Just when I was about to say: It's Groundhog Day !!! (again) … suddenly I find it's all over (bar a certain amount of shouting).
#POTUS2020
Those damn Ruskies & “Convergence Moonbats” who apparently exert an extraordinary control over US voters appear to have switched sides at the last possible moment.
fucksake, you're posting Breitbart media on a left wing blog? Do you want to be taken seriously or are you link whoring? Going by your recent comments and lack of engagement in the debate, I'm guessing it's the latter.
also getting sick of the maybe this is useful/maybe it's not rhetoric. You'll get some respect if you stand up for your convictions and be more honest about what lines you are running.
The day I stopped taking this blog seriously. Moderators here come down like a tonne of bricks at the slightest bit of off script commentary from some…then happily allow Draco T Bastard and Greywarshark to make a stand over their staunchly held belief that disabled people Who can't ever have a clear thought, feed themselves, understand anything, control themselves to do simple stuff, are destructive and sometimes violent are an unconscionable drain on resources and should not be allowed to live.
Maybe these are 'left-wing' beliefs…judging by the way so called left -wing Labour is as happy as their openly right- wing mates to allow those with disabilities (not covered by ACC) to languish in a below poverty line mire.
Clearly DTB and GWS earned respect from you weka because they 'stood up for their convictions and were clear about the lines they were running.'
Just a reminder…
" Left-wing politics supports social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy.[1][2][3][4] Left-wing politics typically involves a concern for those in society whom its adherents perceive as disadvantaged relative to others as well as a belief that there are unjustified inequalities that need to be reduced or abolished.
Clearly to some so-called lefties here the best solution to the problems of disadvantage and social inequity experienced by those with disabilities is to cull them…
I think you misunderstand. The people who own and run the blog are by and large left wing. More correctly the blog is aligned with the labour movement, which covers a range of positions.
The kaupapa of the site is for authors to write what they want and for commenters to engage in robust debate. To that end, authors are generally lefties, but commenters can say all sorts of things across the political spectrum so long as it is within the rules. Roughly speaking that's: don't pretend opinions are facts, don't use tone or language that excludes other people, focus on the politics rather than attacking people, don't put the site owners at legal risk, don’t be a dick/troll/flame or engage in disruptive patterns of behaviour.
The problem with the conversation you link to isn't TS's moderation policy or kaupapa, it's that the left itself is still largely useless on disability. You pushed back, why didn't other commenters?
Same with feminism btw, and you're basically teaching your grandmother to suck eggs here if you think I don't know the problems with the left.
Your idea that I respect Draco or Grey's position on disability is really off.
Thing is though, we don't moderate people for their political beliefs. We expect other commenters to push back. I will moderate the above commenter if they keep spamming the site with Trumpism and don't engage in the debate. But if they do engage in the debate, then it's on the rest of us to point out the problems with their position and argument. That is the purpose of the commentariat.
Finally, I'd appreciate support rather than attacks. I've been holding a progressive position on this site for a number of years and it's cost me a lot in a number of ways. You can thank me that we didn't have CV overloading the site with pro-Trump comments this election and making the place a misery (and all the aggro that would have come from that), but my actions there meant that I couldn't write here for over a year. Milt also lost commenting rights for that time.
If you want the place to be better, than make it better. Give me a Guest Post and I will totally moderate that to a standard that protects disabled people. I'd love to have more intelligent disability debate here. But I'm just one person. I voted against the EoLC Bill, but I simply didn't have the spoons to write a post before the election. That's my disability, so you know, maybe factor some of these things in.
Note this goes back to August 2020 being brought up again after it was vigorously discussed then. I think that this attack by Rosemary should be met with an attempt to outline the situation for needy people, with a large portion being disabled in some way. Some thoughts.
The desire for smaller government and less taxes is a neolib mantra; a crazy idea at a time when need is growing; that it is bad for a well-functioning society can be observed, but getting government back with settings for effectiveness apparently takes a lifetime, though adopting it was done in a few years.
Under the present system people are becoming more disabled through lack of timely care or services, and the erratic way of the neolib economic system has us at its behest. When government steps away and allows private business to decide procedures and approaches, we end up with a similar system to bad government but with managers who get large bonuses for finding ways to decrease spending and lessen demand. This is hard on disabled people who can find needed budgets vanishing or being replaced by a new concept that doesn't serve the real needs.
There is no willingness or ability by people like Rosemary and Ad to be able to formulate reasonable policy to cope with the growing numbers of people who are being affected by today's chemical-impregnated society, abandonment of respect for humanity in general and parents' roles in particular, stress from removal of life opportunities and a place in society for un/underemployed and handicapped people, and the increase in those facilitated to live longer, unproductive lives to age 90+, and the growing numbers with depression and drug induced harm.
The demands and expectations are so high and wide that everything that is done will never be regarded as enough. The vaunted 'progress' of the Labour Party in closing down badly performing institutions then selling off the properties, shows that responding emotionally to structural problems is bad policy. These were able to provide a haven for needy people, and give respite to stressed relatives.
The buildings themselves were in need of re-organisation and repair, but the problem lay with the practices that needed to be properly assessed, scrutinised and modernised. They led to the unpleasant traditions of treatment such as at Lake Alice now being revealed. Meeting the sad histories of the residents with soothing and understanding talk but removing the institutions that should have been permanent, was a mean, low move.
The staff should have been replaced with better-trained personnel. But neolib-based ideas of 'community integration' became the talk and the fashion, with no solid procedures for proper support and treatment, and accompanied by solid budgets to ensure care and opportunities for as full a life as possible for the residents. Talk of 'wrap-around' treatments for individuals has met with the reality of rationed care on shrinking budgets; just talk and dishonest at that.
In this case, the issue is probably your opening sentence in the previous comment,
"Must we continue to do everything to save babies that are so damaged?"
That you go on to say *if we save disabled babies we should make sure we look after them properly, doesn't overcome the problem of your first sentence appearing to say that whether we should save them is to be debated.
A blog that allows two regulars to spew vile hate speech reminiscent of the Reich.
Which, of course, is a load of bollocks. The Third Reich set out to eliminate viable populations.
Who can't ever have a clear thought, feed themselves, understand anything, control themselves to do simple stuff, are destructive and sometimes violent
Such people are already at the end of their gene pool and nothing we do is actually going to change that. They're never going to have children.
While keeping them alive through maintaining the flow of excessive resources to them may actually cause other deaths through other forms of poverty. The perpetual child that started that conversation was getting $1200 a month and the carers were complaining that it wasn't enough meanwhile the UB is significantly less than that even now that its gone up.
We actually don't have unlimited resources and so we have to make decisions as to what the best use of the resources we do have. Should we let some people die because of poverty while keeping alive those who, quite simply, don't have a life?
Caring for a “perpetual child” is nothing like a UB. Keeping a person in prison is even more expensive and deportation is a cheaper option – some caring law-abiding righteous citizens go as far as saying “lock them up and throw away the key”.
Paying for the care of a “perpetual child” doesn’t mean that money is taken away from somebody else with potentially fatal consequences. Government spending is not a zero-sum game as you keep pointing out here. Not sure why you raise this strawman here and now!?
A “perpetual child” is still a child, somebody’s child. They are not an animal that you put down when it has outlived its ‘usefulness’.
It is important that life's tragedies are actually discussed. While we are clinging to ideas of what are impossible to challenge in NZ, there are things happening to others in the world and huge suffering which we basically ignore. While we are high-minded in the extreme about treatment of one lot of people who must be considered as supremely important, another group are disdained, abandoned. That happens in NZ, and as I said, elsewhere in the world. Yet we are living in a globalised economy. So we must open our minds to how we can devise rules that enable all of us a reasonable freedom of decision, for ourselves, and for the others in the population. One might not consider something right personally, but may reserve making judgments about others' rights.
Perhaps we all should have lessons in ethics instead of some person drumming some religious discourse into children at school.
These are some of the divisions within the subject of ethics
Some more on google – Deontological ethics, Teleological ethics, Virtue ethics, Intergenerational ethics.
Don't know what these are about – they are listed on Google so some highly educated people know about them. It is not surprising then that we have difficulty considering sensitive matters.
No, we don’t need to discuss life’s tragedies, we need to talk about them and give them meaning in and to our lives.
There are different kinds of challenges, e.g. intellectual or practical. Ethics falls under Philosophy and in the context of debate it can remain intellectual/academic but when it applies to dealing with or solving social problems and policy formation, it needs to move away from the esoteric to the realistic.
Question everything, criticise, challenge dogma, but be constructive, not antagonistic, and fight for what you can influence and change – don’t tilt at windmills. This requires an open & curious mind, a kind & respectful mind, and an informed (which is not necessarily educated) mind.
Know your limitations, be humble and modest, and know and respect the limitations of your fellow countrymen/women as well. Aim high, but not too high, and don’t give up but learn and adjust – be resilient and patient.
You seem to have a bias against religious education. Indoctrinating young minds with questionable ethics instead is no panacea.
Above all, work together with likeminded people – the power of one cannot be understated but they never achieve anything without bringing others alongside. Others are not losers, the enemy, terminally stupid, or to be convinced/converted, et cetera. Differences of opinion don’t need to separate us, they do differentiate us – we’re all in it together.
Thank you. This passage really needs to be on the headline of every post.
I've lived through the experience of three close family members with substantial disabilities virtually all my life. This is an intensely personal topic.
Fundamentally I'm with Ad's perspective above, there is no place for cruel utilitarian measures here. A universal respect for all human life is one of humanities great ethical advances and we let it slip at our peril.
At the same time I could speak in depth to the immense human cost that this principle can and does impose on family and wider society in general.
Many years ago we were at a local Christmas Party for families with disabled children. It was a happily chaotic affair, loud, noisy and everyone quite determined to be cheerful.
And then there was one mother, quite attractive as I recall, sitting alone next to her infant on the floor. Even then I knew what the child had, Cat's Cry Syndrome and appalling affected at that.
In this room she had won the prize of all prizes, her baby so damaged that even the others shied slightly away from her, fearing maybe the contagion of her fate.
For just a few moments our eyes met, and in them I saw something that haunts me still.
A universal respect for all human life is one of humanities great ethical advances and we let it slip at our peril.
That is actually a major problem as it precludes any respect for all other life which results in farmers that pollute and then complain when others point out that they're wrong, a fishing industry that over-fishes the oceans etcetera.
Keeping a person in prison is even more expensive and deportation is a cheaper option – some caring law-abiding righteous citizens go as far as saying “lock them up and throw away the key”.
Not even remotely related.
Government spending is not a zero-sum game as you keep pointing out here.
And, as I keep pointing out, is limited by the available resources. So, no, not a strawman. We really do have limited resources. Just need to look at climate change for proof of that.
A “perpetual child” is still a child, somebody’s child.
I resent the years wasted of my time when it comes to how near impossible it is to trust government departments to work how they need to work. Through experience I have found the coroner, the HDC, a DHB and ACC to be useless when it comes to a man dying and no one checking up collectively on what the actual facts are. Had I done nothing the coroner, HDC, a DHB and ACC would get away with their useless analysis.
The public need to get it why a person like me is forced to go to the media. A dead man cannot get justice otherwise. I have been feeling sickened for over a week about useless services.
I think most people have no idea just how bad it can be dealing with those departments. People get there is something very wrong with WINZ, because of the coverage in recent years. But all those departments have been negatively affected by neoliberal ideology and budget cuts.
Had a post mortem been done this would have helped. Contacting and working with the next of kin would have meant the right decisions could have been made like the coroner not closing the file when they had not even sited the ACC injury form which differs compared to the vascular surgeon's comments. ICU say stuff like a short time later when it took 7 hours for the injury to be imaged.
NIL complications intra op was written when the man's micro circulation shut down and grade 4 bougie intubation was required. 3 surgeries in one week all required the grade 4 bougie with intubation. Just went in for a simple surgery.
Unless the summary of facts are clear people will get away with medical manslaughter.
I'd appreciate it if you avoid directing your anger at me, personally.
I'm posting this because it is an indication that there is going to be massive social unrest in the USA over the next month or so. That's what I think is most important – the people inside the US experiencing this as it rolls out.
I dislike BOTH candidates for so many reasons and strongly believe sharing information because the Biden supporters are convinced they have won. As I watch their over the top celebrations I think about the social consequences of the shockwave that will roll through the USA if this situation gets reversed.
Perhaps if you should TELL PEOPLE they need to make their political positions + intent clear with every post. It’s a Sunday. I have my own troubles and really did not need to have this type of nastiness dumped on me.
@k…can you count….?..what does 300 electoral seats vs. 214 say to you..?..no court is going to overturn that…and seriously…you post material from a far right site..and you expect no comeback..?…that's taking naivety a tad too far..isn't it..?
Let me make it clearer then. If you post a link to a 40 min video on a known white supremacist, pro-fascist media site and you write two sentences that don't tell us why we should watch it, then many are going to consider this either bad faith posting (spam) or promotion. Moderators tend to get a bit tetchy once this kind of commenting becomes a pattern of behaviour.
This is a robust debate site. It's helpful if you read the Policy and About linked at the top of each page, so you know what the place is like and what the expectations are.
"I'm posting this because it is an indication that there is going to be massive social unrest in the USA over the next month or so. That's what I think is most important – the people inside the US experiencing this as it rolls out."
Many would agree with this but not understand why you posted the link. I still don't. Yes, there is an expectation that people explain what they mean. If you want to argue that there is voter fraud, then please do and provide evidence. If you want to argue that the count isn't finished yet, likewise. If you want to argue that Biden won but many won't accept it and this will cause problems, then please tell us what you think. And so on.
[three week ban for dropping a deliberate flame in an already tense situation. One week for each time you’ve been modded on this this year already. I expect future bans to increase in length. Bring the good stuff Gabby, you know you can do it. – weka]
Just had a look at your comment from yesterday and see you replied. In part with this,
"I think I failed to make a key point, that is that people seem to believe the reports of fraud to be true."
Thanks for this, because it helps me understand that you are probably just not used to how the debate works here (rather than being deliberately vague). I would encourage you to stick with it and be more explanatory with your thinking rather than limiting that and linking. People will debate and argue with what you say (that's what we do here), but the way you engage will determine much of how that goes.
[What were you hoping (!) to achieve with this pointless comment other than to fan the flames in an already tense situation, which fortunately has been defused, but not thanks to you? Please give the Moderators a good reason why you should be treated differently from Gabby – Incognito]
I was hoping to get a laugh. That was great comedy, imo. Lighthearted, non-directional. Clearly non-political. Apologies I didn't have time to judge the tenseness of the situation first.
Also, I'm got these partial banners covering two of the most tense posts on this sub-thread, including weka's policy notes:
These are permanent despite reloading the page and shutting the browser. I couldn't really read what was going on. Reckon everyone needs an early night.
Apology accepted but I hope you understand that making light of somebody explaining they’re having troubles can easily drive them off the site. I can’t help you with the technical issues you seem to be having, they are very odd indeed.
FYI: Trump & his team cannot fight the results- they have no legal recourse bc Biden beat him so completely, off of the "regular" ballots that arrived prior to, or on Election Day.
Late arriving ballots delayed by USPS or things like that didn't MATTER.
His goose is cooked.
— Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer 📈🔭🍌 (@RachelBitecofer) November 7, 2020
The lady has form, too.
The model predicts Trump will earn 197 electoral votes. That leaves 63 votes a toss-up – still not enough to overcome the Democrat's lead.
Bitecofer highlighted Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as states the incumbent will have difficulty winning this time around.
"The complacent electorate of 2016, who were convinced Trump would never be president, has been replaced with the terrified electorate of 2020, who are convinced he’s the Terminator and can’t be stopped," she said. "Under my model, that distinction is not only important, it is everything."
Hello NZ – being insular. It's raining ….. and the newspaper report says we can expect more during November – something to do with La Nina, and northerly weather coming down on us – possibly from the USA influence? But when it is a drought for months, will we have to buy our water from the international/national bizziness people who have sway over our government and are sequestrating our water reserves? We need to get wise to the way that rich nations got rich – by being pirates and thieves of other countries assets.
I've got to get my whole roof replaced, and I think the ridge wood needs repairing. Rain all in November, December too close to Christmas, January hot as hell. I think I'll have to wait for January.
But watch out for businesses trying to outrun government as in The NZ Initiative's: ' Instead of officials evaluating the importance of applications, businesses should be able to bid in an auction system, Partridge said.' They have already chosen to run the country into the ground except for the high spots where they build their mansions and towers.
During the current COVID-19 crisis, PPE has been a massive concern for health-care workers on the frontlines—and rightly so. Such equipment is designed to protect wearers from hazards. Standard precautions include wearing properly fitting gowns, eyewear, face shields, masks, and gloves.26 After each patient, replace masks and gloves. Furthermore, if any PPE is visibly soiled, wet, or torn, it should be switched out. But not all infectious material is visible. Much of it can land or dry clear—the coronavirus included. Hence, we could be seeing tighter guidelines suggesting complete PPE changes between patients.
I've always seen Prof Baker as a 'day late and a dollar short". It seems to be some weeks after an issue is raised and debated on here that he suddenly seems to be quoted in the media as supporting it as a path of action. I also have the feeling that the business is always right angle appeals somewhat. Runs with the hares and hunts with the hounds maybe?
As to business bleating about it's skilled workers – it's now 7 months after the border has shut. The arguments for bolstering the workforce with short term unskilled or lightly skilled workers is starting to look hollow. There has been all these months to start upskilling people – why did they not use it if only to train the trainers.
I’ve always seen Prof Baker as a ‘day late and a dollar short”. It seems to be some weeks after an issue is raised and debated on here that he suddenly seems to be quoted in the media as supporting it as a path of action.
Maybe Prof Baker barks up the right tree instead of bleating to MSM or on Social Media if/when he doesn’t get his way or just for an ego trip?
I would like to have Espiner involved in some historical issues which people are trying to resolve so that they can finally get on with what is left of the rest of their life.
Stuff which you can actually partially prove but you lack the resources to go after some snakes.
If you think of something then suggest it to him, he might be keen to take it up. He seems to be off like a sniffer dog, so perhaps would like some more leads.
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This is one of those subject matters better suited to a thesis than a blog post, and far smarter people than I have tackled the question in a more detailed and accurate manner. But it’s a question that’s been running around in my brain for a fortnight or so. ...
Chris Fogwill, Keele University; Alan Hogg, University of Waikato; Chris Turney, UNSW, and Zoë Thomas, UNSWThe world experienced a few centuries of apocalyptic conditions 42,000 years ago, triggered by a reversal of the Earth’s magnetic poles combined with changes in the Sun’s behaviour. That’s the key finding of our ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jan Ellen Spiegel Colorado is no stranger to drought. The current one is closing in on 20 years, and a rainy or snowy season here and there won’t change the trajectory. This is what climate change has brought. “Aridification” is what ...
Sweet Surrender: By 1933, Adolf Hitler was the last political leader left standing, and his Nazis the only party Germany had yet to try. It was ever thus. Dictators and dictatorships succeed by being the only medicine a desperately sick nation hasn’t swallowed; the only strength that hasn’t failed.NOT ALL ...
"I know what you're not thinking!" Thanks to their polling agency and the participants in its focus-groups, the Labour leadership possesses a great deal more information about the Kiwis clamouring for action on the housing and inequality fronts than most journalists and lobbyists.ACCORDING TO PEOPLE “in the know”, Labour is ...
James Higham, University of OtagoThe Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s second tourism report urges the government to take advantage of the disruption caused by COVID-19 to transform the tourism industry. Titled “Not 100% – but four steps closer to sustainable tourism”, it builds on commissoner Simon Upton’s 2019 “Pristine, ...
My column over at Newsroom this week points out the fairly obvious. The government can add daily saliva testing for everyone at the border to the existing testing regimen. If daily testing winds up proving the swab tests to be redundant, ditch the swab tests when we find that out. ...
Geoengineering heats up Sorry, that was irresistible. By chance in this edition of New Research are two intriguing papers including different perspectives on the subject of geoengineering, a topic increasingly arousing emotions. Happily both of these papers are open access and free to read. A third article underlines that enthusiasm ...
Tamra Burns Loeb, University of California, Los Angeles; AJ Adkins-Jackson, Harvard University, and Arleen F. Brown, University of California, Los AngelesRacial and ethnic minority communities that lack internet access have been left behind in the race to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The average monthly cost of internet access, about ...
Zach St. GeorgeThe first and only time Steve Jackson spoke to Bill Critchfield was in the late 1980s. Critchfield, an authority on the conifers of North America, was at home recovering from a heart attack. Jackson, then a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University, had called looking for advice on how ...
Richelle Butcher, Massey University; Britta Denise Hardesty, CSIRO, and Lauren Roman, CSIROPlastic in the ocean can be deadly for marine wildlife and seabirds around the globe, but our latest study shows single-use plastics are a bigger threat to endangered albatrosses in the southern hemisphere than we previously thought. You ...
On Monday, the US Congress failed to hold former President Donald Trump accountable for inciting an attempted coup against the US constitution. So now someone is doing it privately, in the traditional American way: suing him: Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani, the former president’s personal lawyer, have been accused ...
The media this morning was full of hopeful stories about how the current lockdown may have been a "false alarm" and an over-reaction and how it would all be over soon (I bet those journalists and editors all feel pretty stupid now). But along the way, National's Michael Woodhouse let ...
Jen Purdie, University of OtagoAs fossil fuels are phased out over the coming decades, the Climate Change Commission (CCC) suggests electricity will take up much of the slack, powering our vehicle fleet and replacing coal and gas in industrial processes. But can the electricity system really provide for this ...
Nearly twenty years after they first arrived, the last New Zealand troops will finally be leaving Afghanistan in May: New Zealand troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by May 2021. The current deployment consists of six Defence Force personnel - three deployed to the Afghanistan National Army Officer Academy, ...
I’m a bit of an ETS-absolutist. Or at least a carbon-pricing absolutist, in a place the size of NZ. I think the Weitzman reasons for preferring a carbon tax to an ETS are second-order relative to political economy considerations, and any weight at all put on switching costs makes it ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson Despite the speed bump posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is rolling toward completion of its Sixth Assessment Report, the latest in a series that began in 1990. IPCC’s assessments, produced by many hundreds of scientists volunteering countless hours, ...
On Friday (5 February) we went for a walk in the Karangahake Gorge, and were very happy to discover (during the Windows Walk) that there are glow-worms in the darker parts of the mine workings. (Strictly speaking they’re glow-maggots as they’re the larvae of small flies/midges, but that is perhaps ...
Alysha JohnsonThey say a good day is a busy day, and aboard the R/V Falkor (Seafloor to Seabirds in the Coral Sea – Schmidt Ocean Institute), almost every day is busy! On this particular day, we deployed a CTD, which stands for Conductivity, Temperature and Density. It is ...
This is a transcript of a speech by developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton delivered at on 29 November 2020 for the ‘Feminist Academics Talk Back!’ meeting. This talk was originally published by womentalkback.org Sex denialists have captured existing journals We are dealing with a new religion Thank you for the ...
Government data today shows that the wealthiest New Zealanders aren’t paying their fair share of tax, whilst everyone else chips in, Green Party spokesperson on Finance Julie Anne Genter said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the change in the Reserve Bank’s remit to consider the impacts on housing when making financial decisions, but housing affordability shouldn’t be left to the Reserve Bank, Green Party Co-leader and Housing spokesperson Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the passing of the Local Electorate Act Māori Wards Amendment Bill which ensures Māori have a say on local issues across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
New UMR research reveals that 69 percent of New Zealanders agree that the government should increase the amount if income support paid to those on low incomes or not in paid work. ...
The Green Party are celebrating the Labour Government bringing forward the timeline to ban conversion therapy, and will push to ensure any draft bill properly protects all of our Rainbow communities. ...
The Green Party is joining the call for ‘brave policy action’ to address rapidly increasing inequality in New Zealand, which is likely to be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
Green MPs currently in Auckland, Marama Davidson, Chlöe Swarbrick and Golriz Ghahraman, will remain in Auckland for the next 72 hours. Those in Auckland today for Big Gay Out who have flown home will self-isolate for 72 hours. These decisions will be subject to any new information that may arise ...
It’s Pride month, and as we celebrate our LGBTIA+ community, we’re taking the next steps towards a more inclusive Aotearoa. From investing in mental health services to banning harmful conversion therapy, we’re building a New Zealand where everyone can be safe, healthy and happy. ...
The Green Party strongly condemns the revelation that Air New Zealand may have provided assistance and maintenance to Saudi Arabian vessels involved in committing atrocities in Yemen. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed her condolences at the passing of long-serving former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. “Our thoughts are with Lady Veronica Somare and family, Prime Minister James Marape and the people of Papua New Guinea during this time of great ...
Major water reform has taken a step closer with the appointment of the inaugural board of the Taumata Arowai water services regulator, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. Former Director General of Health and respected public health specialist Dame Karen Poutasi will chair the inaugural board of Crown agency Taumata Arowai. “Dame ...
New funding announced by Conservation Minister Kiri Allan today will provide work and help protect the unique values of Northland’s Te Ārai Nature Reserve for future generations. Te Ārai is culturally important to Te Aupōuri as the last resting place of the spirits before they depart to Te Rerenga Wairua. ...
Today the Government has taken a key step to support Pacific people to becoming Community Housing providers, says the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio. “This will be great news for Pacific communities with the decision to provide Pacific Financial Capability Grant funding and a tender process to ...
Conservation Minister Kiri Allan is encouraging New Zealanders to have their say on a proposed marine mammal sanctuary to address the rapid decline of bottlenose dolphins in Te Pēwhairangi, the Bay of Islands. The proposal, developed jointly with Ngā Hapū o te Pēwhairangi, would protect all marine mammals of the ...
Attorney-General David Parker today announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges. Two of the appointees will take up their roles on 1 April, replacing sitting Judges who have reached retirement age. Kirsten Lummis, lawyer of Auckland has been appointed as a District Court Judge with jury jurisdiction to ...
Government announces list of life-shortening conditions guaranteeing early KiwiSaver access The Government changed the KiwiSaver rules in 2019 so people with life-shortening congenital conditions can withdraw their savings early The four conditions guaranteed early access are – down syndrome, cerebral palsy, Huntington’s disease and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder An alternative ...
The Reserve Bank is now required to consider the impact on housing when making monetary and financial policy decisions, Grant Robertson announced today. Changes have been made to the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee’s remit requiring it to take into account government policy relating to more sustainable house prices, while working ...
The Labour Government will invest $6 million for 70 additional adult cochlear implants this year to significantly reduce the historical waitlist, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “Cochlear implants are life changing for kiwis who suffer from severe hearing loss. As well as improving an individual’s hearing, they open doors to ...
The Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill passed its third reading today and will become law, Minister of Local Government Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. “This is a significant step forward for Māori representation in local government. We know how important it is to have diversity around ...
The Government has added 1,000 more transitional housing places as promised under the Aotearoa New Zealand Homelessness Action Plan (HAP), launched one year ago. Minister of Housing Megan Woods says the milestone supports the Government’s priority to ensure every New Zealander has warm, dry, secure housing. “Transitional housing provides people ...
A second batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived safely yesterday at Auckland International Airport, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. “This shipment contained about 76,000 doses, and follows our first shipment of 60,000 doses that arrived last week. We expect further shipments of vaccine over the coming weeks,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni has today announced $18 million to support creative spaces. Creative spaces are places in the community where people with mental health needs, disabled people, and those looking for social connection, are welcomed and supported to practice and participate in the arts ...
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little today welcomed Moriori to Parliament to witness the first reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. “This bill is the culmination of years of dedication and hard work from all the parties involved. “I am delighted to reach this significant milestone today,” Andrew ...
22,400 fewer children experiencing material hardship 45,400 fewer children in low income households on after-housing costs measure After-housing costs target achieved a year ahead of schedule Government action has seen child poverty reduce against all nine official measures compared to the baseline year, Prime Minister and Minister for Child Poverty ...
It’s time to recognise the outstanding work early learning services, kōhanga reo, schools and kura do to support children and young people to succeed, Minister of Education Chris Hipkins says. The 2021 Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards are now open through until April 16. “The past year has reminded us ...
Three new Jobs for Nature projects will help nature thrive in the Bay of Plenty and keep local people in work says Conservation Minister Kiri Allan. “Up to 30 people will be employed in the projects, which are aimed at boosting local conservation efforts, enhancing some of the region’s most ...
The Government has accepted all of the Holidays Act Taskforce’s recommended changes, which will provide certainty to employers and help employees receive their leave entitlements, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood announced today. Michael Wood said the Government established the Holidays Act Taskforce to help address challenges with the ...
The Government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and faster than expected economic recovery has been acknowledged in today’s credit rating upgrade. Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) today raised New Zealand’s local currency credit rating to AAA with a stable outlook. This follows Fitch reaffirming its AA+ rating last ...
Tena koutou e nga Maata Waka Ngai Tuahuriri, Ngai Tahu whanui, Tena koutou. Nau mai whakatau mai ki tenei ra maumahara i te Ru Whenua Apiti hono tatai hono, Te hunga mate ki te hunga mate Apiti hono tatai hono, Te hunga ora ki te hunga ora Tena koutou, Tena ...
The Minister of Justice has reaffirmed the Government’s urgent commitment, as stated in its 2020 Election Manifesto, to ban conversion practices in New Zealand by this time next year. “The Government has work underway to develop policy which will bring legislation to Parliament by the middle of this year and ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage and Social Development Hon Carmel Sepuloni today launched a new Creative Careers Service, which is expected to support up to 1,000 creatives, across three regions over the next two years. The new service builds on the most successful aspects of the former Pathways to ...
Overseas consumers eager for natural products in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic have helped boost honey export revenue by 20 percent to $425 million in the year to June 30, 2020, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor says. “The results from the latest Ministry for Primary Industries’ 2020 Apiculture Monitoring ...
Thanks to more than $10-million in new services from the Government, more rangatahi will be able to access mental health and addiction support in their community. Minister of Health Andrew Little made the announcement today while visiting Odyssey House Christchurch and acknowledged that significant events like the devastating earthquakes ten ...
Two month automatic visitor visa extension for most visitor visa holders Temporary waiver of time spent in New Zealand rule for visitor stays Visitor visa holders will be able to stay in New Zealand a little longer as the Government eases restrictions for those still here, the Minister of Immigration ...
The Tourism and Conservation Ministers say today’s report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) adds to calls to overhaul the tourism model that existed prior to COVID19. “The PCE tourism report joins a chorus of analysis which has established that previous settings, which prioritised volume over value, are ...
The Government is providing certainty for the dietary supplements industry as we work to overhaul the rules governing the products, Minister for Food Safety Dr Ayesha Verrall said. Dietary supplements are health and wellness products taken orally to supplement a traditional diet. Some examples include vitamin and mineral supplements, echinacea, ...
The Government is joining the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (the Budapest Convention), Justice Minister Kris Faafoi and Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications Dr David Clark announced today. The decision progresses a recommendation by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch terror attack to accede to ...
Attorney-General David Parker announced today that an appointment round for Queen’s Counsel will take place in 2021. Appointments of Queen’s Counsel are made by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Attorney-General and with the concurrence of the Chief Justice. The Governor-General retains the discretion to appoint Queen’s Counsel in ...
The new Resurgence Support Payment passed by Parliament this week will be available to eligible businesses now that Auckland will be in Alert Level 2 until Monday. “Our careful management of the Government accounts means we have money aside for situations like this. We stand ready to share the burden ...
A dry run of the end-to-end process shows New Zealand’s COVID-19 vaccination programme is ready to roll from Saturday, when the first border workers will receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. “The trial run took place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch yesterday afternoon, ahead of the ...
From June this year, all primary, intermediate, secondary school and kura students will have access to free period products, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti announced today. The announcement follows a successful Access to Period Products pilot programme, which has been running since Term 3 last ...
The latest update shows the Government’s books are again in better shape than forecast, meaning New Zealand is still in a strong position to respond to any COVID-19 resurgence. The Crown Accounts for the six months to the end of December were better than forecast in the Half-year Economic and ...
The Department of Conservation’s (DOC) new Heritage and Visitor Strategy is fully focused on protecting and enhancing the value of New Zealand’s natural, cultural and historic heritage, while also promoting a sustainable environmental experience, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “It has been a quarter of a century since DOC first developed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Defence Minister Peeni Henare have announced that New Zealand will conclude its deployment of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) to Afghanistan by May 2021. “After 20 years of a NZDF presence in Afghanistan, it is now time to conclude ...
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. This is a special time in our country. A little over a week ago, it was the anniversary of the signature by Māori and the British Crown of Te Tiriti O Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi), a founding document in ...
The Government is in contact with relevant authorities in Turkey following the arrest of a former Australian and New Zealand dual citizen there, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “Contingency planning for the potential return of any New Zealander who may have been in the conflict zone has been underway for ...
Figures released today by Stats NZ show there was strong growth in median household incomes in 2020, before surveying was halted due to COVID-19. Stats NZ found the median annual household income rose 6.9 percent to $75,024 in the year to June 2020 compared with a year earlier. The survey ...
Legislation will be introduced under urgency today to set up a new Resurgence Support Payment for businesses affected by any resurgence of COVID-19. “Since the scheme was announced in December we have decided to make a change to the payment – reducing the time over which a revenue drop is ...
Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor congratulated Nigeria’s Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on her ground-breaking selection as the next Director General of the World Trade Organization last night. Dr Okonjo-Iweala will be the first female and first African Director General of the organisation. She has a strong background in international ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Paddy Nixon discuss the week in politics. This week Michelle and Paddy discuss the continued probe into the culture of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Hanmer, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Adelaide This is the second of two articles on the past and future of the university campus. The “dreaming spires” of Oxford University that Matthew Arnold romanticised in 1865 still have a powerful ...
The finance minister spoke to Auckland businesspeople today on the state of the economy a year after Covid-19 landed, and how he hopes to take on another crisis. Toby Manhire went along.Virtual presentations in place of in-the-flesh speeches have become commonplace in these pandemic days, but it wasn’t Covid that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic O’Sullivan, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University The government earlier this year released a discussion paper exploring how an Indigenous Voice to government might work. The Voice ...
Immigration New Zealand is standing by its decision to grant a visa to the partner of Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March and says the application was treated "like any other". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathalie Collins, Academic Director (National Programs), Edith Cowan University Business etiquette has one golden rule: treat others with respect and care. The same is true for encouraging cyber safety at work, on everything from password security to keeping valuable information like tax ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Bryant, Professor & Director of Traumatic Stress Clinic, UNSW Although Australia is now largely COVID-free, the repercussions of the pandemic are ongoing. As the pandemic enters its second year, many people will be continuing to suffer with poor mental health, or ...
Auckland Council has signed off on a new strategy to make it easier to recycle or get rid of inorganic waste, but according to South Auckland community leaders, it doesn’t go far enough.Tucked a few streets back from former prime minister William Massey’s beautiful old homestead in Māngere East is ...
With crowd-friendly dance tunes and affordable drinks, a new dancehall and bar opening tonight is hoping to make going out more accessible for Aucklanders.“In many ways, it’s fucking stupid opening a nightclub in the middle of a global pandemic,” says Sam Walsh, one of the three owners of a new ...
Water New Zealand says the establishment of the new Taumata Arowai board is an important milestone in the journey towards safer drinking water for all New Zealanders. The Minister of Local Government, Nanaia Mahuta has announced that former ...
The PM says there are "many, many people" being treated as contacts of the latest Covid-19 community case, but the government is willing to go further than usual to keep the country at level 1. ...
Listen: This week's Extra Time podcast from RNZ dissects the women's White Ferns' cricket challenge against England, the men's Black Caps vs Australia and the start of Super Rugby The White Ferns have a battle on their hands to fight their way back into their one-day series against England - ...
Our Beehive Bulletin … While Housing Minister Megan Woods was being grilled at Question Time in Parliament about the government’s performance in her portfolio domain, the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito Williams Sio, was announcing new initiatives to provide housing. Attorney-General David Parker, meanwhile, was announcing the appointments of three ...
Asia Pacific Report Papua New Guineans awoke this morning to great sadness, reports the PNG Post-Courier. As the bells tolled with the sad news of the passing of the much beloved statesman and the founding father of the nation, newsfeeds and social media were abuzz with shock, grief, sadness and ...
In remarks for a Monetary Policy Statement presentation to the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce today, Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr has elaborated on the direction received from the Minister of Finance, to have regard to house price sustainability ...
Critic's Chair: Guy Somerset watches the first of four documentaries on the allegations against Woody Allen in his years in the Farrow household, and hears the air of truth in the early testimonies against him. Of all the witness statements with the air of truth about them in the first ...
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 Gangland: New Zealand’s Underworld of Organised Crime by Jared Savage (HarperCollins, $37)“It’s hard for me to imagine ...
A poem by New York-based Aotearoa poet Evangeline Riddiford Graham.Gingerbread HouseThe revolution has arrived. We get the email. MeanwhileI am moving deck chairs to make sure you are comfortable in shade. Our neighboursays it like a complaint: We don’t know anyone who is sickor dead. The taxi driver says hospitals ...
Playwright Alex Lodge on being in love with someone who’s from a different world than you.Have you read anything by Kurt Vonnegut Jr? I’m not here to judge you if you haven’t. He’s one of those writers who all the white boys in university say you “have to read” as ...
Asia Pacific Report Indonesian police have asked participants at a protest action against Special Autonomy (Otsus) in Papua to take covid-19 rapid tests at the site of the demonstration in front of the Home Affairs Ministry office in Jakarta this week, reports CNN Indonesia. The protesters refused, saying it was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter S. Field, Head of Humanities and Creative Arts and Associate Professor of American History, University of Canterbury The idea of “news” is a pretty new thing. So is the concept of “fake news”, as in false or misleading information presented as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Ritchie, Senior Lecturer in History, Deakin University Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, former prime minister of Papua New Guinea and a giant of Pacific politics, has died from pancreatic cancer. He was 84. Known as “Mike” to some and “the chief” ...
Last year 320 people were killed on New Zealand’s roads. Alex Braae spoke to the people on the front line of road safety about the plan to turn that around. When the goal is to bring the road toll down to zero deaths a year, there’s no one simple solution. ...
Its 2012 investment prospectus was all suits, cigars, guns, sports cars and models in short skirts, and its consumer advertising was possibly even worse. Did the Moa brand’s misogyny contribute to its huge losses?The middle of the road can wind up being a risky place for a business. Typically a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, PhD Candidate, Flinders University It’s not often you get to cast your eyes on a creature feared to be long-gone. Perhaps that’s why my recent rediscovery of the native bee species Pharohylaeus lactiferus is so exciting — especially after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Georgina Heydon, Associate professor, RMIT University The alleged rape of former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins has raised many questions about how sexual assault gets reported. Members of the Morrison government have repeatedly stressed the appropriate response to allegations of sexual assault ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dana M Bergstrom, Principal Research Scientist, University of Wollongong In 1992, 1,700 scientists warned that human beings and the natural world were “on a collision course”. Seventeen years later, scientists described planetary boundaries within which humans and other life could have a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sally Patfield, Postdoctoral Fellow, Teachers and Teaching Research Centre, University of Newcastle It’s that time of year again when hundreds of thousands of Australian students start university for the first time. Commencing students account for about 40% of the more than 1.6 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University Australia’s electricity market is unsustainable. Texas shows us why. A week ago Texas experienced a bout of severe weather as arctic air reached deep into the state, driving temperature down to levels that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Stokes, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Deakin University Tim Hart was sitting on his couch one evening in November 2011 when he got an email with the subject line: “I’m watching”. The message that followed was short and to the point ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Edwards, Associate Professor, Sydney School of Health Sciences, University of Sydney Brisbane has just been confirmed as the preferred host for the 2032 Olympics. But Olympic organisers have more immediate concerns in mind — how to safely run the postponed Tokyo ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for February 26. All the latest news from New Zealand, updated throughout the day. Reach me at stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur Members make The Spinoff happen. Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us from ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Reserve Bank put in bind by Robertson move, Bridges clashes with top cop, and critical migrant health workers can’t get families in while new arrivals can.Finance minister Grant Robertson will be requiring the Reserve Bank to consider the impact on ...
There are clues globally that the avalanche threat is escalating in some regions as the planet warms, triggered by greater temperature swings and more intense rain and snow storms. Bob Berwyn reports for Inside Climate News Big dumps of powder snow are a precious gift in the best of times ...
District health board members have been made aware of a new problem with a just-opened Christchurch Hospital building. Oliver Lewis reports. It was two years late and plagued by errors during construction, now a further major issue can be revealed at the new $525 million Christchurch Hospital building, Waipapa. Hundreds ...
As further reports of torture and systemic rape emerge from Xinjiang, the PRC’s propaganda machine is hard at work in New Zealand. Laura Walters looks at why a Chinese New Year performance in Wellington was more than just cultural appropriation State-sponsored appropriation of Uyghur culture has been labelled “disgusting” and “disrespectful” ...
Covid-19 vaccination won’t be enough to save us from hard choices that will need to be made during our second or even third year of living with the coronavirus. Keeping Covid-19 mostly out of New Zealand has been a Herculean feat, drawing praise from around the world. Over the next year, ...
If there’s a time for screaming into the void, 2021 is surely it. Josie Adams shares a baker’s dozen of Aotearoa’s top contenders.When you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you, and it’s nice to have company. New Zealand’s geography is perfect for abysses, or abyssoi ...
Jake Millar is an extraordinary young man. The young entrepreneur who convinced the rich and famous to invest millions in his business has now disappeared - and so has the money. Jake Millar was just a teenager in 2015 when he sold his first business to the government for six figures. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Defence Minister Linda Reynolds faces an agonising question. Should she say to Scott Morrison she doesn’t feel up to staying in what is one of the most demanding portfolios in the government? Reynolds broke down ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Sheldon Chanel in Suva Much of archipelagic Fiji was forced indoors by lockdowns and a nationwide curfew in March last year when the country recorded its first case of covid-19. The quick and decisive action by legislators was successful in helping contain the spread of a highly ...
Asia Pacific Report The indigenous people of West Papua have rejected the extension of special autonomy and the planned expansion of new provinces announced by the central government of Indonesia. The rejection comes from grassroots communities across West Papua and Papuan students who are studying in Indonesia and overseas. Responding ...
The man who led the review into the dysfunctional Tauranga City Council before it was taken over by a commissioner has been appointed to lead the review into Wellington's council. ...
Opposition MPs are questioning whether there had been any special treatment from immigration officials in regards to Ricardo Menéndez March's partner's application. ...
In this week’s episode, host Simon Pound meets Lisa Fong (aka Move It Mama) whose Facebook Live workouts have found a loyal – and huge – audience worldwide.Nearly every morning, thousands of people around New Zealand and the world start their day with a workout led by a mum of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ted Snell, Honorary Professor, Edith Cowan University Review: A Forest of Hooks and Nails, Fremantle Arts Centre for Perth Festival Several years ago, when being shown around an exhibition under preparation with a Nobel prize-winning guest, an academic colleague asked what one ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael McGreevy, Research Associate, Flinders University Less than two decades ago, South Australia generated all its electricity from fossil fuels. Last year, renewables provided a whopping 60% of the state’s electricity supply. The remarkable progress came as national climate policy was gripped ...
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer’s parents – according to a report in Stuff – delivered some strong mantra to live by. One of them: “Don’t accept, you push back, be provocative, but always be respectful.” But what happens when political opponents don’t accept, push back and – dare we suggest it? – are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kamaljit K Sangha, Senior Ecological Economist, Charles Darwin University Northern Australia is by far the most fire-prone region of Australia, with enormous bushfires occurring annually across thousands of square kilometres. Many of these vast, flammable landscapes have precious few barriers to slow ...
Inspired by Bridges’ brave stand against the evil wokesters, Emily Writes unearths other examples of the woke peril.This week, Simon Bridges described NZ Police’s Andrew Coster as a “wokester commissioner” who isn’t fit for the job. The “too nice” Coster is not arresting enough baddies, you see.When asked why Coster ...
Banks welcome today’s announcement that the Reserve Bank will consider the impact of its monetary and financial policy decisions on the housing market. “Banks support today’s announcement and are keen to be involved in discussions around how to tackle ...
Our Beehive Bulletin … It’s all go – well, sort of – on the housing front. The Nats yesterday were scoring brownie points by scoffing at the state’s spending on a professional promotional video, including drone footage, celebrating a housing scheme that has helped only 12 families. But Housing Minister ...
Legislation regulating New Zealand's organic sector is about to pass through its final stages in Parliament and will be a major boost for exporters meeting the global demand for safe, 'clean', GE-free organic products. The Organic Products Bill helps ...
The Spinoff’s cricket podcast is back! Join Simon Day and Alex Braae on the road to Lord’s with special guest, White Fern Frankie Mackay.With the Blackcaps headed for the final of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship at Lord’s in June, Simon Day and Alex Braae have successfully appealed to ...
University of Otago public health experts Michael Baker, Amanda Kvalsvig and Nick Wilson ponder what we’ve learned about the pandemic over the past 12 months, and how we can improve our response in the future.Exactly one year ago tomorrow (February 26) the first confirmed case of Covid-19 arrived in Aotearoa ...
The SpinoffBy Michael Baker, Amanda Kvalsvig and Nick Wilson
A crowdfunding campaign for a ‘tool’ that attaches to the back of the neck is abhorrent to people with lived neurodivergent experience, writes ADHD and Autism advocate Rory McCarthy.Just over a fortnight ago, I discovered a device on Kickstarter that was being marketed as a treatment for children and adults ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Baker, Professor of Public Health, University of Otago Exactly one year ago tomorrow (February 26) the first confirmed case of COVID-19 arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand. Identified only as “a person in their 60s recently returned from Iran”, the case marked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nichola Shelton, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Tens of thousands of Australian teenagers live with a communication disability, meaning they struggle with speaking, listening, reading, writing, and/or social skills. Communication disability can include It can start in early childhood and much of ...
Just when I was about to say: It's Groundhog Day !!! (again) … suddenly I find it's all over (bar a certain amount of shouting).
#POTUS2020
Those damn Ruskies & “Convergence Moonbats” who apparently exert an extraordinary control over US voters appear to have switched sides at the last possible moment.
"Those damn Ruskies "
IKR?!
He really doesn't want to go:
Please tell me that this is an actor and not Trump.
For anyone who may be interested (40mins+ long..and can be summarised by legal challenge announced by Trump lawyers).
For the last 160 years the winner in Ohio also won the presidency so maybe they have something of substance, maybe they don't.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=392513575493994
fucksake, you're posting Breitbart media on a left wing blog? Do you want to be taken seriously or are you link whoring? Going by your recent comments and lack of engagement in the debate, I'm guessing it's the latter.
also getting sick of the maybe this is useful/maybe it's not rhetoric. You'll get some respect if you stand up for your convictions and be more honest about what lines you are running.
fucksakes weka…"left wing blog" is it? A blog that allows two regulars to spew vile hate speech reminiscent of the Reich.
The day I stopped taking this blog seriously. Moderators here come down like a tonne of bricks at the slightest bit of off script commentary from some…then happily allow Draco T Bastard and Greywarshark to make a stand over their staunchly held belief that disabled people Who can't ever have a clear thought, feed themselves, understand anything, control themselves to do simple stuff, are destructive and sometimes violent are an unconscionable drain on resources and should not be allowed to live.
Maybe these are 'left-wing' beliefs…judging by the way so called left -wing Labour is as happy as their openly right- wing mates to allow those with disabilities (not covered by ACC) to languish in a below poverty line mire.
Clearly DTB and GWS earned respect from you weka because they 'stood up for their convictions and were clear about the lines they were running.'
Just a reminder…
" Left-wing politics supports social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy.[1][2][3][4] Left-wing politics typically involves a concern for those in society whom its adherents perceive as disadvantaged relative to others as well as a belief that there are unjustified inequalities that need to be reduced or abolished.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-wing_politics
Clearly to some so-called lefties here the best solution to the problems of disadvantage and social inequity experienced by those with disabilities is to cull them…
I think you misunderstand. The people who own and run the blog are by and large left wing. More correctly the blog is aligned with the labour movement, which covers a range of positions.
The kaupapa of the site is for authors to write what they want and for commenters to engage in robust debate. To that end, authors are generally lefties, but commenters can say all sorts of things across the political spectrum so long as it is within the rules. Roughly speaking that's: don't pretend opinions are facts, don't use tone or language that excludes other people, focus on the politics rather than attacking people, don't put the site owners at legal risk, don’t be a dick/troll/flame or engage in disruptive patterns of behaviour.
The problem with the conversation you link to isn't TS's moderation policy or kaupapa, it's that the left itself is still largely useless on disability. You pushed back, why didn't other commenters?
Same with feminism btw, and you're basically teaching your grandmother to suck eggs here if you think I don't know the problems with the left.
Your idea that I respect Draco or Grey's position on disability is really off.
Thing is though, we don't moderate people for their political beliefs. We expect other commenters to push back. I will moderate the above commenter if they keep spamming the site with Trumpism and don't engage in the debate. But if they do engage in the debate, then it's on the rest of us to point out the problems with their position and argument. That is the purpose of the commentariat.
Finally, I'd appreciate support rather than attacks. I've been holding a progressive position on this site for a number of years and it's cost me a lot in a number of ways. You can thank me that we didn't have CV overloading the site with pro-Trump comments this election and making the place a misery (and all the aggro that would have come from that), but my actions there meant that I couldn't write here for over a year. Milt also lost commenting rights for that time.
If you want the place to be better, than make it better. Give me a Guest Post and I will totally moderate that to a standard that protects disabled people. I'd love to have more intelligent disability debate here. But I'm just one person. I voted against the EoLC Bill, but I simply didn't have the spoons to write a post before the election. That's my disability, so you know, maybe factor some of these things in.
edited.
Excellent response, thank you!
Someone who is an advocate for cool, clear thinking on disability and goes OTT as you do Rosemary ends up losing credibility yourself.
Note this goes back to August 2020 being brought up again after it was vigorously discussed then. I think that this attack by Rosemary should be met with an attempt to outline the situation for needy people, with a large portion being disabled in some way. Some thoughts.
The desire for smaller government and less taxes is a neolib mantra; a crazy idea at a time when need is growing; that it is bad for a well-functioning society can be observed, but getting government back with settings for effectiveness apparently takes a lifetime, though adopting it was done in a few years.
Under the present system people are becoming more disabled through lack of timely care or services, and the erratic way of the neolib economic system has us at its behest. When government steps away and allows private business to decide procedures and approaches, we end up with a similar system to bad government but with managers who get large bonuses for finding ways to decrease spending and lessen demand. This is hard on disabled people who can find needed budgets vanishing or being replaced by a new concept that doesn't serve the real needs.
My original comment: 11 August 2020 at 8:50 pm https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018758982/family-fights-chaotic-system-in-caring-for-disabled-foster-child
Must we continue to do everything to save babies that are so damaged? If so there needs to be special funding set aside for carers both of severely disabled children, and those caring for fully functioning but disabled people.
Carers who step forward should be securely provided for not be under this crazy neolib thing of getting private entities to tender, and then go through the process again in a few years time automatically.
There is no willingness or ability by people like Rosemary and Ad to be able to formulate reasonable policy to cope with the growing numbers of people who are being affected by today's chemical-impregnated society, abandonment of respect for humanity in general and parents' roles in particular, stress from removal of life opportunities and a place in society for un/underemployed and handicapped people, and the increase in those facilitated to live longer, unproductive lives to age 90+, and the growing numbers with depression and drug induced harm.
The demands and expectations are so high and wide that everything that is done will never be regarded as enough. The vaunted 'progress' of the Labour Party in closing down badly performing institutions then selling off the properties, shows that responding emotionally to structural problems is bad policy. These were able to provide a haven for needy people, and give respite to stressed relatives.
The buildings themselves were in need of re-organisation and repair, but the problem lay with the practices that needed to be properly assessed, scrutinised and modernised. They led to the unpleasant traditions of treatment such as at Lake Alice now being revealed. Meeting the sad histories of the residents with soothing and understanding talk but removing the institutions that should have been permanent, was a mean, low move.
The staff should have been replaced with better-trained personnel. But neolib-based ideas of 'community integration' became the talk and the fashion, with no solid procedures for proper support and treatment, and accompanied by solid budgets to ensure care and opportunities for as full a life as possible for the residents. Talk of 'wrap-around' treatments for individuals has met with the reality of rationed care on shrinking budgets; just talk and dishonest at that.
In this case, the issue is probably your opening sentence in the previous comment,
"Must we continue to do everything to save babies that are so damaged?"
That you go on to say *if we save disabled babies we should make sure we look after them properly, doesn't overcome the problem of your first sentence appearing to say that whether we should save them is to be debated.
+100 Weka
Thanks
Which, of course, is a load of bollocks. The Third Reich set out to eliminate viable populations.
Such people are already at the end of their gene pool and nothing we do is actually going to change that. They're never going to have children.
While keeping them alive through maintaining the flow of excessive resources to them may actually cause other deaths through other forms of poverty. The perpetual child that started that conversation was getting $1200 a month and the carers were complaining that it wasn't enough meanwhile the UB is significantly less than that even now that its gone up.
We actually don't have unlimited resources and so we have to make decisions as to what the best use of the resources we do have. Should we let some people die because of poverty while keeping alive those who, quite simply, don't have a life?
We will always work to defeat cruel utilitarian haters like you. Count on it.
Reminiscent doesn’t mean equal or identical.
Caring for a “perpetual child” is nothing like a UB. Keeping a person in prison is even more expensive and deportation is a cheaper option – some caring law-abiding righteous citizens go as far as saying “lock them up and throw away the key”.
Paying for the care of a “perpetual child” doesn’t mean that money is taken away from somebody else with potentially fatal consequences. Government spending is not a zero-sum game as you keep pointing out here. Not sure why you raise this strawman here and now!?
A “perpetual child” is still a child, somebody’s child. They are not an animal that you put down when it has outlived its ‘usefulness’.
It is important that life's tragedies are actually discussed. While we are clinging to ideas of what are impossible to challenge in NZ, there are things happening to others in the world and huge suffering which we basically ignore. While we are high-minded in the extreme about treatment of one lot of people who must be considered as supremely important, another group are disdained, abandoned. That happens in NZ, and as I said, elsewhere in the world. Yet we are living in a globalised economy. So we must open our minds to how we can devise rules that enable all of us a reasonable freedom of decision, for ourselves, and for the others in the population. One might not consider something right personally, but may reserve making judgments about others' rights.
Perhaps we all should have lessons in ethics instead of some person drumming some religious discourse into children at school.
These are some of the divisions within the subject of ethics
Some more on google – Deontological ethics, Teleological ethics, Virtue ethics, Intergenerational ethics.
Don't know what these are about – they are listed on Google so some highly educated people know about them. It is not surprising then that we have difficulty considering sensitive matters.
No, we don’t need to discuss life’s tragedies, we need to talk about them and give them meaning in and to our lives.
There are different kinds of challenges, e.g. intellectual or practical. Ethics falls under Philosophy and in the context of debate it can remain intellectual/academic but when it applies to dealing with or solving social problems and policy formation, it needs to move away from the esoteric to the realistic.
Question everything, criticise, challenge dogma, but be constructive, not antagonistic, and fight for what you can influence and change – don’t tilt at windmills. This requires an open & curious mind, a kind & respectful mind, and an informed (which is not necessarily educated) mind.
Know your limitations, be humble and modest, and know and respect the limitations of your fellow countrymen/women as well. Aim high, but not too high, and don’t give up but learn and adjust – be resilient and patient.
You seem to have a bias against religious education. Indoctrinating young minds with questionable ethics instead is no panacea.
Above all, work together with likeminded people – the power of one cannot be understated but they never achieve anything without bringing others alongside. Others are not losers, the enemy, terminally stupid, or to be convinced/converted, et cetera. Differences of opinion don’t need to separate us, they do differentiate us – we’re all in it together.
Thank you. This passage really needs to be on the headline of every post.
I've lived through the experience of three close family members with substantial disabilities virtually all my life. This is an intensely personal topic.
Fundamentally I'm with Ad's perspective above, there is no place for cruel utilitarian measures here. A universal respect for all human life is one of humanities great ethical advances and we let it slip at our peril.
At the same time I could speak in depth to the immense human cost that this principle can and does impose on family and wider society in general.
There are no easy or cheap answers here.
Thank you. By coincidence, I came across this tonight and it felt appropriate to link to it here and now:
Many years ago we were at a local Christmas Party for families with disabled children. It was a happily chaotic affair, loud, noisy and everyone quite determined to be cheerful.
And then there was one mother, quite attractive as I recall, sitting alone next to her infant on the floor. Even then I knew what the child had, Cat's Cry Syndrome and appalling affected at that.
In this room she had won the prize of all prizes, her baby so damaged that even the others shied slightly away from her, fearing maybe the contagion of her fate.
For just a few moments our eyes met, and in them I saw something that haunts me still.
That is actually a major problem as it precludes any respect for all other life which results in farmers that pollute and then complain when others point out that they're wrong, a fishing industry that over-fishes the oceans etcetera.
Not even remotely related.
And, as I keep pointing out, is limited by the available resources. So, no, not a strawman. We really do have limited resources. Just need to look at climate change for proof of that.
Your logical fallacy is: Appeal to emotion
That is some seriously fascist/evil shit you are preaching there..draco…I have two words for you ..stephen hawkings…
Doesn't fit the description given.
Besides the eager rush to claim scarcity of resources as an excuse, what actually do you have against children, "perpetual" or otherwise?
I resent the years wasted of my time when it comes to how near impossible it is to trust government departments to work how they need to work. Through experience I have found the coroner, the HDC, a DHB and ACC to be useless when it comes to a man dying and no one checking up collectively on what the actual facts are. Had I done nothing the coroner, HDC, a DHB and ACC would get away with their useless analysis.
The public need to get it why a person like me is forced to go to the media. A dead man cannot get justice otherwise. I have been feeling sickened for over a week about useless services.
I think most people have no idea just how bad it can be dealing with those departments. People get there is something very wrong with WINZ, because of the coverage in recent years. But all those departments have been negatively affected by neoliberal ideology and budget cuts.
Had a post mortem been done this would have helped. Contacting and working with the next of kin would have meant the right decisions could have been made like the coroner not closing the file when they had not even sited the ACC injury form which differs compared to the vascular surgeon's comments. ICU say stuff like a short time later when it took 7 hours for the injury to be imaged.
NIL complications intra op was written when the man's micro circulation shut down and grade 4 bougie intubation was required. 3 surgeries in one week all required the grade 4 bougie with intubation. Just went in for a simple surgery.
Unless the summary of facts are clear people will get away with medical manslaughter.
I could go on and on.
I'd appreciate it if you avoid directing your anger at me, personally.
I'm posting this because it is an indication that there is going to be massive social unrest in the USA over the next month or so. That's what I think is most important – the people inside the US experiencing this as it rolls out.
I dislike BOTH candidates for so many reasons and strongly believe sharing information because the Biden supporters are convinced they have won. As I watch their over the top celebrations I think about the social consequences of the shockwave that will roll through the USA if this situation gets reversed.
Perhaps if you should TELL PEOPLE they need to make their political positions + intent clear with every post. It’s a Sunday. I have my own troubles and really did not need to have this type of nastiness dumped on me.
@k…can you count….?..what does 300 electoral seats vs. 214 say to you..?..no court is going to overturn that…and seriously…you post material from a far right site..and you expect no comeback..?…that's taking naivety a tad too far..isn't it..?
Let me make it clearer then. If you post a link to a 40 min video on a known white supremacist, pro-fascist media site and you write two sentences that don't tell us why we should watch it, then many are going to consider this either bad faith posting (spam) or promotion. Moderators tend to get a bit tetchy once this kind of commenting becomes a pattern of behaviour.
This is a robust debate site. It's helpful if you read the Policy and About linked at the top of each page, so you know what the place is like and what the expectations are.
"I'm posting this because it is an indication that there is going to be massive social unrest in the USA over the next month or so. That's what I think is most important – the people inside the US experiencing this as it rolls out."
Many would agree with this but not understand why you posted the link. I still don't. Yes, there is an expectation that people explain what they mean. If you want to argue that there is voter fraud, then please do and provide evidence. If you want to argue that the count isn't finished yet, likewise. If you want to argue that Biden won but many won't accept it and this will cause problems, then please tell us what you think. And so on.
Well that's a bit snoflaky.
[three week ban for dropping a deliberate flame in an already tense situation. One week for each time you’ve been modded on this this year already. I expect future bans to increase in length. Bring the good stuff Gabby, you know you can do it. – weka]
Just had a look at your comment from yesterday and see you replied. In part with this,
"I think I failed to make a key point, that is that people seem to believe the reports of fraud to be true."
Thanks for this, because it helps me understand that you are probably just not used to how the debate works here (rather than being deliberately vague). I would encourage you to stick with it and be more explanatory with your thinking rather than limiting that and linking. People will debate and argue with what you say (that's what we do here), but the way you engage will determine much of how that goes.
Burn the Yorkshire puddings again?
[What were you hoping (!) to achieve with this pointless comment other than to fan the flames in an already tense situation, which fortunately has been defused, but not thanks to you? Please give the Moderators a good reason why you should be treated differently from Gabby – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 6:51 PM.
I was hoping to get a laugh. That was great comedy, imo. Lighthearted, non-directional. Clearly non-political. Apologies I didn't have time to judge the tenseness of the situation first.
Also, I'm got these partial banners covering two of the most tense posts on this sub-thread, including weka's policy notes:
These are permanent despite reloading the page and shutting the browser. I couldn't really read what was going on. Reckon everyone needs an early night.
Apology accepted but I hope you understand that making light of somebody explaining they’re having troubles can easily drive them off the site. I can’t help you with the technical issues you seem to be having, they are very odd indeed.
Tomorrow is a new day with a fresh start.
As you can see, specifically covered is Gabby's comment for which that person received a three week ban.
Breitbart is run by Jared Kushner nothing more than Trumps lies and innuendo.
[Link required]
I'd rather Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer's take.
The lady has form, too.
The model predicts Trump will earn 197 electoral votes. That leaves 63 votes a toss-up – still not enough to overcome the Democrat's lead.
Bitecofer highlighted Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as states the incumbent will have difficulty winning this time around.
"The complacent electorate of 2016, who were convinced Trump would never be president, has been replaced with the terrified electorate of 2020, who are convinced he’s the Terminator and can’t be stopped," she said. "Under my model, that distinction is not only important, it is everything."
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/451218-trump-predicted-to-lose-reelection-in-model-that-forecast-dem-takeover-of
Hello NZ – being insular. It's raining ….. and the newspaper report says we can expect more during November – something to do with La Nina, and northerly weather coming down on us – possibly from the USA influence? But when it is a drought for months, will we have to buy our water from the international/national bizziness people who have sway over our government and are sequestrating our water reserves? We need to get wise to the way that rich nations got rich – by being pirates and thieves of other countries assets.
I've got to get my whole roof replaced, and I think the ridge wood needs repairing. Rain all in November, December too close to Christmas, January hot as hell. I think I'll have to wait for January.
Dr Michel Baker usually sounds sensible and informed. His latest suggestion offers a tweek to our quarantine system that would help open our borders wider to countries of worth in the Covid-19 contest between people and virus. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/430096/covid-quarantine-system-we-need-an-additional-step
But watch out for businesses trying to outrun government as in The NZ Initiative's: ' Instead of officials evaluating the importance of applications, businesses should be able to bid in an auction system, Partridge said.' They have already chosen to run the country into the ground except for the high spots where they build their mansions and towers.
Also wot abart the workers? The PPE we have isn't good enough to ensure no infection – how can we make get better results? It mightn't be war as we know it Scotty, but it is a battle. And we must look after our staff, especially the front-line workers.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/430083/troubling-that-quarantine-workers-are-catching-covid-19-union
Nov.6/20 https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/429973/covid-infected-nurse-did-everything-right-report-finds
Do we have them changing their outfits after each patient? That is what is recommended in a paper looking into the hazards.
https://www.rdhmag.com/infection-control/article/14185691/thanks-to-covid19-we-are-discussing-the-hierarchy-of-hazard-controls-for-dentistry (As a layman I can't assess the quality of the info but it sounds authoritative and informed.)
During the current COVID-19 crisis, PPE has been a massive concern for health-care workers on the frontlines—and rightly so. Such equipment is designed to protect wearers from hazards. Standard precautions include wearing properly fitting gowns, eyewear, face shields, masks, and gloves.26 After each patient, replace masks and gloves. Furthermore, if any PPE is visibly soiled, wet, or torn, it should be switched out. But not all infectious material is visible. Much of it can land or dry clear—the coronavirus included. Hence, we could be seeing tighter guidelines suggesting complete PPE changes between patients.
I've always seen Prof Baker as a 'day late and a dollar short". It seems to be some weeks after an issue is raised and debated on here that he suddenly seems to be quoted in the media as supporting it as a path of action. I also have the feeling that the business is always right angle appeals somewhat. Runs with the hares and hunts with the hounds maybe?
As to business bleating about it's skilled workers – it's now 7 months after the border has shut. The arguments for bolstering the workforce with short term unskilled or lightly skilled workers is starting to look hollow. There has been all these months to start upskilling people – why did they not use it if only to train the trainers.
Maybe Prof Baker barks up the right tree instead of bleating to MSM or on Social Media if/when he doesn’t get his way or just for an ego trip?
https://www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/leadership-ministry/expert-groups/covid-19-technical-advisory-group
Maybe the group operates in good faith and on a ‘no surprises’ basis and the discussions within those meetings are confidential?
And further interesting news from NZ for those feeling 'ennui' (where are you) after the anti-climax of the USA excitlement!
Love this. Some fun and No.8 Wire ingenuity and pazazz! https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/429743/move-over-rock-n-roll-here-s-farm-music
And down, or up, country things are going on that are good and amazing. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/countrylife/audio/2018771690/farmer-fuelled-by-flour-power
Did you catch up on the latest fact-stranger-than-fiction NZ spy story? https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/429696/the-poets-the-spies-the-vodka-and-the-magpies – From Guyon Espiner
This might be where the interviewer pressed the rentier about how many houses she actually owned, and the question got rolled around like a marble in a bottle. I think this is the right link but haven't checked iit. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018771233/investor-won-t-back-down-on-claims-first-home-buyers-hurting-supply
I would like to have Espiner involved in some historical issues which people are trying to resolve so that they can finally get on with what is left of the rest of their life.
Stuff which you can actually partially prove but you lack the resources to go after some snakes.
If you think of something then suggest it to him, he might be keen to take it up. He seems to be off like a sniffer dog, so perhaps would like some more leads.
Desperation has driven me to it. A matter unrelated to the above death.
The property investor seem to believe that moving out of a room means that room will be forever vacant.