What are we as a country doing to mitigate catastrophic climate change?
The only solution must be the abandonment of capitalism.
are we prepared to abandon the pursuit of greed and individualism ?
We’re doing the program that James Shaw has devised in collaboration with the relevant government departments. Too little too late. But let’s hope.
I agree it would be a good move to abandon capitalism at this point. The tricky bit is how to do so. Eliminating usury would be a good start. Businesses would become cooperative, meaning risk is shared as well as profit. Employees would go hungry until they learn to stop arguing & start collaborating. This would prove especially difficult for leftists.
“Are we prepared to abandon the pursuit of greed and individualism?” Not until consensus on the alternative system has been developed. So overcoming reluctance to work together on that task is the first step.
We’re doing nothing that will deal with the issue quickly or significantly enough.
This is a war and we need to mobilise.
What you’re seeing in the northern hemisphere this year will seem tame in 3 years time.
It takes a definite statement that is a bit OTT to raise people out of the torpor of wondering whether it will be sunny next weekend for sport or to get a certain amount of sleep in a quiet safe spot out of the rain.
Not until consensus on the alternative system has been developed. So overcoming reluctance to work together on that task is the first step.
So, who does ‘develop’ this consensus and how? Many people misunderstand the concept of consensus and in political context it is often frowned upon as something unworkable and unpractical, i.e. as something negative that should be avoided. There’s no good role model! A show of hands, a (majority) vote, is all that’s needed, right? In addition to this reluctance there are, of course, those who actively resist it …
There is a role model, just not in the public domain. It’s in the Green Party Standing Orders & Constitution. Or at least it was when I sent our recently-adopted Constitution to Sir Geoffrey Palmer so he could register the Greens with the Electoral Commission in ’95.
The method I used when I led the process to constellate consensus and produce both documents was as described in those documents. Starting from intense rivalry & disagreement amongst the leading activists in ’91, lots of word-smithing on my computer, lots of branch, regional & provincial meetings to approve the documents until final approval was achieved at national conference AGM.
Consensus was defined as all agreeing (in the initial ideal) then in practice modified to all agreeing bar one dissident determined to object. If there was more than one oddball with his/her knickers in a twist, we were required to continue discussion. Resolution to an impasse was usually attained via two or more dissenters agreeing to defer to the majority as long as their objection was formally recorded. That allowed the minority group a basis for continuing to lobby via other meetings, letters (no email back then) or party magazine.
.
“Starting from intense rivalry & disagreement amongst the leading activists in ’91…..”
“leading”..not all. and therein lies the issue. A consensus within a self determined range of opinions may well be (eventually) possible….this does not reflect society, hence democracy and the’ tyranny of the majority’
Especially as any time we may have had has likely been squandered.
Yes, consensus works well in the Green Party with all members agreeing to the Charter principles before they join. It is quite different in wider society where many individuals have very little concern for the environment and other people.
I’ve expressed similar doubts about the competence of our parliamentarians in this forum. Especially in regard to the Exec decision to expel the two who disagreed with Metiria.
The two who dumped on the Green party, joining in the hypocritical holier than thou, racist and misogynist bene bashing, then expected to remain our representatives, you mean. At meetings I attended, there was overwhelming support for Shaw and Turei
With due respect to Clendon, he was doing a lot of work in law, n that no walk in the park. Imagine him as a great local green, but really the greens need more folk in the house, if they are going to be seriously tackling issues like, the need for Royal Commissions on key issues; ubi and social credit.
ya know the charter is real good, but its impossible to totally satisfy it. Easy for plants to derail progress, but also a natural safe guard to provide conservative policy on what are otherwise awesome and potentially radical folk.
My point was about whether the Exec followed the rules in making their decision. When they informed us of that decision, they failed to specify precisely how the rules had been broken. Three possible explanations for their failure:
1. contempt for members (“we’re above being accountable for our decision, we don’t need to prove we’re right”)
2. “uh, we forgot. sorry.”
3. they didn’t actually know the Constitution & Standing Orders define consensus and how to apply it to GP decisions (“hey, we’re the younger generation, why would we bother to read rules written by the older generation?”)
Our future,” scientist James Lovelock has written, “is like that of the passengers on a small pleasure boat sailing quietly above the Niagara Falls, not knowing that the engines are about to fail.”
In my opinion Auckland University acted rashly in inviting Brash to their Campus, at such short notice.
In my opinion A.U. management have acted as opportunists motivated by gaining some cheap notoriety at Massey’s expense.
I have two issues with how Auckland University have behaved in this matter.
Opportunism
First of all, It was an insult to the leadership of Massey.
In my opinion A.U.’s behaviour was appalling and opportunist, taking advantage of M.U.’s difficulties in this matter.
Instead of standing in solidarity with their sister University, Auckland University have delivered them a deliberate public slap in the face.
If A.U. were really convinced that Brash’s views needed an airing, then probably what they should have done, is consulted with their sister faculty first, and come up with a combined strategy on how to deal with the thorny issues raised by Brash.
That they didn’t do this is obvious from the indecent haste with which A.U. acted in giving Brash a platform to speak.
Hypocrisy
As has been widely reported, Auckland University did exactly the same as Massey when it suited them. Canceling a talk from Hone Harawira, allegedly on the grounds of threatened protests against him.
But Auckland University have no issue with protests when it is a white supremacist speaking on campus.
Just as Te Reo Putake has pointed out in his post on this matter, “There is no such thing as free speech”
To which I might add; Not if you are Maori, or poor, or from a minority group.
If you are from one of these above groups and your speaking venue is canned by an institution like Auckland University, the media will not even think it newsworthy, Rich white people will not dig into their pockets to the tune of $50 thousand to sue the institution which has shut you out. And we wouldn’t even be talking about it.
I agree. Free speech denial will be much less successful than climate change denial! MU will struggle to regain credibility. I suspect they will have to eventually admit their error due to weight of public opinion.
Hone Harawira says “redneck” racism is to blame for the last-minute cancellation of a lecture he was to give in Auckland today.
The Mana Party leader was due to speak about the foreshore and seabed at Auckland University Law School.
Law student Charlotte Summers said the Faculty of Law cancelled the lecture on the basis of “there may be a breach of the peace”.
She said the Young Nationals organisation was behind the protest.
“How is it fair that the Young Nats decide to be disruptive, threaten to be disruptive, and then an entire event is cancelled because of their choices and what they threaten to do?”
Massey’s VC made the decision after being approached by the student group (who invited Brash for their event) who raised safety concerns. Appears to parallel that of the incident with Harawira’s speech so I’m not sure what all this angst is about.
AS an aside, I find it amusing that it took an Australian woman to finally listen to us, when we say that Te Tiriti principles matter.
An Earthquake strong enough to topple your building will knock you off your feet and will drop you to the ground before you make it to the door, leaving you completely vulnerable to being crushed by falling debris.
….if a quake strikes when one is inside a building, many experts’ core mantra remains surprisingly simple and unchanging: Drop, cover and hold on.
This method is promoted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, American Red Cross (pdf), Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management (pdf) and the Japanese government, to name but a few. None of these recommend going outside if one is already in a building.
If you try to make a run for it. The earthquake will knock you off your feet before you can cross the room.
The idea of staying inside a swaying building can seem counterintuitive, to say the least. The horrific images of collapsed buildings that emerge after major quakes understandably imprint themselves onto the public consciousness. This may make it seem like running for the exit is a good idea—but such photographs can sometimes give a false impression of the primary hazards associated with earthquakes.
Ballmann says rescue teams retrieving people from collapsed structures around the world can attest to the effectiveness of the drop, cover and hold on strategy.
Yeah, this article also, makes a clear case: August 9, 2018 – The Crisis in Corbyn’s Labour Party is Over Israel, Not Anti-Semitism, by Jonathan Cook, Nazareth.
Sure, so Israel is the problem; but what’s the solution?
China have hinted they would occupy Syria, if invited. Expecting this will suit Turkey, along with Iran. These are probably the three countries Israel will work hardest to smear in the media over the next few years, to avoid new regional dynamics.
Note that if Israel are seriously challenged, they will probably have the money power to bring down the SWIFT inter-bank payment system. But BRICS have an alternative inter-bank payment system, tested globally, including NZ. Or Israel could also potentially false flag an atomic launch at Hawaii from North Korean waters, but the US should be able to shot that down…
It’s like a giant squid, cornered in a pool of LSD. But some how we must dive into those waters, tame it and demonstrate peace.
Tesla is an enigma wrapped in a dream chasing an electric rainbow currently under musk.
He is all over the shop with estimates of capital requirements, loss/profit projections, technology and supply issues especially with the battery manufacture.
I can only see it continuing with a more level head in charge or the funds may dry up as Elons been very tetchy with the analysts who he desperately needs onside.
The boy wonder needs to step back and let in some rationality IMO.
Ok so this is basically a way over-simplification of what Dr Jordan Peterson, purely designed to court controversy, has actually said but if he comes to Christchurch I’ll be there
It used to be said that a skin-head, meathead, right wing nationalist front type element flourished in Christchurch. Maybe a big meeting there could be the catalyst to further the plans “to create a European culture “protected community” in North Canterbury … to “build a unified mini state that we could build up in future to be a base for other like minded Europeans to come to from other dying countries.”
I vote that it be relocated to Auckland Island. The climate will toughen the roosters up. They could make a reality tv show out of the survival process.
Dennis Frank
Best idea you have had so far. I’ll put small donation into a funding pool to take that forward. Along with Give a Little to buy that station down south and keep in NZ hands.
Thanks grey 😎 it’s actually an old idea of mine. Early nineties I was running the Greens justice policy development as convenor of the working group & put a suggestion into the policy draft that recidivist violent offenders be parked down there & left to fight it out. Had a few greenies looking askance at me after that!
Yes not surprised you’ll be going after reading that – I don’t really like his views on women and roles and stuff.
“He believes in “traditional” gender roles because he thinks men might simply be more competent than women, and he’s suggested women shouldn’t be allowed to wear makeup to work because it’s “sexually provocative”.”
“When a member of the ‘incel’ community drove a van into a crowd in Toronto and killed 10 people, Dr Peterson proposed a system of ‘enforced monogamy’ in which women are given to men as sexual partners in order to prevent such acts of violence.”
Garn marty mars. You don’t say. Or did you? Did he? Can you find where. I would print it out and frame it if he managed to advance the idea in less than an A4 page. He being so wordy as well as seriously thoughtful, which gives the impression that deep wisdom is going to come out of that player piano.
Ah the rightees are leading public discussion off on a merry ‘free speech’ red herring jaunt.
This is not about ‘free speech’ as originally intended: it was intended to ensure democratic debate so that all views get heard.
Today the issue is about which voices get heard most in the mainstream, and the kinds of views that get heard most frequently, and most positively in the mainstream – it’s about access to dominant platforms, and the attention economy – everyone is free to express their views online, but it’s hard for everyone to get people to pay attention to their views.
It was intended to be about freedom from government/state censorship.
The old Jeffersonian free market of ideas ideal, was that, if all views get heard and debated in public, the best of thinking will rise to the top, and dodgy thinking will be found out and drop out of the consideration. But, as we can see with Trump, Brash, Canadian alt-righters, etc, in the digital age, a lot of dodgy populist speakings gets mainstream attention and acceptance by some.
The guests on the UoA panel was skewed to Pakeha, older people, and the Right (see the still image fronting the video you posted). They did have an unknown person of Maori Pacific descent speak in the debate. But, the attention was all on ye olde Pakeha Name people.
The protesters were adding the voices of those excluded from the debate. They were protesting the voices that have been excluded, and against the (one-sided bigoted mis-informed views on ‘race’, etc) issues that have been slid into the mainstream under the guise of ‘freedom of speech’.
In the short term, many with power will be tut-tutting about the protest. However, when the students are protesting strongly about inequities, democratic fails, misinformation, damaging propaganda, etc., then there is still hope for our world.
I’m not convinced that giving so much attention to those who are adept are provocation and flawed reasoning, is producing the outcome that most would wish for – a dismissal of their rantings.
Perhaps a different approach is required to deal with this kind of invasion of rhetoric, other than vocal protestors at venues. I’m thinking about the effect on those who attend, exiting the venue only to be exposed to approbation, censure and loud shouting. Leading, as is expected from human nature, to further entrenching views – that as yet might have been not fully formed.
The only proposal I can come up with at present, that aligns with a progressive form of counteracting such views taking root is not fully formed, but here goes:
Instead of a continuation of rhetoric and speaking, an invitation for those attending to have their say, and talk about their personal situations and why they felt that the speaker had something to say worth paying for.
A cohesive and comprehensive plan for a Listening Post form of protest would involve people getting together, and learning how to address the fears and concerns of those who might be persuaded by such rhetoric, by genuine conversation and discussion of alternative views and options. Invite people as they exit to talk and then genuinely listen. Without judgment, then offer a counter view – to that one individual that you have engaged with.
If the end result is to innoculate our people from the harm that comes from following such ill-considered public opinions, then the media focus and vocal protests seem to be doing the opposite.
I would be interested in hearing if there are other proposals for effective actions out there.
that is a far more sensible and productive approach.
The purpose is not to silence the extremist but to ensure their views remain exactly that..extreme. What is needed is to seek empathy from as wide an audience as possible and that is most effectively achieved by recounting personal experience and eliciting understanding….the opposite is achieved by shouting slogans and presumptive judgements
Sounds like you’re sort of saying if you attack me I’ll dig my heels in and won’t listen and if I attack you you’ll do the same and no ones point of view gets changed?
If so yeah absolutely thats what’ll likely happen so yep I agree with your conclusions
Reasoned, polite conversation is always a good way to go
“Reasoned, polite conversation is always a good way to go”
This sounds good, but in reality some of the most polite amongst us can be very destructive and use that skill to “win” arguments.
I’m thinking along the lines of better listening, and genuine engagement – which may or may not be considered genteel, but is conducted with respect. Reinforcing the ‘listening’ rather than the talking.
Saying that you need people who are skilled at this type of interaction, I know only a few myself. 🙂
There certainly is a major difference between hearing and listening, in NZ though I do like to believe that there are more things that we all have in common then what we have as differences
I don’t believe that differences should be a problem. Trying to homogenise experiences and perspectives, causes more alienation than it heals.
Accepting differences seems to be a hurdle for many. Differences in choice, perspectives and actions.
However, I do agree with you, if what you are saying is that many do share either unexpressed or badly expressed values.
It is insistence on those values being followed in specific ways, without allowance for difference perspectives, approaches or resources that causes ongoing problems.
I use the coin as model for the way the brain operates. Left hemisphere differentiates between parts, right hemisphere integrates parts into wholes. The big picture combines both (holism).
So when we focus on the differences between us, we differentiate ourselves as unique humans & get idiosyncrasy (see the original meaning of that). When we focus on commonalities we share, we form an integral view. When we apply the latter in political praxis, we develop consensus. If I were a political psychology lecturer, that’s how I’d teach it to my students.
Toss a coin, see how it lands. Tails, say the leftists. Heads, say the rightists. People see what they’re looking for. Doesn’t matter, say the centrists. The coin has both sides concurrently regardless of how it lands. Both/and logic, not zero-sum logic. Applied holism.
“So when we focus on the differences between us, we differentiate ourselves as unique humans & get idiosyncrasy (see the original meaning of that). When we focus on commonalities we share, we form an integral view. When we apply the latter in political praxis, we develop consensus. If I were a political psychology lecturer, that’s how I’d teach it to my students.”
Except this approach predisposes a common view, when life experiences and perspectives differ even when values do not.
In your example, I would focus on the shared values – and work from that. That would be true engagement, else along with presupposed commonalities – that may or may not exist – you usually come up with presupposed solutions to presupposed problems.
I would think a long-term sustainable solution would acknowledge that multi-pronged and adaptable solutions from a diverse range of people with the same values is a good result.
Not in my experience. The common view emerges organically from the discourse. That’s why it is authentic: it is based on genuine commonalities that people discover connect them in a sense of belonging to a cultural context or group or society. The discovery process requires identification and acknowledgement of those in order to objectify them into what eventually constellates as a belief system. So it’s a natural process humans do.
Yes, crowd-sourcing wisdom is indeed an optimal technique when used in a diverse social context. Best seen in brain-storming sessions. Discussion groups can produce it but it depends whether members have what it takes to operate as catalysts. Teams work even better than brainstorming because of their task focus.
“The common view emerges organically from the discourse. That’s why it is authentic: it is based on genuine commonalities that people discover connect them in a sense of belonging to a cultural context or group or society. The discovery process requires identification and acknowledgement of those in order to objectify them into what eventually constellates as a belief system. So it’s a natural process humans do.”
I agree with you insofar as it applies to values.
I disagree in terms of how adept we are as a society into looking past differences in order to achieve good outcomes for shared values.
From that perspective, there are two options:
1. Take time and energy to identify – or construct – commonalities before working together,
2. Acknowledge the differences – and work together.
I have a suspicion that we are talking along the same lines, but I do think there is an important consideration to make for allowances of differences in genuine engagement.
Thanks, Molly. i do agree there needs to be conerted and co-ordinated approach. The question is how to have that conversation with a mainstream media that is too superficial, rightward leaning, and focused on beating up drama and conflict?
I am not so critical of the protesters. It is, as I said about getting the attention of the mainstream media. Protesting politely somehow tends not to get that much cut-through in the dominant media and forums.
And, I am very pleased to see highly motivated protesters try ways that they decide to counter the way most kiwis are being led by the nose by some well resourced right wing propagandists. Some will learn fromt heir protesting experiences in ways that will inform their activism in the future.
I despair at how MOR the majority of Kiwis seem to be and how fearful of young activists with a fresh view on things.
The protesters rightly made the issue about racism – right wingers are using the free speech mantra as a foreground in order to slide in their dodgy bigotry.
To be clear, I’m not criticising the protestors for being passionate about something that is destructive to our shared society. I’m just wondering how we ensure the long-term effectiveness of actions against these views. And if there are other – perhaps additional – or replacement – methods that would produce the results that would benefit us all.
The point you make about racism is valid. What I’m struggling with is how much time we are giving to addressing the rhetoric of overseas self-promoters when many New Zealanders experience varying degrees of racism every day. If we can find a way to address that systemically, then society as a whole, including the media, would not allowed themselves to be played for publicity.
If we don’t ask why those – brought up or choosing NZ as a home – are finding these speakers attractive, then we are missing a trick in working out how to make sure that pull is reduced.
“The old Jeffersonian free market of ideas ideal, was that, if all views get heard and debated in public, the best of thinking will rise to the top, and dodgy thinking will be found out and drop out of the consideration. But, as we can see with Trump, Brash, Canadian alt-righters, etc, in the digital age, a lot of dodgy populist speakings gets mainstream attention and acceptance by some.”
I’m not actually seeing what the ‘but’ is here. So what if there’s a bit of back and forth along the way? Unless you’re a Marxist, there’s no reason to believe the process will be logical and linear, it’s a game of snakes and ladders.
I thought the protesters (I was in the room) were 90% on the right tone, they respectfully but firmly interjected and disrupted, but overplayed their hand eventually and became disrespectful and childish. At that point they allowed the MAGA hat types that if it is going to descend into a contest of loud noises, they won’t be the ones who win. And of course at that point they let Brash speak, then marched out of the still unfinished debate.
What’s also amusing is that these people who came to protest – supposedly about people of colour not being listened to – marched out without waiting to listen to Sir Anand Satyanand’s very thoughtful closing speech. I thought they wanted to hear from non-Pakeha? And yet they walked out on a person of colour who exemplifies the successful side of NZ’s multiculturalism.
Meme of the night came from Elliot Ikilei: Hey Marxists: where’s Dad?
Maybe the protesters have some things to learn about effective activism. The only way to learn effective methods, is to give various methods a try.
Brash is such an long-time mainstream speaker, I doubt one loud protest against him will make racist views any worse than they are now in the mainstream.
And from some reports, the loud protests only happened for a few minutes, and Brash was not prevented from delivering his whole speech.
Hmmmm… actually the Stuff report, gives a whole different view from just selected video clips of the shouting moments. They focus on Brash speaking, not being silenced.
Former National Party Leader Don Brash was given a fiery response from protesters as he took part in a free speech debate at Auckland University on Thursday evening.
For a time it appeared Brash would not be able to speak as protesters sang and shouted over him inside the auditorium but after a few minutes calm was largely restored and Brash was invited to finish his speech.
Brash said to the boisterous crowd that they were themselves demonstrating free speech, which was in favour of what he was about to debate.
…
Community group A New University, made up of Auckland University students, said it had organised the protest of Brash’s inclusion in the debate, which was hosted by the university’s debate society.
…
A New University spokeswoman Beth Stanley said the group did what it intended, which was to show that there was strong opposition to Brash participating because of his views towards Te Tiriti o Waitangi, te reo Māori and the rights of Māori people in New Zealand..
“Don Brash spoke. We didn’t in anyway disrupt his speech. He got his whole speech out,” Stanley said.
“We wanted to show that people are not happy about what he has to say and that he is not welcome on our university. We got our point across.
…
We are not opposing the event or anything like that, we’re opposing specifically Don Brash being invited onto campus.”
Brash said the protesters were off-putting, but he wasn’t intimidated.
…
We are not opposing the event or anything like that, we’re opposing specifically Don Brash being invited onto campus.”
Brash said the protesters were off-putting, but he wasn’t intimidated.
So, really it’s looking like people getting sanctimonious about loud, short-lived protests are really off on a wrong track.
And all the reports I’ve seen focus mostly on what Brash had to say. I have no idea what this has to do with the issue:
Meme of the night came from Elliot Ikilei: Hey Marxists: where’s Dad?
Or what it means. Just sounds like a superficial, and unexplained anti-Marxist jibe.
“Maybe the protesters have some things to learn about effective activism. The only way to learn effective methods, is to give various methods a try”
Agreed – a pity that instead of being honest about it, their leaders come out with this statement, which bends the truth
“Don Brash spoke. We didn’t in anyway disrupt his speech. He got his whole speech out,” Stanley said.
Yeah, they did disrupt it. Which in itself is cool, they made him sit it out for 4 or 5 minutes while they spoke. But it did not progress as she claims. They made their speeches (cool), ensured their viewpoint registered with speakers and the crowd (vitally important), and then basically played up for the news cameras and made a spectacle of themselves until the crowd had no choice but to show them that if it’s just a contest of noise, they won’t be the ones who win. A lesson they ought to digest for future actions.
Brash got to speak in the end, and hell I’m not a fan of the guy. I’m actually kinda mad at these pesky kids that they’ve forced me to accept Brash as a proxy for the debate about these rights. But only when the audience called time on their performance (not their protest, but the performance which ensued once the actual protest was over) did that happen. Beth Stanley attempts to give the impression that they voluntarily made their point and stepped back. She says ‘we didn’t in any way disrupt his speech’. That’s not true, but also not the part she needed to be dishonest about.
“So, really it’s looking like people getting sanctimonious about loud, short-lived protests are really off on a wrong track.”
Perhaps it’s people taking a protest leader’s less-than-candid statements at face value who are the wrong track ; )
As for the Marxists, “Where’s dad?” is the response their screechings about capitalism and colonialism will garner for a long time to come.
Do the protesters not have a right to free speech? Can’t they say what ever they like whenever they like? Or is that only OK if you are white, rich and insulting other cultures?
I watched the debate last night and the protesters on this occasion walked straight into a trap of their own making. Honestly, they didn’t exhibit a whole brain between them. It was inevitable Brash would play the… “oh look, I’m being denied my right to speak” card. He claimed it as an example why pc language is so dangerous which of course is a false equivalence (nothing to do with being pc) but that detail would go over the top of most people’s heads.
I hope the students in question get a bollocking for being so stupid from their peers today.
‘The common example is the termination of a speech or demonstration in the interest of maintaining the public peace based on the anticipated negative reaction of someone opposed to that speech or demonstration.’
‘In common parlance, the term is used to describe situations where hecklers or demonstrators silence a speaker without intervention of the law.’
To be fair it only involved a handful of protesters. The rest stood silently at the back of the chamber holding up their signs which could be clearly seen. That was fine, but the idiots who yelled through megaphones when Brash started speaking well… Brash made the most of it when he was finally able to speak and who can blame him.
@ You Fool.
The protesters were exercising their right to speak outside the entrance for a long time prior to the start of the meeting. They no doubt exercised the same right when the crowd left. But they had no right to disrupt speaker, Don Brash (whose views I despise) inside the hall.
I think you are. I like to see expressions of passion, such as interjections.
Pucky; you exhibit passion toward your pin-up dowager girl, Judith; do you think we should call for your expulsion from TS because your “shout-outs” offend us?
Well in all fairness I’ve never been a Young Nat nor a student at Auckland University however the difference is while I accept that Jude is potentially the daughter of god (those initials can’t be a coincidence) I don’t try to stop anyone disagreeing with me
Whereas those protesters were trying to drown out Dr Don Brash
Freedom of speech doesn’t silence other people, surely? If enough people in the audience had told the dickheads to shut up and let Brash speak without interjection, they would have. Hell, the protestors would have been ejected by security to the applause of the audience.
And then you’d have been boldly defending their right to free speech, surely?
‘In common parlance, the term is used to describe situations where hecklers or demonstrators silence a speaker without intervention of the law.’
“If enough people in the audience had told the dickheads to shut up and let Brash speak without interjection, they would have.”
You’re not that naive, you know as well as I do that all that would have happened is that both sides would have ended up shouting at each other and Don Brash wouldn’t have been able to speak
Germany are talking about conscription again. Definitely an option for these kids. Embarrassing to be out-smarted by DB. Send them on some social and ecological projects as well as military. Can we do it, unemployment rate could be lower? Yes.
Why a slap on the wrist? How is this company allowed to continue? Why do we take this shit sandwich and ask for another? When are people going to say ,’sorry, but sorry isn’t good enough. No more!!!’.
“The council estimated that 450 cubic metres of dairy effluent was discharged when the incident occurred in November 2016.
This is the equivalent of 17 truck and trailer units full of effluent. The volume was such that it was able to be detected eight kilometres downstream at Lake Ohakuri.”
These “accidents” need to stop. They don’t just happen, they’re borne of negligence. That pipe pumped sewage into the waterway for 14 straight hours. I bet they have systems in place to detect an equivalent milk loss pretty bloody quickly.
You understand what siphoning is as opposed to pumping . ?
Using your rational we need to quadruple speeding and parking fines there levels are not cutting it .
Meh. The point stands – shit went through the pipe into the waterway.
And yes, I reckon that all fines should be a proportion of wealth and traffic fines could be higher. Especially parking tickets – on the odds of getting caught, it’s cheaper to wear the occasional ticket than it is to pay for parking all the time.
Yep there’s too many of these “accidents” and dairy farmers/companies will push council to hold off on fines etc with promises of getting things sorted. Here’s a classic example from my neck of the woods.
“Two farms that belonged to Northland farmers David and Frances Webster were responsible for allowing dairy effluent to flow into waterways in what an Environment Court judge Craig Thompson called the worst case of “prolonged non-compliance” he had ever seen.
The offending, which saw a huge amount of untreated dairy effluent put into the Manganui River, which feeds into the Northern Wairoa River and the Kaipara Harbour was described as “blatant, ongoing and serious”, with one of the farms being “awash with dairy effluent”, resulting in “gross contamination”.”
“Outside the court the council’s farm monitoring manager Dennis Wright said the companies “grossly polluted waterways for at least eight years and the environment wore the cost”.”
And an even better ending to the story, when finally taken to court (at a cost of $50K to rate payers) the shifty fuckers managed to side-step paying any fines by selling the farm and shifting funds into trust accounts (obviously Nat voters).
I have no problem with fining offenders . I just had to call mm for his bullshit wet bus ticket claim ,so the rabid farm haters here that probably won’t read his link but nod their heads and growl fuck yes get some balance in their diet.
Back in 2011 ish, the Waikato Regional Council was struggling to gain(never mind maintain) a reputation as a hardarse enforcer in relation to the Clean Streams Accord. Long story short….WRC with the aid of helicopter observers found, investigated and successfully prosecuted a King Country farmer. Big write up in local rag and a fine of $50 thousand. I spoke with this farmer and pretended sympathy for the hit to his bank balance from the fine. “No worries, my insurance covers the fine and the costs.”
Bus ticket? Pantomime.
WRC at best useless.
(That particular cocky had not contaminated any waterway, btw, there was simply a risk of that happening.)
You are so kind and fair bwaghorn. Probably an accident! It actually matters that it happened, that it was destructive and will have ongoing results, and that the systems set up to cope with the production of effluent were inadequate. Like our previous government. We have been drowning in their muck and have only just survived. Perhaps they should pay half of that fine?
Are there any chemist or scientist types on here that could explain if its possible to maybe develop and add something to a plastic bag that would make it break down quickly or give it a shelf life or something?
There are already plenty of biodegradable (and/or compostible) plastic products including bags available in NZ – but there is also some dispute as to whether they actually breakdown as claimed, especially in landfills.
Sorry, cannot help on the science etc and must rush out, but here is a link to a Google search which provides lots of info on what is available in NZ.
Precisely. I saw a science report on the tv news about that several weeks ago, think it was BBC originated. Microscopic bits of plastic in ocean water. Imagine how much they are likely to disrupt organic process within when ingested by any organism. Scary stuff.
Are you advocating for an inquiry @ PR? Or given the submissions and comments and lobbying already done, should we not just get on and do the bleeding obvious.
However, if you’re really committed, you could consider looking at some of the evidence various places in the 3rd World have sought that has led them to single-use plastic bans
“……… led them to single-use plastic bans”
should of course read “led them to BAN single use plastic bags”.
(perhaps there should be an inquiry into the ‘mis-spoken’ ‘mis-typed’ as gNatz would advocate, rather than into things of importance and substance.
(Pauline Kingi and the Wally springs to mind), but then I defer to your superior intellect, perceived class, and troll status.
DId I ever tell you how gorgeous I think you are?
Whoar! I dream about you nights
I’ve been using some of those ones made of corn starch. So not plastic at all according to the fine print. Not too bad and they can go into a compost bin but i believe they can take a while to disintegrate as they are designed for much hotter industrial composting. Having said that it looks like a couple of things do burn holes in them (i’m suspecting dobs of chicken fat but could be wrong. ) Also some internet hints that some are made from GE corn bt I guess if we grow the corn here and make them here that would not be an issue.
For Mike, outrage over something is necessary for survival, the withdrawal symptoms would be unbearable. Preferably something proposed by people with a different idealogical leaning to his own.
As for the bags- great start, but as many are saying, the bigger problem is all the completely unnecessary wrapping of things that don’t need to be wrapped, supermarkets being the main culprits. Countdown want to tell us how committed they are to the environment but STILL won’t provide paper bags in their bakery section (plastic only) etc etc. But at least their Bobby bananas don’t have a plastic wrapping, unlike the Pak’nSave version, which unfortunately are much cheaper…
The Nation Business I agree with Grant Roberson that the money from Kiwi saver funds and the Cullen fund should be invested in Aotearoa infrastructure build it now and it will cost less than build in the future not hard to figure that out .
The thing about business leader’s is that are mostly supportive of national that’s a fact so if they can help the neo capitalist they will help distorts the business conferdince state with a few white lies and walar it crashes .
A low New Zealand Dollar is good for Aotearoa and the environment we get more for our exports and because imports are more expensive we import less and manufacturer the products our selves .
What did I say the quoter management system is a system set up for mone men to rip off the system . And the justice system is set up for the 00.1 % to be able to use there mone for impunity that’s a fact look at the fine they got 25 years ago$1 million dollars is a drop in the bucket compared to 500 tons x $6000 a ton = $3 million and what about all the fish that has been stolen over 30 years they should have been banned from fishing 25 years ago banned from any business.
Ka kite ano
Here is something for you to ponder, eco, thus perhaps reconsider your approval.
As both Kiwisaver and the Cullen Fund seek a return on their investment, they are not the most cost effective way to fund our infrastructure. Utilising the tax take is.
Moreover, when we take into account the opportunity cost of doing so (using Kiwisaver and the Cullen Fund) it’s just not worth it. The nation won’t grow its wealth charging ourselves more (due to the return required from the investment) to use our infrastructure. It’s inflationary, thus adds to the cost of production.
Even borrowing funding would be cheaper than using Kiwisaver and the Cullen Fund.
Here you go Eco did say that good Kiwi’s can see trough the historical hysterical emotional things the neo capitalist project on Us good Kiwis to raise there profile in public eyes and gone brash wonder’s why Maori mokopuna’s have high suicide rate’s the link is below ka kite ano
This is a good win for the common tangata against multi national company’s who never admit liability round up is a poisiosn full stop link is below ka kite ano
Sugar has a direct link to the cause of diabetes contrary to what the 2 to 3 company’s lobbying mone let’s the media say about there bad product sugar .They only let researcher say that sugar doe’s not cause diabetes with there big lawyer’s ready to sue the truth teller’s . Eco say it does have a direct link it stuff up your liver and walar one has diabetes . If your whano has this disease get rid of the sugar you don’t need it we did not have sugar in OUR diet for thousands of years it’s not hard to give up Eco has .
Ka kite ano link below.
Good evening Newshub There you go trump is adding to idiots ego’s that’s not hard to see . That mess in Tolaga Bay with all the waste from forestry washing down river’s on to the beaches there is the same mess back home at the Waiapu river mouth beaches .
I have been following that round up story for a while New’s hub I say that that story on the video game that checks peoples navigational skill’s is full of ——- another way of glorifying the Europeen culture and men is what I see there . how about I take some one in the bush and then we will see who has the best navigation skill’s I see the deceit has be happening for centuries .How do I know this why Analyse the difference in skill’s of different cultures and sex’s to prove that one sex or culture is better than the other and publicize it {fake till you make} it is the capitalist way look at trump .
.The game of 3 halves is a good way for the couch to check if he has picked the correct players .
It would be awsome if the Wahine Rugby World Cup was played in Aotearoa
Ka kite ano
Hi,It’s almost Christmas Day which means it is almost my birthday, where you will find me whimpering in the corner clutching a warm bottle of Baileys.If you’re out of ideas for presents (and truly desperate) then it is possible to gift a full Webworm subscription to a friend (or enemy) ...
This morning’s six standouts for me at 6.30am include:Rachel Helyer Donaldson’s scoop via RNZ last night of cuts to maternity jobs in the health system;Maddy Croad’s scoop via The Press-$ this morning on funding cuts for Christchurch’s biggest food rescue charity;Benedict Collins’ scoop last night via 1News on a last-minute ...
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
Opinion: The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science report was announced earlier this month, yet it didn’t get the flurry of media attention and political hand-wringing that typically accompanies these announcements. This might be because it presented good news, or you could argue, no news; the results paint a ...
NewsroomBy Dr Lisa Darragh, Dr Raewyn Eden and Dr David Pomeroy
Te Pāti Māori has had to adopt a new way of debating, operating and even thinking in Parliament in response to the Government’s “onslaught” against te ao Māori, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says.In an end-of-year interview with Newsroom, the Te Tai Hauauru MP reflected on how 2024 has differed from her ...
At long last, The Spinoff shells out for a nut ranking. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today.It recently came to The Spinoff’s attention ...
I was one of hundreds of people who lost my government job this week. Here’s exactly how it played out. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a ...
Summer reissue: One anxiously attentive passenger pays attention to an in-flight safety video, and wonders ‘Why can’t I pick up my own phone?’ The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up ...
Summer reissue: Why do those Lange-Douglas years cast such a long shadow 40 years on? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today. First published June ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('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, Monday 23 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The Government’s social housing agency has backed out of a billion-dollar infrastructure alliance that would have built about 6000 new homes in Auckland – less than 18 months after signing a five-year extension.Labour says the decision to rip up the contract and sell off existing state houses could lead to ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
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Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
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What are we as a country doing to mitigate catastrophic climate change?
The only solution must be the abandonment of capitalism.
are we prepared to abandon the pursuit of greed and individualism ?
We’re doing the program that James Shaw has devised in collaboration with the relevant government departments. Too little too late. But let’s hope.
I agree it would be a good move to abandon capitalism at this point. The tricky bit is how to do so. Eliminating usury would be a good start. Businesses would become cooperative, meaning risk is shared as well as profit. Employees would go hungry until they learn to stop arguing & start collaborating. This would prove especially difficult for leftists.
“Are we prepared to abandon the pursuit of greed and individualism?” Not until consensus on the alternative system has been developed. So overcoming reluctance to work together on that task is the first step.
We’re doing nothing that will deal with the issue quickly or significantly enough.
This is a war and we need to mobilise.
What you’re seeing in the northern hemisphere this year will seem tame in 3 years time.
But it ISN’T a war. Repeatedly saying so will not change that.
It takes a definite statement that is a bit OTT to raise people out of the torpor of wondering whether it will be sunny next weekend for sport or to get a certain amount of sleep in a quiet safe spot out of the rain.
” This would prove especially difficult for leftists.”
on recent form (indeed historical) impossible
So, who does ‘develop’ this consensus and how? Many people misunderstand the concept of consensus and in political context it is often frowned upon as something unworkable and unpractical, i.e. as something negative that should be avoided. There’s no good role model! A show of hands, a (majority) vote, is all that’s needed, right? In addition to this reluctance there are, of course, those who actively resist it …
There is a role model, just not in the public domain. It’s in the Green Party Standing Orders & Constitution. Or at least it was when I sent our recently-adopted Constitution to Sir Geoffrey Palmer so he could register the Greens with the Electoral Commission in ’95.
The method I used when I led the process to constellate consensus and produce both documents was as described in those documents. Starting from intense rivalry & disagreement amongst the leading activists in ’91, lots of word-smithing on my computer, lots of branch, regional & provincial meetings to approve the documents until final approval was achieved at national conference AGM.
Consensus was defined as all agreeing (in the initial ideal) then in practice modified to all agreeing bar one dissident determined to object. If there was more than one oddball with his/her knickers in a twist, we were required to continue discussion. Resolution to an impasse was usually attained via two or more dissenters agreeing to defer to the majority as long as their objection was formally recorded. That allowed the minority group a basis for continuing to lobby via other meetings, letters (no email back then) or party magazine.
.
“Starting from intense rivalry & disagreement amongst the leading activists in ’91…..”
“leading”..not all. and therein lies the issue. A consensus within a self determined range of opinions may well be (eventually) possible….this does not reflect society, hence democracy and the’ tyranny of the majority’
Especially as any time we may have had has likely been squandered.
Yes, consensus works well in the Green Party with all members agreeing to the Charter principles before they join. It is quite different in wider society where many individuals have very little concern for the environment and other people.
would add that even within that self selected group (the Greens) one could not seriously suggest consensus given recent events
Consensus as a decision making process yes. Consensus does not mean everybody agreeing.
consensus as a process is only as effective as its adherence,presentation and acceptance….none are evident
I’ve expressed similar doubts about the competence of our parliamentarians in this forum. Especially in regard to the Exec decision to expel the two who disagreed with Metiria.
The two who dumped on the Green party, joining in the hypocritical holier than thou, racist and misogynist bene bashing, then expected to remain our representatives, you mean. At meetings I attended, there was overwhelming support for Shaw and Turei
The expulsion of Clendon and Graham is just but one manifestation, there are many others
With due respect to Clendon, he was doing a lot of work in law, n that no walk in the park. Imagine him as a great local green, but really the greens need more folk in the house, if they are going to be seriously tackling issues like, the need for Royal Commissions on key issues; ubi and social credit.
@KTJ
Yes, those two were very lucky to be aloud to stay in the Party.
ya know the charter is real good, but its impossible to totally satisfy it. Easy for plants to derail progress, but also a natural safe guard to provide conservative policy on what are otherwise awesome and potentially radical folk.
and any of that supports the notion of the effectiveness of consensus how?
Easy for plants to derail progress
Is that a reference to cannabis?
My point was about whether the Exec followed the rules in making their decision. When they informed us of that decision, they failed to specify precisely how the rules had been broken. Three possible explanations for their failure:
1. contempt for members (“we’re above being accountable for our decision, we don’t need to prove we’re right”)
2. “uh, we forgot. sorry.”
3. they didn’t actually know the Constitution & Standing Orders define consensus and how to apply it to GP decisions (“hey, we’re the younger generation, why would we bother to read rules written by the older generation?”)
nationalize all debts and then gradually retire them
And abandon capitalism.
Our future,” scientist James Lovelock has written, “is like that of the passengers on a small pleasure boat sailing quietly above the Niagara Falls, not knowing that the engines are about to fail.”
No
Never thought I’d hear a massive crowd chanting for “Don Brash Don Brash Don Brash” again.
Depressing frankly that there are so many racist climate deniers in this banana republic.
Give the man a baseball cap and a fake tan and God knows how much damage he might do.
In my opinion Auckland University acted rashly in inviting Brash to their Campus, at such short notice.
In my opinion A.U. management have acted as opportunists motivated by gaining some cheap notoriety at Massey’s expense.
I have two issues with how Auckland University have behaved in this matter.
Opportunism
First of all, It was an insult to the leadership of Massey.
In my opinion A.U.’s behaviour was appalling and opportunist, taking advantage of M.U.’s difficulties in this matter.
Instead of standing in solidarity with their sister University, Auckland University have delivered them a deliberate public slap in the face.
If A.U. were really convinced that Brash’s views needed an airing, then probably what they should have done, is consulted with their sister faculty first, and come up with a combined strategy on how to deal with the thorny issues raised by Brash.
That they didn’t do this is obvious from the indecent haste with which A.U. acted in giving Brash a platform to speak.
Hypocrisy
As has been widely reported, Auckland University did exactly the same as Massey when it suited them. Canceling a talk from Hone Harawira, allegedly on the grounds of threatened protests against him.
But Auckland University have no issue with protests when it is a white supremacist speaking on campus.
Just as Te Reo Putake has pointed out in his post on this matter, “There is no such thing as free speech”
To which I might add; Not if you are Maori, or poor, or from a minority group.
If you are from one of these above groups and your speaking venue is canned by an institution like Auckland University, the media will not even think it newsworthy, Rich white people will not dig into their pockets to the tune of $50 thousand to sue the institution which has shut you out. And we wouldn’t even be talking about it.
There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech
TE REO PUTAKE – July 11, 2018
I would hope that universities would stand on principle as they see it rather than just follow whatever line another university has taken.
I agree. Free speech denial will be much less successful than climate change denial! MU will struggle to regain credibility. I suspect they will have to eventually admit their error due to weight of public opinion.
The Education Act 1989 requires that Universities show that they are acting as a “critic and conscience of society”.
Here’s a few of the stories that show how some of them are, on a dedicated website.
http://www.criticandconscience.org.nz/
remember this ?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4996046/Harawira-lecture-axed-because-of-redneck-racism
No, well it was 2011
Hone Harawira says “redneck” racism is to blame for the last-minute cancellation of a lecture he was to give in Auckland today.
The Mana Party leader was due to speak about the foreshore and seabed at Auckland University Law School.
Law student Charlotte Summers said the Faculty of Law cancelled the lecture on the basis of “there may be a breach of the peace”.
She said the Young Nationals organisation was behind the protest.
“How is it fair that the Young Nats decide to be disruptive, threaten to be disruptive, and then an entire event is cancelled because of their choices and what they threaten to do?”
Massey’s VC made the decision after being approached by the student group (who invited Brash for their event) who raised safety concerns. Appears to parallel that of the incident with Harawira’s speech so I’m not sure what all this angst is about.
AS an aside, I find it amusing that it took an Australian woman to finally listen to us, when we say that Te Tiriti principles matter.
Make a run for it
Don’t
An Earthquake strong enough to topple your building will knock you off your feet and will drop you to the ground before you make it to the door, leaving you completely vulnerable to being crushed by falling debris.
Indonesia’s Lombok quake revives the question of taking cover versus running outside
Robin George Andrews – Scientific American, August 9, 2018
If you try to make a run for it. The earthquake will knock you off your feet before you can cross the room.
P.S. Forget door frames. A strong table or desk is best.
Thanks Jenny. Intuitive thinking, or commonsense to use another term, has to be reviewed these days. Every day it seems.
Hijacking Victimhood and Demonizing Dissent:
The Post 2014 Gaza Bombing Anti-Semitism Moral Panic – a Short History
By Gavin Lewis….
https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/hijacking-victimhood-and-demonizing-dissent/
Israel Is The Real Problem…
http://medialens.org/index.php?option=com_acymailing&ctrl=archive&task=view&mailid=500&key=521d744d358c2252091b6dea00b40a3b&subid=33571-17a82b7ee5289bb302b211d107541de8&tmpl=component
Yeah, this article also, makes a clear case: August 9, 2018 – The Crisis in Corbyn’s Labour Party is Over Israel, Not Anti-Semitism, by Jonathan Cook, Nazareth.
Sure, so Israel is the problem; but what’s the solution?
China have hinted they would occupy Syria, if invited. Expecting this will suit Turkey, along with Iran. These are probably the three countries Israel will work hardest to smear in the media over the next few years, to avoid new regional dynamics.
Note that if Israel are seriously challenged, they will probably have the money power to bring down the SWIFT inter-bank payment system. But BRICS have an alternative inter-bank payment system, tested globally, including NZ. Or Israel could also potentially false flag an atomic launch at Hawaii from North Korean waters, but the US should be able to shot that down…
It’s like a giant squid, cornered in a pool of LSD. But some how we must dive into those waters, tame it and demonstrate peace.
Shalom shalom shalom.
Today might be the day Tesla failed.
It has been failing for a long long time now
Tesla is an enigma wrapped in a dream chasing an electric rainbow currently under musk.
He is all over the shop with estimates of capital requirements, loss/profit projections, technology and supply issues especially with the battery manufacture.
I can only see it continuing with a more level head in charge or the funds may dry up as Elons been very tetchy with the analysts who he desperately needs onside.
The boy wonder needs to step back and let in some rationality IMO.
He tweeted the other day about maybe taking it private. Reckons he has the finance in place. Put the wind up the SEC.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/08/who-is-jordan-peterson-a-guide-to-the-next-controversial-canadian-to-grace-our-shores.html
Ok so this is basically a way over-simplification of what Dr Jordan Peterson, purely designed to court controversy, has actually said but if he comes to Christchurch I’ll be there
Maybe I’ll see some of you there as well 😉
It used to be said that a skin-head, meathead, right wing nationalist front type element flourished in Christchurch. Maybe a big meeting there could be the catalyst to further the plans “to create a European culture “protected community” in North Canterbury … to “build a unified mini state that we could build up in future to be a base for other like minded Europeans to come to from other dying countries.”
I vote that it be relocated to Auckland Island. The climate will toughen the roosters up. They could make a reality tv show out of the survival process.
Dennis Frank
Best idea you have had so far. I’ll put small donation into a funding pool to take that forward. Along with Give a Little to buy that station down south and keep in NZ hands.
Thanks grey 😎 it’s actually an old idea of mine. Early nineties I was running the Greens justice policy development as convenor of the working group & put a suggestion into the policy draft that recidivist violent offenders be parked down there & left to fight it out. Had a few greenies looking askance at me after that!
I’m originally from Dunedin, i’m just here for the work 🙂
Yes not surprised you’ll be going after reading that – I don’t really like his views on women and roles and stuff.
“He believes in “traditional” gender roles because he thinks men might simply be more competent than women, and he’s suggested women shouldn’t be allowed to wear makeup to work because it’s “sexually provocative”.”
“When a member of the ‘incel’ community drove a van into a crowd in Toronto and killed 10 people, Dr Peterson proposed a system of ‘enforced monogamy’ in which women are given to men as sexual partners in order to prevent such acts of violence.”
No marty you need to stop listening to what other people think he says and listen to what he actually says, theres quite a big difference
https://static.mijnwebwinkel.nl/winkel/beezonder/image/cache/full/e29ef25f88b3c06816fc82b7919bb588ab703b7b.jpg
So you’re saying the reporter is lying in that story and the videos are black ops created to discredit him?
Nope not at all, I’m saying theres certainly a lot of “so what you’re saying is” and then being completely wrong about what was said
Kind of like what you’re doing right now 🙂
https://medium.com/@stianchrister/24-memes-that-sum-up-jordan-peterson-vs-cathy-newman-7c7b9229f2f
I’ve seen his videos.
He is scum.
Garn marty mars. You don’t say. Or did you? Did he? Can you find where. I would print it out and frame it if he managed to advance the idea in less than an A4 page. He being so wordy as well as seriously thoughtful, which gives the impression that deep wisdom is going to come out of that player piano.
Well, at least you’ll be well versed in the art of non-sequiturs 😉
Nice 🙂
Had to laugh at that Brash thing yesterday
Good luck to the protesters, but way to prove Brash’s point
Talk about a backfire
Ah the rightees are leading public discussion off on a merry ‘free speech’ red herring jaunt.
This is not about ‘free speech’ as originally intended: it was intended to ensure democratic debate so that all views get heard.
Today the issue is about which voices get heard most in the mainstream, and the kinds of views that get heard most frequently, and most positively in the mainstream – it’s about access to dominant platforms, and the attention economy – everyone is free to express their views online, but it’s hard for everyone to get people to pay attention to their views.
It was intended to be about freedom from government/state censorship.
The old Jeffersonian free market of ideas ideal, was that, if all views get heard and debated in public, the best of thinking will rise to the top, and dodgy thinking will be found out and drop out of the consideration. But, as we can see with Trump, Brash, Canadian alt-righters, etc, in the digital age, a lot of dodgy populist speakings gets mainstream attention and acceptance by some.
The guests on the UoA panel was skewed to Pakeha, older people, and the Right (see the still image fronting the video you posted). They did have an unknown person of Maori Pacific descent speak in the debate. But, the attention was all on ye olde Pakeha Name people.
The protesters were adding the voices of those excluded from the debate. They were protesting the voices that have been excluded, and against the (one-sided bigoted mis-informed views on ‘race’, etc) issues that have been slid into the mainstream under the guise of ‘freedom of speech’.
In the short term, many with power will be tut-tutting about the protest. However, when the students are protesting strongly about inequities, democratic fails, misinformation, damaging propaganda, etc., then there is still hope for our world.
“Adding voices”
If by that you mean yelling incoherently, yes they were.
As is their right.
And we can judge for ourselves which looked the least idiotic
I’m not convinced that giving so much attention to those who are adept are provocation and flawed reasoning, is producing the outcome that most would wish for – a dismissal of their rantings.
Perhaps a different approach is required to deal with this kind of invasion of rhetoric, other than vocal protestors at venues. I’m thinking about the effect on those who attend, exiting the venue only to be exposed to approbation, censure and loud shouting. Leading, as is expected from human nature, to further entrenching views – that as yet might have been not fully formed.
The only proposal I can come up with at present, that aligns with a progressive form of counteracting such views taking root is not fully formed, but here goes:
Instead of a continuation of rhetoric and speaking, an invitation for those attending to have their say, and talk about their personal situations and why they felt that the speaker had something to say worth paying for.
A cohesive and comprehensive plan for a Listening Post form of protest would involve people getting together, and learning how to address the fears and concerns of those who might be persuaded by such rhetoric, by genuine conversation and discussion of alternative views and options. Invite people as they exit to talk and then genuinely listen. Without judgment, then offer a counter view – to that one individual that you have engaged with.
If the end result is to innoculate our people from the harm that comes from following such ill-considered public opinions, then the media focus and vocal protests seem to be doing the opposite.
I would be interested in hearing if there are other proposals for effective actions out there.
that is a far more sensible and productive approach.
The purpose is not to silence the extremist but to ensure their views remain exactly that..extreme. What is needed is to seek empathy from as wide an audience as possible and that is most effectively achieved by recounting personal experience and eliciting understanding….the opposite is achieved by shouting slogans and presumptive judgements
Sounds like you’re sort of saying if you attack me I’ll dig my heels in and won’t listen and if I attack you you’ll do the same and no ones point of view gets changed?
If so yeah absolutely thats what’ll likely happen so yep I agree with your conclusions
Reasoned, polite conversation is always a good way to go
“Reasoned, polite conversation is always a good way to go”
This sounds good, but in reality some of the most polite amongst us can be very destructive and use that skill to “win” arguments.
I’m thinking along the lines of better listening, and genuine engagement – which may or may not be considered genteel, but is conducted with respect. Reinforcing the ‘listening’ rather than the talking.
Saying that you need people who are skilled at this type of interaction, I know only a few myself. 🙂
There certainly is a major difference between hearing and listening, in NZ though I do like to believe that there are more things that we all have in common then what we have as differences
I don’t believe that differences should be a problem. Trying to homogenise experiences and perspectives, causes more alienation than it heals.
Accepting differences seems to be a hurdle for many. Differences in choice, perspectives and actions.
However, I do agree with you, if what you are saying is that many do share either unexpressed or badly expressed values.
It is insistence on those values being followed in specific ways, without allowance for difference perspectives, approaches or resources that causes ongoing problems.
I use the coin as model for the way the brain operates. Left hemisphere differentiates between parts, right hemisphere integrates parts into wholes. The big picture combines both (holism).
So when we focus on the differences between us, we differentiate ourselves as unique humans & get idiosyncrasy (see the original meaning of that). When we focus on commonalities we share, we form an integral view. When we apply the latter in political praxis, we develop consensus. If I were a political psychology lecturer, that’s how I’d teach it to my students.
Toss a coin, see how it lands. Tails, say the leftists. Heads, say the rightists. People see what they’re looking for. Doesn’t matter, say the centrists. The coin has both sides concurrently regardless of how it lands. Both/and logic, not zero-sum logic. Applied holism.
“So when we focus on the differences between us, we differentiate ourselves as unique humans & get idiosyncrasy (see the original meaning of that). When we focus on commonalities we share, we form an integral view. When we apply the latter in political praxis, we develop consensus. If I were a political psychology lecturer, that’s how I’d teach it to my students.”
Except this approach predisposes a common view, when life experiences and perspectives differ even when values do not.
In your example, I would focus on the shared values – and work from that. That would be true engagement, else along with presupposed commonalities – that may or may not exist – you usually come up with presupposed solutions to presupposed problems.
I would think a long-term sustainable solution would acknowledge that multi-pronged and adaptable solutions from a diverse range of people with the same values is a good result.
Not in my experience. The common view emerges organically from the discourse. That’s why it is authentic: it is based on genuine commonalities that people discover connect them in a sense of belonging to a cultural context or group or society. The discovery process requires identification and acknowledgement of those in order to objectify them into what eventually constellates as a belief system. So it’s a natural process humans do.
Yes, crowd-sourcing wisdom is indeed an optimal technique when used in a diverse social context. Best seen in brain-storming sessions. Discussion groups can produce it but it depends whether members have what it takes to operate as catalysts. Teams work even better than brainstorming because of their task focus.
“The common view emerges organically from the discourse. That’s why it is authentic: it is based on genuine commonalities that people discover connect them in a sense of belonging to a cultural context or group or society. The discovery process requires identification and acknowledgement of those in order to objectify them into what eventually constellates as a belief system. So it’s a natural process humans do.”
I agree with you insofar as it applies to values.
I disagree in terms of how adept we are as a society into looking past differences in order to achieve good outcomes for shared values.
From that perspective, there are two options:
1. Take time and energy to identify – or construct – commonalities before working together,
2. Acknowledge the differences – and work together.
I have a suspicion that we are talking along the same lines, but I do think there is an important consideration to make for allowances of differences in genuine engagement.
Apologies for the “genteel”, been discussing Austen with my daughter, and some of that vocab slipped in…
Thanks, Molly. i do agree there needs to be conerted and co-ordinated approach. The question is how to have that conversation with a mainstream media that is too superficial, rightward leaning, and focused on beating up drama and conflict?
I am not so critical of the protesters. It is, as I said about getting the attention of the mainstream media. Protesting politely somehow tends not to get that much cut-through in the dominant media and forums.
And, I am very pleased to see highly motivated protesters try ways that they decide to counter the way most kiwis are being led by the nose by some well resourced right wing propagandists. Some will learn fromt heir protesting experiences in ways that will inform their activism in the future.
I despair at how MOR the majority of Kiwis seem to be and how fearful of young activists with a fresh view on things.
The protesters rightly made the issue about racism – right wingers are using the free speech mantra as a foreground in order to slide in their dodgy bigotry.
To be clear, I’m not criticising the protestors for being passionate about something that is destructive to our shared society. I’m just wondering how we ensure the long-term effectiveness of actions against these views. And if there are other – perhaps additional – or replacement – methods that would produce the results that would benefit us all.
The point you make about racism is valid. What I’m struggling with is how much time we are giving to addressing the rhetoric of overseas self-promoters when many New Zealanders experience varying degrees of racism every day. If we can find a way to address that systemically, then society as a whole, including the media, would not allowed themselves to be played for publicity.
If we don’t ask why those – brought up or choosing NZ as a home – are finding these speakers attractive, then we are missing a trick in working out how to make sure that pull is reduced.
“The old Jeffersonian free market of ideas ideal, was that, if all views get heard and debated in public, the best of thinking will rise to the top, and dodgy thinking will be found out and drop out of the consideration. But, as we can see with Trump, Brash, Canadian alt-righters, etc, in the digital age, a lot of dodgy populist speakings gets mainstream attention and acceptance by some.”
I’m not actually seeing what the ‘but’ is here. So what if there’s a bit of back and forth along the way? Unless you’re a Marxist, there’s no reason to believe the process will be logical and linear, it’s a game of snakes and ladders.
I thought the protesters (I was in the room) were 90% on the right tone, they respectfully but firmly interjected and disrupted, but overplayed their hand eventually and became disrespectful and childish. At that point they allowed the MAGA hat types that if it is going to descend into a contest of loud noises, they won’t be the ones who win. And of course at that point they let Brash speak, then marched out of the still unfinished debate.
What’s also amusing is that these people who came to protest – supposedly about people of colour not being listened to – marched out without waiting to listen to Sir Anand Satyanand’s very thoughtful closing speech. I thought they wanted to hear from non-Pakeha? And yet they walked out on a person of colour who exemplifies the successful side of NZ’s multiculturalism.
Meme of the night came from Elliot Ikilei: Hey Marxists: where’s Dad?
Thanks for the firsthand report, CJ.
Maybe the protesters have some things to learn about effective activism. The only way to learn effective methods, is to give various methods a try.
Brash is such an long-time mainstream speaker, I doubt one loud protest against him will make racist views any worse than they are now in the mainstream.
And from some reports, the loud protests only happened for a few minutes, and Brash was not prevented from delivering his whole speech.
Hmmmm… actually the Stuff report, gives a whole different view from just selected video clips of the shouting moments. They focus on Brash speaking, not being silenced.
“Don Brash speaks at boisterous Auckland University debate, punctuated by protests”
So, really it’s looking like people getting sanctimonious about loud, short-lived protests are really off on a wrong track.
And all the reports I’ve seen focus mostly on what Brash had to say. I have no idea what this has to do with the issue:
Meme of the night came from Elliot Ikilei: Hey Marxists: where’s Dad?
Or what it means. Just sounds like a superficial, and unexplained anti-Marxist jibe.
So what?
“Maybe the protesters have some things to learn about effective activism. The only way to learn effective methods, is to give various methods a try”
Agreed – a pity that instead of being honest about it, their leaders come out with this statement, which bends the truth
“Don Brash spoke. We didn’t in anyway disrupt his speech. He got his whole speech out,” Stanley said.
Yeah, they did disrupt it. Which in itself is cool, they made him sit it out for 4 or 5 minutes while they spoke. But it did not progress as she claims. They made their speeches (cool), ensured their viewpoint registered with speakers and the crowd (vitally important), and then basically played up for the news cameras and made a spectacle of themselves until the crowd had no choice but to show them that if it’s just a contest of noise, they won’t be the ones who win. A lesson they ought to digest for future actions.
Brash got to speak in the end, and hell I’m not a fan of the guy. I’m actually kinda mad at these pesky kids that they’ve forced me to accept Brash as a proxy for the debate about these rights. But only when the audience called time on their performance (not their protest, but the performance which ensued once the actual protest was over) did that happen. Beth Stanley attempts to give the impression that they voluntarily made their point and stepped back. She says ‘we didn’t in any way disrupt his speech’. That’s not true, but also not the part she needed to be dishonest about.
“So, really it’s looking like people getting sanctimonious about loud, short-lived protests are really off on a wrong track.”
Perhaps it’s people taking a protest leader’s less-than-candid statements at face value who are the wrong track ; )
As for the Marxists, “Where’s dad?” is the response their screechings about capitalism and colonialism will garner for a long time to come.
Do the protesters not have a right to free speech? Can’t they say what ever they like whenever they like? Or is that only OK if you are white, rich and insulting other cultures?
I watched the debate last night and the protesters on this occasion walked straight into a trap of their own making. Honestly, they didn’t exhibit a whole brain between them. It was inevitable Brash would play the… “oh look, I’m being denied my right to speak” card. He claimed it as an example why pc language is so dangerous which of course is a false equivalence (nothing to do with being pc) but that detail would go over the top of most people’s heads.
I hope the students in question get a bollocking for being so stupid from their peers today.
Of course they do however what they’re doing is anti-free speech
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler%27s_veto
‘The common example is the termination of a speech or demonstration in the interest of maintaining the public peace based on the anticipated negative reaction of someone opposed to that speech or demonstration.’
‘In common parlance, the term is used to describe situations where hecklers or demonstrators silence a speaker without intervention of the law.’
To be fair it only involved a handful of protesters. The rest stood silently at the back of the chamber holding up their signs which could be clearly seen. That was fine, but the idiots who yelled through megaphones when Brash started speaking well… Brash made the most of it when he was finally able to speak and who can blame him.
@ You Fool.
The protesters were exercising their right to speak outside the entrance for a long time prior to the start of the meeting. They no doubt exercised the same right when the crowd left. But they had no right to disrupt speaker, Don Brash (whose views I despise) inside the hall.
Couldn’t agree more with this
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4996046/Harawira-lecture-axed-because-of-redneck-racism
Pot. kettle.
Was wrong then and would be wrong now
I think you are. I like to see expressions of passion, such as interjections.
Pucky; you exhibit passion toward your pin-up
dowagergirl, Judith; do you think we should call for your expulsion from TS because your “shout-outs” offend us?Well in all fairness I’ve never been a Young Nat nor a student at Auckland University however the difference is while I accept that Jude is potentially the daughter of god (those initials can’t be a coincidence) I don’t try to stop anyone disagreeing with me
Whereas those protesters were trying to drown out Dr Don Brash
So?
Freedom of speech doesn’t silence other people, surely? If enough people in the audience had told the dickheads to shut up and let Brash speak without interjection, they would have. Hell, the protestors would have been ejected by security to the applause of the audience.
And then you’d have been boldly defending their right to free speech, surely?
“Freedom of speech doesn’t silence other people, surely?”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler%27s_veto
‘In common parlance, the term is used to describe situations where hecklers or demonstrators silence a speaker without intervention of the law.’
“If enough people in the audience had told the dickheads to shut up and let Brash speak without interjection, they would have.”
You’re not that naive, you know as well as I do that all that would have happened is that both sides would have ended up shouting at each other and Don Brash wouldn’t have been able to speak
Funny thing about meetings like that: people can’t yell forever. And being yelled over doesn’t mean you have to shut up.
Dealing with a hostile crowd is a basic skill for politicians and comedians.
Frankly, raising the “heckler’s veto” is a bullshit way of trying to guilt protestors into silence. Note: that’s not the same as “silencing” someone.
One would think you’d never been to a disorderly gathering of a lively crowd and seen someone win it over to a previously unpopular position.
Well the Harawiras are a bit racist.
What do you mean?
No one said they couldn’t
Do the protesters not have a right to free speech?
Perhaps the question is how you execute your freedom of speech.
A backfire. Is that a polite word for a fart?
Germany are talking about conscription again. Definitely an option for these kids. Embarrassing to be out-smarted by DB. Send them on some social and ecological projects as well as military. Can we do it, unemployment rate could be lower? Yes.
Bloody insurance company!
Hamilton woman Abby Heartly fell in in Bali and is in an induced coma. Article links to GiveALittle.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12104556
Would be helpful if they said why the insurance company isn’t covering it.
“Our mum is fighting for her life in ICU in a hospital in Bali and unfortunately insurance company is refusing to cover any medical costs,”
Sounds like they didn’t have any cover for medical insurance
Which if true doesn’t really make the insurance company the bad guy (if someone has to have one)
Why a slap on the wrist? How is this company allowed to continue? Why do we take this shit sandwich and ask for another? When are people going to say ,’sorry, but sorry isn’t good enough. No more!!!’.
“The council estimated that 450 cubic metres of dairy effluent was discharged when the incident occurred in November 2016.
This is the equivalent of 17 truck and trailer units full of effluent. The volume was such that it was able to be detected eight kilometres downstream at Lake Ohakuri.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/106161773/farmer-fined-for-contaminating-stream-that-was-flowing-green-with-effluent
I still see unfenced waterways with livestock standing in rivers and streams…..why ?
Because they can !
They fined them $46000 for what was probably an accident and you call it a slap on the wrist. !!
These “accidents” need to stop. They don’t just happen, they’re borne of negligence. That pipe pumped sewage into the waterway for 14 straight hours. I bet they have systems in place to detect an equivalent milk loss pretty bloody quickly.
Obviously the level of fine isn’t cutting it.
You understand what siphoning is as opposed to pumping . ?
Using your rational we need to quadruple speeding and parking fines there levels are not cutting it .
Meh. The point stands – shit went through the pipe into the waterway.
And yes, I reckon that all fines should be a proportion of wealth and traffic fines could be higher. Especially parking tickets – on the odds of getting caught, it’s cheaper to wear the occasional ticket than it is to pay for parking all the time.
Yep there’s too many of these “accidents” and dairy farmers/companies will push council to hold off on fines etc with promises of getting things sorted. Here’s a classic example from my neck of the woods.
“Two farms that belonged to Northland farmers David and Frances Webster were responsible for allowing dairy effluent to flow into waterways in what an Environment Court judge Craig Thompson called the worst case of “prolonged non-compliance” he had ever seen.
The offending, which saw a huge amount of untreated dairy effluent put into the Manganui River, which feeds into the Northern Wairoa River and the Kaipara Harbour was described as “blatant, ongoing and serious”, with one of the farms being “awash with dairy effluent”, resulting in “gross contamination”.”
“Outside the court the council’s farm monitoring manager Dennis Wright said the companies “grossly polluted waterways for at least eight years and the environment wore the cost”.”
And an even better ending to the story, when finally taken to court (at a cost of $50K to rate payers) the shifty fuckers managed to side-step paying any fines by selling the farm and shifting funds into trust accounts (obviously Nat voters).
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/103892720/fine-of-225000-for-dirty-dairying-will-go-unpaid-because-companies-are-broke
These are the sort of people we have out on the land screwing our waterways and I wonder how many times they professed it was due an “accident”
I have no problem with fining offenders . I just had to call mm for his bullshit wet bus ticket claim ,so the rabid farm haters here that probably won’t read his link but nod their heads and growl fuck yes get some balance in their diet.
I do think it was minimal – what’s the cap value of the farm what income produced- that amount is the second car or third tractor.
Back in 2011 ish, the Waikato Regional Council was struggling to gain(never mind maintain) a reputation as a hardarse enforcer in relation to the Clean Streams Accord. Long story short….WRC with the aid of helicopter observers found, investigated and successfully prosecuted a King Country farmer. Big write up in local rag and a fine of $50 thousand. I spoke with this farmer and pretended sympathy for the hit to his bank balance from the fine. “No worries, my insurance covers the fine and the costs.”
Bus ticket? Pantomime.
WRC at best useless.
(That particular cocky had not contaminated any waterway, btw, there was simply a risk of that happening.)
You are so kind and fair bwaghorn. Probably an accident! It actually matters that it happened, that it was destructive and will have ongoing results, and that the systems set up to cope with the production of effluent were inadequate. Like our previous government. We have been drowning in their muck and have only just survived. Perhaps they should pay half of that fine?
When you start calling for city rate payers to be fined for their shit in the harbours I’ll consider your input .till then zip it sweety.
You are getting a bit silly bwaghorn. I think you are spending too much time with your sheep.
Support growing for an unqualified accountants pre-election economic analysis?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12104552
No no its ok, hey look The First Bloke built a deck
Mike Hosking announces Breaking News: Steven Joyce agrees with Steven Joyce’s pre-election economic analysis.
Funny that, so does Grant Robertson.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/106160806/new-zealand-to-ban-singleuse-plastic-bags
Mike Hoskings is writing about how outraged he is as the news breaks
Are there any chemist or scientist types on here that could explain if its possible to maybe develop and add something to a plastic bag that would make it break down quickly or give it a shelf life or something?
There are already plenty of biodegradable (and/or compostible) plastic products including bags available in NZ – but there is also some dispute as to whether they actually breakdown as claimed, especially in landfills.
Sorry, cannot help on the science etc and must rush out, but here is a link to a Google search which provides lots of info on what is available in NZ.
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=biodegradable+plastic+bags+nz&rlz=1C1LDJZ_enNZ499&oq=biodegadable+&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l5.10513j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Cheers for that
the main problem is what they break into….even broken down they contaminate
Precisely. I saw a science report on the tv news about that several weeks ago, think it was BBC originated. Microscopic bits of plastic in ocean water. Imagine how much they are likely to disrupt organic process within when ingested by any organism. Scary stuff.
So the problem that first became evident via reporting on those mid-ocean gyres long ago has a deep dimension. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
Yes, that plastic includes the green scourers in kitchens, fibres from thermals (modern long John’s), polar fleeces and the like.
Are you advocating for an inquiry @ PR? Or given the submissions and comments and lobbying already done, should we not just get on and do the bleeding obvious.
However, if you’re really committed, you could consider looking at some of the evidence various places in the 3rd World have sought that has led them to single-use plastic bans
“……… led them to single-use plastic bans”
should of course read “led them to BAN single use plastic bags”.
(perhaps there should be an inquiry into the ‘mis-spoken’ ‘mis-typed’ as gNatz would advocate, rather than into things of importance and substance.
(Pauline Kingi and the Wally springs to mind), but then I defer to your superior intellect, perceived class, and troll status.
DId I ever tell you how gorgeous I think you are?
Whoar! I dream about you nights
I’ve been using some of those ones made of corn starch. So not plastic at all according to the fine print. Not too bad and they can go into a compost bin but i believe they can take a while to disintegrate as they are designed for much hotter industrial composting. Having said that it looks like a couple of things do burn holes in them (i’m suspecting dobs of chicken fat but could be wrong. ) Also some internet hints that some are made from GE corn bt I guess if we grow the corn here and make them here that would not be an issue.
For Mike, outrage over something is necessary for survival, the withdrawal symptoms would be unbearable. Preferably something proposed by people with a different idealogical leaning to his own.
As for the bags- great start, but as many are saying, the bigger problem is all the completely unnecessary wrapping of things that don’t need to be wrapped, supermarkets being the main culprits. Countdown want to tell us how committed they are to the environment but STILL won’t provide paper bags in their bakery section (plastic only) etc etc. But at least their Bobby bananas don’t have a plastic wrapping, unlike the Pak’nSave version, which unfortunately are much cheaper…
“Retailers rush to support government plastic bag ban”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12104719
Who was saying business doesn’t have confidence in this goverment?
Dang it! My keep-cup is made out of plastic!
My girls and I are thrilled about this announcement.
May retailers step up and also cut down on plastic packaging as well.
A big thanks to our government for doing something rather than nothing, it’s a great start and long overdue.
Great achievement Coalition. So progressive and courageous….. Oh wait. The Supermarkets were doing it anyway. Lol. And the soft drinks bottles?
Were doing it anyway ?
Yes not like they need to stop them from fast food, liquor stores and the myriad small stores
The Nation Business I agree with Grant Roberson that the money from Kiwi saver funds and the Cullen fund should be invested in Aotearoa infrastructure build it now and it will cost less than build in the future not hard to figure that out .
The thing about business leader’s is that are mostly supportive of national that’s a fact so if they can help the neo capitalist they will help distorts the business conferdince state with a few white lies and walar it crashes .
A low New Zealand Dollar is good for Aotearoa and the environment we get more for our exports and because imports are more expensive we import less and manufacturer the products our selves .
What did I say the quoter management system is a system set up for mone men to rip off the system . And the justice system is set up for the 00.1 % to be able to use there mone for impunity that’s a fact look at the fine they got 25 years ago$1 million dollars is a drop in the bucket compared to 500 tons x $6000 a ton = $3 million and what about all the fish that has been stolen over 30 years they should have been banned from fishing 25 years ago banned from any business.
Ka kite ano
Here is something for you to ponder, eco, thus perhaps reconsider your approval.
As both Kiwisaver and the Cullen Fund seek a return on their investment, they are not the most cost effective way to fund our infrastructure. Utilising the tax take is.
Moreover, when we take into account the opportunity cost of doing so (using Kiwisaver and the Cullen Fund) it’s just not worth it. The nation won’t grow its wealth charging ourselves more (due to the return required from the investment) to use our infrastructure. It’s inflationary, thus adds to the cost of production.
Even borrowing funding would be cheaper than using Kiwisaver and the Cullen Fund.
Here you go Eco did say that good Kiwi’s can see trough the historical hysterical emotional things the neo capitalist project on Us good Kiwis to raise there profile in public eyes and gone brash wonder’s why Maori mokopuna’s have high suicide rate’s the link is below ka kite ano
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/08/10/186757/yesterdaze-plastic-correctness-gone-mad
This is a good win for the common tangata against multi national company’s who never admit liability round up is a poisiosn full stop link is below ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/10/monsanto-trial-cancer-dewayne-johnson-ruling P.S we could make machines that use steam heat to kill weed’s or pay people to weed or machines to weeders better than poisoning the tangata
Thanks to the Europeen Union for its stance on this poison
This is to all the mone people Human Caused Climate Change link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/06/domino-effect-of-climate-events-could-push-earth-into-a-hothouse-state Ka kite ano
Sugar has a direct link to the cause of diabetes contrary to what the 2 to 3 company’s lobbying mone let’s the media say about there bad product sugar .They only let researcher say that sugar doe’s not cause diabetes with there big lawyer’s ready to sue the truth teller’s . Eco say it does have a direct link it stuff up your liver and walar one has diabetes . If your whano has this disease get rid of the sugar you don’t need it we did not have sugar in OUR diet for thousands of years it’s not hard to give up Eco has .
Ka kite ano link below.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sugar-liver-diabetes
Good evening Newshub There you go trump is adding to idiots ego’s that’s not hard to see . That mess in Tolaga Bay with all the waste from forestry washing down river’s on to the beaches there is the same mess back home at the Waiapu river mouth beaches .
I have been following that round up story for a while New’s hub I say that that story on the video game that checks peoples navigational skill’s is full of ——- another way of glorifying the Europeen culture and men is what I see there . how about I take some one in the bush and then we will see who has the best navigation skill’s I see the deceit has be happening for centuries .How do I know this why Analyse the difference in skill’s of different cultures and sex’s to prove that one sex or culture is better than the other and publicize it {fake till you make} it is the capitalist way look at trump .
.The game of 3 halves is a good way for the couch to check if he has picked the correct players .
It would be awsome if the Wahine Rugby World Cup was played in Aotearoa
Ka kite ano
English version of Aotearoa Stan Rita Maisey Troy