“…Marijuana is a lovely addition to a life filled with sensual pleasures like good wine, chocolate and espresso.
Cannabis has been a part of my life since 1968, when I turned 20.
Although we have had long periods of not seeing one another, Ms. Mary Jane Cannabis Pot has been a good friend in my social and cultural scene for more than 40 years.
MJ and I grew up in a generation that deemed this herb a vital staple of our daily diet – and a means of enlivening connections with our fellow man or woman.
Despite warnings that marijuana is a gateway drug, I never found cannabis to be a gateway to anything other than enhancing social situations such as concerts or parties, or increasing pleasure in sexuality.
All’s well that ends well. At least they didn’t get arrested. A good outcome. You have to consider though, that unless they were purposely making a political statement, they were pretty silly crossing the border with their stash on board. Maybe they had short term memory loss and “forgot”.
I had it described thus … General thought processes follow a continuous line where one thought leads to another and a train of thought develops. You can understand how you got to a particular thought and also where that thought might generally go by looking at the train.
When stoned though, the thought process is broken at a thousand places along that train – picture if you will a train consisting of a thousand decoupled wagons sitting individually on the rails.
The brain then randomly finds itself stuck on a particular thought wagon but because the link forwards and backwards is broken it has no idea how it got there or where it will lead, and it is this which results in paranoia as the person cannot work out how that thought came about or where it will lead. Oh noes! Although, similarly, that particular thought wagon gets analysed in considerable detail (and in isolation).
So the stoners end up randomly thinking on individual thought wagons but cannot link anything together, which can make it impossible for others to understand them.
The train of a thousand indivudal de-coupled thought wagons. Bit like your writing Phil. But each to their own, good on ya. What do you think of the above?
I don’t believe there was any criticism of pot or alcohol users in my post above, merely a description of what happens to the brain processes when in use. Alcohol effects are probably more like… jump on the train, load up the firebox, get the steam to maximum, let loose the brakes and full steam ahead no matter the obstacles ahead or wagons in tow. Bloody dangerous if you ask me. Better a whole heap of stationary decoupled wagons.
I don’t disagree totally with this Phil.. it’s not just pot, but a whole lot of mind altering/expanding substances can be used and enjoyed peacefully at the right time, in the right place..
Personal experience has shown me however that anything with a potential for brain function alteration needs to be tightly controlled/banned for those brains that haven’t developed yet.. unfortunately it is not an arbitrary age or easily measurable.
I love a drink, a cigarette, a good coffee or tea, and much more, and I agree that our punitive and failed “war on drugs” is a total cockup .
I lean towards a solution involving the supply of any “drug” (based on a harm quotient) to anyone either too young to safely assimilate (or make that decision) very harshly punishable. Ditto for anyone using/affected by in a situation where judgement/co-ordination/reaction deficiencies have harmful consequences to others (work, family, driving etc)
Tax the product, remove the gangs, educate potential users, leave happy stoners to enjoy.
As I said on FB this morning Len Brown is now officially toast. Non engagement usually benefits the boss, in this case the POA union busters. Len’s appalling lack of class understanding and backbone is well and truly on public display.
It just further confirmed my declining interest and total lack of faith in our political system, as Obama has also so brilliantly brutally illustrated. They can proclaim their progressive credentials as much as they like, but once inside this dysfunctional system, they all become cogs.
It leaves me with little hope to be honest, and increasingly depressive…
Len Brown is the latest in a long line of people invested with considerable responsibility who just refuse to do their jobs: Barack Obama, Ban Ki Moon, “Sir” Geoffrey Palmer, Craig Joubert, Bryce Johns…
Shoot down to Pete’s post a few below, and listen. It examines the binary small governmnet/big government options; trusting others to spend/act on people’s behalf; and highights the truth that as you say, it is indeed our systems that need to change. More or less of a broken system is not the solution. Changing the person who represents a broken system is not the solution. No need to be depressed about it at all. It opens the way for real people to start making decisions based on basic values that are good them and everyone, not just a few, excluding no one, impacting their lives immediately and constructively.
Brown came over as a right “dick’.
Hope he retires at next election and lets Mike Lee stand.
Then we will see some real backbone, not like the spineless Brown.
Don’t know why I voted for him.
On another note an example of how politicians might be captured by interest groups in contradicition of their own constituencies best interests…..in this case listening to “expert” advice from their own employees.
Hawkes Bay council officials were taken by Apache (an appropriately named fracking enterprise) to Canada to prove that all we have heard about the contamination of ground water etc by fracking is “misinformation”. I am assuming that 5 Star hotels and meals were inclusive, plus the usual sanitised tours (propaganda as pioneered byCommunist states)….how could I be so cynical?
All across the country right now, local and state governments are finding they can’t pay their bills. Schools are losing teachers, street lights are going dark, garbage is piling up in public parks, and cops are suddenly an optional expense. This week we travel to Colorado Springs, to Trenton and to the office of Grover Norquist to ask: Is the kind of country we want? One where government gets smaller? Or should we all pay higher taxes, and keep government bigger?
Definitely worth a listen. If others don’t have the time, jump to Act Three, which sums the story up nicely and promotes further thought on small government/privatisation/government spending.
Listened, it proved that ideology gets on the way of common sense…
can’t wait for the dystopia of darken streets, potholes and barren parks so we can all save a few bucks trying to eliminate Govt, while we wait for some benevolent overlord to throw a few crumbs to keep things in his neighborhood going.
Happy International Women’s Day. http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
Still a long way to go in NZ and further in many other countries before any sort of equality is reached.
However, I suspect the Standard readership is overwhelmingly male, and don’t see IWD as relevant to them.
[lprent: Nope.
From the little data that we do have from the advertising side, it appears that the readership is lower for females than males (in the order of ~40% to ~60%) but not massively out of whack. There could be some bias in those numbers because of the way that they collect the data.
However if you’d said that the commentators were still largely male then you’d have been correct from my observation (no easy way to be certain). But it is a much smaller population that the readers. It was less than a tenth of the humans that read the site when I last dug through the IP numbers for the readers and commentators.
The number of identifiable female commentators seem to fluctuate considerably and they do seem to leave fewer comments. But I think that both are slowly climbing. ]
uhuh… and this kind of comment is meant to endear me to the idea of supporting it?
I love my wife, I respect her and I support her. However I have no great love for the outspoken extremes of the continuing feminist movement because of comments such as yours that denigrate me as a male. What did I ever do to you other than being born with the wrong genitalia? (and yes, the irony is intended)
Depends on the reliability of a random comma as used on the interwebz 🙂
In general, I’d probably agree with the suspicion that even in these enlightened days an overwhelmingly male group would not prioritise IWD highly, if at all. The major difference these days is that said groups might say or do the appropriate things when reminded of e.g. who always ends up cleaning the cups after the meetings. “Empathy” is thin on the ground.
Let me rephrase that. There are of course a lot of very good men out there (probably a majority on the left). They would have been doing the childcare while their wives were out gathering signatures for the women’s suffrage petition in the 1890s etc.
However, while there remains significant structural and actual discrimination by society based on some ‘average white male norm’, against groups on the basis of gender,ethnicity, sexuality or disability, there is work to do. The gender battle has been going on for many millennia and in many countries doesn’t seem to be making any progress. Addressing this is a responsibility for all of us.
International Womens Day hasn’t been mentioned in the mainstream media or the blogs that I have seen today. I suspect that this is because women are too busy doing the 24/7 grind keeping the world going, rather than having spare time or resources to contribute.
So I am not promoting IWD or wanting your support if you are wavering. Just commenting on an observation.
Also amongst my friends in Italy, it’s a really big thing there
It’s huge in Eastern Europe too. Seems to be something that has come out of the communist era and has been merged with the later IWD. Apparently it’s more of an appreciation day rather than a political event – official or non-official public holidays, little presents etc.
Annie Lennox has done some excellent promotional work for International Women’s Day here.
She makes this pertinent comment:
“I don’t think feminism is about the exclusion of men but their inclusion … we must face and address those issues, especially to include younger men and boys”
One must always bring other stakeholders on board to be successful. The alternative, their exclusion, if successful, will never last. This applies to anything.
Yes inclusion – an inclusive society would be nice. Also safe and secure for everyone. Up to everyone to work on this together, not leave it as a problem for the excluded.
LP: Thanks for the info. From my perspective, the Standard is often a total sausage fest, whith a strongly macho element to the debates. This isn’t unusual on blogs; the loudest voices eventually stifle the quieter contributions in a way that echoes the dominance of men in wider society.
I’m not excusing myself, either. I had to have a good think about how I behave here myself when I was accused of misogyny by a woman poster a year or so ago. I don’t believe it to be true, but it did give me the opportunity to think about how women contributing here might see things.
So kudos to Hillary. Even if the words weren’t perfect, the sentiment is pretty close to correct. I’d be interested to know how others think the Standard could become a more inclusive site and lift those numbers to a more reflective 50/50.
I’d be interested to know how others think the Standard could become a more inclusive site and lift those numbers to a more reflective 50/50.
As far as I am concerned that is easy to envisage, a lot harder to achieve. More woman authors who post more than they currently do.
Hard enough to get authors. But it feels like what I’d envisage is the pain threshold of waxing arsehairs to get female authors doing regular posts. It is enough of a real pain recruiting authors and having them do more than a few posts, but I draw the line at the pain of waxing. Hell, I avoid facial shaving if I have a chance…
In my case I can see their email, their comment history, and I get far more email from female commentators when they need assistance. I look at the topics of interest, what they have said, and see a pattern – just as i do for everyone. There is also a difference in writing style – can’t tell you what it is, but it is distinctive when you read as many comments as I do (Irish is the master at the art of detecting personality in writing).
It isn’t precise. But it is good enough to look at trends.
Thanks for that data. It actually takes a bit of courage/confidence to participate in this site which (like many others) frequently has testosterone-fuelled and personally aggressive comments. Perhaps that is why women choose to opt out.
Good work Hone in putting this open letter out there so overseas investors are under no misunderstandings about what will happen in the future
“As the leader of the MANA Movement and Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, I wish to advise that MANA is opposed to the privatisation of state assets and will strongly argue for any shares sold to overseas investors to be returned to New Zealand hands.
Btw, I recall last week some coughing and spluttering from yourself when I referred to the military machinations of Ngai Tahu. In the last week I have had cause to visit various tourist sites around the South Island, several of which had informations available regarding Maori history at the particular sites. I was quite appalled at the lack of reference to those who existed prior to Ngai Tahu’s invasions and the dominance of recent history (last 200 years i.e. Ngai Tahu) over longer history. I guess that some things never change – the victor writes the history books.
oh vto rest easy the histories are there for those who are able to see them. Look up mana whenua and whānui, they might give you some clue – but seriously stick to the stuff you nearly know rather than things you know nothing about – makes you less stressed and less antagonistic.
anyway I’m off to drive tourists on farewell spit now so I’ll reply to your inevitable prodding a bit later…
” the histories are there for those who are able to see them. Look up mana whenua and whānui, they might give you some clue – but seriously stick to the stuff you nearly know rather than things you know nothing about – makes you less stressed and less antagonistic.”
Actually marty, my point was that “the histories weren’t there”. That is what I specifically looked for. That is what my comment above concerned – the particular point of histories made available at tourist sites. Do you expect people to google stuff at each place they visit? Is that what people do out on Farewell Spit?
And please stop attacking me personally and accusing me of not knowing stuff and being antagonistic. You wouldn’t have a clue about my knowledge base. I have seen tiny little knowledge from you, just coughing, spluttering, harrumphing, etc. And where on earth is the antagonism in my post above? Nowhere. Which indicates an uncomfortable defensive reaction on your part.
Try answering the issue and not playing the person. You make a habit of it and all it does is detract further from the points you haven’t made. In fact, whenever Maori issues get questioned those like yourself get highly defensive and abusive, just like our dear farmers whenever they get questioned about the shit in the rivers – all they do is harrumph and abuse and storm off.
Fact: Histories at tourist sites around the South Island are excessively slanted in favour of Ngai Tahu, the victors.
Answer: Happy to hear yours but more personal plays without substance on the issue at hand will confirm a growing suspicion re yourself.
you keep raising the same point in a snide way, such as – “when I referred to the military machinations of Ngai Tahu” and “I was quite appalled at the lack of reference to those who existed prior to Ngai Tahu’s invasions and the(ir) dominance of recent history.” Those statements are ignorant – sorry if that offends you. Just who are you talking about vto? Ngāti Mamoe? Waitaha? Guess what, most Ngāi Tahu whānui, like me, whakapapa to all three iwi – that’s what it means to be part of the iwi – it’s on the front page of their website, not hard to find. Perhaps you are talking about other peoples who inhabited the island – please tell me who you are talking about. Hopefully you don’t bring up some brailsford bullshit.
The reason behind the statements – give me that also and I will treat it with respect.
marty mars, this issue began when you raised yourself to some higher moral ground to look down on the european colonists and their military ways, forgetting your own past and its own military ways. The basis of the issue was hypocrisy and it was that which I was pointing out.
As for “Brailsford bullshit”, well, that is entirely the consistent reaction to anything which challenges current orthodoxy. The victors write the history books – always have.
so you’ve got nothing – no answers to any of my questions – you are totally delusional and a waste of time – how have I forgotton my past again LOL. If you don’t want me to flick you with a wet teatowel then don’t bait me for no reason.
Where was the baiting? It was you who climbed the lofty depths of confused moral high ground and forgot your own past and its military ways while at the same time deriding others for the same thing. I call that a baiting.
If you don’t like being questioned then don’t spout such bullshit.
“… and through inter-marriage and conquest these migrants merged with the resident Waitaha and took over authority of Te Waipounamu.” Ngai Tahu website.
LOL, this is exactly what I was referring to. A painting of history at odds with the reality. For example, why write “…through inter-marriage and conquest … took over authority” which implies inter-marriage was somehow equal at the time to conquest? I tell you why – because it makes for a better looking history when compared to writing “though military conquest the Waitaha were conquered and authority assumed by mamoe at the end of a taiaha. … ” As for inter-marriage, how long after the “conquest” was that? Or was it a result of the rape by soldiers?
face it marty mars, the history as written is not settled. Why else would it get raised in conversation when in certain parts of the South Island?
And as for your moral high ground when referencing european military escapades as compared your own, sheesh, your own website blows that one out of the water. Wake up fulla.
@ Vto – perhaps if you identified the particular sites where you had concerns with the interpretation, it might be possible to advise you more precisely as to where to address your complaints. Of course, where Marty lives and works has different stories as he is outside the rohe potae of Ngāi Tahu whānui.
I am also interested to know why you have not engaged with the information I gave you. Is your ‘fight’ specific to Marty or do you just want to carry on believing the Brailsford fairy stories?
Hateatea, why would you think I place Brailsford over current history? I haven’t indicated that at all.
Regarding your pointers, I appreciate it. Sincerely. I don’t pick these ‘fights’ for fights sake. I have a genuine interest in these things. It is semi-amusing though how marty and I clash over these things.
I think I have made my point reasonably clearly above.
Appreciate the contact and think the conversation must be kept open – no matter how long it takes.
Get off the grass marty. Your post is as useless at the others, as I suggested previously. Once again you do nothing but point your points at me rather than the point. Have you got a point? Or do you just swallow everyone else’s goop?
And if you think the word ‘fulla’ is somehow pointing at something to do with you only then you are the one lacking reality. I’m out. Had enough.
‘A painting of history at odds with the reality. For example, why write “…through inter-marriage and conquest … took over authority” which implies inter-marriage was somehow equal at the time to conquest? I tell you why – because it makes for a better looking history when compared to writing “though military conquest the Waitaha were conquered and authority assumed by mamoe at the end of a taiaha. … ” As for inter-marriage, how long after the “conquest” was that? Or was it a result of the rape by soldiers?’
Sorry, Vto, but I don’t understand why you are beating Marty up about something that he didn’t writeThere has never been any dispute, that I am personally aware of, that firstly Ngati Mamoe and later, Ngai Tahu fought to gain dominance of most of Te Wahi Pounemu. Equally, I have never personally heard anyone refute that there were many ‘rongopai’ marriages that ensured the peace and bound the strands of whakapapa together. One of the best known of these is observed at Poupoutunoa near Clinton. http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/scripts/reports/reports/27/48D0AE4D-9734-410D-B1EE-14EB761D3F49.pdf
You have not been precise about the locales where you claim to have seen the offending lack of acknowledgement about other migration and settlement stories and your caginess lead both Marty and myself, independently of one another, to conclude that you may have been influenced by Barry Brailsford’s very romantic treatises on Waitaha.
If there is something specific to which you would like to refer, I wish you would just spit it out. I really do not like the constant jibing at Marty when neither he nor I, as far as I can tell, know of what he stands accused.
I am happy to engage in dialogue, I just need a clearer picture of what your real issue is with either Marty or Ngai Tahu (or both)
“Sorry, Vto, but I don’t understand why you are beating Marty up about something that he didn’t writeThere has never been any dispute, that I am personally aware of, that firstly Ngati Mamoe and later, Ngai Tahu fought to gain dominance of most of Te Wahi Pounemu. ”
I am questioning marty’s point some couple weeks ago that saw him clamber onto high moral ground and look down on the ways and means of the European as if they are / were somehow worse and more morally lacking than those of Maori at times of conquest or colonisation. His own history is the same, as you perfectly point out above. He chooses to ignore this and claim a superiority. That is what grates. An incorrect view of history and a hypocrisy. The line ‘the victor writes the history books’, so true through all of humanity, is entirely applicable.
That questioning by me of marty’s view then resurfaced through the example of Maori histories at tourist sites I happenned to come across some days ago, which also painted a view of their history seemingly at odds with other views. To further support this I copied just one part of Ngai Tahu’s website to indicate how the wording has been constructed to paint a more favourable picture than could otherwise have been written. He has not answered any of this except to say I am thick and no nothing. That is all he has said. Read it yourself, it is all there above and around.
You also say “You have not been precise about the locales where you claim to have seen the offending lack of acknowledgement about other migration and settlement stories and your caginess lead both Marty and myself, independently of one another, to conclude that you may have been influenced by Barry Brailsford’s very romantic treatises on Waitaha. If there is something specific to which you would like to refer, I wish you would just spit it out..”
No I haven’t been precise and I wont. The reasons for this relate to my activities in the South Island and the potential for personal exposure and its subsequent effects. You will appreciate that parts of the region are populated by few people who all know each other and live and work together. I am not putting that at jeopardy to satisfy a small example part of the wider issue I explained above.
You also say “I really do not like the constant jibing at Marty when neither he nor I, as far as I can tell, know of what he stands accused.”.
I invite you to re-read the above. Count up the personal attacks from marty and the lack of points made and evidence in support. It is marty who has on each post led the personal attack. Have a look. I am sick of it. He gets all upset everytime his understanding of the world gest questioned. Harrumphs, snorts, abuses and storms off. It is quite pathetic.
Marty claimed the moral high ground. I questioned it. He got all upset and has done nothing to support his claim.
“He chooses to ignore this and claim a superiority.”
no I don’t – please provide reference
“An incorrect view of history and a hypocrisy”
In your opinion or do you have backup for your ‘incorrect history’ story
“seemingly at odds with other views”
Which other views – come on provide your sources
“to paint a more favourable picture”
Once again in your view – favourable is subjective – my point to you is that you don’t know enough to understand the concept or content in relation to these matters, you are still looking through your blurred lense created by your own stuff.
You started this deliberate attack on me because you know I am part of the iwi. You added comments to my unrelated comments to bring up the point that you strongly wished to say. Yet you still waffle on scared to tell your truth. Here you go – get it out – tell me the real story.
“I don’t like Ngai Tahu”
“I don’t like maori getting special treatment”
“I don’t like maori not fitting in to our country” and so on…
Frankly, if it is actually about indigenous historial narratives and their use in creating perceptions and positioning for marginalised groups, I’ll eat my hat.
I’ve told you already marty, I’m out. Had enough and can’t have a general discussion with you without personal attacks from you.
I have provided examples and evidence e.g. Ngai Tahu website. Tourist sites.
You continue with your baseless and unsupported attacks on me personally rather than debate the issue. In addition you provide not one single piece of evidence or example or sample anywhere to support anything you have claimed about me. All you say is “you’re ignorant”.
And now you think I “started this because you are part of the iwi”. For fucks sake I had no idea of that and it is irrelevant. And now you say these things too ““I don’t like Ngai Tahu”
“I don’t like maori getting special treatment”
“I don’t like maori not fitting in to our country” and so on…
If the sites you visited had historical interpretation then you had the story from the perspective of the people who live locally ie the descendants of Ngai Tahu whanui. As most people don’t know how the whakapapa of Ngai Tahu is openly acknowledged as having the several strands, you may have confused the KISS principle for writing commentary for signage with suppression of other stories. It is more usual for available space to be the problem rather than a lack of knowledge of the whole history of an area.
Historians such as Harry Evison, Atholl Anderson and Dr Te Maire Tau have all written extensively on the various migrations from north to south that have resulted in what is called Ngai Tahu today but like Marty, those who whakapapa to the iwi take great pride in the individual strands and the stories that are interwoven
‘Regarding theft of land – are you referring to Ngai Tahu and its military takeover and theft of the South Island and its resources such as pounamu, post European arrival?
You later seemed to acknowledge that you had been a little over the top
‘As for the military takeover by Ngai Tahu – that was a tiny exaggeration to go with your exaggerated claim re theft of lands in your first post above.’
Vto, it was more than exaggerated, it was a claim totally without foundation. Ngai Tahu had been in Te Wahi Pounemu long before the arrival of the sealers, whalers, traders and gun and while there were battles fought, describing it as a military takeover is more than a little OTT, isn’t it?
‘But why would it be such a shock to Ngai Tahu to learn of, or even begin to question, the warring ways to gain lands and resources which are then claimed from high moral ground under the treaty process in a subsequent century. Many parts of this period and history are quietly but forcefully shoved under the carpet. Perhaps a little more openness and honesty about what happenned then would be useful for all parties.’
Who is shoving them under the carpet? All this and much, much more was well and truly aired during the 150 years between the beginning of the Ngai Tahu Claim and the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act
‘As an example, the true history of Ngai Tahu on Te Tai Poutini combined with the undercurrents of today regarding pounamu may be a good starting point.’
There are many who feel that the role of their particular whanau or hapu has not been well served by the settlement process and I neither deny nor defend that. Indeed, many of them are whanaunga of mine.
‘I am questioning marty’s point some couple weeks ago that saw him clamber onto high moral ground and look down on the ways and means of the European as if they are / were somehow worse and more morally lacking than those of Maori at times of conquest or colonisation. His own history is the same, as you perfectly point out above. He chooses to ignore this and claim a superiority. That is what grates. An incorrect view of history and a hypocrisy. The line ‘the victor writes the history books’, so true through all of humanity, is entirely applicable.
‘No I haven’t been precise and I wont. The reasons for this relate to my activities in the South Island and the potential for personal exposure and its subsequent effects. You will appreciate that parts of the region are populated by few people who all know each other and live and work together. I am not putting that at jeopardy to satisfy a small example part of the wider issue I explained above’
That questioning by me of marty’s view then resurfaced through the example of Maori histories at tourist sites I happenned to come across some days ago, which also painted a view of their history seemingly at odds with other views. To further support this I copied just one part of Ngai Tahu’s website to indicate how the wording has been constructed to paint a more favourable picture than could otherwise have been written. He has not answered any of this except to say I am thick and no nothing. That is all he has said. Read it yourself, it is all there above and around.’
I have read it, once I tracked it all down. Mostly what I see is someone baiting and prodding (Vto) and someone who doesn’t really want to get into it (Marty) who sometimes was fairly terse in his responses to you. Forgive me if I have over simplified. The reality is that knowing our history and how it has created our particular whanau is something that is intensely personal and not one usually broadcast to the four winds
I understand the need for anonymity. I have a similar need and I may well be more easily identified than you. I don’t know. Nevertheless, your unwillingness to name any particular site where you disagree with the interpretation makes it difficult to evaluate how real the issue is
I think this matter got out of hand rather rapidly and that perhaps no one comes out of it totally without fault. I suppose that I would like to think that we can all move on from this rather than to continue to mount attacks and counter attacks everytime one of us sees the others screenname on a thread.
That we all have our own world view is a given. It is what makes the blogosphere interesting but we needed be constantly butting heads here. There is enough of that out there in the real world without transferring it to the etherworld.
Pretty good summary there Hateatea, well done. I too want to keep these debates open and enjoy and seek out arenas to test various things.
The problem that comes to mind from my perspective when raising these issues is that at times people do not like their seemingly solid foundations being questioned and they respond in a personal manner. That is understandable given our foible-filled character, though not particularly useful. Conversely, perhaps the issues could be raised by me in a better way.
A similarly difficult long line of debate between marty and I occurred recently when I questioned the relevance of the structure of the Treaty of Waitangi (not its content) in today’s world. For various reasons I think it should be re-worked – but that just elicited all sorts of personal responses.
Anyways, appreciate the thought and effort you have gone to. Last night I determined to take one of the matters above, the historical narratives at various tourist sites around the South Island, and dig deeper to evaluate the suggestions I have made re their realism or romanticism. If wrong I will admit it and change course (as I have done with other issues in the past). If not I would hope the same is offered in return. Watch this space.
I think that sometimes we are all inclined to forget that we are not receiving all the other clues we get in RL debate; body posture, facial movements, tone and pace of expression, merely flat words on a page and it can be far too easy to see aggression where none was intended.
Yesterday, One News correspondent Stephen Smith reported that Ports of Auckland Chairman Richard Pearson refutes the Union claims that it was planning redundancies all along. Pearson ignores the fact that PoAL’s illegal Labour Strategy (PDF) that outlined how they would make the workers redundant has been made public…
Exactly Jackal, Pearson and the super city’s Mark Ford et al are the type of scumbags that rank right up there with Roger Douglas and Shonkey as traitors to this country.
Pay Equity Challenge Coalition says little good news for women on International Women’s Day.
Today marks the 101st International Women’s Day but according to the Pay Equity Challenge Coalition there is little good news for women workers.
“The Government has shown by moving the Minister of Women’s Affairs outside of Cabinet that working women’s issues are not a priority,” says spokesperson Angela McLeod.
“To add to that, the briefing to the new Minister doesn’t use the words “gender pay gap” let alone provide effective solutions on how to reduce it.
“According to the Quarterly Employment Survey figures, the gender pay gap for the final quarter last year was 13%, an increase from 12.85% in the September quarter. This is completely unacceptable,” says Mrs McLeod. The gender gap is even bigger in some occupations and in one public service department it reaches a high of 38%”
“Members of the Coalition will be seeking a meeting with the Minister of Women’s Affairs to talk about real solutions to close the pay gap. “We think it’s important to value the work that women do and to pay them fairly.
The Minister needs to understand that pay rates have to rise for women working in low paid occupations. The latest example is the Oceania residential aged care workers currently taking industrial action, who have been offered a pitiful 1% a year pay increase spread over three years. These workers are underpaid and undervalued yet take care of our respected and vulnerable elderly.
“Given that this is 2012 and is the Chinese Year of the Dragon, a year for prosperity, we’d like to see some more prosperity in the direction of the pay packets of these and other low paid working women,” Mrs McLeod adds.
“A Government plan to close the gender pay gap is the news we want to hear”
An unneccessary spend of Govt money-
Botany Downs Secondary School built 2005 – stormwater flow issues reported to MOE in 2005. Now after investigations we find out ….
Pipes were undersized for the size of the school,poorly constructed, materials didn’t meet necessary regulatory codes, pipes installed incorrectly without adequate insulation,no concrete laid in base in stormwater holding tanks to use in irrigation of sports fields (And water leached out causing subsidence !!!), defects included sewage and sprinkle systems. And the MOE received Code of Compliance from the council. The result replacement of entire system by the MOE, with the MOE “considering” options into recovery of costs. How can this hapen !!!!! And where are those who should be accountable ???
Oh how the chickens come home to roost…..the column on “dumb arse POA management” resonates loudly, echos of ridiculous legislation by Douglas and a succession of ideologically blind fools.
As a business person I have always thought the whole idea of “creating markets” on natural monopolies was perhaps the most stupid piece of foolishness ever. All we have done as a nation is surrender a key component of our international competitiveness to ideological folly with a very negative dollar impact upon businesses that actually do something. The only ones who benefit are the corporate big boys who have better negotiating power, the rest of business actually end up worse off.
In a nut shell utilities (SOEs for power and transport etc) have been made to compete at cost to the rest of us. Capitaql that should have gone to productive enterprise has been captured to buy shares in these “rentier” ventures. Then you get the real stupidity….ports “competing” for the business of the likes of Maersk. How fucking stupid, it costs us all money. If they all belonged to “Waterfront NZ” SOE they might be able to plan rationally and negotiate effectively.
Or perhaps look at the UBF roll out…..lots of smaller contractors and big private ventures clipping the ticket, us paying more either through direct costs or by tax subsidies…why the hell did we sell Telecom????? making it run better is one thing, making us pay a lot more to shareholders is entirely another. Absolute foolishness.
As someone who thought Goff was much under-appreciated as Leader of the Opposition I must say it’s great to see him getting up in The House and serving it up to the Govt day after day on the cuts to MFAT. The Govt has no idea where the leaks are going to come from next but they have a sinking feeling that they are going to keep on coming. Payback for Goff for the three years when all those half-arsed National MPs thought he was good to kick the shit out of.
I agree. Goff seems so much more relaxed/happy but is really giving it to them on this issue. Just wish the rest of Labour were doing such a good job. IMO the jury is still out re Shearer.
Today, Peter Dunne challenged people to find evidence of him saying he was against the sale of our assets prior to the last general election… challenge accepted!
Just coming along to say that I heard you on Radio New Zealand two or so hours back, Phil!
Best song ever written… Mine’s Solsbury Hill, but i like your choice…
The consummate politician says what he thinks would go down well but with enough ambiguity to claim denial later, after an Election.
Dunne? Definitely.
Key? Very much so.
but what about now pete when the will of the people is obviously against the sales will dunne listen to the people? I hope you have his ear because surely you believe in following the will of the people and wise words are needed. Please no distracting with the election dah dee dah I know, I voted, but here and now McFlock was correct with the numbers and analysis.
Asset sales are on National’s agenda, but the jury is very much out on just how comfortable New Zealander’s are with this policy.
– My take on it is that Kiwis are not very comfortable at all with it – most certainly not with anything close to open slather.
– The many people who want John Key back in power for the next three years, want him in spite of asset sales and not because of them.
– I sense very strongly that New Zealander’s do not want to give National a blank cheque on asset sales.
I think that makes Ianmac correct when he says: “The consummate politician says what he thinks would go down well but with enough ambiguity to claim denial later, after an Election.”
“When you take peoples’ property against their consent, that is called theft. This Government is proposing to steal the assets from 100 per cent of New Zealanders and give it to the 1 per cent.”
Jofhn Christiansen of Mt Albert could give his neighbour Judith Bassett a call and go search out some homeless vagrants to take home for a nice re-assuring cuppa with her and Micky. They could enjoy those nice scones (Mike’s Mum’s special recipe) and talk about Judith’s old headliner POA and how to get lead letter in the “New Zealand” Herald. Then drive them down to Hobson St and be awfully shocked on the way home with the thought of bloated human corpses in a city built on Fordism and a complete denial of the worth of a human person.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
http://whoar.co.nz/2012/the-marijuana-diet-how-pot-enhances-my-life/
“…Marijuana is a lovely addition to a life filled with sensual pleasures like good wine, chocolate and espresso.
Cannabis has been a part of my life since 1968, when I turned 20.
Although we have had long periods of not seeing one another, Ms. Mary Jane Cannabis Pot has been a good friend in my social and cultural scene for more than 40 years.
MJ and I grew up in a generation that deemed this herb a vital staple of our daily diet – and a means of enlivening connections with our fellow man or woman.
Despite warnings that marijuana is a gateway drug, I never found cannabis to be a gateway to anything other than enhancing social situations such as concerts or parties, or increasing pleasure in sexuality.
And giving you a major case of the munchies…”
phil-at-whoar.
All’s well that ends well. At least they didn’t get arrested. A good outcome. You have to consider though, that unless they were purposely making a political statement, they were pretty silly crossing the border with their stash on board. Maybe they had short term memory loss and “forgot”.
I had it described thus … General thought processes follow a continuous line where one thought leads to another and a train of thought develops. You can understand how you got to a particular thought and also where that thought might generally go by looking at the train.
When stoned though, the thought process is broken at a thousand places along that train – picture if you will a train consisting of a thousand decoupled wagons sitting individually on the rails.
The brain then randomly finds itself stuck on a particular thought wagon but because the link forwards and backwards is broken it has no idea how it got there or where it will lead, and it is this which results in paranoia as the person cannot work out how that thought came about or where it will lead. Oh noes! Although, similarly, that particular thought wagon gets analysed in considerable detail (and in isolation).
So the stoners end up randomly thinking on individual thought wagons but cannot link anything together, which can make it impossible for others to understand them.
The train of a thousand indivudal de-coupled thought wagons. Bit like your writing Phil. But each to their own, good on ya. What do you think of the above?
“..What do you think of the above?..”
it reads like a stoned/er rant…
..the brain as a de-coupled train..eh..?
..shine on you crazy diamond.!..eh..?
..and..btw…what’s yr poison..?..hic..!
..eh..?
phil-at-whoar.
i mean..seriously..!..
a teetotaller could maybe criticise pot-users on ‘nothing-is-best’-grounds…
..(and be told to pipe down on grounds of individual-choice/freedoms..)
..but for any alcohol user…to criticise pot-users..on any grounds..
..is just benchmark-setting/eye-watering hypocrisy…
..how can it not be..?
..how many people did pot kill last year..?…(i forget..must be the pot..eh..?..)
..what’s that you say..?..none..?
..and how many again did alcohol kill/disable..?
..you must be kidding me..!..that many..?
..(eh..?..hic..!..)
phil-at-whoar.
I don’t believe there was any criticism of pot or alcohol users in my post above, merely a description of what happens to the brain processes when in use. Alcohol effects are probably more like… jump on the train, load up the firebox, get the steam to maximum, let loose the brakes and full steam ahead no matter the obstacles ahead or wagons in tow. Bloody dangerous if you ask me. Better a whole heap of stationary decoupled wagons.
“..Better a whole heap of stationary decoupled wagons…”
aah..!..now you are talking zen…eh..?
..striving to be both ‘stationary’..and ‘de-coupled’…
..would that we all could..eh..?
phil-at-whoar.
In saying that, you obviously smoked more/younger than me, because I can write proper like.
(-:
I don’t disagree totally with this Phil.. it’s not just pot, but a whole lot of mind altering/expanding substances can be used and enjoyed peacefully at the right time, in the right place..
Personal experience has shown me however that anything with a potential for brain function alteration needs to be tightly controlled/banned for those brains that haven’t developed yet.. unfortunately it is not an arbitrary age or easily measurable.
I love a drink, a cigarette, a good coffee or tea, and much more, and I agree that our punitive and failed “war on drugs” is a total cockup .
I lean towards a solution involving the supply of any “drug” (based on a harm quotient) to anyone either too young to safely assimilate (or make that decision) very harshly punishable. Ditto for anyone using/affected by in a situation where judgement/co-ordination/reaction deficiencies have harmful consequences to others (work, family, driving etc)
Tax the product, remove the gangs, educate potential users, leave happy stoners to enjoy.
Who watched Len Brown on Campbell last night?
How many of you were left in any doubt as to where Len sat vis a vis the POA dispute?
How many of you voted for Len?
How many will vote for Len again?
As I said on FB this morning Len Brown is now officially toast. Non engagement usually benefits the boss, in this case the POA union busters. Len’s appalling lack of class understanding and backbone is well and truly on public display.
It just further confirmed my declining interest and total lack of faith in our political system, as Obama has also so brilliantly brutally illustrated. They can proclaim their progressive credentials as much as they like, but once inside this dysfunctional system, they all become cogs.
It leaves me with little hope to be honest, and increasingly depressive…
Len Brown is the latest in a long line of people invested with considerable responsibility who just refuse to do their jobs: Barack Obama, Ban Ki Moon, “Sir” Geoffrey Palmer, Craig Joubert, Bryce Johns…
Shoot down to Pete’s post a few below, and listen. It examines the binary small governmnet/big government options; trusting others to spend/act on people’s behalf; and highights the truth that as you say, it is indeed our systems that need to change. More or less of a broken system is not the solution. Changing the person who represents a broken system is not the solution. No need to be depressed about it at all. It opens the way for real people to start making decisions based on basic values that are good them and everyone, not just a few, excluding no one, impacting their lives immediately and constructively.
AAMC get on the train!!! choo choo, vto or phil is selling tickets, then you need not worry anymore
Which train’s that syd?
Brown came over as a right “dick’.
Hope he retires at next election and lets Mike Lee stand.
Then we will see some real backbone, not like the spineless Brown.
Don’t know why I voted for him.
Not only Len Brown out of whack but also Vicky Buck .What the hell is going on?
On another note an example of how politicians might be captured by interest groups in contradicition of their own constituencies best interests…..in this case listening to “expert” advice from their own employees.
Hawkes Bay council officials were taken by Apache (an appropriately named fracking enterprise) to Canada to prove that all we have heard about the contamination of ground water etc by fracking is “misinformation”. I am assuming that 5 Star hotels and meals were inclusive, plus the usual sanitised tours (propaganda as pioneered byCommunist states)….how could I be so cynical?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/kaikoura/6532286/Fracking-information-not-always-accurate
Poor journalism – that article doesn’t actually note that their trip was paid by Apache, so is little more than PR spin.
Sigh… Have our local and central government officials learnt nothing from the Timberlands debacle??…
Lobbying/PR is a scourge.
This American Life: What Kind of Country?
All across the country right now, local and state governments are finding they can’t pay their bills. Schools are losing teachers, street lights are going dark, garbage is piling up in public parks, and cops are suddenly an optional expense. This week we travel to Colorado Springs, to Trenton and to the office of Grover Norquist to ask: Is the kind of country we want? One where government gets smaller? Or should we all pay higher taxes, and keep government bigger?
Definitely worth a listen. If others don’t have the time, jump to Act Three, which sums the story up nicely and promotes further thought on small government/privatisation/government spending.
Listened, it proved that ideology gets on the way of common sense…
can’t wait for the dystopia of darken streets, potholes and barren parks so we can all save a few bucks trying to eliminate Govt, while we wait for some benevolent overlord to throw a few crumbs to keep things in his neighborhood going.
Happy International Women’s Day. http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
Still a long way to go in NZ and further in many other countries before any sort of equality is reached.
However, I suspect the Standard readership is overwhelmingly male, and don’t see IWD as relevant to them.
[lprent: Nope.
From the little data that we do have from the advertising side, it appears that the readership is lower for females than males (in the order of ~40% to ~60%) but not massively out of whack. There could be some bias in those numbers because of the way that they collect the data.
However if you’d said that the commentators were still largely male then you’d have been correct from my observation (no easy way to be certain). But it is a much smaller population that the readers. It was less than a tenth of the humans that read the site when I last dug through the IP numbers for the readers and commentators.
The number of identifiable female commentators seem to fluctuate considerably and they do seem to leave fewer comments. But I think that both are slowly climbing. ]
uhuh… and this kind of comment is meant to endear me to the idea of supporting it?
I love my wife, I respect her and I support her. However I have no great love for the outspoken extremes of the continuing feminist movement because of comments such as yours that denigrate me as a male. What did I ever do to you other than being born with the wrong genitalia? (and yes, the irony is intended)
…comments such as yours that denigrate me as a male…
Whoa. Did I miss something? Has a comment been removed?
Please explain.
“However, I suspect the Standard readership is overwhelmingly male, and don’t see IWD as relevant to them.”
This implies that in a predominantly male community this Hilary person automatically presumes there is no empathy for female issues.
Depends on the reliability of a random comma as used on the interwebz 🙂
In general, I’d probably agree with the suspicion that even in these enlightened days an overwhelmingly male group would not prioritise IWD highly, if at all. The major difference these days is that said groups might say or do the appropriate things when reminded of e.g. who always ends up cleaning the cups after the meetings. “Empathy” is thin on the ground.
The NZ events look interesting, but I don’t think much of your promotional strategy, it reminds me too much of Paul Henry.
I think George Orwell said it best when he said…
“2 legs are better than 4”
Let me rephrase that. There are of course a lot of very good men out there (probably a majority on the left). They would have been doing the childcare while their wives were out gathering signatures for the women’s suffrage petition in the 1890s etc.
However, while there remains significant structural and actual discrimination by society based on some ‘average white male norm’, against groups on the basis of gender,ethnicity, sexuality or disability, there is work to do. The gender battle has been going on for many millennia and in many countries doesn’t seem to be making any progress. Addressing this is a responsibility for all of us.
International Womens Day hasn’t been mentioned in the mainstream media or the blogs that I have seen today. I suspect that this is because women are too busy doing the 24/7 grind keeping the world going, rather than having spare time or resources to contribute.
So I am not promoting IWD or wanting your support if you are wavering. Just commenting on an observation.
And the observation is an incredibly sexist one…
If you are looking to replace an inequal society/system with an equal one you can’t afford to be so discriminatory…
It has on BBC Radio! (Also amongst my friends in Italy, it’s a really big thing there.. and so the World Service concentrated on Italy in its items..)
Also amongst my friends in Italy, it’s a really big thing there
It’s huge in Eastern Europe too. Seems to be something that has come out of the communist era and has been merged with the later IWD. Apparently it’s more of an appreciation day rather than a political event – official or non-official public holidays, little presents etc.
Annie Lennox has done some excellent promotional work for International Women’s Day here.
She makes this pertinent comment:
“I don’t think feminism is about the exclusion of men but their inclusion … we must face and address those issues, especially to include younger men and boys”
Yes.
One must always bring other stakeholders on board to be successful. The alternative, their exclusion, if successful, will never last. This applies to anything.
Yes inclusion – an inclusive society would be nice. Also safe and secure for everyone. Up to everyone to work on this together, not leave it as a problem for the excluded.
LP: Thanks for the info. From my perspective, the Standard is often a total sausage fest, whith a strongly macho element to the debates. This isn’t unusual on blogs; the loudest voices eventually stifle the quieter contributions in a way that echoes the dominance of men in wider society.
I’m not excusing myself, either. I had to have a good think about how I behave here myself when I was accused of misogyny by a woman poster a year or so ago. I don’t believe it to be true, but it did give me the opportunity to think about how women contributing here might see things.
So kudos to Hillary. Even if the words weren’t perfect, the sentiment is pretty close to correct. I’d be interested to know how others think the Standard could become a more inclusive site and lift those numbers to a more reflective 50/50.
I’d be interested to know how others think the Standard could become a more inclusive site and lift those numbers to a more reflective 50/50.
As far as I am concerned that is easy to envisage, a lot harder to achieve. More woman authors who post more than they currently do.
Hard enough to get authors. But it feels like what I’d envisage is the pain threshold of waxing arsehairs to get female authors doing regular posts. It is enough of a real pain recruiting authors and having them do more than a few posts, but I draw the line at the pain of waxing. Hell, I avoid facial shaving if I have a chance…
Um – what clues do you use to suspect a poster of being female?
In my case I can see their email, their comment history, and I get far more email from female commentators when they need assistance. I look at the topics of interest, what they have said, and see a pattern – just as i do for everyone. There is also a difference in writing style – can’t tell you what it is, but it is distinctive when you read as many comments as I do (Irish is the master at the art of detecting personality in writing).
It isn’t precise. But it is good enough to look at trends.
Double posting, sorry.
Thanks for that data. It actually takes a bit of courage/confidence to participate in this site which (like many others) frequently has testosterone-fuelled and personally aggressive comments. Perhaps that is why women choose to opt out.
Good work Hone in putting this open letter out there so overseas investors are under no misunderstandings about what will happen in the future
“As the leader of the MANA Movement and Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, I wish to advise that MANA is opposed to the privatisation of state assets and will strongly argue for any shares sold to overseas investors to be returned to New Zealand hands.
You have been warned…”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1203/S00104/open-letter-to-overseas-investors.htm
http://mars2earth.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/fair-warning.html
Agreed marty mars, fight fire with fire. Go Hone!
Btw, I recall last week some coughing and spluttering from yourself when I referred to the military machinations of Ngai Tahu. In the last week I have had cause to visit various tourist sites around the South Island, several of which had informations available regarding Maori history at the particular sites. I was quite appalled at the lack of reference to those who existed prior to Ngai Tahu’s invasions and the dominance of recent history (last 200 years i.e. Ngai Tahu) over longer history. I guess that some things never change – the victor writes the history books.
oh vto rest easy the histories are there for those who are able to see them. Look up mana whenua and whānui, they might give you some clue – but seriously stick to the stuff you nearly know rather than things you know nothing about – makes you less stressed and less antagonistic.
anyway I’m off to drive tourists on farewell spit now so I’ll reply to your inevitable prodding a bit later…
” the histories are there for those who are able to see them. Look up mana whenua and whānui, they might give you some clue – but seriously stick to the stuff you nearly know rather than things you know nothing about – makes you less stressed and less antagonistic.”
Actually marty, my point was that “the histories weren’t there”. That is what I specifically looked for. That is what my comment above concerned – the particular point of histories made available at tourist sites. Do you expect people to google stuff at each place they visit? Is that what people do out on Farewell Spit?
And please stop attacking me personally and accusing me of not knowing stuff and being antagonistic. You wouldn’t have a clue about my knowledge base. I have seen tiny little knowledge from you, just coughing, spluttering, harrumphing, etc. And where on earth is the antagonism in my post above? Nowhere. Which indicates an uncomfortable defensive reaction on your part.
Try answering the issue and not playing the person. You make a habit of it and all it does is detract further from the points you haven’t made. In fact, whenever Maori issues get questioned those like yourself get highly defensive and abusive, just like our dear farmers whenever they get questioned about the shit in the rivers – all they do is harrumph and abuse and storm off.
Fact: Histories at tourist sites around the South Island are excessively slanted in favour of Ngai Tahu, the victors.
Answer: Happy to hear yours but more personal plays without substance on the issue at hand will confirm a growing suspicion re yourself.
you keep raising the same point in a snide way, such as – “when I referred to the military machinations of Ngai Tahu” and “I was quite appalled at the lack of reference to those who existed prior to Ngai Tahu’s invasions and the(ir) dominance of recent history.” Those statements are ignorant – sorry if that offends you. Just who are you talking about vto? Ngāti Mamoe? Waitaha? Guess what, most Ngāi Tahu whānui, like me, whakapapa to all three iwi – that’s what it means to be part of the iwi – it’s on the front page of their website, not hard to find. Perhaps you are talking about other peoples who inhabited the island – please tell me who you are talking about. Hopefully you don’t bring up some brailsford bullshit.
The reason behind the statements – give me that also and I will treat it with respect.
marty mars, this issue began when you raised yourself to some higher moral ground to look down on the european colonists and their military ways, forgetting your own past and its own military ways. The basis of the issue was hypocrisy and it was that which I was pointing out.
As for “Brailsford bullshit”, well, that is entirely the consistent reaction to anything which challenges current orthodoxy. The victors write the history books – always have.
so you’ve got nothing – no answers to any of my questions – you are totally delusional and a waste of time – how have I forgotton my past again LOL. If you don’t want me to flick you with a wet teatowel then don’t bait me for no reason.
Where was the baiting? It was you who climbed the lofty depths of confused moral high ground and forgot your own past and its military ways while at the same time deriding others for the same thing. I call that a baiting.
If you don’t like being questioned then don’t spout such bullshit.
perhaps you can link to this heinous crime I can’t remember it.
“… and through inter-marriage and conquest these migrants merged with the resident Waitaha and took over authority of Te Waipounamu.” Ngai Tahu website.
LOL, this is exactly what I was referring to. A painting of history at odds with the reality. For example, why write “…through inter-marriage and conquest … took over authority” which implies inter-marriage was somehow equal at the time to conquest? I tell you why – because it makes for a better looking history when compared to writing “though military conquest the Waitaha were conquered and authority assumed by mamoe at the end of a taiaha. … ” As for inter-marriage, how long after the “conquest” was that? Or was it a result of the rape by soldiers?
face it marty mars, the history as written is not settled. Why else would it get raised in conversation when in certain parts of the South Island?
And as for your moral high ground when referencing european military escapades as compared your own, sheesh, your own website blows that one out of the water. Wake up fulla.
@ Vto – perhaps if you identified the particular sites where you had concerns with the interpretation, it might be possible to advise you more precisely as to where to address your complaints. Of course, where Marty lives and works has different stories as he is outside the rohe potae of Ngāi Tahu whānui.
I am also interested to know why you have not engaged with the information I gave you. Is your ‘fight’ specific to Marty or do you just want to carry on believing the Brailsford fairy stories?
Hateatea, why would you think I place Brailsford over current history? I haven’t indicated that at all.
Regarding your pointers, I appreciate it. Sincerely. I don’t pick these ‘fights’ for fights sake. I have a genuine interest in these things. It is semi-amusing though how marty and I clash over these things.
I think I have made my point reasonably clearly above.
Appreciate the contact and think the conversation must be kept open – no matter how long it takes.
“at odds with the reality” – your distorted reality vto
“which implies” – only in your head vto
“better looking history” – so you say vto
the knowledge is there vto of what happened in detail the fact is you aren’t ready for it and couldn’t handle it – it not yours and not for you.
your bigotry shows through loud and clear with your final ‘fulla’ – you show yourself.
Get off the grass marty. Your post is as useless at the others, as I suggested previously. Once again you do nothing but point your points at me rather than the point. Have you got a point? Or do you just swallow everyone else’s goop?
And if you think the word ‘fulla’ is somehow pointing at something to do with you only then you are the one lacking reality. I’m out. Had enough.
‘A painting of history at odds with the reality. For example, why write “…through inter-marriage and conquest … took over authority” which implies inter-marriage was somehow equal at the time to conquest? I tell you why – because it makes for a better looking history when compared to writing “though military conquest the Waitaha were conquered and authority assumed by mamoe at the end of a taiaha. … ” As for inter-marriage, how long after the “conquest” was that? Or was it a result of the rape by soldiers?’
Sorry, Vto, but I don’t understand why you are beating Marty up about something that he didn’t writeThere has never been any dispute, that I am personally aware of, that firstly Ngati Mamoe and later, Ngai Tahu fought to gain dominance of most of Te Wahi Pounemu. Equally, I have never personally heard anyone refute that there were many ‘rongopai’ marriages that ensured the peace and bound the strands of whakapapa together. One of the best known of these is observed at Poupoutunoa near Clinton. http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/scripts/reports/reports/27/48D0AE4D-9734-410D-B1EE-14EB761D3F49.pdf
You have not been precise about the locales where you claim to have seen the offending lack of acknowledgement about other migration and settlement stories and your caginess lead both Marty and myself, independently of one another, to conclude that you may have been influenced by Barry Brailsford’s very romantic treatises on Waitaha.
If there is something specific to which you would like to refer, I wish you would just spit it out. I really do not like the constant jibing at Marty when neither he nor I, as far as I can tell, know of what he stands accused.
I am happy to engage in dialogue, I just need a clearer picture of what your real issue is with either Marty or Ngai Tahu (or both)
“Sorry, Vto, but I don’t understand why you are beating Marty up about something that he didn’t writeThere has never been any dispute, that I am personally aware of, that firstly Ngati Mamoe and later, Ngai Tahu fought to gain dominance of most of Te Wahi Pounemu. ”
I am questioning marty’s point some couple weeks ago that saw him clamber onto high moral ground and look down on the ways and means of the European as if they are / were somehow worse and more morally lacking than those of Maori at times of conquest or colonisation. His own history is the same, as you perfectly point out above. He chooses to ignore this and claim a superiority. That is what grates. An incorrect view of history and a hypocrisy. The line ‘the victor writes the history books’, so true through all of humanity, is entirely applicable.
That questioning by me of marty’s view then resurfaced through the example of Maori histories at tourist sites I happenned to come across some days ago, which also painted a view of their history seemingly at odds with other views. To further support this I copied just one part of Ngai Tahu’s website to indicate how the wording has been constructed to paint a more favourable picture than could otherwise have been written. He has not answered any of this except to say I am thick and no nothing. That is all he has said. Read it yourself, it is all there above and around.
You also say “You have not been precise about the locales where you claim to have seen the offending lack of acknowledgement about other migration and settlement stories and your caginess lead both Marty and myself, independently of one another, to conclude that you may have been influenced by Barry Brailsford’s very romantic treatises on Waitaha. If there is something specific to which you would like to refer, I wish you would just spit it out..”
No I haven’t been precise and I wont. The reasons for this relate to my activities in the South Island and the potential for personal exposure and its subsequent effects. You will appreciate that parts of the region are populated by few people who all know each other and live and work together. I am not putting that at jeopardy to satisfy a small example part of the wider issue I explained above.
You also say “I really do not like the constant jibing at Marty when neither he nor I, as far as I can tell, know of what he stands accused.”.
I invite you to re-read the above. Count up the personal attacks from marty and the lack of points made and evidence in support. It is marty who has on each post led the personal attack. Have a look. I am sick of it. He gets all upset everytime his understanding of the world gest questioned. Harrumphs, snorts, abuses and storms off. It is quite pathetic.
Marty claimed the moral high ground. I questioned it. He got all upset and has done nothing to support his claim.
“He chooses to ignore this and claim a superiority.”
no I don’t – please provide reference
“An incorrect view of history and a hypocrisy”
In your opinion or do you have backup for your ‘incorrect history’ story
“seemingly at odds with other views”
Which other views – come on provide your sources
“to paint a more favourable picture”
Once again in your view – favourable is subjective – my point to you is that you don’t know enough to understand the concept or content in relation to these matters, you are still looking through your blurred lense created by your own stuff.
You started this deliberate attack on me because you know I am part of the iwi. You added comments to my unrelated comments to bring up the point that you strongly wished to say. Yet you still waffle on scared to tell your truth. Here you go – get it out – tell me the real story.
“I don’t like Ngai Tahu”
“I don’t like maori getting special treatment”
“I don’t like maori not fitting in to our country” and so on…
Frankly, if it is actually about indigenous historial narratives and their use in creating perceptions and positioning for marginalised groups, I’ll eat my hat.
hey vto I’ve made you famous now
http://mars2earth.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/vto-and-me.html
I’ve told you already marty, I’m out. Had enough and can’t have a general discussion with you without personal attacks from you.
I have provided examples and evidence e.g. Ngai Tahu website. Tourist sites.
You continue with your baseless and unsupported attacks on me personally rather than debate the issue. In addition you provide not one single piece of evidence or example or sample anywhere to support anything you have claimed about me. All you say is “you’re ignorant”.
And now you think I “started this because you are part of the iwi”. For fucks sake I had no idea of that and it is irrelevant. And now you say these things too ““I don’t like Ngai Tahu”
“I don’t like maori getting special treatment”
“I don’t like maori not fitting in to our country” and so on…
You are full of substanceless shit. Piss off
jeepers what a sook
hopefully you’ll think twice before posting any more bullshit but somehow I doubt it.
hollow again
If the sites you visited had historical interpretation then you had the story from the perspective of the people who live locally ie the descendants of Ngai Tahu whanui. As most people don’t know how the whakapapa of Ngai Tahu is openly acknowledged as having the several strands, you may have confused the KISS principle for writing commentary for signage with suppression of other stories. It is more usual for available space to be the problem rather than a lack of knowledge of the whole history of an area.
Historians such as Harry Evison, Atholl Anderson and Dr Te Maire Tau have all written extensively on the various migrations from north to south that have resulted in what is called Ngai Tahu today but like Marty, those who whakapapa to the iwi take great pride in the individual strands and the stories that are interwoven
OK, this seems to be where it all started
‘Regarding theft of land – are you referring to Ngai Tahu and its military takeover and theft of the South Island and its resources such as pounamu, post European arrival?
You later seemed to acknowledge that you had been a little over the top
‘As for the military takeover by Ngai Tahu – that was a tiny exaggeration to go with your exaggerated claim re theft of lands in your first post above.’
Vto, it was more than exaggerated, it was a claim totally without foundation. Ngai Tahu had been in Te Wahi Pounemu long before the arrival of the sealers, whalers, traders and gun and while there were battles fought, describing it as a military takeover is more than a little OTT, isn’t it?
‘But why would it be such a shock to Ngai Tahu to learn of, or even begin to question, the warring ways to gain lands and resources which are then claimed from high moral ground under the treaty process in a subsequent century. Many parts of this period and history are quietly but forcefully shoved under the carpet. Perhaps a little more openness and honesty about what happenned then would be useful for all parties.’
Who is shoving them under the carpet? All this and much, much more was well and truly aired during the 150 years between the beginning of the Ngai Tahu Claim and the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act
‘As an example, the true history of Ngai Tahu on Te Tai Poutini combined with the undercurrents of today regarding pounamu may be a good starting point.’
There are many who feel that the role of their particular whanau or hapu has not been well served by the settlement process and I neither deny nor defend that. Indeed, many of them are whanaunga of mine.
‘I am questioning marty’s point some couple weeks ago that saw him clamber onto high moral ground and look down on the ways and means of the European as if they are / were somehow worse and more morally lacking than those of Maori at times of conquest or colonisation. His own history is the same, as you perfectly point out above. He chooses to ignore this and claim a superiority. That is what grates. An incorrect view of history and a hypocrisy. The line ‘the victor writes the history books’, so true through all of humanity, is entirely applicable.
‘No I haven’t been precise and I wont. The reasons for this relate to my activities in the South Island and the potential for personal exposure and its subsequent effects. You will appreciate that parts of the region are populated by few people who all know each other and live and work together. I am not putting that at jeopardy to satisfy a small example part of the wider issue I explained above’
That questioning by me of marty’s view then resurfaced through the example of Maori histories at tourist sites I happenned to come across some days ago, which also painted a view of their history seemingly at odds with other views. To further support this I copied just one part of Ngai Tahu’s website to indicate how the wording has been constructed to paint a more favourable picture than could otherwise have been written. He has not answered any of this except to say I am thick and no nothing. That is all he has said. Read it yourself, it is all there above and around.’
I have read it, once I tracked it all down. Mostly what I see is someone baiting and prodding (Vto) and someone who doesn’t really want to get into it (Marty) who sometimes was fairly terse in his responses to you. Forgive me if I have over simplified. The reality is that knowing our history and how it has created our particular whanau is something that is intensely personal and not one usually broadcast to the four winds
I understand the need for anonymity. I have a similar need and I may well be more easily identified than you. I don’t know. Nevertheless, your unwillingness to name any particular site where you disagree with the interpretation makes it difficult to evaluate how real the issue is
I think this matter got out of hand rather rapidly and that perhaps no one comes out of it totally without fault. I suppose that I would like to think that we can all move on from this rather than to continue to mount attacks and counter attacks everytime one of us sees the others screenname on a thread.
That we all have our own world view is a given. It is what makes the blogosphere interesting but we needed be constantly butting heads here. There is enough of that out there in the real world without transferring it to the etherworld.
Kia tau te rangimarie
Pretty good summary there Hateatea, well done. I too want to keep these debates open and enjoy and seek out arenas to test various things.
The problem that comes to mind from my perspective when raising these issues is that at times people do not like their seemingly solid foundations being questioned and they respond in a personal manner. That is understandable given our foible-filled character, though not particularly useful. Conversely, perhaps the issues could be raised by me in a better way.
A similarly difficult long line of debate between marty and I occurred recently when I questioned the relevance of the structure of the Treaty of Waitangi (not its content) in today’s world. For various reasons I think it should be re-worked – but that just elicited all sorts of personal responses.
Anyways, appreciate the thought and effort you have gone to. Last night I determined to take one of the matters above, the historical narratives at various tourist sites around the South Island, and dig deeper to evaluate the suggestions I have made re their realism or romanticism. If wrong I will admit it and change course (as I have done with other issues in the past). If not I would hope the same is offered in return. Watch this space.
Onwards!
Thanks for taking the time to respond, Vto.
I think that sometimes we are all inclined to forget that we are not receiving all the other clues we get in RL debate; body posture, facial movements, tone and pace of expression, merely flat words on a page and it can be far too easy to see aggression where none was intended.
I look forward to further harmonious discussions
Richard Pearson – Asshole of the Week
Yesterday, One News correspondent Stephen Smith reported that Ports of Auckland Chairman Richard Pearson refutes the Union claims that it was planning redundancies all along. Pearson ignores the fact that PoAL’s illegal Labour Strategy (PDF) that outlined how they would make the workers redundant has been made public…
Exactly Jackal, Pearson and the super city’s Mark Ford et al are the type of scumbags that rank right up there with Roger Douglas and Shonkey as traitors to this country.
Testing ajax edit.
Lost the popup.
Test again.
Ok – that looks like a bug
and again.
Interesting bug
Pay Equity Challenge Coalition says little good news for women on International Women’s Day.
Today marks the 101st International Women’s Day but according to the Pay Equity Challenge Coalition there is little good news for women workers.
“The Government has shown by moving the Minister of Women’s Affairs outside of Cabinet that working women’s issues are not a priority,” says spokesperson Angela McLeod.
“To add to that, the briefing to the new Minister doesn’t use the words “gender pay gap” let alone provide effective solutions on how to reduce it.
“According to the Quarterly Employment Survey figures, the gender pay gap for the final quarter last year was 13%, an increase from 12.85% in the September quarter. This is completely unacceptable,” says Mrs McLeod. The gender gap is even bigger in some occupations and in one public service department it reaches a high of 38%”
“Members of the Coalition will be seeking a meeting with the Minister of Women’s Affairs to talk about real solutions to close the pay gap. “We think it’s important to value the work that women do and to pay them fairly.
The Minister needs to understand that pay rates have to rise for women working in low paid occupations. The latest example is the Oceania residential aged care workers currently taking industrial action, who have been offered a pitiful 1% a year pay increase spread over three years. These workers are underpaid and undervalued yet take care of our respected and vulnerable elderly.
“Given that this is 2012 and is the Chinese Year of the Dragon, a year for prosperity, we’d like to see some more prosperity in the direction of the pay packets of these and other low paid working women,” Mrs McLeod adds.
“A Government plan to close the gender pay gap is the news we want to hear”
Great article on Ayn Rand (her birthday a few days ago) by Monbiot.
A great quote: “[what would her disciples think] if they knew that towards the end of her life she signed on for both Medicare and social security”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/05/new-right-ayn-rand-marx
An unneccessary spend of Govt money-
Botany Downs Secondary School built 2005 – stormwater flow issues reported to MOE in 2005. Now after investigations we find out ….
Pipes were undersized for the size of the school,poorly constructed, materials didn’t meet necessary regulatory codes, pipes installed incorrectly without adequate insulation,no concrete laid in base in stormwater holding tanks to use in irrigation of sports fields (And water leached out causing subsidence !!!), defects included sewage and sprinkle systems. And the MOE received Code of Compliance from the council. The result replacement of entire system by the MOE, with the MOE “considering” options into recovery of costs. How can this hapen !!!!! And where are those who should be accountable ???
Large numbers of NZ professionals, decision makers and tradesmen with subzero give-a-fuck factors.
Oh how the chickens come home to roost…..the column on “dumb arse POA management” resonates loudly, echos of ridiculous legislation by Douglas and a succession of ideologically blind fools.
As a business person I have always thought the whole idea of “creating markets” on natural monopolies was perhaps the most stupid piece of foolishness ever. All we have done as a nation is surrender a key component of our international competitiveness to ideological folly with a very negative dollar impact upon businesses that actually do something. The only ones who benefit are the corporate big boys who have better negotiating power, the rest of business actually end up worse off.
In a nut shell utilities (SOEs for power and transport etc) have been made to compete at cost to the rest of us. Capitaql that should have gone to productive enterprise has been captured to buy shares in these “rentier” ventures. Then you get the real stupidity….ports “competing” for the business of the likes of Maersk. How fucking stupid, it costs us all money. If they all belonged to “Waterfront NZ” SOE they might be able to plan rationally and negotiate effectively.
Or perhaps look at the UBF roll out…..lots of smaller contractors and big private ventures clipping the ticket, us paying more either through direct costs or by tax subsidies…why the hell did we sell Telecom????? making it run better is one thing, making us pay a lot more to shareholders is entirely another. Absolute foolishness.
As someone who thought Goff was much under-appreciated as Leader of the Opposition I must say it’s great to see him getting up in The House and serving it up to the Govt day after day on the cuts to MFAT. The Govt has no idea where the leaks are going to come from next but they have a sinking feeling that they are going to keep on coming. Payback for Goff for the three years when all those half-arsed National MPs thought he was good to kick the shit out of.
I agree. Goff seems so much more relaxed/happy but is really giving it to them on this issue. Just wish the rest of Labour were doing such a good job. IMO the jury is still out re Shearer.
Peter Dunne lying scum
Today, Peter Dunne challenged people to find evidence of him saying he was against the sale of our assets prior to the last general election… challenge accepted!
You won’t find anything of substance. Dunne has been clear and consistent, some try and nitpick but fail so they bluster.
Here’s a direct link to the speech: http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/11829
so..you support yr leader..
..and want the assets sold..?
phil@whoar.
Just coming along to say that I heard you on Radio New Zealand two or so hours back, Phil!
Best song ever written… Mine’s Solsbury Hill, but i like your choice…
The consummate politician says what he thinks would go down well but with enough ambiguity to claim denial later, after an Election.
Dunne? Definitely.
Key? Very much so.
Not at all, quite clear before and after to anyone who cares to check rather than just jump to conclusions.
but what about now pete when the will of the people is obviously against the sales will dunne listen to the people? I hope you have his ear because surely you believe in following the will of the people and wise words are needed. Please no distracting with the election dah dee dah I know, I voted, but here and now McFlock was correct with the numbers and analysis.
“Not at all, quite clear before and after to anyone who cares to check rather than just jump to conclusions.”
I did check.
http://www.unitedfuture.org.nz/peter-dunne-address-to-deloitte-business
I think that makes Ianmac correct when he says:
“The consummate politician says what he thinks would go down well but with enough ambiguity to claim denial later, after an Election.”
This is dishonest nonsense:
“When you take peoples’ property against their consent, that is called theft. This Government is proposing to steal the assets from 100 per cent of New Zealanders and give it to the 1 per cent.”
(Russell Norman)
well, theft is the main modus operandi of a kleptocracy.
What else would you call it?
Jofhn Christiansen of Mt Albert could give his neighbour Judith Bassett a call and go search out some homeless vagrants to take home for a nice re-assuring cuppa with her and Micky. They could enjoy those nice scones (Mike’s Mum’s special recipe) and talk about Judith’s old headliner POA and how to get lead letter in the “New Zealand” Herald. Then drive them down to Hobson St and be awfully shocked on the way home with the thought of bloated human corpses in a city built on Fordism and a complete denial of the worth of a human person.
New evidence that excessive exposure to the sun can cause brain damage
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/new-evidence-that-excessive-exposure-to-the-sun-can-cause-brain-damage/