Good article on rehabilitation/deradicalisation programmes & the situation here with the Lynnmall attacker.
…
"He had problems with belonging and attachment, he was ostracised and clinically depressed and he did not have a lot of trust,” says Canberra-based criminologist Dr Clarke Jones.
Jones was called in to assess [him] and offered to design a rehabilitation programme for him, but says it was not put in place because there was no funding and the police had no appetite for it.
As more details emerge about the case there is growing anger and frustration about how his release was handled by Corrections and the police.
The Muslim Association says he should not have been left in the small Islamic community that did not have the capacity or the capability to support him.
Corrections has defended its handling of [the attacker] and has outlined the measures it took.
Other counter terror experts have told The Detail deradicalisation or rehabilitation would have been difficult because he was unwilling.
So what is a rehabilitation programme and what does it take to successfully deradicalise an individual?":
"Mothers and sisters
Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand says her group has been calling for years for more financial and professional support for community groups.
No support is “like having some first time driver driving a Maserati. “If you have a psychosis you don’t send them to the local dairy to get support,” she says. Any rehabilitation programme needs women at the table.
“The most effective in deradicalising people are the mothers or the sisters.”
…
(Personally I'm a wee bit dubious about that one. There have been several cases overseas where mothers &/or sisters were radicalised too, or where the jihadist adheres rigidly to the Quran's teaching that women are subordinate to males & have no business telling them what to do, & they didn't dare expose their son or brother to authorities – Gezza)
Im hoping it gets clarified as to where he was radicalized… if its in 2016 as his mum said that means it happened here? Or he travelled back to Sri Lanka around that time?
Agree we need to know how & where he was radicalised. He didn't travel back to Sri Lanka. His mum there claimed he was radicalised by Iraqi & Syrian neighbours in NZ. An article I posted late yesterday by a young female Muslim academic pointed out that sectarian mosques are developing here now,
He could just have been a psychiatrically disturbed loner who was subjected to racial abuse (he was reported by one dark-skinned witness to have ignored her & specifically targeted white people) – it flipped him over the edge & he radicalised himself on the internet.
A very comprehensive analysis & opinion piece by Paul Buchanan. With some new background info.
Among other things he canvasses the many forms of terrorism, & looks at the question Robert Guyton raised here the other day. Was the LynnMall attacker actually a terrorist?
…
"… rather than an act of terrorism or terrorist act (take your pick), what I saw on Sept. 5 was the commission of a hate crime. I recognize that NZ does not have a hate crime statute (as far as I know) and understand that hate crimes are usually designated as acts of violence committed against individuals or groups because of who they are (e.g. gays, Muslims, redheads). Here I use the phrase “hate crime” because Mr. S’s hatred and rage was directed at non-Muslim society in general and because of the lack of compliance with the definitions and description of terrorism mentioned above.
It does not make the supermarket attacks any less heinous than those done deliberately as terrorist attacks with the same (thankfully non-fatal) outcome. But it does help distinguish between underlying motive and rigorousness of method, which in turn helps prevent us from being suckered into agreeing and complying with the agendas of security officials and vested “experts” alike."
Google is your friend. Open your mind and learn something about the topic, which might make you a wee bit less dubious. Easy to criticise from your key-board sitting in your armchair and not doing the mahi.
I've been doing te mahi on this topic for years. Islam & Islamic terrorism are huge subjects with multiple layers & complexities.
Islam ranges anywhere from very liberal & progressive to very conservative. I’ve only ever personally known 3 Muslims reasonably well & they were all lovely, loving, genuine folk.
Could you be more specific about exactly what you mean?
Sorry weka. This early iPad2 just can't cope with the site. It's too old & hangs constantly, requiring constant re-typing, & re-checking that it hasn't inserted characters from the text field into the name or email address.
I find it quite hard commenting on TS even on my new iphone (although I'm logged in so I don't get the typo issue). I'll have a talk to Lynn because it's not just you, it's been a consistent issue in the last year or so.
One suggestion I have is to type your comment in another app eg Text Edit (if that's available on your ipad) and then cut and paste into the text field.
I'm also curious if the name and email address fields are auto-filling or if you have to retype them each time.
Yes, once I post the first comment the fields auto-fill.
But after posting 2 or 3 times, it just slows right down, the text field takes ages to open up, and when it does, clicking in it does NOTHING. No text appears. Or if it does, it might suddenly jump up into the name or email addy field.
This iPad2's got the last iOS version for this model. It's just too old, not enuf RAM, and can't easily access a lot of sites – including "busy" news-sites with embedded videos & animated ads etc. these days.
(Just FYI, for my first comment today at the top of this page, I used the iPad’s Notes app, but I didn’t notice that the excerpts I posted used the LynnMall attacker’s name twice. Even though I was able to edit them out (great having that function here 👍🏼) as soon as I submitted it, I think that was why that one went into moderation.)
You were quite specific about what you are a wee bit dubious. I challenged you to self-educate and possibly remove some of your doubt. Never mind, it was obviously asking too much of you.
My point was that where the mothers & sisters are part of a modern day, normal, liberal & progressive Muslim family (which, in NZ, by far the overwhelming majority are) there's not usually any need for them to be involved in rehabilitation & deradicalisation programmes. Their sons & brothers are well-socialised just in their normal upbringing.
Where sons & brothers go off the rails for whatever reason & get sucked into extremist fundamentalist ideology, they usually cleave to Taliban & IS-like beliefs that their womenfolk have no right to direct them, that it should be the other way round.
The LynnMall attacker's mum (& others in his whanau) say they tried to talk him out of his extremist beliefs, but they couldn't. There've been female suicide attackers, as well as men. The Sri Lankan bombings after the Christchurch mosques attacker were perpetrated by a whole family unit, I think.
The reasons for these attacks are complex. “Lone wolves” are individuals; they don’t fit into a box. And one-size-fits-all derad programmes don’t work for everyone. They need to be tailored to the individual, from what I’ve read. Paul Buchanan's done a good analysis (posted above) of whether this attacker was even a terrorist.
But if you think I'm meaning something other than what I've said, & that you can read my mind, & I can read yours, you're mistaken.
As expected, you’re sticking to your guns and refuse to open your mind and widen your horizon. Do you ever switch eyes?
When I read a quote like that, my first reaction is to do some research. You did not, because you already know the answer, don’t you?
However, if you’re not a wee bit dubious about it and in fact quite agree with that statement by Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand then indeed I was mistaken and I apologise for the confusion.
I see these issues from as many sides & viewpoints as I can. I'm not fixed in my views on Islam, Muslims, or Islamic terrorists, & I still have no flippin idea what you're on about. I'm not a mind reader.
I thought this was a better place to swap knowledge & opinions than, say, Kiwiblog.
But it's all right, mate. I've lost interest. All the best with the mind-reading & cryptography.
Final comment: I agree with her that ideally there should be "women at table" in any derad programme. My comment was in relation to "the mothers & sisters being the most effective" at deradicalising people.
I haven't seen anything in my research yet to back that up. And I've spent enuf time explaining why that doesn't always work.
My comment was in relation to "the mothers & sisters being the most effective" at deradicalising people.
I haven't seen anything in my research yet to back that up. And I've spent enuf time explaining why that doesn't always work.
So close yet so far.
At least we’re talking about one and the same thing here. Phew!
Of course, you haven’t seen any research to back that up [darn algorithms], and you didn’t go looking for it either. You simply wrote if off and criticised it as something dubious.
You cannot explain anything if you haven’t seen any other research and because you haven’t seen anything else, until today from Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, you didn’t go looking for it either. It is a circular argument and a sign of confirmation bias AKA a dog chasing its own tail.
QED
BTW, where is that odd reasoning coming from that something that doesn’t always work has no validity or veracity? How would you know anyway if you haven’t seen or done any research to back that up? It is an escape route for you in case there’s some research to back it up, so you can fob it off ‘because it doesn’t always work’.
QED
So, if it is not the most effective, is it effective at all, in your opinion? Maybe we find some kind of middle ground here …
Most of the research & reports I've come across so far is from the UK, where they were developing serious problems with increasing numbers of Muslim inmates convicted for criminal offences getting radicalised in the prisons.
They've had various different programmes in different prisons & a relatively recent conprehensive review following attacks by ex-inmates.
There's still mixed success, I believe. One paper (or article) indicated that the most effective programmes have been those run by a couple of well-known & respected de-radicalised extremists themselves.
One of them says he de-radicalised himself. He just concluded over time that killing innocents was obviously wrong, couldn't be justified & wended his own way out & into more orthodox Islam.
As to whether mothers & sisters might be effective in some cases, sure. It could well be that Alia is right about mothers & sisters being the best de-radicalisers for some.
But it doesn't follow that just because she holds the position she does, & said it, that they are in all cases (for reasons I've already traversed). Any more than The Pope can tell us how to rehabilitate sexual offending priests.
As to whether mothers & sisters might be effective in some cases, sure. It could well be that Alia is right about mothers & sisters being the best de-radicalisers for some.
But it doesn’t follow that just because she holds the position she does, & said it, that they are in all cases (for reasons I’ve already traversed).
I agree with the first part. I don’t think Aliya Danzeisen argued the second part.
Don’t you wonder why she’d hold “the position she does”? Do you think that it is because of her PoV and/or maybe because there’s possibly some actual research to back it up?
Don’t you wonder why she’d hold “the position she does”?
No. I assume she has the skills, knowledge, motivation & drive to fill it and sees a need for the Council to exist.
Do you think that it is because of her PoV and/or maybe because there’s possibly some actual research to back it up?
I don't know. I haven't come across anything yet that reaches the conclusion she posits. I mention those other matters I do because I've been interested in this topic for years. Ever since 9/11. I've read the Quran. Read many Hadith. Started with a few of the usual suspect anti-Muslim sites. Debated with Muslims online. Got caught out having only the most cursory understanding of Islam, & spent years finding out how complex and multi-faceted it is.
Nobody's an expert, not even Muslims, in every sect or aspect of Islam. There's not a completely rigid doctrine. It's quite interesting how much is left to Imams & scholars to consider and issue opinions (fatwahs) on. Sharia has numerous different interpretations. Not all Islamic countries have the same Sharia codes.
Blimin iPad2 inserted extra characters into my username! Reply's gone into moderation.
But I'll add that I've only known 3 Muslims reasonably well. 1 female Pakeha convert, 1 Iraqi divorced female, & 1 Somali gentleman that I worked with for 2 years. They were all lovely, peaceful, loving people.
Extent and Volume are two completely different measurements. The first is 2 dimensional and second has 3 dimensions. Your excitement is about what used to be a skyscaper now being a thin slab of concrete.
I suspect that you're a founding member of the modern flat-earth society. They appear to have dimensional myopia as well.
BTW: You should really rename yourself as just Thick or Ignorant. Grumpy would imply that you know how to think – and apparently that isn't the case. I'm not sure that you aren't engaging in false advertising.
Fresh water freezes at a higher temperature than salt water.
Fresh water is also lighter than salt water.
Before it is mixed by wave action and or currents, fresh water floats on top of salt water in a thin layer.
Glaciers are made of fresh water.
Glaciers have been melting into the sea at a record rate, causing a freshening of the Northern Ocean.
This freshening is slowing the Atlantic Meritional Overturning Current, AMOC, that transports heat from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere, causing a cooling effect at the North Pole particularly.
AlJazeera tv newshour is reporting that international reaction to the new Taliban interim Cabinet appointments is mixed.
[The reporter's Charlotte Bellis, ex-TV three, in Kabul, who has established very good personal relationships with their leadership & complains to them if she is abused or mistreated by their less-sophisticated footsoldiers. Aljaz tv has several Kiwi reporters & news anchors & technical staff]
China has pledged $31 million US in aid.
Locals' reactions range from support of their appointees & wishes for them to now just get on with governing, providing jobs, getting the ecomony back up & running etc – to disappointment & resentment there are no women Cabinet Ministers, & no other sects or ethnic minority appointments.
This remains to be seen, Ad. These dudes are a bit of an enigma at the moment.
Taliban footsoldiers & local rural commanders from the countryside aren't usually very well educated & they have longstanding strong conservative cultural & religious views.
But I get the impression many of them just joined the Taliban because half the country's in need of humanitarian aid & there are no jobs. The former Afghan government was thoroughly corrupt. Some local commanders didn't even pay their troops or police officers. Bribery was endemic.
Now the Taliban can legally acquire taxes & customs duties & start building up cash reserves. But some educated women there, & ethnic minorities, are showing every sign of not being prepared to put up with the excessively patriarchial & sectarian rule of the past Taliban.
And despite their claims they've now subdued Panjshir, there is still the core of an insurgency against them. Masoud (?) their leader hasn't been caught & has called for a national uprising against them.
There's no shortage of arms in Afganistan. It's a rugged country whose various ethnic tribes have been switching allegiances & warring with each other for centuries.
If the Talban don't adapt & adopt a more tolerant, more inclusive, less misogynistic approach, they could get bogged down & economically ruined trying to subdue an insurgency against THEM.
By the end of this year Afghanistan will have a similar global media profile to Kyrgystan or Mozambique. Tens of billions of aid will somehow continue to be poured into them for little result other than a few getting rich.
Sadly they are showing every sign of being the same reactionary & extreme misogynistic patriarchal fundamentalists that they were in the 1990s.
And the Western world in punishing them financially is probably just going to increase the poverty & misery of their own trapped civilians – unless they are toppled or forced to liberalise their concept of Sharia by an insurgency.
They are making the Saudis & Iranians look liberal & progressive.
I know quite a few Iranians and I have found them to be exceptionally liberal, decent folks. They seem to live in a different universe to their leaders.
Yes, I believe you. Aljazeera tv has shown interviews of young Iranians, males & females (20-30-somethings) sitting together, al fresco, at cafes in Tehran. Using their smartphones, several speaking English & other languages, wearing blue jeans, & though the young ladies are also wearing hijabs, they're just draped over the back half of their head, their hair is showing, they wear makeup.
They're well-educated. They don't dare directly criticise the theocratic regime but they clearly don't like its fundamentalism. There have been middle-aged interviewees there who are also very liberal. They don’t like so much of their country’s budget being spent on the Republican Guard’s fighters in other countries; they want it spent on social programmes & infrastructure etc.
Out in the provinces, I gather, the old conservative misogynous theocratic rules of behaviour & dress are more likely to still be enforced, & generally speaking the extremely powerful state-within-a-state Republican Guard is feared, even in Tehran.
These more enlightened, liberal, young Muslim folk give hope for the future as the Old Guard die out. But Trump's alienated them with the resumption of even worse sanctions that have impacted them too, & with his assassination of Soleimani.
It's quite likely. A cybersecurity expert on RNZ this morning says yesterday was possibly just the start of a ransom campaign. They take sites down with DDOS attacks for an hour or two one day, then do it again next day or two for longer, then contact the site owners & tell them how much they need to pay to make them stop.
Sorry wrong link to support above. Do our frontline staff whilst under the pressure that this outbreak is placing them under, need added stress like this? And do we need to risk extending Aucklands level 4 further ?
To go to the length of "The allegations come as WorkSafe issued an improvement notice, forcing the Auckland DHB to engage with its health and safety representatives." to achieve warranted improvement is simply eye watering.
Any idea why we havent had a massive public health campaign outlining some of the health factors that greatly increase the likelihood of ending up severly ill with Covid?
Surely if we can get prople to cut down on tobacco, alcohol and get some exercise it will help both prognosis and ease some burden on the health system?
I could hazard a guess that those factors are already well-known to the folk that would note & heed such advice, & that those who currently ignore such advice would continue to do so, so why bother?
Plus, the Covid 19 & Three Waters campaigns are probably already costing a fortune?
Today's Herald title for Mike Hosking states the Government is good at creating fear but we need hope. If the Government had played the Delta virus down and not repeatedly emphasised how dangerous and contagious it was, the first person to accuse the Government of looking the other way would be Mike Hosking himself. One suspects he is not happy the case numbers are trending down.
Hosking is the mind-killer. Hosking is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face Mike Hosking. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where Hosking has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
The Hosk is always trying to dig up dirt and put a spin on things to discredit the current Government, take anything he says with a grain of salt, he is not the smartest kid on the block.
This article really buries the lead in deference to the exploiters! I do admit that gas may be a necessary; evil transitional energy source, but still; better left in the ground, if at all possible. And even if it is taken out, the land should be put right before the exploiters cut and run. The quote in the 3rd last paragraph from Taranaki Energy Watch spokesperson Sarah Roberts, should have been much nearer the top, with a better headline like: Polluters whinge about the proposed cost of being made to clean up after themselves.
Tamarind Taranaki collapsed in December 2019 leaving the Crown with a bill of $300 million to safely decommission the offshore Tui Field.
The government says the Bill will close loopholes which allowed Tamarind to walkaway from its responsibilities.
If passed into law, it would hold companies liable for decommissioning costs in perpetuity, even if permits or licences have been on-sold and it would make company directors criminally liable for not fulfilling decommissioning obligations, even if they had since left the post…
"Given that the oil and gas industry is saying that they are good corporate citizens, I think it is quite a reasonable expectation of the Crown to expect that they meet the obligation of decommissioning and I think it's always been implicit that they do and it's actually written into a number of documents, but it's just making that obligation explicit."
Note that it was only Tamarind Taranaki Limited who "collapsed", the larger Tamarind multinational continues to thrive, and even operate in Taranaki:
The rest of the Tamarind Group is ring-fenced and unaffected by the above actions taken in respect of the Tui entities. This includes Tamarind New Zealand Onshore Operations (the acquisition which completed in September 2019), Tamarind’s 56% operating share in the Galoc field in the Philippines, and Tamarind’s various interests in Australia.
Why on earth is Middlemore Hospital allowing visitors in to see sick relatives during this level 4 lockdown. If Residential care homes are forbidding visitors because of their frail vulnerable residents why are sick and immune compromised patients not being treated with the same level of care. Staff are having to deal with haphazard mask use by visitors and one apparently managed to get it over with a patient in a room with other patients. Middlemore needs a management broom sweep.
We are managing to reduce positive cases on a daily basis on sheer luck alone. There are some crazy decisions being made during this pandemic. Riding along on a wing and a prayer. Pray it stays that way.
According to the blog of the Live Update on Stuff by Brittney Deguara (good job!), one of Bloomfield’s staffers has been in contact with the Nurses’ Organisation about the approach to visitors by ADHB and it appears to be consistent with national policy. It will be reviewed and revised by MoH and the updated guidance is expected soon and will apply to all DHBs.
Many of us have had to make concessions eg unable to visit terminally ill, missing funerals of close relatives etc.
Do we have a 0 risk factor in our elimination strategy or not? I thought we are doing everything possible to eliminate, obviously not everything. Imagine an outbreak as a result of this policy, and being told that Auckland has to stay at level 4 for another month or more. All so a few feel privileged to visit those in hospital, why not at retirement villages where those residence are separated from family ?
When my parents were going through the illnesses they had at the end of their life they were often in Middlemore. There really isn't enough staff to keep people comfortable only enough to keep them alive. Things like spoon feeding them so they eat, helping them to the toilet rearranging pillows and just reassuring them is something family can do to keep them more comfortable. I think it would be very hard when visitors aren't allowed for vulnerable people.
My phones relatively new I cant get it to paste links on TS everywhere else is fine my tablet maybe 2 years old I can comment at all with again only on TS
In the tool bars above the typing window, there is a symbol that looks like a diagonal bracket around a slash (the empty diagonal brackets/ chainlink beside it unlinks links from quoted text which saves moderator time). To link you now have to click that and paste the link into the URL box that appears.
Speaking of saving the kids, why are schools still exempt from L2 protocols? So we now have masks and no standing up in buses, unless its a school bus. We now have masks in all indoor venues, unless its a school.
It'd go a long way to encouraging pre-teens to wear masks if masks of appropriate size were provided for them by schools. My elder child can wear an adult one (with a couple of twists of straps to shorten it), but no chance with my six year old! Her Granny got measurements the other day and is having some sewn for her, but there's a bit of a waiting list for some reason.
Also the cost is not inconsiderable. A fresh disposable mask every school for two kids would be at least $10/ week. A custom mask (two really needed; so one can be washed while the other worn) would be more initially, but less longterm (except they'd get lost like socks).
So for a solo parent on a benefit, that's really not possible without cutting into bill money.
I was thinking more of secondary schools. Children under 12 are not required to wear masks at all.
My daughter’s school has over 1600 students plus teachers. With all the students passing each other in hallways every hour and forming into different groups for each class there quite some potential to spread the virus.
I agree that the state should be providing masks for schools to distribute to students. There is a duty of care.
I don't want that no. But requiring students be vaccinated in order to attend school is a considerably more complex issue than simply having them wear masks under level 2. If a secondary school student stops at the shop on the way to school or if they use public transport they are required to wear a mask, but not on a crowded school bus and in a crowded school. Schools are already pedantic about their pathetic school uniform policies so adding a mask can't be a big deal from an enforcement perspective.
My daughter’s school has brought in a level 2 policy that the students can't leave during the day unless a parent picks them up which is not a level 2 protocol, but do nothing about masks. Well a big F off to that.
What a load of totalitarian nonsense! Each year, 100s of Kiwis die of the flu and despite safe and effective vaccines being available, it was never made mandatory. Ever. I don’t hope you’re going to suggest that this should be added to the list of mandatory measures, together with meningitis perhaps, and maybe HPV too for good measure. FFS, this is Aotearoa-New Zealand, not some dystopia from a Mad Max movie. The people most at risk of severe illness and death form Covid-19 are the unvaccinated ones. In the current outbreak, most positives are unvaccinated; the actual numbers are somewhere, but I can’t be arsed trying to find them right now.
There was surprisingly muted protest when they brought in biometric chips into passports, iris-reading scanners and full body scanners at international airports. It's a post-9-11 cost of living.
Did anyone wear a condom before the AIDS epidemic? Pretty standard way of public health now.
We've given up so many civic freedoms under level 4, we will certainly lose a few permanently to keep the gains we've attained.
Welcome to the new Post-Covid world of vaccine mandates. Like 9/11 we will follow the US example and see compulsory vaccines first on all health workers, airlines, enforcement staff like Policy and military, then frontline workers, then customer staff, hotel staff, bar staff, …
…and then all those health insurers are going to remind every single workplace of the premiums all unvaccinated workers will cost them.
… straight after that Worksafe is going to be part of enforcing the liability of employers for correctly supplied and correctly worn PPE.
We have a disease that is caused by the movement of people through air. It's not the flu, or meningitis, or chicken pox.
Aotearoa-New Zealand is going to comply with what the rest of the world tells them to comply with.
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This is a guest post by accessibility and sustainable transport advocate Tim Adriaansen It originally appeared here. A friend calls you and asks for your help. They tell you that while out and about nearby, they slipped over and landed arms-first. Now their wrist is swollen, hurting like ...
Floating offshore wind turbines offer incredible opportunities to capture powerful winds far out at sea. By unlocking this wind energy potential, they could be a key weapon in our arsenal in the fight against climate change. But how developed are these climate fighting clean energy giants? And why do I ...
Over the past two or three weeks, a procession of Maori iwi and hapu in a series of little-noticed appearances before two Select Committees have been asking for more say for Maori over resource management decisions along the co-governance lines of Three Waters. Their submissions and appearances run counter ...
The decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue war crimes arrest warrants for the Russian President and the Russia Children Ombudsman may have been welcomed by the ideologically committed but otherwise seems to have been greeted with widespread cynicism (see Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants ...
Let’s say you’re clasping your drink at a wedding, or a 40th, or a King’s Birthday Weekend family reunion and Drunk Uncle Kevin has just got going.He’s in an expansive frame of mind because we’re finally rid of that silly girl. But he wants to ask an honest question about ...
National Party leader Christopher Luxon may be feeling glum about his poll ratings, but he could be tapping into a rich political vein in describing the current state of education as “alarming”. Luxon said educational achievement has been declining, with a recent NCEA pilot exposing just how far it has ...
Way Beyond Reform: Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have no more interest in remaining permanent members of “New Zealand’s” House of Representatives than did Lenin and Trotsky in remaining permanent members of Tsar Nicolas II’s “democratically-elected” Duma. Like the Bolsheviks, Te Pāti Māori is a party of revolutionaries – not reformists.THE CROWN ...
Buzz from the Beehive Auckland was wiped off the map, when Education Minister Jan Tinetti delivered her speech of welcome as host of the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers “here in Tāmaki Makaurau”. But – fair to say – a reference was made later in the speech to a ...
Morning mate, how you going?Well, I was watching the news last night and they announced this scientific report on Climate Change. But before they got to it they had a story about the new All Blacks coach.Sounds like important news. It’s a bit of a worry really.Yeah, they were talking ...
Always a bailout: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Government would fully guarantee all savers in all smaller US banks if needed. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: No wonder an entire generation of investors are used to ‘buying the dip’ and ‘holding on for dear life’. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ...
Wealthy vested interests have an oversized influence on political decisions in New Zealand. Partly that’s due to their use of corporate lobbyists. Fortunately, the influence lobbyists can have on decisions made by politicians is currently under scrutiny in Guyon Espiner’s in-depth series published by RNZ. Two of Espiner’s research exposés ...
Yesterday afternoon it rained and traffic around the region ground to a halt, once again highlighting why it is so important that our city gets on with improving the alternatives to driving. For additional irony, this happened on the same day the IPCC synthesis report landed, putting the focus on ...
The Beginning: Anti-Co-Governance agitator, Julian Batchelor, addresses the Dargaville stop of his travelling roadshow across New Zealand . Fascism almost always starts small. Sadly, it doesn’t always stay that way. Especially when the Left helps it to grow.THERE IS A DREADFUL LOGIC to the growth of fascism. To begin with, it ...
Hi,From an incredibly rainy day in Los Angeles, I just wanted to check in. I guess this is the day Trump may or may not end up in cuffs? I’m attempting a somewhat slower, less frenzied week. I’ve had Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record on non-stop, and it’s been a ...
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 ...
RNZ has been shining their torch into corners where lobbyists lurk and asking such questions as: Do we like the look of this?and Is this as democratic as it could be?These are most certainly questions worth asking, and every bit as valid as, say:Are weshortchanged democratically by the way ...
RNZ has continued its look at the role of lobbyists by taking a closer look at the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Andrew Kirton. He used to work for liquor companies, opposing (among other things) a container refund scheme which would have required them to take responsibility for their own ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has left for Beijing for the first ministerial visit to China since 2019. Mahuta is to meet China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang where she might have to call on all the diplomatic skills at her command. Almost certainly she will face questions on what role ...
TL;DR:The Opportunities Party’s Leader Raf Manji is hopeful the party’s new Teal Card, a type of Gold card for under 30s, will be popular with students, and not just in his Ilam electorate where students make up more than a quarter of the voters and where Manji is confident ...
When I was a kid New Zealand was actually pretty green. We didn’t really have plastic. The fruit and veges came in a cardboard box, the meat was wrapped in paper, milk came in a glass bottle, and even rubbish sacks were made of paper. Today if you sit down ...
Looking back through the names of our Police Ministers down the years, the job has either been done by once or future party Bigfoots – Syd Holland, Richard Prebble, Juduth Collins, Chris Hipkins – or by far lesser lights like Keith Allen, Frank Gill, Ben Couch, Allen McCready, Clem Simich, ...
Chris Trotter writes – The Crown is a fickle friend. Any political movement deemed to be colourful but inconsequential is generally permitted to go about its business unmolested. The Crown’s media, RNZ and TVNZ, may even “celebrate” its existence (presumably as proof of Democracy’s broad-minded acceptance of diversity). ...
Four out of the five people who have held the top role of Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff since 2017 have been lobbyists. That’s a fact that should worry anyone who believes vested interests shouldn’t have a place at the centre of decision making. Chris Hipkins’ newly appointed Chief of ...
Feedback on Auckland Council’s draft 2023/24 budget closes on March 28th. You can read the consultation document here, and provide feedback here. Auckland Council is currently consulting on what is one of its most important ever Annual Plans – the ‘budget’ of what it will spend money on between July ...
by Molten Moira from Motueka If you want to be a woman let me tell you what to do Get a piece of paper and a biro tooWrite down your new identification And boom! You’re now a woman of this nationSpelled W O M A Na real trans woman that isAs opposed ...
Buzz from the Beehive New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti is hosting the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers for three days from today, welcoming Education Ministers and senior officials from 18 Pacific Island countries and territories, and from Australia. Here’s hoping they have brought translators with them – or ...
Let’s say you’ve come all the way from His Majesty’s United Kingdom to share with the folk of Australia and New Zealand your antipathy towards certain other human beings. And let’s say you call yourself a women’s rights activist.And let’s say 99 out of 100 people who listen to you ...
James Shaw gave the Green party's annual "state of the planet" address over the weekend, in which he expressed frustration with Labour for not doing enough on climate change. His solution is to elect more Green MPs, so they have more power within any government arrangement, and can hold Labour ...
RNZ this morning has the first story another investigative series by Guyon Espiner, this time into political lobbying. The first story focuses on lobbying by government agencies, specifically transpower, Pharmac, and assorted universities, and how they use lobbyists to manipulate public opinion and gather intelligence on the Ministers who oversee ...
Nick Matzke writes – Dear NZ Herald, I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. I teach evolutionary biology, but I also have long experience in science education and (especially) political attempts to insert pseudoscience into science curricula in ...
James Shaw has again said the Greens would be better ‘in the tent’ with Labour than out, despite Labour’s policy bonfire last week torching much of what the Government was doing to reduce emissions. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Green Party has never been more popular than in some ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler Poor air quality is a long-standing problem in Los Angeles, where the first major outbreak of smog during World War II was so intense that some residents thought the city had been attacked by chemical weapons. Cars were eventually discovered ...
Yesterday I was reading an excellent newsletter from David Slack, and I started writing a comment “Sounds like some excellent genetic heritage…” and then I stopped.There was something about the phrase genetic heritage that stopped me in tracks. Is that a phrase I want to be saying? It’s kind of ...
Brian Easton writes – Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go ...
This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War. While it strongly opposed the US-led invasion, New Zealand’s then Labour-led government led by Prime Minister Helen Clark did deploy military engineers to try to help rebuild Iraq in mid-2003. With violence soaring, their 12-month deployment ended without being renewed ...
After seventy years, Auckland’s motorway network is finally finished. In July 1953 the first section of motorway in Auckland was opened between Ellerslie-Panmure Highway and Mt Wellington Highway. The final stage opens to traffic this week with the completion of the motorway part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project. Aucklanders ...
National’s appointment of Todd McClay as Agriculture spokesperson clearly signals that the party is in trouble with the farming vote. McClay was not an obvious choice, but he does have a record as a political scrapper. The party needs that because sources say it has been shedding farming votes ...
Rays of white light come flooding into my lounge, into my face from over the top of my neighbour’s hedge. I have to look away as the window of the conservatory is awash in light, as if you were driving towards the sun after a rain shower and suddenly blinded. ...
The columnists in Private Eye take pen names, so I have not the least idea who any of them are. But I greatly appreciate their expert insight, especially MD, who writes the medical column, offering informed and often damning critique of the UK health system and the politicians who keep ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 12, 2023 thru Sat, Mar 18, 2023. Story of the Week Guest post: What 13,500 citations reveal about the IPCC’s climate science report IPCC WG1 AR6 SPM Report Cover - Changing ...
Buzz from the Beehive The building of financial capability was brought into our considerations when Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced she had dipped into the government’s coffers for $3 million for “providers” to help people and families access community-based Building Financial Capability services. That wording suggests some ...
Do you ever come across something that makes you go Hmmmm?You mean like the song?No, I wasn’t thinking of the song, but I am now - thanks for that. I was thinking of things you read or hear that make you stop and go Hmmmm.Yeah, I know what you mean, ...
By the end of the week, the dramas over Stuart Nash overshadowed Hipkins’ policy bonfire. File photo: Lynn GrieveasonTLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and the political economy covered on The Kākā included:PM Chris Hipkins’ announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but ...
When word went out that Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would be making an announcement about Stuart Nash on the tiles at parliament at 2:45pm yesterday, the assumption was that it was over. That we had reached tipping point for Nash’s time as minister. But by 3pm - when, coincidentally, the ...
Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go on to attack physics by citing Newton.So ...
Photo by Walker Fenton on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on Riverside (we’ve moved from Zoom) for our chat about the week’s news with ...
In a nice bit of news, my 2550-word deindustrial science-fiction piece, The Dream of Florian Neame, has been accepted for publication at New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). I have published there before, of course, with Of Tin and Tintagel coming out last year. While I still await the ...
And so this is Friday, and what have we learned?It was a week with all the usual luggage: minister brags and then he quits, Hollywood red carpet is full of twits. And all the while, hanging over the trivial stuff: existential dread, and portents of doom.Depending on who you read ...
When I changed the name of this newsletter from The Daily Read to Nick’s Kōrero I was a bit worried whether people would know what Kōrero meant or not. I added a definition when I announced the change and kind of assumed people who weren’t familiar with it would get ...
There was a time when a political party’s publicity people would counsel against promoting a candidate as queer. No matter which of two dictionary meanings the voting public might choose to apply – the old meaning of odd, strange, weird, or aberrant, or the more recent meaning of gay, homosexual ...
Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for the next hour, including:PM Chris Hipkins announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but which blew up ...
Even though concern over the climate change threat is becoming more mainstream, our governments continue to opt out of the difficult decisions at the expense of time, and cost for future generations. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Now we have a climate liability number to measure the potential failure of the ...
Thomas Cranmer writesLike it or not, the culture wars have entered New Zealand politics and look set to broaden and intensify. The culture wars are often viewed as an exclusively American phenomenon, but the reality is that they are becoming increasingly prominent in countries around the world, ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today and in your busy lives turning up to this meeting. Forty five years ago, in Howick, often described as racist, and where few Maori lived because it had been a ‘Fencible’ settlement at the time of the Anglo-Maori ...
The Green Party has marked the National Party’s new education policy and given it a fail, especially for its failure to address the underlying drivers of school performance. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
You will never truly understand, from the pictures you’ve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
We’re boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
“Cabinet needs to do better - and today has shown exactly why we need Green Ministers in cabinet, so we can prioritise action to cut climate pollution and support people to make ends meet,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. ...
Biggest increase in food prices for over three decades shows the need for an excess profit tax on corporations to help people put food on the table. ...
The Green Party has today launched a submission guide to help Aucklanders give crucial input and prevent potentially disastrous Auckland Council budget proposals. ...
With calls growing for inquiries and action on bank profits, the Greens say the Government has all the information it needs to act now and put a levy on banks. ...
As large parts of Aotearoa recover from two of the worst climate disasters we have ever experienced, it would be a huge mistake for the Government to deprioritise climate action from future transport investments, the Green Party says. ...
The Green Party is celebrating the signing of a historic United Nations Ocean Treaty, and calls on the new Oceans and Fisheries Minister to urgently step up protection for Aotearoa’s oceans. ...
Attorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Christopher John Dellabarca of Wellington, Dr Katie Jane Elkin of Wellington, Caroline Mary Hickman of Napier, Ngaroma Tahana of Rotorua, Tania Rose Williams Blyth of Hamilton and Nicola Jan Wills of Wellington as District Court Judges. Chris Dellabarca Mr Dellabarca commenced his ...
A new Government-backed project will help ocean-related businesses in the Nelson Tasman region to accelerate their growth and boost jobs. “The Nelson Tasman region is home to more than 400 blue economy businesses, accounting for more than 30 percent of New Zealand’s economic activity in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing,” ...
After three years of COVID-19 disruptions schools are finally settling down and National want to throw that all in the air with major disruption to learning and underinvestment. “National’s education policy lacks the very thing teachers, parents and students need after a tough couple of years, certainty and stability,” Education ...
People aged over 50 with innovative business ideas will now be able to receive support to advance their ideas to the next stage of development, Minister for Seniors Ginny Andersen said today. “Seniors have some great entrepreneurial ideas, and this programme will give them the support to take that next ...
A cross government target for relevant government procurement contracts for goods and services to be awarded to Māori businesses annually will increase to 8%, after the initial 5% target was exceeded. The progressive procurement policy was introduced in 2020 to increase supplier diversity, starting with Māori businesses, for the estimated ...
77,000 fewer children living in low income households on the after-housing-costs primary measure since Labour took office Eight of the nine child poverty measures have seen a statistically significant reduction since 2018. All nine have reduced 28,700 fewer children experiencing material hardship since 2018 Measures taken by the Government during ...
Deputy Prime Minister Kamikamica; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Tēnā koutou katoa, ni sa bula vinaka saka, namaste. Deputy Prime Minister, a very warm welcome to Aotearoa. I trust you have been enjoying your time here and thank you for joining us here today. To all delegates who have travelled to be ...
$2.9 million convertible loan for Scapegrace Distillery to meet growing national and international demand $4.5m underwrite to support Silverlight Studios’ project to establish a film studio in Wanaka Gore’s James Cumming Community Centre and Library to be official opened tomorrow with support of $3m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has today launched the first national EV (electric vehicle) charging strategy, Charging Our Future, which includes plans to provide EV charging stations in almost every town in New Zealand. “Our vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have world-class EV charging infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, ...
Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan has today launched the Love Better campaign in a world-leading approach to family harm prevention. Love Better will initially support young people through their experience of break-ups, developing positive and life-long attitudes to dealing with hurt. “Over 1,200 young kiwis told ...
Hon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealand’s first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. “This appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealand’s wider coronial system.” Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...
The Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. “The Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...
E te huia kaimanawa, ko Ngāpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao Māori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo Māori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is Ngāpuhi who ...
113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Government’s investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...
The Government’s priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited ...
E nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kātoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...
The new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi Raupō received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. “It’s an honour ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the country’s second P-8A Poseidon aircraft alongside personnel at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Base at Ohakea today. “With two of the four P-8A Poseidons now on home soil this marks another significant milestone in the Government’s historic investment in ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further humanitarian support to those seriously affected by last month’s deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “The 6 February earthquakes have had devastating consequences, with almost 18 million people affected. More than 53,000 people have died and tens of thousands more ...
Migrant communities across New Zealand are represented in the new Migrant Community Reference Group that will help shape immigration policy going forward, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced today. “Since becoming Minister, a reoccurring message I have heard from migrants is the feeling their voice has often been missing around policy ...
Construction has begun on major works that will deliver significant safety improvements on State Highway 3 from Waitara to Bell Block, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan announced today. “This is an important route for communities, freight and visitors to Taranaki but too many people have lost their lives or ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has today appointed Ginny Andersen as Minister of Police. “Ginny Andersen has a strong and relevant background in this important portfolio,” Chris Hipkins said. “Ginny Andersen worked for the Police as a non-sworn staff member for around 10 years and has more recently been chair of ...
Six further bailey bridge sites confirmed Four additional bridge sites under consideration 91 per cent of damaged state highways reopened Recovery Dashboards for impacted regions released The Government has responded quickly to restore lifeline routes after Cyclone Gabrielle and can today confirm that an additional six bailey bridges will ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for China tomorrow, where she will meet with her counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in Beijing. This will be the first visit by a New Zealand Minister to China since 2019, and follows the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions between New Zealand and China. ...
Education Ministers from across the Pacific will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau this week to share their collective knowledge and strategic vision, for the benefit of ākonga across the region. New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti will host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) for three days from today, ...
A vital transport link for communities and local businesses has been restored following Cyclone Gabrielle with the reopening of State Highway 5 (SH5) between Napier and Taupō, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan says. SH5 reopened to all traffic between 7am and 7pm from today, with closure points at SH2 (Kaimata ...
Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds has thanked generous New Zealanders who took part in the special Lotto draw for communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Held on Saturday night, the draw raised $11.7 million with half of all ticket sales going towards recovery efforts. “In a time of need, New Zealanders ...
The Government has announced funding of $3 million for providers to help people, and whānau access community-based Building Financial Capability services. “Demand for Financial Capability Services is growing as people face cost of living pressures. Those pressures are increasing further in areas affected by flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,” Minister for ...
Minister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti, has announced appointments to the Board of Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao. Tracey Bridges is joining the Board as the new Chair and Dr Therese Arseneau will be a new member. Current members Dr Linda Sissons CNZM and Daniel Wilson have ...
Fifteen ākonga Māori from across Aotearoa have been awarded the prestigious Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships and Awards for 2023, Associate Education Minister and Ngarimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The recipients include doctoral, masters’ and undergraduate students. Three vocational training students and five wharekura students, ...
High Court Judge Jillian Maree Mallon has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and District Court Judge Andrew John Becroft QSO has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Mallon graduated from Otago University in 1988 with an LLB (Hons), and with ...
The economy has continued to show its resilience despite today’s GDP figures showing a modest decline in the December quarter, leaving the Government well positioned to help New Zealanders face cost of living pressures in a challenging global environment. “The economy had grown strongly in the two quarters before this ...
Aucklanders now have more ways to get around as Transport Minister Michael Wood opened the direct State Highway 1 (SH1) to State Highway 18 (SH18) underpass today, marking the completion of the 48-kilometre Western Ring Route (WRR). “The Government is upgrading New Zealand’s transport system to make it safer, more ...
This section contains briefings received by incoming ministers following changes to Cabinet in January. Some information may have been withheld in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982. Where information has been withheld that is indicated within the document. ...
Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta reaffirmed her commitment to working together with the new Government of Fiji on issues of shared importance, including on the prioritisation of climate change and sustainability, at a meeting today, in Nadi. Fiji and Aotearoa New Zealand’s close relationship is underpinned by the Duavata ...
The Government is delivering a coastal shipping lifeline for businesses, residents and the primary sector in the cyclone-stricken regions of Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan announced today. The Rangitata vessel has been chartered for an emergency coastal shipping route between Gisborne and Napier, with potential for ...
The Government will progress to the next stage of the NZ Battery Project, looking at the viability of pumped hydro as well as an alternative, multi-technology approach as part of the Government’s long term-plan to build a resilient, affordable, secure and decarbonised energy system in New Zealand, Energy and Resources ...
This morning I was made aware of a media interview in which Minister Stuart Nash criticised a decision of the Court and said he had contacted the Police Commissioner to suggest the Police appeal the decision. The phone call took place in 2021 when he was not the Police Minister. ...
The Government’s sharp focus on trade continues with Aotearoa New Zealand set to host Trade Ministers and delegations from 10 Asia Pacific economies at a meeting of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Commission members in July, Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor announced today. “New Zealand ...
$25 million boost to support more businesses with clean-up in cyclone affected regions, taking total business support to more than $50 million Demand for grants has been strong, with estimates showing applications will exceed the initial $25 million business support package Grants of up to a maximum of $40,000 per ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we looked at how our top authors make a living writing books, the sky-high fares coming from independent taxi drivers, how the people of Muriwai are putting their lives back together post-Cyclone Gabrielle, why a Levin chocolate maker is ...
The popularity of stories about unhappy rich people says more about our need to view them that way than it does about how they experience their livesOpinion:Succession is returning to Aotearoa’s television screens. It joins other portrayals of the emotional traumas that come from having far, far too ...
The popularity of stories about unhappy rich people says more about our need to view them that way than it does about how they experience their livesOpinion:Succession is returning to Aotearoa’s television screens. It joins other portrayals of the emotional traumas that come from having far, far too ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend This week, it's What's Up With ADHD?, written by Mirjam Guesgen and published in North & South's April 2023 issue. You can find the full article, with illustrations by Rachel Salazar, in this month’s issue of North & South. Once a condition ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend This week, it's What's Up With ADHD?, written by Mirjam Guesgen and published in North & South's April 2023 issue. You can find the full article, with illustrations by Rachel Salazar, in this month’s issue of North & South. Once a condition ...
"He imagines the rattling windows of his bach": a sad seaside saga by Majella Cullinane Màiri watches him as he walks down the hill next to her house. The man appears gradually – first his head covered in a tweed cap and earphones, then the unkempt hair and beard, ...
"He imagines the rattling windows of his bach": a sad seaside saga by Majella Cullinane Màiri watches him as he walks down the hill next to her house. The man appears gradually – first his head covered in a tweed cap and earphones, then the unkempt hair and beard, ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we looked at how our top authors make a living writing books, the sky-high fares coming from independent taxi drivers, how the people of Muriwai are putting their lives back together post-Cyclone Gabrielle, why a Levin chocolate maker is ...
Not content with transforming KiwiSaver, Simplicity is now planning to out-build Kāinga Ora. Duncan Greive meets a pair of of unlikely revolutionaries trying to fix housing – a task which seems impossible, even for the state itself.In September of 2020, a builder named Shane Brealey sat down and typed ...
The Auckland Writers Festival has just launched its 23rd programme, the first since Covid to include its signature line-up of visiting international writers. With 160 events to choose from, here’s books editor Claire Mabey’s top 10 to help you navigate your way through the lit fest universe.Straight Up: Ruby ...
Taking her her young family around the world as she rows is a key factor in Emma Twigg's decision to defend her Olympic single sculls title at next year's Paris Olympics. And, Andy Hay writes, the next Emma Twigg could be waiting in the wings at the Maadi Cup next week. ...
The Fijian Drua will need to start and finish well, while Moana Pasifika’s coach wants to see a full 80-minute performance this weekend as the two regional teams continue their Super Rugby Pacific campaigns. The Drua tackle the Highlanders in Dunedin today and Pasifika face the Hurricanes at Mt Smart ...
By Todagia Kelola in Port Moresby A number of small contractors in Papua New Guinea are still waiting for positive feedback for money owed to them by government agencies after 12 years. A 2015 Post-Courier front page picture showed a man, David Goli, who chained himself at the then headquarters ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Beryl Exley, Professor, Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University, Griffith University Shutterstock Last August, the federal government set up an expert panel to look at the continuous improvement agenda in teacher education in Australia. The panel, led by ...
The New Zealand First leader took to the altar of an East Auckland church today to set out his 2023 election agenda. It was, as Stewart Sowman-Lund found out, pretty much what you’d expect. Winston Peters rolled into Howick today with a state of the nation speech that, he claimed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Wardle, Professor of Public Health, Southern Cross University Shutterstock Earlier this week, Australian retail giant Woolworths announced a move into health-care delivery via development of its subsidiary HealthyLife’s online portal. Through this portal, Australians can book a same-day ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters - eyeing a political comeback - has used a scene-setting speech in Auckland warning against a "conceited, conniving, cultural cabal". ...
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Attempts by rainbow groups to stop an anti-trans campaigner entering the country have failed. The High Court has dismissed a judicial review application from Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT Kōara and Auckland Pride, aimed at the immigration minister for allowing Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull into New Zealand. As part of the application, the ...
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Good article on rehabilitation/deradicalisation programmes & the situation here with the Lynnmall attacker.
…
"He had problems with belonging and attachment, he was ostracised and clinically depressed and he did not have a lot of trust,” says Canberra-based criminologist Dr Clarke Jones.
Jones was called in to assess [him] and offered to design a rehabilitation programme for him, but says it was not put in place because there was no funding and the police had no appetite for it.
As more details emerge about the case there is growing anger and frustration about how his release was handled by Corrections and the police.
The Muslim Association says he should not have been left in the small Islamic community that did not have the capacity or the capability to support him.
Corrections has defended its handling of [the attacker] and has outlined the measures it took.
Other counter terror experts have told The Detail deradicalisation or rehabilitation would have been difficult because he was unwilling.
So what is a rehabilitation programme and what does it take to successfully deradicalise an individual?":
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018811353/turning-around-a-terrorist
…
"Mothers and sisters
Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand says her group has been calling for years for more financial and professional support for community groups.
No support is “like having some first time driver driving a Maserati. “If you have a psychosis you don’t send them to the local dairy to get support,” she says. Any rehabilitation programme needs women at the table.
“The most effective in deradicalising people are the mothers or the sisters.”
…
(Personally I'm a wee bit dubious about that one. There have been several cases overseas where mothers &/or sisters were radicalised too, or where the jihadist adheres rigidly to the Quran's teaching that women are subordinate to males & have no business telling them what to do, & they didn't dare expose their son or brother to authorities – Gezza)
Im hoping it gets clarified as to where he was radicalized… if its in 2016 as his mum said that means it happened here? Or he travelled back to Sri Lanka around that time?
Agree we need to know how & where he was radicalised. He didn't travel back to Sri Lanka. His mum there claimed he was radicalised by Iraqi & Syrian neighbours in NZ. An article I posted late yesterday by a young female Muslim academic pointed out that sectarian mosques are developing here now,
He could just have been a psychiatrically disturbed loner who was subjected to racial abuse (he was reported by one dark-skinned witness to have ignored her & specifically targeted white people) – it flipped him over the edge & he radicalised himself on the internet.
Nobody knows.
A very comprehensive analysis & opinion piece by Paul Buchanan. With some new background info.
Among other things he canvasses the many forms of terrorism, & looks at the question Robert Guyton raised here the other day. Was the LynnMall attacker actually a terrorist?
…
"… rather than an act of terrorism or terrorist act (take your pick), what I saw on Sept. 5 was the commission of a hate crime. I recognize that NZ does not have a hate crime statute (as far as I know) and understand that hate crimes are usually designated as acts of violence committed against individuals or groups because of who they are (e.g. gays, Muslims, redheads). Here I use the phrase “hate crime” because Mr. S’s hatred and rage was directed at non-Muslim society in general and because of the lack of compliance with the definitions and description of terrorism mentioned above.
It does not make the supermarket attacks any less heinous than those done deliberately as terrorist attacks with the same (thankfully non-fatal) outcome. But it does help distinguish between underlying motive and rigorousness of method, which in turn helps prevent us from being suckered into agreeing and complying with the agendas of security officials and vested “experts” alike."
http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2021/09/the-supermarket-stabbing-spree-was-not-a-terrorist-act/
Google is your friend. Open your mind and learn something about the topic, which might make you a wee bit less dubious. Easy to criticise from your key-board sitting in your armchair and not doing the mahi.
I've been doing te mahi on this topic for years. Islam & Islamic terrorism are huge subjects with multiple layers & complexities.
Islam ranges anywhere from very liberal & progressive to very conservative. I’ve only ever personally known 3 Muslims reasonably well & they were all lovely, loving, genuine folk.
Could you be more specific about exactly what you mean?
Please check your username before commenting each time.
the mods are already grumpy about the number of times we have to attend to this issue. The onus is on commenters to check each time.
Sorry weka. This early iPad2 just can't cope with the site. It's too old & hangs constantly, requiring constant re-typing, & re-checking that it hasn't inserted characters from the text field into the name or email address.
Think I'll just give you all a break & sod off.
I find it quite hard commenting on TS even on my new iphone (although I'm logged in so I don't get the typo issue). I'll have a talk to Lynn because it's not just you, it's been a consistent issue in the last year or so.
One suggestion I have is to type your comment in another app eg Text Edit (if that's available on your ipad) and then cut and paste into the text field.
I'm also curious if the name and email address fields are auto-filling or if you have to retype them each time.
What do you mean by hangs constantly?
From memory Lynn says it's a user end issue, but it's so constant now and it never used to happen, so I don't really know what is going on.
Yes, once I post the first comment the fields auto-fill.
But after posting 2 or 3 times, it just slows right down, the text field takes ages to open up, and when it does, clicking in it does NOTHING. No text appears. Or if it does, it might suddenly jump up into the name or email addy field.
This iPad2's got the last iOS version for this model. It's just too old, not enuf RAM, and can't easily access a lot of sites – including "busy" news-sites with embedded videos & animated ads etc. these days.
(Just FYI, for my first comment today at the top of this page, I used the iPad’s Notes app, but I didn’t notice that the excerpts I posted used the LynnMall attacker’s name twice. Even though I was able to edit them out (great having that function here 👍🏼) as soon as I submitted it, I think that was why that one went into moderation.)
cheerio gazza, see ya
I'll pass your farewell on to gazza – if I can find him.
Cheerio rood. 👍🏼
sigh
You were quite specific about what you are a wee bit dubious. I challenged you to self-educate and possibly remove some of your doubt. Never mind, it was obviously asking too much of you.
Have a nice day.
My point was that where the mothers & sisters are part of a modern day, normal, liberal & progressive Muslim family (which, in NZ, by far the overwhelming majority are) there's not usually any need for them to be involved in rehabilitation & deradicalisation programmes. Their sons & brothers are well-socialised just in their normal upbringing.
Where sons & brothers go off the rails for whatever reason & get sucked into extremist fundamentalist ideology, they usually cleave to Taliban & IS-like beliefs that their womenfolk have no right to direct them, that it should be the other way round.
The LynnMall attacker's mum (& others in his whanau) say they tried to talk him out of his extremist beliefs, but they couldn't. There've been female suicide attackers, as well as men. The Sri Lankan bombings after the Christchurch mosques attacker were perpetrated by a whole family unit, I think.
The reasons for these attacks are complex. “Lone wolves” are individuals; they don’t fit into a box. And one-size-fits-all derad programmes don’t work for everyone. They need to be tailored to the individual, from what I’ve read. Paul Buchanan's done a good analysis (posted above) of whether this attacker was even a terrorist.
But if you think I'm meaning something other than what I've said, & that you can read my mind, & I can read yours, you're mistaken.
deep sigh
As expected, you’re sticking to your guns and refuse to open your mind and widen your horizon. Do you ever switch eyes?
When I read a quote like that, my first reaction is to do some research. You did not, because you already know the answer, don’t you?
However, if you’re not a wee bit dubious about it and in fact quite agree with that statement by Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand then indeed I was mistaken and I apologise for the confusion.
I see these issues from as many sides & viewpoints as I can. I'm not fixed in my views on Islam, Muslims, or Islamic terrorists, & I still have no flippin idea what you're on about. I'm not a mind reader.
I thought this was a better place to swap knowledge & opinions than, say, Kiwiblog.
But it's all right, mate. I've lost interest.
All the best with the mind-reading & cryptography. 
Final comment: I agree with her that ideally there should be "women at table" in any derad programme. My comment was in relation to "the mothers & sisters being the most effective" at deradicalising people.
I haven't seen anything in my research yet to back that up. And I've spent enuf time explaining why that doesn't always work.
Hugs.
So close yet so far.
At least we’re talking about one and the same thing here. Phew!
Of course, you haven’t seen any research to back that up [darn algorithms], and you didn’t go looking for it either. You simply wrote if off and criticised it as something dubious.
You cannot explain anything if you haven’t seen any other research and because you haven’t seen anything else, until today from Aliya Danzeisen of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, you didn’t go looking for it either. It is a circular argument and a sign of confirmation bias AKA a dog chasing its own tail.
QED
BTW, where is that odd reasoning coming from that something that doesn’t always work has no validity or veracity? How would you know anyway if you haven’t seen or done any research to back that up? It is an escape route for you in case there’s some research to back it up, so you can fob it off ‘because it doesn’t always work’.
QED
So, if it is not the most effective, is it effective at all, in your opinion? Maybe we find some kind of middle ground here …
Thank you for the hugs, BTW.
Most of the research & reports I've come across so far is from the UK, where they were developing serious problems with increasing numbers of Muslim inmates convicted for criminal offences getting radicalised in the prisons.
They've had various different programmes in different prisons & a relatively recent conprehensive review following attacks by ex-inmates.
There's still mixed success, I believe. One paper (or article) indicated that the most effective programmes have been those run by a couple of well-known & respected de-radicalised extremists themselves.
One of them says he de-radicalised himself. He just concluded over time that killing innocents was obviously wrong, couldn't be justified & wended his own way out & into more orthodox Islam.
As to whether mothers & sisters might be effective in some cases, sure. It could well be that Alia is right about mothers & sisters being the best de-radicalisers for some.
But it doesn't follow that just because she holds the position she does, & said it, that they are in all cases (for reasons I've already traversed). Any more than The Pope can tell us how to rehabilitate sexual offending priests.
Thank you.
I agree with the first part. I don’t think Aliya Danzeisen argued the second part.
Don’t you wonder why she’d hold “the position she does”? Do you think that it is because of her PoV and/or maybe because there’s possibly some actual research to back it up?
No. I assume she has the skills, knowledge, motivation & drive to fill it and sees a need for the Council to exist.
I don't know. I haven't come across anything yet that reaches the conclusion she posits. I mention those other matters I do because I've been interested in this topic for years. Ever since 9/11. I've read the Quran. Read many Hadith. Started with a few of the usual suspect anti-Muslim sites. Debated with Muslims online. Got caught out having only the most cursory understanding of Islam, & spent years finding out how complex and multi-faceted it is.
Nobody's an expert, not even Muslims, in every sect or aspect of Islam. There's not a completely rigid doctrine. It's quite interesting how much is left to Imams & scholars to consider and issue opinions (fatwahs) on. Sharia has numerous different interpretations. Not all Islamic countries have the same Sharia codes.
Blimin iPad2 inserted extra characters into my username! Reply's gone into moderation.
But I'll add that I've only known 3 Muslims reasonably well. 1 female Pakeha convert, 1 Iraqi divorced female, & 1 Somali gentleman that I worked with for 2 years. They were all lovely, peaceful, loving people.
Good news! Arctic and Antarctic sea ice volume is the highest it has been for 9 years! We are saved!
https://osisaf-hl.met.no/v2p1-sea-ice-index
Actually, probably not. The extent is highest for 9 years, but that doesn't also mean that the volume is likewise up.
And it is thinning as per a Russian captain (see https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/09/08/on-thin-ice-near-north-pole-a-warning-on-climate-change-a74995).
And the 84,000km2 lost v the 3000km2 gained?
Extent and Volume are two completely different measurements. The first is 2 dimensional and second has 3 dimensions. Your excitement is about what used to be a skyscaper now being a thin slab of concrete.
I suspect that you're a founding member of the modern flat-earth society. They appear to have dimensional myopia as well.
BTW: You should really rename yourself as just Thick or Ignorant. Grumpy would imply that you know how to think – and apparently that isn't the case. I'm not sure that you aren't engaging in false advertising.
Just a minute while I phone this one in.
Fresh water freezes at a higher temperature than salt water.
Fresh water is also lighter than salt water.
Before it is mixed by wave action and or currents, fresh water floats on top of salt water in a thin layer.
Glaciers are made of fresh water.
Glaciers have been melting into the sea at a record rate, causing a freshening of the Northern Ocean.
This freshening is slowing the Atlantic Meritional Overturning Current, AMOC, that transports heat from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere, causing a cooling effect at the North Pole particularly.
This is why it is called 'Climate Change'
Good news everyone!
[removed “F” from user name}
AlJazeera tv newshour is reporting that international reaction to the new Taliban interim Cabinet appointments is mixed.
[The reporter's Charlotte Bellis, ex-TV three, in Kabul, who has established very good personal relationships with their leadership & complains to them if she is abused or mistreated by their less-sophisticated footsoldiers. Aljaz tv has several Kiwi reporters & news anchors & technical staff]
China has pledged $31 million US in aid.
Locals' reactions range from support of their appointees & wishes for them to now just get on with governing, providing jobs, getting the ecomony back up & running etc – to disappointment & resentment there are no women Cabinet Ministers, & no other sects or ethnic minority appointments.
That Taleban government is already playing a downward auction to accept the most foreign aid cash for the lowest possible moral conditions.
Who will win out of that?
This remains to be seen, Ad. These dudes are a bit of an enigma at the moment.
Taliban footsoldiers & local rural commanders from the countryside aren't usually very well educated & they have longstanding strong conservative cultural & religious views.
But I get the impression many of them just joined the Taliban because half the country's in need of humanitarian aid & there are no jobs. The former Afghan government was thoroughly corrupt. Some local commanders didn't even pay their troops or police officers. Bribery was endemic.
Now the Taliban can legally acquire taxes & customs duties & start building up cash reserves. But some educated women there, & ethnic minorities, are showing every sign of not being prepared to put up with the excessively patriarchial & sectarian rule of the past Taliban.
And despite their claims they've now subdued Panjshir, there is still the core of an insurgency against them. Masoud (?) their leader hasn't been caught & has called for a national uprising against them.
There's no shortage of arms in Afganistan. It's a rugged country whose various ethnic tribes have been switching allegiances & warring with each other for centuries.
If the Talban don't adapt & adopt a more tolerant, more inclusive, less misogynistic approach, they could get bogged down & economically ruined trying to subdue an insurgency against THEM.
By the end of this year Afghanistan will have a similar global media profile to Kyrgystan or Mozambique. Tens of billions of aid will somehow continue to be poured into them for little result other than a few getting rich.
There are plenty of other problems to deal with.
They could be playing silly buggers with the remaining 100-200 Americans still living there. They're effectively hostages.
And they're reported to be making it difficult for Afghans to leave, insisting that they must have passports or travel documents & visas.
We'll have to see how quickly they fall off the Western media radar. They won't disappear from Aljazeera's interest & scrutiny.
They seem to be off to a good start
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9970003/Taliban-BAN-Afghan-women-playing-sport.html
Sadly they are showing every sign of being the same reactionary & extreme misogynistic patriarchal fundamentalists that they were in the 1990s.
And the Western world in punishing them financially is probably just going to increase the poverty & misery of their own trapped civilians – unless they are toppled or forced to liberalise their concept of Sharia by an insurgency.
They are making the Saudis & Iranians look liberal & progressive.
I know quite a few Iranians and I have found them to be exceptionally liberal, decent folks. They seem to live in a different universe to their leaders.
Yes, I believe you. Aljazeera tv has shown interviews of young Iranians, males & females (20-30-somethings) sitting together, al fresco, at cafes in Tehran. Using their smartphones, several speaking English & other languages, wearing blue jeans, & though the young ladies are also wearing hijabs, they're just draped over the back half of their head, their hair is showing, they wear makeup.
They're well-educated. They don't dare directly criticise the theocratic regime but they clearly don't like its fundamentalism. There have been middle-aged interviewees there who are also very liberal. They don’t like so much of their country’s budget being spent on the Republican Guard’s fighters in other countries; they want it spent on social programmes & infrastructure etc.
Out in the provinces, I gather, the old conservative misogynous theocratic rules of behaviour & dress are more likely to still be enforced, & generally speaking the extremely powerful state-within-a-state Republican Guard is feared, even in Tehran.
These more enlightened, liberal, young Muslim folk give hope for the future as the Old Guard die out. But Trump's alienated them with the resumption of even worse sanctions that have impacted them too, & with his assassination of Soleimani.
Listen/read it and weep.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/13/the-other-afghan-women
Here's her newsclip:
Any body aware of another attack (DOS) on ANZ this am.
This one?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/live-cyber-attack-fears-kiwibank-anz-nz-post-metservice-back-online-after-cert-flags-cyber-attacks/KJMXHDACPES4BP3FZ465LESJFM/
Thank you.
No another attack. That attack stopped me as well.
Can't get on to ANZ as of 8am this morning.
Not seen any thing in media as yet.
It's quite likely. A cybersecurity expert on RNZ this morning says yesterday was possibly just the start of a ransom campaign. They take sites down with DDOS attacks for an hour or two one day, then do it again next day or two for longer, then contact the site owners & tell them how much they need to pay to make them stop.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018811635
Thanks Gezza
Yep, can't get in.
As if those directly on the front line are not under extreme pressure not being supported by management if this report is correct. Not only those at Auckland hospital but all that we have been doing to eliminate could be undone by a failing from such as this.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/covid-19-delta-outbreak-chris-hipkins-says-outbreak-could-push-back-phased-reopening-to-world/ENOACS3WZQWCIAEIUXOQ3RIDRE/
Sorry wrong link to support above. Do our frontline staff whilst under the pressure that this outbreak is placing them under, need added stress like this? And do we need to risk extending Aucklands level 4 further ?
To go to the length of "The allegations come as WorkSafe issued an improvement notice, forcing the Auckland DHB to engage with its health and safety representatives." to achieve warranted improvement is simply eye watering.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-delta-outbreak-auckland-dhb-getting-600-visitors-daily-alleged-sex-with-patient/64RJYV3HCR537RQGTWQSUIUFTQ/
Any idea why we havent had a massive public health campaign outlining some of the health factors that greatly increase the likelihood of ending up severly ill with Covid?
Surely if we can get prople to cut down on tobacco, alcohol and get some exercise it will help both prognosis and ease some burden on the health system?
I could hazard a guess that those factors are already well-known to the folk that would note & heed such advice, & that those who currently ignore such advice would continue to do so, so why bother?
Plus, the Covid 19 & Three Waters campaigns are probably already costing a fortune?
Not the first priority in/of an elimination strategy.
General health and wellbeing of the population is and has been part of Government policies for years.
Stop bringing common sense and public health into this. Wear your face covering and get your jab already.
Today's Herald title for Mike Hosking states the Government is good at creating fear but we need hope. If the Government had played the Delta virus down and not repeatedly emphasised how dangerous and contagious it was, the first person to accuse the Government of looking the other way would be Mike Hosking himself. One suspects he is not happy the case numbers are trending down.
I'd just seen the heading "Premium opinion: This Government has been superb on Covid fear – now it’s time for some hope, writes Mike Hosking."
Someone so hopelessly residing in negative territory, so determinedly seeding mistrust talking hope?
"Premium opinion"? Hosking??
Hopefully that just means paywalled.
I saw that and laughed out loud. Mr hypocrisy wants his title back.
I thought that dum bastard was moving to Aussie .
Shameless.
We hope Hosking will be gone by Christmas – we fear he might not be.
He’s become endemic.
Hosking is the mind-killer. Hosking is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face Mike Hosking. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where Hosking has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Apologies to Frank Herbert.
Quite a status elevation for Hosking but a good one
I get it – article about Hosking, big picture of a prick (or picture of a big prick.)
Mike? No no!! He's "Bob each way."
The Hosk is always trying to dig up dirt and put a spin on things to discredit the current Government, take anything he says with a grain of salt, he is not the smartest kid on the block.
His handlers want the border open.
Most likely, collective action, mutual obligation and the common good just make Hosk want to spew. Those things are just so damn not him.
This article really buries the lead in deference to the exploiters! I do admit that gas may be a necessary;
eviltransitional energy source, but still; better left in the ground, if at all possible. And even if it is taken out, the land should be put right before the exploiters cut and run. The quote in the 3rd last paragraph from Taranaki Energy Watch spokesperson Sarah Roberts, should have been much nearer the top, with a better headline like: Polluters whinge about the proposed cost of being made to clean up after themselves.https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/451103/energy-bosses-say-proposed-bill-poses-risk-to-electricity-supply
Note that it was only Tamarind Taranaki Limited who "collapsed", the larger Tamarind multinational continues to thrive, and even operate in Taranaki:
http://www.tamarindresources.com/new-zealand–tui.html
Why on earth is Middlemore Hospital allowing visitors in to see sick relatives during this level 4 lockdown. If Residential care homes are forbidding visitors because of their frail vulnerable residents why are sick and immune compromised patients not being treated with the same level of care. Staff are having to deal with haphazard mask use by visitors and one apparently managed to get it over with a patient in a room with other patients. Middlemore needs a management broom sweep.
We are managing to reduce positive cases on a daily basis on sheer luck alone. There are some crazy decisions being made during this pandemic. Riding along on a wing and a prayer. Pray it stays that way.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/451104/nurses-organisation-horrified-at-hundreds-of-daily-visitors-to-patients-at-auckland-dhb
[link fixed]
No visitors is fucking inhumane.
The issue here is with management of visitors.
According to the blog of the Live Update on Stuff by Brittney Deguara (good job!), one of Bloomfield’s staffers has been in contact with the Nurses’ Organisation about the approach to visitors by ADHB and it appears to be consistent with national policy. It will be reviewed and revised by MoH and the updated guidance is expected soon and will apply to all DHBs.
Many of us have had to make concessions eg unable to visit terminally ill, missing funerals of close relatives etc.
Do we have a 0 risk factor in our elimination strategy or not? I thought we are doing everything possible to eliminate, obviously not everything. Imagine an outbreak as a result of this policy, and being told that Auckland has to stay at level 4 for another month or more. All so a few feel privileged to visit those in hospital, why not at retirement villages where those residence are separated from family ?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/451104/nurses-organisation-horrified-at-hundreds-of-daily-visitors-to-patients-at-auckland-dhb
Nope, we do not.
When my parents were going through the illnesses they had at the end of their life they were often in Middlemore. There really isn't enough staff to keep people comfortable only enough to keep them alive. Things like spoon feeding them so they eat, helping them to the toilet rearranging pillows and just reassuring them is something family can do to keep them more comfortable. I think it would be very hard when visitors aren't allowed for vulnerable people.
My phones relatively new I cant get it to paste links on TS everywhere else is fine my tablet maybe 2 years old I can comment at all with again only on TS
In the tool bars above the typing window, there is a symbol that looks like a diagonal bracket around a slash (the empty diagonal brackets/ chainlink beside it unlinks links from quoted text which saves moderator time). To link you now have to click that and paste the link into the URL box that appears.
"[email protected]
121 of the cases from our recent outbreak have been under nine years old.
Ardern says they can't be vaccinated, so we must get vaccinated for them.
If you have any doubts about vaccinations, please, do it for the kids."
From Twitter.
Speaking of saving the kids, why are schools still exempt from L2 protocols? So we now have masks and no standing up in buses, unless its a school bus. We now have masks in all indoor venues, unless its a school.
That’s a little misleading. For example, masks at schools are not mandatory but they are allowed and encouraged.
https://www.education.govt.nz/covid-19/face-coverings/
There’s been various statements from Ministers and the likes about school sitations recently again and Google is your friend.
Lastly, the PM ought to qualify her statement because it is misleading too. That is, if she said those exact words in the tweet.
Encouraged is a long way away from mandatory.
It'd go a long way to encouraging pre-teens to wear masks if masks of appropriate size were provided for them by schools. My elder child can wear an adult one (with a couple of twists of straps to shorten it), but no chance with my six year old! Her Granny got measurements the other day and is having some sewn for her, but there's a bit of a waiting list for some reason.
Also the cost is not inconsiderable. A fresh disposable mask every school for two kids would be at least $10/ week. A custom mask (two really needed; so one can be washed while the other worn) would be more initially, but less longterm (except they'd get lost like socks).
So for a solo parent on a benefit, that's really not possible without cutting into bill money.
I was thinking more of secondary schools. Children under 12 are not required to wear masks at all.
My daughter’s school has over 1600 students plus teachers. With all the students passing each other in hallways every hour and forming into different groups for each class there quite some potential to spread the virus.
I agree that the state should be providing masks for schools to distribute to students. There is a duty of care.
Do you want unvaccinated and unmasked children sitting next to your daughter?
I don't want that no. But requiring students be vaccinated in order to attend school is a considerably more complex issue than simply having them wear masks under level 2. If a secondary school student stops at the shop on the way to school or if they use public transport they are required to wear a mask, but not on a crowded school bus and in a crowded school. Schools are already pedantic about their pathetic school uniform policies so adding a mask can't be a big deal from an enforcement perspective.
My daughter’s school has brought in a level 2 policy that the students can't leave during the day unless a parent picks them up which is not a level 2 protocol, but do nothing about masks. Well a big F off to that.
It's time to talk about vaccine mandates.
After 9/11 the new regulations to fly on airplanes were huge – the world's travelling people adjusted.
We need proof of double vaccination for people to attend school, university or polytech.
Even when we get to 80% vaccination rates nationwide we are going to need proof of double shots to get into a hotel, or bar, or stadium.
Same for public transport: load your vaccine proof onto your HopCard and SuperGold Card.
Neither your airline nor your travel insurance provider is going to take freeloaders.
MoE is considering the ethics of teaching people who don't wear a mask. If they're that keen on not wearing a mask, they can be taught from home.
It’s going to be just like one’s freedom to smoke: do it by yourself in your own car and own home. Otherwise not.
Carve out exceptions if you like … but form the rule first.
What a load of totalitarian nonsense! Each year, 100s of Kiwis die of the flu and despite safe and effective vaccines being available, it was never made mandatory. Ever. I don’t hope you’re going to suggest that this should be added to the list of mandatory measures, together with meningitis perhaps, and maybe HPV too for good measure. FFS, this is Aotearoa-New Zealand, not some dystopia from a Mad Max movie. The people most at risk of severe illness and death form Covid-19 are the unvaccinated ones. In the current outbreak, most positives are unvaccinated; the actual numbers are somewhere, but I can’t be arsed trying to find them right now.
There was surprisingly muted protest when they brought in biometric chips into passports, iris-reading scanners and full body scanners at international airports. It's a post-9-11 cost of living.
Did anyone wear a condom before the AIDS epidemic? Pretty standard way of public health now.
We've given up so many civic freedoms under level 4, we will certainly lose a few permanently to keep the gains we've attained.
Welcome to the new Post-Covid world of vaccine mandates. Like 9/11 we will follow the US example and see compulsory vaccines first on all health workers, airlines, enforcement staff like Policy and military, then frontline workers, then customer staff, hotel staff, bar staff, …
…and then all those health insurers are going to remind every single workplace of the premiums all unvaccinated workers will cost them.
… straight after that Worksafe is going to be part of enforcing the liability of employers for correctly supplied and correctly worn PPE.
We have a disease that is caused by the movement of people through air. It's not the flu, or meningitis, or chicken pox.
Aotearoa-New Zealand is going to comply with what the rest of the world tells them to comply with.
The Simpson's call it again.
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/mummies-found-with-golden-tongues-in-egypt-city-of-taposiris/?
Maybe not gold, But Hans Sprungfeld corpse had a silver tongue.