Say (Hope not) the baby in the blood vaccination case dies before the operation can take place, could charges be brought against those who were opposed to the blood from covid vaccinated donors?
"However, the NZ Freedom and Outdoors Party, of which the parents’ lawyer Sue Grey is co-leader, is planning a vigil for 10am."
Lots of rain and stormy weather in Grafton this morning would be good. In that event of course some loon will suggest it's God's expressing Her displeasure about the blood being used.
If the protestors are forced indoors maybe they can get down to planning positive steps forward. Like how to set up truly safe bloodbanks so people have a choice.
I can see them having as many categories as possible with blood specifically from:
those vaccinated for covid, those not vaccinated for covid, those not vaccinated with any antibodies.
Catholics, Muslims, Atheists, blood from those with European ethnicity, from Pacifica, from Māori, from Asians, and so on down the track.
I'm sure there'll be some in the Sue Grey and Liz Gunn camps who'd be right into that.
While the article is not entirely correct this theme is…
"By under-promising and over-delivering, a Labour government could present itself as both sensible and competent. Not much might be on offer, but if you said you were going to deliver – and you did – then your voters weren’t just grateful, they were impressed. The days of big dreams might be over, but Clark’s clear-headed grasp of her own and her party’s limitations, made it possible for some of the people’s smaller dreams to come true."
It may have been more a case of lingering capability from an earlier iteration…..there were still politicians and public servants within the system that had experience of a time when Governments had greater control/influence of the economy.
The question I am pondering (and i think the author is) is not how can Labour be re-elected but rather how/why did they make such a mess of the opportunity?
I agree it's very unlikely they will be re-elected….though 3 Waters is only part of the story.
Absolutely right! And when Natz equivocate about keeping water in public ownership (and we all know Act are the driving force behind the Natz) then the public will reject the right emphatically.
After all, the Natz have a record of a) ignoring the wishes of the people and b) selling the family silver – both of which gets right up the noses of voters.
Their opposition to Three Waters will cost the Natz the election.
As emphatically as a Nat can rule out asset sales, subject to change [of Government], of course. It comes as natural to them as a dog licking his bollocks.
"I've said to you before, we don't see any need for privatisation for other assets. We said that six months or so ago, but that's our position as we go into the election next year, is we don't see a need for privatisation of any assets at this point," Luxon said.
When asked by Bridge if he would go further and promise not to sell any state-owned asset, Luxon said, "I can tell you right now that is not on our agenda, it's not something Nicola Willis and I are thinking about."
It appears that OT are determined to continue their appeals process (albeit under the false flag of Moana's mother) – right up to the Supreme Court – in the 'Moana' case.
So much for ensuring that the welfare of the child is the centre of their decision-making process.
Ideology is clearly much more important than child welfare – which, perhaps says something about the litany of disasters over children in their care which regularly appear in the media.
Continuing to drag the family through the courts – in an attempt at some form of vindication for the social worker involved (or the principles she was espousing) – is an outrageous abuse of power and privilege.
The appropriate venue for a policy change (should the Minister agree that one is needed) is through Parliament. Rather than attempting to do an end run around democratic decision-making by constant appeals in the hope of finding a sympathetic (and politically activist) judge.
The best welfare for this little girl is to leave her, and her foster family, alone. All evidence (even the biased social worker) has stated that she is happy, settled, well-cared-for and loved. All of which were conspicuously missing when she was in the 'care' of her birth-mother. The one who (prompted and supported by OT) is now crusading against the foster-placement.
Can't recall where I read it, but someone posted the view that OT is using the Moana case as part of its long-running war with the Family court judge who (justifiably) criticised a social worker for taking a two-faced stance with Moana's carers and their lawyer. That worker engaged in deliberate deception.
The case has very nasty implications for our justice system. There was behind the scenes interference with the legal proceedings by the Principal Family court judge after a senior Maori figure alleged "bullying" of the witness (bullying is so in vogue these days).
In my view, the judges who tried to apply pressure behind the scenes the during the family court case have breached their judicial oaths (which require justice to be delivered without fear or favour.) They should resign from office immediately.
Child who was badly neglected (show fear around men, so possibly had been sexually abused) removed from her mother (who from memory had had all her other children removed).
A loving (Pakeha) family fostered Moana with the view of it being a long term placement. Moana's health improved dramatically and she thrived with the "Smiths".
OT (who are likely infused with CRT) decided that the Smiths weren't catering for Moana's cultural needs. They wanted her removed from the Smiths even though she was thriving.
The Family Court judge slaimed OT for putting ideology ahead of the childs best interests. OT social worker was lying to the Judge on the stand.
Moana's mother appealedthe decision (her complete lack of insight over her utter failures to care for her children and her complete lack of gratitude to the Smiths, speaks volumes to me).as did OT and the Maori family in Wellington Moana was to be placed with (the Judge had come up with a very elegant decision that Moana would spend some holiday time with them as Moana's brother was in their custody and also see her mother, but firmly remain with the Smiths. The Smiths fought for Moana, putting up with all sortsof crap from OT, being dragged through the court. They told the Court they loved Moana as their own).
Mason (lawyer) is taking the case to the Court of Appeal, because "The Treaty of Waitangi provisions have not been properly interpreted".
How f….g stupid. I hope that Court of Appeal boat the case out. This is using the Treaty of Waitangi to promote an ideology. None of these people give a dam about Moana.
Really pissed at the idea we the tax payer may be paying for these appeals.
One has to wonder in the first few years of her life how did Moana's mother cater for her cultural needs, given her utter neglect of all her children??
Agree with all the sentiments. This case is a total disgrace. Once again a vulnerable child is being essentially abused by Oranga Tamariki. And we know there are plenty more out there.
When we try to fix one problem, zealots create a different and bigger one. Happens a lot, especially in social services and education (especially primary education where various faddish 'pedagogies' sweep through like viruses).
I've seen this a bit in my own circles – children taken from stable, loving foster situations at the whim of uncaring biological relatives and social workers. There was a very good episode of the series "I Am" recently that covered experience of two siblings who had this happen multiple times. It is actually the norm, not an exception. Those siblings were also separated from each other (and repeatedly abused along the way of course)
Social workers even express concern that they don't want the children forming bonds at their new 'temporary' homes, which is an appalling abuse in itself
In Oz a woman has been jailed for 15 months for blocking one of five lanes in a GW protest.
The story about how the Premier of NSW rushed through legislation to enable this. It's what happens when the neo-liberalism is bi-partisan, authoritarianism reigns.
Both the government and opposition dismissed criticisms on Monday, with Perrottet saying the jail sentence was “pleasing to see”.
The NSW Labor leader, Chris Minns, said he did not regret supporting the laws, a move which angered some on his backbench at the time.
The climate activist had made an entire city suffer with her selfish emotional actions, Magistrate Allison Hawkins said. You do damage to your cause when you do childish stunts like this.
Its absolutely clear Mallards inhuman torture program was much much worse. While these protesters may be locked up for 15 months (having been prosecuted for a law introduced after their arrest), they won't be forced to listen to Baby Shark by their government even once.
Mallard on the other hand implemented a completely inhumane torture program to which we otherwise only subject many parents and anybody who enters the wrong shopping mall.
Also (for the Guardian) just for consistency sake, kindly retract all your smears of, and call for the release of Australian citizen Julian Assange.
Mallard on the other hand implemented a completely inhumane torture program to which we otherwise only subject many parents and anybody who enters the wrong shopping mall.
We also face Mother Nature turning her sprinklers on, sometimes without warning and sometimes this happens when we are camping outdoors legally. To imitate this by doing it to people who are camping somewhere illegally is as cruel as the music.
to supporting a law that bans some forms of protest
So it is wrong to ban overnight protest at Parliament Grounds? I cannot see the argument actually. The ban on camping there has been well known for ages. It was deliberately defied by the protestors.
As for the results the Aus results are very much more severe. The NZ protestors so far seem to have been dealt with by ubiquitous access to a large wet bus ticket despite the damage and injuries caused.
So it is wrong to ban overnight protest at Parliament Grounds? I cannot see the argument actually. The ban on camping there has been well known for ages. It was deliberately defied by the protestors.
The argument is that the right to protest should be protected as one of our highest priorities in a democracy. Progressives wanting to pick and choose which protest is legitimate based on their own politics is dangerous. Are you ok with Nact doing this when they are in power? Banning some forms of climate activism for instance?
Oh look, they already started last time they were in power.
Whatever bullshit the protestors were doing on parliament grounds, if we say it's ok for parliament to treat them badly, then we have to accept that happening to the protests we support.
NZ's law, the Australians, and in the UK, right wing governments are moving to remove core democratic rights. It doesn't help with the left support that.
Clear thread derail. There’s no comparison between the two events.
This is Australia providing no bail and 8 months in jail to someone who had the temerity to remind them of their coal addiction hurting people around the globe.
We are not talking anyone threatening violence, falsifying claims about science, acting out militaristic fantasies and having a philosophy of death to politicians. As well as threatening people at their place of work.
It’s a protest with a clear set of aims and a desired outcome. Rather than an occupation without coordination and rational goals, or an end date.
This would be like giving Groundswell 8 months without bail for holding up traffic.
A better target would be the lack of transparency being snuck into bills. And a number of other things.
I wasn't comparing the events, I was talking about what is happening when the centre left supports right wing moves to restrict rights to protest. There is a shift in culture happening, and it is dangerous.
But thanks for confirming that you are ok with protest being limited for the protests you disapprove of.
protest is limited in lots of places. There are various norms we have for managing that and things that overstep the boundaries. Mallard pushed those boundaries and a big chunk of the left cheered because they disapprove of and disagree with the protestors. Which basically says, we support the right to protest when it suits us.
For instance, newsense said,
It’s a protest with a clear set of aims and a desired outcome. Rather than an occupation without coordination and rational goals, or an end date.
This is very similar to what conservatives and those in favour of the status quo have said about Occupy, or XR.
I'm not arguing that the protestors should have been allowed to occupy parliament and no action be taken. I'm pointing out that the ethos is being changed and the left are part of that.
IMO, this description picks up far to much of a media narrative which involves anti government (because Labour) biases.
All I think happened is that an occupation of parliament was planned from the beginning, and is what happened. The police plan from the beginning was to wait them out, but eventually a decision was undertaken that they had to be removed. The police were extremely cautious in their treatment of the protesters.
Now some details which support this,
1) The protesters turned up from day 1 with camping and occupation equipment.
2) It was communicated that camping (e.g occupation) was not allowed from day 1.
3) Attempts were made early on to enter parliament requiring a significant on going police presence to bolster parliament security. Never the less the occupation was allowed to continue.
4) There was media discussion indicating an expectation the protest would pack up during the torrential rain storm (which they didn't).
5) The police needed to bring in officers from other parts of the country to continue their stance re the protesters (so reducing available officers from other areas).
6) The police eventually started shrinking down the area occupied by vehicles.
7) There was a reasonable expectation, given their rhetoric and social media communications, that the protesters had weapons.
8) The police started looking for weapons held by the protesters.
9) Over the course of this many officers (and probably a lot more protesters) were catching Covid-19 and bringing it home to their families (which was reducing available officers). This is the main reason the police force have decided the occupation needed to be removed.
Mallard really had very little to do with any of this, and other than some trivial tit bits which the media (+TDB) have focused the narrative on, no speaker would have done any different. This was a demonstration of routine de-escalation tactics in action.
you appear to have missed my argument. I’m talking about how the left views the right to protest and the tendency to devalue it when the protestors aren’t left approved.
Mallard instructed parliament to turn sprinklers on the protestors, and to play incessant music. Obviously this was a stupid tactic, but it was also not his place to do that because of the importance of parliament not suppressing the right to protest. It was for the police to remove the protestors. I can’t see how it was routine de-escalation, nor am I convinced that any Speaker would have done the same, but precedent has certainly been set (which is my point).
Newsense said,
It’s a protest with a clear set of aims and a desired outcome. Rather than an occupation without coordination and rational goals, or an end date.
It’s the wrong argument. If that were Occupy or XR or indigenous protest, then an end date should not be on the left’s list of acceptable protest. Think Bastion Point for instance. Likewise, Occupy was often criticised for not having a coherent plan or goal, but this was largely because critiques didn’t understand the processes being used.
The anti-mandate protest was a hot mess. Some of the people were just outright arseholes, some were politically naive, some where aligned with the alt right manipulation, some were dangerous, some were simply disenfranchised and fucked off. That’s not a complete list. But despite that, they had a right to protest. There is plenty of room to criticise how they did various aspects of the protest, but the tendency for people to frame the protest as illegitmate is tied up with the beliefs of those people about the validity of the cause and that just takes us to the erosion of the right to protest. We cannot say that the right exists as long as we approve of what they are protesting. Because then the right can say the same thing, and they already have by banning some oil protests.
We can look to the UK and Australia to see just how bad this can get, but it’s dangerous to assume that NZ is immune to such shifts. We have a current reprieve because of our centre left government, but that won’t last forever.
Long bow.
If there is no clear purpose to a protest other than intimidate and change the government, partly through fear, that is not a protest in a democratic society.
It’s not non-violent direct action. It’s violent action. The kind which usually, even in a punitive democratic culture gets bail. Where there is no potential negotiation and no one to negotiate with, there is no protest in a democratic society.
This girl is an Australian political prisoner for protesting.
And if these are the bs discussions going on in the Green Party, they are going to love a Luxon/Rimmer/Peters arrangement, with Mark Mitchell as police minister and the factions in the police who were already illegally trialing monitoring software given free license. Still bet there’s a good chance ram raids will magically cease to be the major issue…
The harm principle is still a fairly good one. Apply it to both situations and let me know how you go.
I would apply it to both situations if I knew what you were talking about. Where did the NZ Greens come into this?
If there is no clear purpose to a protest other than intimidate and change the government, partly through fear, that is not a protest in a democratic society.
It’s not non-violent direct action. It’s violent action. The kind which usually, even in a punitive democratic culture gets bail. Where there is no potential negotiation and no one to negotiate with, there is no protest in a democratic society.
Your points here are more on target than earlier.
But the protest wasn’t unified behind violent direct action, that came from some of the factions. It was a hot mess of a range of people and purposes. Some legitimate, some not. We should be pulling apart the hot mess and protecting the right to protest alongside condemning the parts of the protest that were anti-democratic and violent.
And again, my point was that the left applauding Mallard for the sprinklers and incessant music legitimises the right to do worse next time. We can’t have it both ways.
Yes, I’m happy with protestors with no defined goal who are carrying signs calling for the death of elected representatives, who have routinely spouted violent gibberish defending their alleged rights, to not be allowed to sit in my front garden. Or that of my elected representatives. Who were threatened.
This is not opposition within a democratic framework. It’s opposition attempting to limit the legitimacy of a democratic framework and restrict democracy in action.
Compare Groundswell as a (partially astroturfed ) protest group. They’ve attracted support and had some success. They haven’t used violent rhetoric, they have leaders who express what their protest is about to the media, they meet with politicians. They haven’t burned anything and then without evidence blamed the police on a broadcast. Launching a social media career doesn’t seem to be a factor for them.
They shouldn’t be imprisoned for 8 months without bail.
Can’t see Trevor being Trevor and not rolling out the red carpet and bringing them tea and bikkies being part of a vast right wing anti-protest movement. But again, call it as you see it.
Can’t see Trevor being Trevor and not rolling out the red carpet and bringing them tea and bikkies being part of a vast right wing anti-protest movement. But again, call it as you see it.
Again, what are you on about?
Labour in Australia supported the laws that have put the woman in jail for 15 months for protesting. How can you not see the problem with that?
Iranian security forces are targeting women at anti-regime protests with shotgun fire to their faces, breasts and genitals, according to interviews with medics across the country.
Doctors and nurses – treating demonstrators in secret to avoid arrest – said they first observed the practice after noticing that women often arrived with different wounds to men, who more commonly had shotgun pellets in their legs, buttocks and backs.
[…]
One physician from the central Isfahan province said he believed the authorities were targeting men and women in different ways “because they wanted to destroy the beauty of these women”.
“I treated a woman in her early 20s, who was shot in her genitals by two pellets. Ten other pellets were lodged in her inner thigh. These 10 pellets were easily removed, but those two pellets were a challenge, because they were wedged in between her urethra and vaginal opening,” the physician said. “There was a serious risk of vaginal infection, so I asked her to go to a trusted gynaecologist. She said she was protesting when a group of about 10 security agents circled around and shot her in her genitals and thighs.”
Iran has conducted the first known execution in relation to the anti-government protests that have rocked the country, hanging a man who was found guilty by a revolutionary court of “waging war against God”.
Mohsen Shekari was accused of blocking a street and wounding a member of the pro-regime Basij militia on 25 September, during the early phase of the protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
State media published a video of what it said was Shekari’s confession, which showed him with a bruise on his right cheek.
His family waited outside the jail where he was executed, seeking news of his fate.
edit: btw, remember Elnaz Rekabi, the Iranian rock climber who competed in Seoul without wearing her headscarf? CNN reports her family’s home was demolished by the mullahs
Thank you joe for highlighting this. I was just about to add in this ABC article as well.
About two weeks ago I had an extended conversation with a young Iranian guy here in Australia, who could rightly be described as an activist. There is so much going on that our media is not reporting on. Indeed it was the wall of silence that frustrated him the most. Quite large and persistent protests have taken place in various Australian cities – he showed me the pictures – that have had exactly zero news coverage.
It's common knowledge that the USA was built with slavery, on land stolen from native Americans, but I wasn't aware the USA was also deeply involved in the Chinese opium trade in the early 19th century. The accumulation of this wealth helped the industrialization and the development of the United States.
Recently I read a review of James Bradley's book “The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia” and found a (2015) video, Meet the Author program, featuring James Bradley, presenting his fourth book, “The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia”
It's an impressive talk on the history of USA – China relations from the Opium wars through to the Vietnam War, with eye-opening research detail.
This is slightly long perhaps for many at 1.05hr but he tells a great story, as one comment says "American people misunderstand China at so many levels that their mental images of China have little bearing on reality"
Summary:
The China Mirage is a riveting history of U.S.-China relations from the 19th-century opium trade through World War II and on to the Vietnam War. From both Roosevelt administrations to today, Bradley traces a troubled relationship between two nations, showing how the West has often profoundly misunderstood and underestimated the East.
The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia is the latest book by James Bradley, author of the consecutive New York Times bestsellers Flags of Our Fathers, Flyboys, and The Imperial Cruise. With each of his books, Bradley has exposed hidden truths behind America’s military engagement in Asia, pivoting around the central searing image and story of his father raising the flag on Iwo Jima. With The China Mirage, he seeks to answer one basic question: How did his father end up on that island beach?
The answer can be found as early as the 1840s, when prominent Americans—including Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s grandfather—made their fortunes in the Chinese opium trade. As they profited off addicting millions, American missionaries arrived seeking to westernize Chinese peasants. The myth of a country longing to be Christianized and Americanized and soon to become the United States’ best friend in Asia is the so-called China Mirage, a misperception that American media eagerly propagated, with far-reaching implications through the present.
Bradley opens with a provocative premise: While most Americans trace the roots of World War II to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, few know why the attack occurred. It had little to do with the Axis agenda in Europe and was in fact a reaction to U.S. restrictions on oil exports to Japan—a move calculated to force Japan out of China, freeing China to westernize and ally with the United States.
When Mao Zedong rose to power after World War II, Americans lamented that they had “lost” China, when in fact they had never “had” it—only the dream of a nation conjured in the collective imagination. It was a dream that cost millions of Asian and American lives in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and other Asian conflicts.
The China Mirage shows how the gap between American perception and reality in Asia has had disastrous repercussions. Focusing on the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bradley explores the distorted domestic and foreign policy that has defined U.S.-China relations to the present day.
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: KiwiRail’s seemingly endless requests for more money is damning. At one point, KiwiRail assured Robertson when he was the Finance Minister that the worst-case scenario would be an extra $300 million before requesting $1.2 billion a few months later. Not what most people ...
No one knows what it's likeTo be the bad manTo be the sad manBehind blue eyesNo one knows what it's likeTo be hatedTo be fatedTo telling only liesHave you ever wondered what life must be like for Mike Hosking? Seeing things in black and white through blue tinted specs? In ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two week’s editions.Share More Than A FeildingBike bling, London Read more ...
Hi,I think we all made it through another week — congratulations. I’ve been digesting the new Arab Strap record, which is astonishing. In other news, I’m going to be doing a Webworm popup in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday July 13. I’ll bring a bunch of merch, and some other ...
The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am going to explore the Bill from the perspective of its proponents with their ...
New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be shooting the proposal in the foot. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Associate Education Minister David Seymour is urging the PostPrimary Teachers Association to put learning ahead of ideology. He wants the union leaders to call off their teachers meetings around the country where they hope to muster the strength to undo the government’s plans to establish several ...
What are police for? "Fighting crime" is the obvious answer. If there's a burglary, they should show up and investigate. Ditto if there's a murder or sexual assault. Speeding or drunk or dangerous driving is a crime, so obviously they should respond to that. And obviously, they should respond to ...
Michael Reddell writes – I got curious yesterday about how the Australia/New Zealand real exchange rate had changed over the last decade, and so dug out the data on the changes in the two countries’ CPIs. Over the 10 years from March 2014 to March 2024, New Zealand’s ...
Graham Adams writes that 20 years after the land march, judges are quietly awarding a swathe of coastal rights to iwi. Early this month, an hour-long documentary was released by TVNZ to mark the 20th anniversary of the land-rights march to oppose Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act. The account ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has passed an unpleasant milestone: she has now been absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year. Tana is on full pay while she is suspended, and will benefit from a ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is no coincidence that two Labour should-have-been MPs are making the most noise about public sector cuts. As assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons has been at the forefront of revealing where the next round of state sector job ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a ...
This is one of the (extra) weekly columns on music or movies. Plenty of solid analyses of Possession exist online and most of them – inevitably – contain spoilers. This column is more in the way of a first-timer’s aid to getting your initial bearings. You don’t need to have ...
I am painting in oil, a portrait of a manWho has taken all the heart aches,And all the pain he can stand.I am using all the colors of blue,I have here on my stand.I am painting in oil, a portrait of a man.This has been an interesting week for me. ...
Helen Clark joins the Hoon as a special guest talking whether Aotearoa should join Aukus II, and her views on the fast track legislation and how Luxon and the new Government are performing. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts ...
With an election due in less than nine months, Britain’s embattled PM, Rishi Sunak, gave a useful speech earlier this week. He made a substantial case for his government, perhaps as compelling as is possible in the current environment. Quite an achievement. His overall theme was security, first pulling ...
Open access notablesPublicly expressed climate scepticism is greatest in regions with high CO2 emissions, Pearson et al., Climatic Change:We analysed a recently released corpus of climate-related tweets to examine the macro-level factors associated with public declarations of climate change scepticism. Analyses of over 2 million geo-located tweets in the U.S. showed that climate ...
You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the “Brahmins’” emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
“Members of Parliament don’t work for us, they represent us, an entirely different thing. As with so much that has turned out badly, the re-organising of MPs’ responsibilities began with the Fourth Labour Government. That’s when they began to be treated like employees – public servants – whose diaries had ...
It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a third medical school in New Zealand, ...
Time To Choose: Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into AUKUS’s “Pillar 2” – or they are going to China.HAD ZHENG HE’S FLEET sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks ...
Henry Ergas writes – When in Randall Jarrell’s Pictures from an Institution, a college president is accused of being a hypocrite, the novel’s narrator retorts that the description is grossly unfair. After all, the man is still far from the stage of moral development at which the charge ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ reports: The Education Review Office says too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. In a report published on Monday, the review office said 60 percent of the principals it interviewed said their new teachers were not ready. ...
New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
Hi all,Firstly - thank you! You guys are awesome. The response I’ve received to last night’s mail has been quite overwhelming. It’s a ghastly day outside, but there are no clouds in here.In case you didn’t read my email and are wondering what on earth I’m talking about you can ...
If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gaye Taylor As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate. No longer quenched by winter, nor quelled by the ...
Half of Christchurch City Holdings Ltd’s directors and its chair resigned en masse last night in protest at Christchurch City Council’s demand to front-load dividends File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The chair of Christchurch City Council’s investment company and four of its independent directors resigned in protest last ...
The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading → ...
David Farrar writes – Newstalk ZB report: The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?” Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red ...
Muriel Newman writes – Former US President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” The fight for ...
Why Courts should have said Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Karen Chhour Gary Judd writes – In the High Court, Justice Isacs declined to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal to compel Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, to appear before it to be ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The number of voices raising concerns about the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill is rapidly growing. This is especially apparent now that Parliament’s select committee is listening to submissions from the public to evaluate the proposed legislation. Twenty-seven thousand submissions have been made to Parliament ...
An average of 166 New Zealand citizens left the country every day during the March quarter, up 54% from a year ago.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and housing market is sinking into a longer recession through the winter after a slump in business and consumer confidence in ...
The government has made it abundantly clear they’re addicted to the smell of new asphalt. On Tuesday they introduced a new term to the country’s roading lexicon, the Roads of Regional Significance (RoRS), a little brother for the Roads of National (Party) Significance (RoNS). Driving ahead with Roads of Regional ...
School is outAnd I walk the empty hallwaysI walk aloneAlone as alwaysThere's so many lucky penniesLying on the floorBut where the hell are all the lucky peopleI can't see them any moreYesterday morning, I’d just sent out my newsletter on Tama Potaka, and I was struggling to make the coffee. ...
Hi,I wanted to check in and ask how you’re doing.This is perhaps a selfish act, of attempting to find others feeling a similar way to me — that is to say, a little hopeless at the moment.Misery loves company, that sort of deal.Some context.I wish I could say I got ...
I have hitherto been fairly quiet on the new season of Rings of Power, on the basis that the underwhelming first season did not exactly build excitement – and the rumours were fairly daft. The only real thing of substance to come out has been that they have re-cast Adar ...
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 ...
“The thing is,” Chris Luxon says, leaning forward to make his point, “this has always been my thing.”“This goes all the way back to the first multinational I worked for. I was saying exactly the same thing back then. The name of our business needs to be more clear; people ...
Buzz from the Beehive It’s been a momentous few days for Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision which blocked a summons order from the Waitangi Tribunal for her. And today she has announced the Government is putting children first by introducing to ...
In 2014 former Australian army lawyer David McBride leaked classified military documents about Australian war crimes to the ABC. Dubbed "The Afghan Files", the documents led to an explosive report on Australian war crimes, the disbanding of an entire SAS unit, and multiple ongoing prosecutions. The journalist who wrote the ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – According to the respected Pew Research Centre, “In seven of eight [European] countries surveyed, the most trusted news outlet asked about is the public news organization in each country”. For example, “in Sweden, an overwhelming majority (90%) say they trust the public broadcaster SVT”. ...
David Farrar writes – Kata MacNamara reports: Details of Tony Blakely’s involvement in the New Zealand Government’s response to the pandemic raise serious questions about the work of the Covid-19 Royal Commission of Inquiry over which he presides. It has long been clear that Blakely, a ...
Chris Trotter writes – Are you a Brahmin or a Merchant? Or, are you merely one of those whose lives are profoundly influenced by the decisions of Brahmins and Merchants? Those are the questions that are currently shaping the politics of New Zealand and the entire West. ...
RNZ reports – It’s supposed to be a haven of healing and spiritual awakening but residents of the Kawai Purapura community say they’ve been hurt and deceived. It’s the successor to the former Centrepoint commune, and has been on the bush block opposite Albany shopping centre since 2008. It ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. Usually we have a video chat to go with this wrap, but were unable to do one this week. We’ll be back next week.Several reports ...
The Transport Minister has set a hard 'fiscal envelope' of $6.54 billion for transport capital spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy is settling into a state of suspended animation as the Government’s funding freezes and job cuts chill confidence and combine with stubbornly high interest rates to ...
To be precise, the term “anti- Zionism” refers to (a) criticism of the political movement that created a modern Jewish state on the historical land of Israel, and to (b)the subjugation of Palestinians by the Israeli state. By contrast, the term “anti-Semitism” means bigotry and racism directed at Jewish people, ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Because hurricanes are one of the big-ticket weather disasters that humanity has to face, climate misinformers spend a lot of effort muddying the waters on whether climate change is making hurricanes more damaging. With the official start to the hurricane ...
Yesterday the Mayor released what he calls his “plan to save public transport” which is part of his final proposal for the Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP). This comes following consultation on the draft version that occurred in March which showed, once again, that people want more done on transport, especially ...
And it's a pleasure that I have knownAnd it's a treasure that I have gainedAotearoa’s coalition government is fragile. It’s held together by the obsequious sycophancy of Christopher Luxon, who willingly contorts his party into the fringe positions of his junior coalition partners and is unwilling to contradict them. The ...
The Select Committee hearing submissions on the fast-track consenting legislation is starting to become a beat-up of regional councils. The inflexibility and slow workings of the Councils were prominent in two submissions yesterday. One, from the Coromandel Marine Farmers Association, simply said that the Waikato Regional Council’s planning decisions were ...
Back in April, the High Court surprised everyone by ruling that Ministers are above the law, at least as far as the Waitangi Tribunal is concerned. The reason for this ruling was "comity" - the idea that the different branches of government shouldn't interfere with each other's functions. Which makes ...
Buzz from the BeehiveTolling was mentioned when Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced the government was re-introducing the Roads of National Significance (RoNS) programme, with 15 “crucial” projects to support economic growth and regional development across New Zealand. All RoNS would be four-laned, grade-separated highways, and all funding, financing, and ...
or the past 14 years, ever since the Spanish government cheated on an autonomy deal, Catalonia has reliably given pro-independence parties a majority of seats in their regional parliament. But now that seems to be over. Catalans went to the polls yesterday, and stripped the Catalan parties of their majority. ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ report: Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said the Electoral Commission should make sure the system ran smoothly and “taking away the right of thousands of people to vote” was not the answer. “Thousands of people enroled and voted on the day. If ...
Don Brash writes – There was a rather revealing headline in the Herald on Sunday today (12 May). It read “One in 8 Auckland homes on market were bought during boom, may now sell for loss”. The first line of text noted that “New data shows one in ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – At a time when universities are understandably nervous regarding the establishment of the University Advisory Group (UAG) and the Science System Advisory Group (SSAG) it may seem strange – or even fool-hardy – to state that there are long-standing issues in the tertiary sector ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – A lack of perspective can make something quite large or important seem small or irrelevant. Against a backdrop of high-profile, negative statistics it is easy to overlook the positive. For instance, the fact that 64 percent of Maori are employed is rarely reported. For ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
Asia Pacific ReportThe global human rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on France to not “misuse” a crackdown in the ongoing unrest in the non-self-governing French Pacific territory of Kanaky New Caledonia in the wake of a controversial vote by the French Parliament to adopt a bill changing the territory’s ...
A major provider of school lunches fears the government's new $3 limit for most students will see them eating more pre-packaged and processed food. ...
The star of Dark City: The Cleaner takes us through his life in TV, including the VHS revolution and the John Campbell impression that started it all. Best known for his comedic roles, Cohen Holloway says he struggled at times to maintain the stone cold facade of serial killer on ...
David Hill remembers an old friend, who you’ve probably never heard of. My friend Doug never travelled; he had little interest in the world beyond his own tiny rural town. I’ve rarely known anyone who radiated such contentment. Doug (I’ll call him that) died in March. You won’t know him. ...
Some of the earliest photos of life in Aotearoa are on display at Auckland Museum right now – but the identities of some of the people in them are a mystery.What was it like to be one of the first people in New Zealand to have their photo taken? ...
Since its founding almost a decade ago, Featherston Booktown has grown into one of the country’s most interesting and idiosyncratic literary events. Erin Banks reports from the audience. “Come in, have you had lunch? I’m about to make a cheese toastie.” Mary Biggs, operations manager of Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival, ...
After 33 years abroad, Loveni Enari recently returned to Aotearoa and Samoa in what a friend joked was an “existential crisis”. He learnt and re-learnt so much about his family, friends and both countries. Almost as an afterthought, he got a Samoan tatau. This is his story. (Accompanying it are ...
Nearly 30 years ago, two people told me they’d killed a woman they knew. I thought the truth would come out, that others would tell it. In the end, I had to. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Fact: in 1995, Angela Blackmoore ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at the week and shines a light on some increasingly rare longform journalism. Mōrena and welcome to The Weekend where there will sadly be no aurora to see. After a busy week last week of short, sharp pieces, this week we swung the other way, ...
ANALYSIS:By David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report Jean-Marie Tjibaou, a revered Kanak visionary, was inspirational to indigenous Pacific political activists across Oceania, just like Tongan anthropologist and writer Epeli Hao’ofa was to cultural advocates. Tragically, he was assassinated in 1989 by an opponent within the independence movement during ...
Forget thin is in, apparently now bigger is better … or is it? After over a decade of body positivity, girls, teens and women are even more confused about what body positivity actually is. The movement began with women confronting unrealistic expectations of how their bodies should look. But sub-strands ...
Grace always sat at the bar at the back of The Cambridge, where she could watch who came in. A huge mirror ran the length of the pub, so you could sometimes watch people without them knowing. The mirror made the place seem a lot bigger than it really was. ...
MONDAY Sheriff Mark Mitchell rose at dawn. He had a long day’s ride ahead of him. He was headed for Waikeria. Waikeria! Even the name itself stirred his blood, and set root in his imagination. There was nothing and no one in Waikeria. But he would bend it to his ...
The first phase of the inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones finished this week, turning up plenty of revelations and few answers. But through all the confusion, heartbreak and antipathy on display, the simple fact at the heart of this case remains: if little Lachie’s body had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Benjamin, Professor in Art History, University of Sydney “She’s no oil painting”. Those were the unkind words of a colleague commenting on the subject of Vincent Namatjira’s acrylic painting, Gina. Every one of the prominent Australians and cultural heroes in Namatjira’s ...
Government plans to require local councils hold a referendum on whether to have Māori wards breaches the Treaty of Waitangi, a Waitangi Tribunal report has found. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, Industry Professor and Chief Economist, University of Technology Sydney This year the National Rugby League (NRL) opened its season in Las Vegas. It was an audacious move by the league’s ambitious head honcho Peter V’Landys to showcase the game in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate Professor, Music Industry, RMIT University Leading music organisations have praised the federal budget for its investment in the live music sector. The budget includes A$8.6 million for a program called Revive Live: to provide essential support to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marnee Shay, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, The University of Queensland The 2024 federal budget contains A$110 million for Indigenous education. This includes funding for various different organisations to represent and help Indigenous people as well as scholarships in a bid to ...
Air New Zealand has confirmed Nouméa’s Tontouta International airport in New Caledonia is closed until Tuesday. The airline earlier told RNZ it would update customers as soon as it could. Earlier today, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Morning Report government officials had been working on an “hourly basis” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grant Linley, PhD Candidate in Ecology, Charles Sturt University Grant Linley Australia’s unprecedented Black Summer bushfires in 2019–20 created ideal conditions for misinformation to spread, from the insidious to the absurd. It was within this context that a bizarre story ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcel Scharth, Lecturer in Business Analytics, University of Sydney OpenAI executive Mira Murati launching GPT-4o.OpenAI Earlier this week OpenAI launched GPT-4o (“o” for “omni”), a new version of the artificial intelligence (AI) system powering the popular ChatGPT chatbot. GPT-4o is promoted ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treasure McGuire, Assistant Director of Pharmacy, Mater Health SEQ in conjoint appointment as Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Bond University and as Associate Professor (Clinical), The University of Queensland Speedkingz/Shutterstock Menopause is a natural biological process that marks the end of a ...
A new poem by Hannah Patterson. Xiāng There’s a pear tree in our backyard And Xiāng tells me She can’t eat them anymore Not after some things that have happened in her life. She tells me, in Mandarin The word for pear sounds the same as the word for disassociation ...
‘Cycling Works’ aims to show business support for citywide cycle infrastructure. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, supermarket giant Foodstuffs lost its attempt to block the construction of a cycle lane outside Thorndon New World in Wellington. The Spinoff’s Wellington editor ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Slow Productivity by Cal Newport (Penguin, $40)Taking out the top spot in Auckland this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University For decades, Australia has exported uranium – but not used it, other than in the Lucas Heights research reactor. But change is coming. We now face a rapidly deepening commitment to ...
"In future I should walk away," Green MP Julie Anne Genter says after complaints over an exchange in Parliament and from two members of the public. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Graffam, PhD Candidate in Theatre, Monash University Gianna Rizzo/Malthouse Music pumps; lights pulsate; two sweaty bodies sway together, touching, breathing in each other’s scent. A male body framed by downlight restlessly shifts between stances and gestures. He undresses. The intensity ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sandra van der Laan, Professor of Accounting, University of Sydney Mtaya/Shutterstock At some point, you or someone else will need to make a decision about your “send-off”. Most Australians die in an institution, such as a hospital or aged care facility. ...
Asia Pacific Report Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai — who is also Chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group — has reaffirmed MSG’s support of the pro-independence umbrella group Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) stance opposing the French government’s constitutional bill “unfreezing” the New Caledonia Electoral Roll. It is ...
Producer Susan Leonard remembers her father Ernie, a pioneer of Māori television, and how his legacy lives on in Pathfinders.My father was a fabulous man. His name was Ernie Leonard and he started in TV in the 1970s when it was still glamorous – when TVNZ made behind the ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk, and Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist The suspected ringleaders of the unrest in New Caledonia have been placed in home detention and the social network TikTok has been banned as French security forces struggle to restore law and order. The French ...
Multi-year appropriations - which give the government authority to spend money without reapplying annually - are loosening Parliament's control of the public purse, auditor-general says. ...
Dr. Eric Chuah who stood for a centrist NZ political party in the October 2023 NZ Elections for Maungakiekie Auckland will stand as a candidate for Tauranga City Council Ward of Matua-=Otumoetai and Mayor of Tauranga. ...
If you can’t get to the comedy fest, let us bring the comedy fest to you. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is in full swing at the moment, with a veritable smorgasboard of comedy treats ...
A new poll commissioned by Unions Wellington shows an overwhelming majority of Wellingtonians oppose the Council’s plan to sell the 34% public stake in Wellington Airport. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aruna Sathanapally, Chief Executive, Grattan Institute, Grattan Institute A central focus of this week’s budget is the treasury’s forecast for inflation. By this time next year, inflation is projected to be back within the Reserve Bank’s 2-3% target range. Inflation has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yolanda van Heezik, Professor of Ecology, University of Otago Getty Images Cities across Aotearoa New Zealand are trying to solve a housing crisis, with increasing residential density a key solution. But not everyone is happy about the resulting loss of natural ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Reeve, Deputy Program Director, Energy and Climate Change, Grattan Institute WDG Photo/Shutterstock For years, the electricity sector has been the poster child for emissions cuts in Australia. The sector achieved a stunning 26% drop in emissions over the past 15 ...
It’s often the last thing people want to do, but asking someone if they’re having suicidal thoughts is a critical first step to helping them. Content warning: this story discusses suicide and suicidal ideation. For a list of resources that can help if you or someone you know is feeling ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy J. Ralph, Associate Professor, Macquarie University The pyramids at Giza, like dozens of others, are located several kilometres west of the current path of the Nile.Alex Cimbal / Shutterstock The largest field of pyramids in Egypt – consisting of 31 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute ABO PHOTOGRAPHY/Shutterstock Receiving a cancer diagnosis is life-changing and can cause a range of concerns about ongoing health. Fear of cancer returning is one ...
Winston Peters has been on tour around the Pacific while two unrelated crises unfolded, explains Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Two separate ...
This is the Mount Everest of artificial meatcraft.Ah, bacon. Pig’s gold. Toast’s consolation. Dawn’s savoury embrace. If meat was a currency, bacon would be the Benjamin Franklin. Or if you’re feeling patriotic, the Lord Rutherford. When it comes to fake bacon, the obvious question is: why bother? In the ...
From illegal milk to sprinkler bans and airplane ticket scams, Tyrone Barugh is on a one-man mission through New Zealand’s most obscure legal loopholes. I’m deep undercover, investigating Wellington’s criminal underworld. Inside this store, I’ve been told there is a million-dollar trade in illicit substances. A man dressed in black ...
It’s been a recess week at Parliament, which might indicate slim pickings for conversation topics for the Raw Politics team. But things are never dull in politics, especially with a new Government keen to follow through on its law and order promises, and a NZ First minister who wants to ...
Dear Hon Judith Collins, Minister of Defence, and Hon Christopher Penk, Associate Minister of Defence I have written to you, to attempt to give you an insight into the incredible hardship of being an NZDF family. Whilst I cannot speak on behalf of serving personnel, I can speak from my ...
Analysis: What a difference a year makes. In mid 2023, Wayne Brown the Auckland Mayor was a politician diminished by a calamitous response to the region’s Anniversary Weekend storm emergency and later forced against his preference into a half sale only of the city’s airport shares. His demeanour among his ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 17 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
New Zealand’s drug legislation hasn’t been overhauled in nearly 50 years, in spite of a recommendation from the Law Commission in 2011 to do so. Our Misuse of Drugs Act was passed in 1975 and is based on a United Nations framework set in 1961. Now a new organisation, Harm ...
NONFICTION 1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99) A free copy of this amazing story of a woman who operated behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied France was up for grabs this past fortnight. Readers were asked to share a story of wartime bravery, ...
Asia Pacific Report An open letter to The New Zealand Herald has challenged a full page Zionist advertisement this week for failing to acknowledge the “terrible injustices” suffered by the Palestinian people in Israel’s seven-month genocidal war on Gaza. In the latest of several international reports that have condemned genocide ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When he was opposition leader, Bill Shorten faced Coalition criticism for attacking “the top end of town”, a phrase he used in his 2019 budget reply. Now Peter Dutton is finding the line “billions of ...
Say (Hope not) the baby in the blood vaccination case dies before the operation can take place, could charges be brought against those who were opposed to the blood from covid vaccinated donors?
or indeed those who were opposed to the blood from non covid vaxed donors
"However, the NZ Freedom and Outdoors Party, of which the parents’ lawyer Sue Grey is co-leader, is planning a vigil for 10am."
Lots of rain and stormy weather in Grafton this morning would be good. In that event of course some loon will suggest it's God's expressing Her displeasure about the blood being used.
If the protestors are forced indoors maybe they can get down to planning positive steps forward. Like how to set up truly safe bloodbanks so people have a choice.
I can see them having as many categories as possible with blood specifically from:
those vaccinated for covid, those not vaccinated for covid, those not vaccinated with any antibodies.
Catholics, Muslims, Atheists, blood from those with European ethnicity, from Pacifica, from Māori, from Asians, and so on down the track.
I'm sure there'll be some in the Sue Grey and Liz Gunn camps who'd be right into that.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/donor-blood-battle-vigil-planned-outside-starship-hospital/6CX5KFIWFVCKPJG7N5CIMXQUDM/
Why? The delays in having the op were the fault of the parents.
While the article is not entirely correct this theme is…
"By under-promising and over-delivering, a Labour government could present itself as both sensible and competent. Not much might be on offer, but if you said you were going to deliver – and you did – then your voters weren’t just grateful, they were impressed. The days of big dreams might be over, but Clark’s clear-headed grasp of her own and her party’s limitations, made it possible for some of the people’s smaller dreams to come true."
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2022/12/jacindas-manic-ministry.html
It may have been more a case of lingering capability from an earlier iteration…..there were still politicians and public servants within the system that had experience of a time when Governments had greater control/influence of the economy.
Labour has passed 3 waters, nothing much else matters now in terms of their reelection hopes.
The question I am pondering (and i think the author is) is not how can Labour be re-elected but rather how/why did they make such a mess of the opportunity?
I agree it's very unlikely they will be re-elected….though 3 Waters is only part of the story.
Absolutely right! And when Natz equivocate about keeping water in public ownership (and we all know Act are the driving force behind the Natz) then the public will reject the right emphatically.
After all, the Natz have a record of a) ignoring the wishes of the people and b) selling the family silver – both of which gets right up the noses of voters.
Their opposition to Three Waters will cost the Natz the election.
Tony, do you not have a TV, radio or internet connection?
Have you not seen the numerous TV clips where Luxon is directly asked about this by journalists? He emphatically rules out privitisation of water.
You are making shit up.
As emphatically as a Nat can rule out asset sales, subject to change [of Government], of course. It comes as natural to them as a dog licking his bollocks.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/12/christopher-luxon-says-asset-sales-not-on-the-agenda-claims-government-trying-to-deflect-from-three-waters-entrenchment-clause.html
Well Act is thinking of it!! So that lets Chris Luxon off that hook.!! Though.. Luxon says..
”Don't see a need for privatisation of any assets at this point.”
So sales some point in the future then?
They will miraculously discover a 'need' some time after being elected.
Luxxy Two-Tongues
Like we believe the "we will not raise GST" Natz!
It appears that OT are determined to continue their appeals process (albeit under the false flag of Moana's mother) – right up to the Supreme Court – in the 'Moana' case.
So much for ensuring that the welfare of the child is the centre of their decision-making process.
Ideology is clearly much more important than child welfare – which, perhaps says something about the litany of disasters over children in their care which regularly appear in the media.
Continuing to drag the family through the courts – in an attempt at some form of vindication for the social worker involved (or the principles she was espousing) – is an outrageous abuse of power and privilege.
The appropriate venue for a policy change (should the Minister agree that one is needed) is through Parliament. Rather than attempting to do an end run around democratic decision-making by constant appeals in the hope of finding a sympathetic (and politically activist) judge.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/130689679/moana-decision-appealed-may-be-heard-in-supreme-court
The best welfare for this little girl is to leave her, and her foster family, alone. All evidence (even the biased social worker) has stated that she is happy, settled, well-cared-for and loved. All of which were conspicuously missing when she was in the 'care' of her birth-mother. The one who (prompted and supported by OT) is now crusading against the foster-placement.
Can't recall where I read it, but someone posted the view that OT is using the Moana case as part of its long-running war with the Family court judge who (justifiably) criticised a social worker for taking a two-faced stance with Moana's carers and their lawyer. That worker engaged in deliberate deception.
The case has very nasty implications for our justice system. There was behind the scenes interference with the legal proceedings by the Principal Family court judge after a senior Maori figure alleged "bullying" of the witness (bullying is so in vogue these days).
In my view, the judges who tried to apply pressure behind the scenes the during the family court case have breached their judicial oaths (which require justice to be delivered without fear or favour.) They should resign from office immediately.
For me at least this and the last couple of OMs aren't visible on the home page.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Indeed, and yesterday I left a note in the back end for Lprent but he’s been somewhat distracted lately.
I'll turn the caching off. Ummm looks like there is a problem at cloudflare. Having problems getting into the config. Looking…
They have identified it and are working on it.
https://www.cloudflarestatus.com/incidents/dgjf7vq9gvts
Outrageous!
Child who was badly neglected (show fear around men, so possibly had been sexually abused) removed from her mother (who from memory had had all her other children removed).
A loving (Pakeha) family fostered Moana with the view of it being a long term placement. Moana's health improved dramatically and she thrived with the "Smiths".
OT (who are likely infused with CRT) decided that the Smiths weren't catering for Moana's cultural needs. They wanted her removed from the Smiths even though she was thriving.
The Family Court judge slaimed OT for putting ideology ahead of the childs best interests. OT social worker was lying to the Judge on the stand.
Moana's mother appealedthe decision (her complete lack of insight over her utter failures to care for her children and her complete lack of gratitude to the Smiths, speaks volumes to me).as did OT and the Maori family in Wellington Moana was to be placed with (the Judge had come up with a very elegant decision that Moana would spend some holiday time with them as Moana's brother was in their custody and also see her mother, but firmly remain with the Smiths. The Smiths fought for Moana, putting up with all sortsof crap from OT, being dragged through the court. They told the Court they loved Moana as their own).
Mason (lawyer) is taking the case to the Court of Appeal, because "The Treaty of Waitangi provisions have not been properly interpreted".
How f….g stupid. I hope that Court of Appeal boat the case out. This is using the Treaty of Waitangi to promote an ideology. None of these people give a dam about Moana.
Really pissed at the idea we the tax payer may be paying for these appeals.
One has to wonder in the first few years of her life how did Moana's mother cater for her cultural needs, given her utter neglect of all her children??
Agree with all the sentiments. This case is a total disgrace. Once again a vulnerable child is being essentially abused by Oranga Tamariki. And we know there are plenty more out there.
Close friend involved in case with similarities.
Point of note: OT "professional" comment on shared cultural ancestry: – might be the same – but looks different.
Friend is blue eyed and pale complexioned.
When we try to fix one problem, zealots create a different and bigger one. Happens a lot, especially in social services and education (especially primary education where various faddish 'pedagogies' sweep through like viruses).
I've seen this a bit in my own circles – children taken from stable, loving foster situations at the whim of uncaring biological relatives and social workers. There was a very good episode of the series "I Am" recently that covered experience of two siblings who had this happen multiple times. It is actually the norm, not an exception. Those siblings were also separated from each other (and repeatedly abused along the way of course)
Social workers even express concern that they don't want the children forming bonds at their new 'temporary' homes, which is an appalling abuse in itself
Here is the 'I Am' episode, heartbreaking but also amazing story of survival. And not an uncommon thing in nz, unfortunately
I Am
Thanks Uncooked S. Will watch I am.
In Oz a woman has been jailed for 15 months for blocking one of five lanes in a GW protest.
The story about how the Premier of NSW rushed through legislation to enable this. It's what happens when the neo-liberalism is bi-partisan, authoritarianism reigns.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/06/documents-reveal-scramble-to-rubber-stamp-nsw-bill-targeting-climate-protests
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-63883430
The city suffered because one lane of 5 was blocked for 25 minutes.
the question for NZ is 'what would Mallard do?'
How far is it from parliament using sprinklers and persistent noise to disrupt protestors, to supporting a law that bans some forms of protest?
Its absolutely clear Mallards inhuman torture program was much much worse. While these protesters may be locked up for 15 months (having been prosecuted for a law introduced after their arrest), they won't be forced to listen to Baby Shark by their government even once.
Mallard on the other hand implemented a completely inhumane torture program to which we otherwise only subject many parents and anybody who enters the wrong shopping mall.
Also (for the Guardian) just for consistency sake, kindly retract all your smears of, and call for the release of Australian citizen Julian Assange.
We also face Mother Nature turning her sprinklers on, sometimes without warning and sometimes this happens when we are camping outdoors legally. To imitate this by doing it to people who are camping somewhere illegally is as cruel as the music.
So it is wrong to ban overnight protest at Parliament Grounds? I cannot see the argument actually. The ban on camping there has been well known for ages. It was deliberately defied by the protestors.
As for the results the Aus results are very much more severe. The NZ protestors so far seem to have been dealt with by ubiquitous access to a large wet bus ticket despite the damage and injuries caused.
Thank you Nic
The argument is that the right to protest should be protected as one of our highest priorities in a democracy. Progressives wanting to pick and choose which protest is legitimate based on their own politics is dangerous. Are you ok with Nact doing this when they are in power? Banning some forms of climate activism for instance?
Oh look, they already started last time they were in power.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/high-seas-protest-law-passed/H25ELJO4UMYHUQZHLFY4YWSLKU/
Whatever bullshit the protestors were doing on parliament grounds, if we say it's ok for parliament to treat them badly, then we have to accept that happening to the protests we support.
NZ's law, the Australians, and in the UK, right wing governments are moving to remove core democratic rights. It doesn't help with the left support that.
Clear thread derail. There’s no comparison between the two events.
This is Australia providing no bail and 8 months in jail to someone who had the temerity to remind them of their coal addiction hurting people around the globe.
We are not talking anyone threatening violence, falsifying claims about science, acting out militaristic fantasies and having a philosophy of death to politicians. As well as threatening people at their place of work.
It’s a protest with a clear set of aims and a desired outcome. Rather than an occupation without coordination and rational goals, or an end date.
This would be like giving Groundswell 8 months without bail for holding up traffic.
A better target would be the lack of transparency being snuck into bills. And a number of other things.
I wasn't comparing the events, I was talking about what is happening when the centre left supports right wing moves to restrict rights to protest. There is a shift in culture happening, and it is dangerous.
But thanks for confirming that you are ok with protest being limited for the protests you disapprove of.
Now now. Protest was already limited at parliament for decades, regardless of the kaupapa.
protest is limited in lots of places. There are various norms we have for managing that and things that overstep the boundaries. Mallard pushed those boundaries and a big chunk of the left cheered because they disapprove of and disagree with the protestors. Which basically says, we support the right to protest when it suits us.
For instance, newsense said,
This is very similar to what conservatives and those in favour of the status quo have said about Occupy, or XR.
I'm not arguing that the protestors should have been allowed to occupy parliament and no action be taken. I'm pointing out that the ethos is being changed and the left are part of that.
IMO, this description picks up far to much of a media narrative which involves anti government (because Labour) biases.
All I think happened is that an occupation of parliament was planned from the beginning, and is what happened. The police plan from the beginning was to wait them out, but eventually a decision was undertaken that they had to be removed. The police were extremely cautious in their treatment of the protesters.
Now some details which support this,
1) The protesters turned up from day 1 with camping and occupation equipment.
2) It was communicated that camping (e.g occupation) was not allowed from day 1.
3) Attempts were made early on to enter parliament requiring a significant on going police presence to bolster parliament security. Never the less the occupation was allowed to continue.
4) There was media discussion indicating an expectation the protest would pack up during the torrential rain storm (which they didn't).
5) The police needed to bring in officers from other parts of the country to continue their stance re the protesters (so reducing available officers from other areas).
6) The police eventually started shrinking down the area occupied by vehicles.
7) There was a reasonable expectation, given their rhetoric and social media communications, that the protesters had weapons.
8) The police started looking for weapons held by the protesters.
9) Over the course of this many officers (and probably a lot more protesters) were catching Covid-19 and bringing it home to their families (which was reducing available officers). This is the main reason the police force have decided the occupation needed to be removed.
Mallard really had very little to do with any of this, and other than some trivial tit bits which the media (+TDB) have focused the narrative on, no speaker would have done any different. This was a demonstration of routine de-escalation tactics in action.
I agree with most of that, except for two points.
Newsense said,
It’s the wrong argument. If that were Occupy or XR or indigenous protest, then an end date should not be on the left’s list of acceptable protest. Think Bastion Point for instance. Likewise, Occupy was often criticised for not having a coherent plan or goal, but this was largely because critiques didn’t understand the processes being used.
The anti-mandate protest was a hot mess. Some of the people were just outright arseholes, some were politically naive, some where aligned with the alt right manipulation, some were dangerous, some were simply disenfranchised and fucked off. That’s not a complete list. But despite that, they had a right to protest. There is plenty of room to criticise how they did various aspects of the protest, but the tendency for people to frame the protest as illegitmate is tied up with the beliefs of those people about the validity of the cause and that just takes us to the erosion of the right to protest. We cannot say that the right exists as long as we approve of what they are protesting. Because then the right can say the same thing, and they already have by banning some oil protests.
We can look to the UK and Australia to see just how bad this can get, but it’s dangerous to assume that NZ is immune to such shifts. We have a current reprieve because of our centre left government, but that won’t last forever.
Long bow.
If there is no clear purpose to a protest other than intimidate and change the government, partly through fear, that is not a protest in a democratic society.
It’s not non-violent direct action. It’s violent action. The kind which usually, even in a punitive democratic culture gets bail. Where there is no potential negotiation and no one to negotiate with, there is no protest in a democratic society.
This girl is an Australian political prisoner for protesting.
And if these are the bs discussions going on in the Green Party, they are going to love a Luxon/Rimmer/Peters arrangement, with Mark Mitchell as police minister and the factions in the police who were already illegally trialing monitoring software given free license. Still bet there’s a good chance ram raids will magically cease to be the major issue…
The harm principle is still a fairly good one. Apply it to both situations and let me know how you go.
I would apply it to both situations if I knew what you were talking about. Where did the NZ Greens come into this?
Your points here are more on target than earlier.
But the protest wasn’t unified behind violent direct action, that came from some of the factions. It was a hot mess of a range of people and purposes. Some legitimate, some not. We should be pulling apart the hot mess and protecting the right to protest alongside condemning the parts of the protest that were anti-democratic and violent.
And again, my point was that the left applauding Mallard for the sprinklers and incessant music legitimises the right to do worse next time. We can’t have it both ways.
Yes, I’m happy with protestors with no defined goal who are carrying signs calling for the death of elected representatives, who have routinely spouted violent gibberish defending their alleged rights, to not be allowed to sit in my front garden. Or that of my elected representatives. Who were threatened.
This is not opposition within a democratic framework. It’s opposition attempting to limit the legitimacy of a democratic framework and restrict democracy in action.
Compare Groundswell as a (partially astroturfed ) protest group. They’ve attracted support and had some success. They haven’t used violent rhetoric, they have leaders who express what their protest is about to the media, they meet with politicians. They haven’t burned anything and then without evidence blamed the police on a broadcast. Launching a social media career doesn’t seem to be a factor for them.
They shouldn’t be imprisoned for 8 months without bail.
Can’t see Trevor being Trevor and not rolling out the red carpet and bringing them tea and bikkies being part of a vast right wing anti-protest movement. But again, call it as you see it.
Yes, we do not need another lesson of where tolerating the intolerant leads. Turning the other cheek should be restricted to whakapohane.
Again, what are you on about?
Labour in Australia supported the laws that have put the woman in jail for 15 months for protesting. How can you not see the problem with that?
Fuck the mullahs.
Iranian security forces are targeting women at anti-regime protests with shotgun fire to their faces, breasts and genitals, according to interviews with medics across the country.
Doctors and nurses – treating demonstrators in secret to avoid arrest – said they first observed the practice after noticing that women often arrived with different wounds to men, who more commonly had shotgun pellets in their legs, buttocks and backs.
[…]
One physician from the central Isfahan province said he believed the authorities were targeting men and women in different ways “because they wanted to destroy the beauty of these women”.
“I treated a woman in her early 20s, who was shot in her genitals by two pellets. Ten other pellets were lodged in her inner thigh. These 10 pellets were easily removed, but those two pellets were a challenge, because they were wedged in between her urethra and vaginal opening,” the physician said. “There was a serious risk of vaginal infection, so I asked her to go to a trusted gynaecologist. She said she was protesting when a group of about 10 security agents circled around and shot her in her genitals and thighs.”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/dec/08/iranian-forces-shooting-at-faces-and-genitals-of-female-protesters-medics-say?
Iran has conducted the first known execution in relation to the anti-government protests that have rocked the country, hanging a man who was found guilty by a revolutionary court of “waging war against God”.
Mohsen Shekari was accused of blocking a street and wounding a member of the pro-regime Basij militia on 25 September, during the early phase of the protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
State media published a video of what it said was Shekari’s confession, which showed him with a bruise on his right cheek.
His family waited outside the jail where he was executed, seeking news of his fate.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/08/iran-executes-man-23-mohsen-shekari-allegedly-stabbing-pro-regime-officer
edit: btw, remember Elnaz Rekabi, the Iranian rock climber who competed in Seoul without wearing her headscarf? CNN reports her family’s home was demolished by the mullahs
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/02/middleeast/iran-climber-home-intl/index.html
Thank you joe for highlighting this. I was just about to add in this ABC article as well.
About two weeks ago I had an extended conversation with a young Iranian guy here in Australia, who could rightly be described as an activist. There is so much going on that our media is not reporting on. Indeed it was the wall of silence that frustrated him the most. Quite large and persistent protests have taken place in various Australian cities – he showed me the pictures – that have had exactly zero news coverage.
It's common knowledge that the USA was built with slavery, on land stolen from native Americans, but I wasn't aware the USA was also deeply involved in the Chinese opium trade in the early 19th century. The accumulation of this wealth helped the industrialization and the development of the United States.
Recently I read a review of James Bradley's book “The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia” and found a (2015) video, Meet the Author program, featuring James Bradley, presenting his fourth book, “The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia”
It's an impressive talk on the history of USA – China relations from the Opium wars through to the Vietnam War, with eye-opening research detail.
This is slightly long perhaps for many at 1.05hr but he tells a great story, as one comment says "American people misunderstand China at so many levels that their mental images of China have little bearing on reality"
https://www.chinausfocus.com/society-culture/the-china-mirage