Council should ask that council borrowing constraints are based on net debt and retain ownership of assets that deliver a return and sell those that do not – golf course land.
And talk to iwi with money and advocate their cause to government so that they have more money still.
Surprise!
Farmers refuse to even do a token amount in the battle against the consequences of climate change.
The National party honours this pledge with its flip flop today.
link
Apologies Rory.
I thought it was top 3 on the online Herald, but that article and headline is proving difficult to track down now! Maybe it’s the one Psycling has kindly put below from RNZ declaring the plan ‘dead’.
And yea re the infight. Ex Fed Farm joins act…I have linked before
as Mr… Hoggard nails his dairyshit brown colours to acts mast…
Youd think all this..Climate Change an all ! , would be way more important than Wood's minor share issue.
Anyway….Nacts true blue Climate change denial is certain.
Russia mined the dam, and blew it up. The world knows.
https://texty.org.ua/fragments/109844/kakhovka-hpp-was-designed-withstand-nuclear-attack-there-no-question-its-self-destruction/
Yes, they certainly did. The only possibility. The Russians had blown the bridge from the Ukrainian side of the dam. So the only way explosives could have been fitted was from the Russian side. And, it was well known they had this set up since October last year.
From reports I have seen, it appears the Russians were intending a smaller result, enough to flood Ukrainian troops on centre islands on the river. But they blew up a lot more than intended, and ended up flooding a lot of their own troops as well.
Joe 90 thinks the russians blew the dam and the super sized font PROVES IT !!!!!
If you had a fucking clue you'd be able to identify screen grabs.
If you had a fucking clue you'd be able to identify propaganda !!
Climate Change…
In NZ Nact fiddle/twerk/deny….meanwhile…
Nact….its happening. Climate Change. Deny all you like..you canutes !
Hang in there Chippie, you're the only hope of a Labour-led government in 2023.
You old alien blue-tongued lizard you.
Do you want to be the board "QAd".
It's of a certain Christian dominionism on earth school to pose liberal opposition as reptilian – someone to have the mother's son foot on their head.
I guess this is the good news.
@iaeaorg
The IAEA is aware of reports of damage at #Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam; IAEA experts at #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant are closely monitoring the situation; no immediate nuclear safety risk at plant.#ZNPP
https://twitter.com/iaeaorg/status/1665956258317496323
https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-director-general-statement-to-the-iaea-board-of-governors
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132262022/national-leader-christopher-luxon-says-we-should-have-more-babies
"I encourage all of you to go out there and have more babies if you wish, that would be helpful.”
Someone should ask him if this is a reversal to the last National government's policy where sole parents having more babies was punished. Maybe "all of you" might be inclusive of sole parents.
Damage control again:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/491585/christopher-luxon-urges-kiwis-to-have-more-babies-saying-it-would-be-helpful
Yeah it's a joke if you aren't aware of this. I'm pretty sure he is – particularly as he has spent time in the US.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-fight-to-ban-abortion-is-rooted-in-the-great-replacement-theory/
So this is why Luxon and Willis think women should pay for prescribed contraceptives ????
I think that what he really wanted to say was "more white babies".
Yep…!…all part of the white evangelical push to make more babies to counter the high birthrates of the brown people..
A telling look behind the luxon mask..
And Willis going 'its a joke..'..is in itself a joke…
As noted above..luxon is spouting the beliefs of adherents to the great replacement theory…
Which is racism wrapped in a religious robe…
Ew…!…just ew..!
Look on the bright side, all the old grey boomers will probably die trying, that should wipe a few percent off the vote.
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are still alive. Must be the Mediterranean Diet.
I'm still alive..
Must be the vegan diet…
Its no use spilling seed on barren land
obligatory
Did he lift his left or right eyebrow?
The old patriarchal trick… telling women what to do with their bodies.
Why doesn't someone ask him to put his money where his mouth is and father more babies.
He’s an idiot!
The wig industry would thank him.
It is hereditary..isn't it..?
Boom..!..boom..!
Luxon and Willis are like a couple of very bad stand up comedians with their baby/worker statements.
Willis contradicting Luxon here. If it's a joke now as Willis says, why did Luxon use good oxygen saying it in the first place then, when he's supposed to be talking serious policy?
Keep it up guys (oops, no pun intended). This is great for Labour![laugh laugh](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png?x42494)
Did he lift his left or right eyebrow?
What does woods say to luxons call for more woodies…?
Viagra
Viagra and national super… fighting it out for the title of best thing to happen for old people..
And formaldehyde.
I've held off on the formaldehyde….so far…
Maybe someone brighter than me can explain why they hasn’t been an uprising against this oligarchy?
from Bernard Hickey:
https://substack.com/@bernardchickey/note/c-16688462
The NIMBYs say no densification AND no sprawl, but they quite like the population growth and the cheaper services that go with that. They just don’t want them living anywhere near them, or on land that grows their food.
So they end up in the backs of cars and in boarding houses and lodges. Five of them burned to death a couple of weeks ago in one of those lodges, which was approved by regulators as fire safe, even though it had no sprinklers and the front door was barred.
And Wellington City Council has just discovered there are 25 more of these high density boarding houses in Wellington, four of which aren’t even approved as fire safe or fit for human habitation.
What the Actual Fuck Aotearoa.