The idea of a level playing field is certainly not new. It just does not mention that in the 3 dimensional it is slanted towards poverty lane for many.
There are 3 articles today in Staff that catches the eye:
1/ A whole generation has been failed in Mathematic. And English lets just add this too.
This has been pointed out more than 20 years ago by University Lecturers, the estimated that some 30% of entry students are functionally illiterate. Why? Any answers?
2/ Where did the wage subsidy really go?
Well we know that the rich just made a grab for money that is now missing to remedy poverty, infrastructure etc. I am still in utter disbelieve that a finance minister can approve so much money without thinking through foreseeable consequences. In my view, something does not make sense. But what does make sense is that the blackmailing money class has NZ by the short and curlies.
3/New Zealand is a ridiculous name.
No its not. It reflects the history of this country over the last 380 odd years.
Maori would translate NZ: Nu Tereni. Aotearoa traditionally was used as a name for the North Island. (Land of the long white cloud). It is a beautiful name but it neither of them are inclusive. NZ has a long tradition of immigrants from all over the world. If this is to be seen as a partnership, any new name should reflect this and put to a referendum. Just not the laser kiwi please.
One reason for the increase in the estimates of functional illiteracy might be the increase in volumes of students following the introduction of student loans and opening up of universities to all.
"A whole generation has been failed in Mathematic. And English lets just add this too."(Sic.)
The answer is simple. We need to revolutionise the way things are done in primary schools. Tell you what, we'll have a system to improve standards. It'll be nationwide, schools must use the system.
Since it's about standards and it's nationwide we'll call it 'National Standards.' That has a lovely ring to it. Yes, 'National,' sounds good. It will be brilliant, it will work wonders and it'll keep tabs on teachers, make them accountable. Results will be on the rise.
The results of international testing from about 2015 on should show the results of this great innovative move as the cohorts advantaged by the wisdom move through the schooling system.
I think we should look at teachers and their standard. Weather they understand the subject to start with. True story: a teacher told a 15 year old student that they will learn a mathematical solution by research and do it themselves! ???? true response. No wonder the kids need to grow additional fingers, (sarc) Reading? Yep… easy, "recognize the word" that will be extremely helpful when reading a manual of all things with some mathematic tables. This method of teaching is just lazy. And to top it all off the number of school breaks is just ridiculous. Unless your child is in a private school, it will be disadvantaged from the start.
"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn". Benjamin Franklin
Yes it is, my apologies. Was a bit in the hurry to get the dog reigned in. Weather certainly played a role . And may I add, here is a word that can be easily misspelled, misread and added to the infamous “recognize the word” vocabulary. 🙂
Pretty funny you choose to shoot the messenger, over what could be a result of poor education, rather than engage. Because you know, teachers feelings are far more important than kids achieving
Teachers are part of the equation, and I doubt there are many NZ teachers who want their students to fail. If the profession had higher status then we might make progress, but in NZ the single biggest metric for ranking occupations is not work-life balance, satisfaction and/or contribution to society, but rather how much money you can make. And so it goes.
Finland’s high level of education and expertise is based on high-quality teacher education. Teachers in Finland are highly educated and respected professionals. Teaching is a popular profession and universities can select the most motivated and talented applicants. The profession has high status and teachers are autonomous in their work, as the system is based on trust rather than control.
There is learning mathematics and there is learning how to learn. Both can be taught at the same time – and it's easier to do in maths because a student can see if they are right and wrong. For a 15 year old, researching how to do something should be well within their abilities.
Yep. It is common to think that Teaching is the transfer of knowledge from the Teacher to the student.
If that is all we, as a Teacher are doing, then we have failed.
No one person “knows” enough for a start.
The aim is to Teach students to learn and go beyond our knowledge.
When a student takes off and begins to research for themselves, question, argue and analyse what I've taught them, and delves deeper into the subject. I know I'm winning. I want the student to end up more "educated' than me. Not less!
Yes, this is true but mathematical formula are better not learned by browsing through the internet. Or maybe we can all forget about Pythagoras, Galileo Galilei, Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, Paul Erdős, Newton, Albert Einstein etc. We don't need them, we can research this all by ourselves. (sarc) By extension, maybe we don't need teachers at all?
"True story: a teacher told a 15 year old student that they will learn a mathematical solution by research and do it themselves! ???? true response."
What was the context? What was the teacher trying to get the pupil to achieve with that kid at that time? Did the teacher use that strategy only and with all lessons?
Using that as an example of why our kids don't score well in international tests?
The comment about children being disadvantaged from the start by not being in a private school is nonsense.
No, the teacher was actually calling for a parent evening and in that context it was mentioned that this is what is expected. Now, if a teacher does not want to teach then maybe he/she should do something else? It is for many parents very frustrating to deal with this kind let down. I am not the only one saying this. But naturally, there will be a lot of defensiveness. I also do know that many parents who are able to afford this, send their children to private schools to make sure that they succeed in an every increasing competitive world.
All I am saying is that, if we don't equip the teacher we cant expect the kids to succeed.
Are the Uyghur muslims the first muslims the right wing of New Zealand have paid any attention to?
It would seem the right wing of New Zealand are using the Uyghur muslims for political purposes.
These people might very well be persecuted. But I find it interesting The West has happily trades with, and profited from that trade with China for some decades now despite clear human rights abuses, and now suddenly it's all a big problem.
I think some people have deliberately not been paying attention until it is politically expedient to do so.
According to the right wing Uyghur muslims are suddenly the most important muslims, for some strange reason.
For instance, you wouldn’t find the same right wing of New Zealand advocating for Palestinian muslims, would you?
Suddenly China's human rights abuses are a big problem but in reality we've turned a blind eye for decades. We've worn their cheap goods and happily heated our meals in their cheap microwave ovens for years without a thought to justice.
We've even got rich off their cheap money by allowing their citizens to buy up vast swathes of NZ residential property!
New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Amendment Bill came into force in October 2018, officially banning foreigners not intending to live in New Zealand from buying existing homes. The aim was to make residential properties more affordable to locals as the government blamed foreign buyers for driving up home prices beyond the reach of locals.
This spooked Chinese buyers and home transfers to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship, or a resident visa fell by 81 per cent in the March 2019 quarter compared with the same quarter a year ago, according to Statistics New Zealand. The number of sales to Chinese buyers also plunged by 80 per cent.1
In the past before the ban, New Zealand was a hotspot for Chinese home buyers.
Thanks, but that doesn’t state what you think it states. For example, what was the proportion of all sales? The text in (your) bold was simply marketing clickbait.
Aucklanders like to brag that Chinese buyers will pay more for their property. For the first time leaked sales figures suggest they may be right.
It seems everyone in Auckland has a story to tell about Chinese buyers wanting their house.
One elderly Takapuna man was startled to hear a Chinese syndicate was interested in buying his well-established family home.
His place wasn't even on the market when a real estate agent door-knocked the 82-year-old last month, said a relative.
"A Chinese syndicate was wanting to buy a series of sections to build a block of apartments. The hard-sell was on apparently, but thankfully he resisted the temptation."
Thanks again, but not compelling. Mostly urban legend stuff, and Phil Twyford’s infamous surname ‘analysis’, based on a small sample from “one unidentified real estate company from February to April”. You’re just continuing the propaganda BS and flawed factoids from the past 🙁
That was Twyford at his zenith. It brought about real change when the government of the time sought to ignore the issue. The last decent thing he did. It's all been downhill from there.
You asked for links to mainland Chinese buying lots of New Zealand property. I have provided that. A simple thank you would suffice.
You asked for links to mainland Chinese buying lots of New Zealand property. I have provided that.
You’re sadly misguided and misinformed. I can now understand better your assertion, which is based on your misconception and ignorance. However, not everybody likes to spread BS and some even push back on it. Maybe it was too much to ask you for a proper analysis with facts, e.g. from Stat NZ, but you took the piece of rope and showed yourself to be a spreader of populist memes instead of a critical independent thinker and commenter.
This comment shows you didn't read the link I posted at 5.1.1.1.1 because the information in the StatsNZ link is the same.
But on top of that your criticism tries to say that a drop in offshore ownership means that there was not a problem in the first place???
I can't work this one out.
Back to the original point at 5 which was to draw attention to the hypocrisy of the West engaging with China the way we have for 3 decades now despite obvious and ongoing human rights and worker rights breaches.
I watched Tiananmen Square as a 19 year old and was shocked like everyone else. What censure or punishment for China? Nothing. There was no punishment, only reward. The reward was a huge increase in trade, and a proliferation of sweatshops and dodgy manufacturers with which a few players in the West got rich and we all got nice shoes.
I find it gross that some people cry about Uyghur muslims now while for years they conveniently ignored years of China's abuses, because they benefitted from those same abuses.
That money funnelled into the New Zealand residential property market by mainland Chinese and new resident property purchases was tainted with corruption, poor justice, and the abused rights of manual workers.
Over 30 years of civil rights abuse was ignored by us because it was convenient. So for some on the political right to suddenly have newfound sympathy for a group of muslims sticks in the craw.
I did read the link and it did not answer my question and thus it did not support your assertion that Chinese citizens “buy up vast swathes of NZ residential property”.
If you had actually bother to delve into the NZ Stats link I provided you would have known that the percentage of overseas buyers is actually very low. For example, in the March-2019 Quarter, only 0.6% (i.e. 204 from a total of 31,728) so-called Home transfers involved buyers who were not NZ citizens or NZ resident visa holders. Only 90 buyers in that period had the PRC as Country of tax residence (which is not the same as nationality!).
If you had said that there is no NZ register of property owned by overseas people, you’d be 100% correct, which is also mentioned in the NZ Stats link.
I understand your views on PRC but these should not cloud your views on the few Chinese buyers in the NZ housing market, IMO, which you used to support your anti-China narrative and sentiments.
As to whether the Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018 addressed a problem, which may have been overblown for a number of reasons, remains to be seen. The worsening situation since its introduction and even more so since Covid, when overseas buyers cannot even enter into NZ, suggests that it was a red herring and possibly more of a political stunt.
You've picked numbers post Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018. It did what it was designed to do.
That house prices have increased this year is not proof that offshore investors, including those from China, did not have a significant effect on our housing market.
Back to my original point, that we've so long been happy for cheap and tainted foreign cash to prop up our economy, so getting upset for persecuted peoples in China now is more than a little ironic.
You didn’t click on the NZ Stats link because it contains a nice wee bar graph with before and after Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018 came into place. Overseas buyers came from a high (!) of 3.3%, a whopping 3.3% and that includes more than just Chinese buyers.
Getting back to my original point, your assertion is piss-poor and you have no evidence to support it other than your belief. Such a shame that you don’t want to face the facts 🙁
And even that is not the true story because trusts are included as NZ citizens if just one trustee is a NZ citizen.
As always with housing data in this country, this is not a complete picture.
It also shows in March 2018, 7.8% of Auckland homes were sold to people with no NZ citizenship or residency. Not even including the above points, that is significant.
Imagine how much worse the situation would be right now if we hadn't put a stop to it.
Inquiries from Chinese buyers looking at New Zealand real estate have increased 32 per cent since the outbreak of coronavirus, property website Juwai's executive chairman says.
The website offers international property listings to Chinese purchasers.
Executive chairman Georg Chmiel said only Vietnam had seen a bigger increase in activity, up 43 per cent.
But he said in-person activity was likely to remain subdued because Chinese consumers were restricting their travel.
The piece is based on increased interest, i.e. literally just clicks on a website. As such, it does not support your assertion at all.
I do question whether you actually read it before you copied & pasted it here!?
New Zealand's foreign buyer restrictions mean people who are not ordinarily resident can only buy new build properties in large developments.
"Most so-called 'Chinese' buyers in New Zealand today actually are either legal residents or have even become citizens. We don't have the data, but we do believe that most of these inquiries are from Chinese speakers with legal residence in New Zealand who intend to buy for their own use."
In other words, just speculation about speculation.
NZ is not the only property market to have been affected by Chinese buyers. Being a relatively small market, such groups can have disproportionate influence. This from Vancouver:
@Incognito – you are, without contrary facts, trying to dismiss Muttonbird's thesis, that Chinese property accumulation has become a problem.
We know the Key government declined to collect such statistics, most probably because it would embarrass the group concerned, who were major funders.
You have dismissed the Chinese names data – but I am, among other things, in linguistics. It is quite possible, and perfectly proper to obtain meaningful data from names in that fashion.
Stuart talked about Vancouver and I asked about NZ, just as I’ve asked you about NZ. But nothing useful so far. Meanwhile, “mainland Chinese buying lots of New Zealand property” according to you @ 3:35 pm and seemingly also according to Stuart!? But you now claim there are no data to back this up!? So, did you pluck that assertion out of your orifice just as Phil Twyford did?
It wasn't dismissed because it was crap, but because the usual media suspects weren't up to understanding how it worked. The failure was political, not factual.
In a field where data is scarce, imperfect data is better than none. It may well be corrected by subsequent full data, if it were collected. But what can be learned from partial data doesn't go away just because the Chinese speculators howled 'racism!' Just as the Indian prospective husbands, denied the end-run allowed under the Key administration, made similar claims of oppression, but went silent as the trope surfaced.
Our property register has (irresponsibly) not been collecting the data. Comparative data sets like behaviours of the same expatriate community in other countries form a reasonable estimate of their activity here, in the absence of the figures any responsible administration would collect as a matter of course. As do name frequency analyses, which revealed a disproportionate activity level among Chinese purchasers.
Phil Twyford’s ‘data analysis’ was crap. Crap data in, crap ‘conclusions’ out. Pretty much what happened 🙁
Blablablah, irrelevant diversion.
As do name frequency analyses, which revealed a disproportionate activity level among Chinese purchasers.
Did they now? So, a “name frequency” analysis equals a “linguistic” analysis? Shame that they, which or whatever they (any links besides to Twyford’s crap one?), seem to be inconsistent with Stats NZ data. You didn’t read my comment @ 10:11 pm, did you? Or you didn’t understand it, or wilfully ignored it.
The data it generated is consistent with market behaviour, which is not even discernable from Stats' failure to measure.
“name frequency” analysis equals a “linguistic” analysis?
Yes, in fact. Ethnicity is reasonably correlated with names, which are linguistic data. We can predict Irish ancestry from names with an O patronymic, or Georgian from a -shvili, or Chinese from a surname like Zhou. Though the match is not perfect, as people change their names, emigrate, or intermarry, the correlation is strong enough to use for some purposes, such as determining whether the NZ property market has enjoyed an inexplicable immunity from the problems created by an inflow of Chinese real estate investment in comparable communities like Vancouver.
Mainland Chinese purchased $1.5 billion of residential real estate in New Zealand last year, according to a real estate website for Chinese investors.
Juwai.com said that was an increase of US$130 million (NZ$197.2m) on the year before, although there was a lack of reliable data in 2016.
Carrie Law, chief executive and director of Juwai.com said the $1.5b estimate was based on official data which showed mainland Chinese buyers made nearly 1600 purchases in New Zealand last year, not including corporations.
This is getting tedious. The only ‘hard’ number is “nearly 1600” but it does not state where that figure came from and what fraction of the total number it represents. The piece also suggests that the number was what it was because “a desire to beat New Zealand's new partial foreign buyers ban buoyed the local market”.
Data released by Labour suggests impact of Chinese buyers on Auckland property market much bigger than expected, the party's housing spokeman says.
While ethnic Chinese make up 9% of Auckland's population, 39.5% of Auckland houses sold from February to April this year were to buyers with Chinese surnames, according to figures from one large real estate firm that represent a significant minority of all Auckland sales, Phil Twyford says.
To be honest, the crocodile tears shed by the right about what is happening in Xinjiang province seem to happen when the Chinese government is starting to:
1) slow its privatisation and market reform programs
Mediaworks are in trouble again. They have failed to recognise an abuser in their ranks, probably one which delivers some sort of profit to them.
Staff have gone to directly to social media to out this predator such is their power and now the bigwigs are scrambling to cover their tracks.
I'm reminded of the popularity of such 'boys will be boys' behaviour at radio stations such as this which were so very popular with the serial pony-tail puller, Sir John Key.
What the Key government did when it came to not fully acknowledging though ACC the damage (not addressing the full impact) which a schedule 3 event can cause showed me how out of touch Key was when it came to a sexual offence causing a mental injury.
I am going to call out the Ardern government for not addressing the damage and impact which a person who has PTSD is not covered unless they have a physical injury.
Little should not have been given the job to implement changes due to 15 March 2019. How can Little be impartial when he is the Minister of the SIS and GCSB?
Fair go,Treetop, how the fuck was Little supposed to know what the arsehole was up to when his own mother and other people he lived with didn’t have a clue?
You are just sniping for snipings sake.
Anker you or I could go into the city highly intoxicated and fall over and smash our face in and ACC will cover you.
ACC give cover using the 1961 Crimes Act, which they refer to as a schedule 3 injury for mental injury cover. Some physical accidents also have a mental injury component such as pain and they are assessed for this. A lot of interpretation goes on. Is this what parliament intended when they deny cover for a no fault accident?
In 1992 the then National government took cover away for a mental injury which did not have a physical cause.
Most people are not aware of what PTSD can do to the body. The physical effects need to be acknowledged such as autoimmune conditions and the effects that the trauma has on the central nervous system. This is what exposure to a high magnitude event will do.
This is WA, the opportunity to tell the eastern states, and especially Federal Government / Canberra to go forth and multiply is electoral gold for any incumbent politician. A complete separation / secession would be just fine with most of the State's residents.
That is a big stretch for you to think that I hold Little responsible for the actions of a deranged gunman. Little is the face of the government on the direction of the matter.
The President of the Islamic Council of NZ on The Nation yesterday everything she said I agree with.
Little cannot drag his heels when it comes to not looking into the future of those who have PTSD but are not covered because they do not have a so called physical injury. It needs to be fully acknowledged that the PTSD was caused by a high magnitude event which government agencies were unprepared for.
Hi Treetop, just remember that right now there are voices asking for extended cover for those who are contributing to the system. ACC is funded by taxpayers under a model of user pay, i.e. payroll deduction, employer contribution, car rego. etc. Do not confuse any welfare provision that is being paid by setting aside a fund from general taxation with this self funding mechanism.
Also remember, in NZ medical services and not even the Ambulance service is being fully funded by the tax allocations. ACC is NOT part of that at all.
Interesting interview with an old school diplomate re; China/USA (ie the rest of the western world)..
Biden’s China Policy: A More Polite Trump – Amb. Chas Freeman
"Retired Ambassador Chas Freeman, Nixon's translator during his 1972 trip to China, says U.S. policy to China remains a desire to hold on to primacy globally and regionally. Biden's approach so far is not much different than the aggressive posture of Trump."
Their chosen instrument: the Covid restrictions (which weren't actually being violated till the flatfoots themselves invaded the bandstand where the organisers were). I suppose it’s at least different from the usual "fire regulations" catch-all.
Worth noting because the same sort of crap might be tried on by our own boys in blue at some point when they see something going down that offends their ideas of order.
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The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
As a follow-up to the Rings of Power trailer discussion, I thought I needed to add something. There has been some online mockery about the use of the same actor for both the Halbrand and Annatar incarnations of Sauron. The reasoning is that Halbrand with a shave and a new ...
This isn’t quite as dramatic as the title might suggest. I’m not going anywhere, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about.Let’s start with a typical day.Most days I send out a newsletter in the morning. If I’ve written a lot the previous evening it might be ...
Buzz from the Beehive The promise of tax relief loomed large in his considerations when the PM delivered a pre-Budget speech to the Auckland Business Chamber. The job back in Wellington is getting government spending back under control, he said, bandying figures which show that in per capita terms, the ...
Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
Seeing that, in order to discredit the figures and achieve moral superiority while attempting to deflect attention away from the military assault on Rafa, Israel supporters in NZ have seized on reports that casualty numbers in Gaza may be inflated … Continue reading → ...
David Farrar writes – Newstalk ZB report: The man responsible for a horror hit and run in central Wellington last year was on a suspended licence and was so drunk he later asked police, “Did I kill someone?” Jason Tuitama injured two women when he ran a red ...
Muriel Newman writes – Former US President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.” The fight for ...
Why Courts should have said Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Karen Chhour Gary Judd writes – In the High Court, Justice Isacs declined to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal to compel Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, to appear before it to be ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The number of voices raising concerns about the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill is rapidly growing. This is especially apparent now that Parliament’s select committee is listening to submissions from the public to evaluate the proposed legislation. Twenty-seven thousand submissions have been made to Parliament ...
An average of 166 New Zealand citizens left the country every day during the March quarter, up 54% from a year ago.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and housing market is sinking into a longer recession through the winter after a slump in business and consumer confidence in ...
The government has made it abundantly clear they’re addicted to the smell of new asphalt. On Tuesday they introduced a new term to the country’s roading lexicon, the Roads of Regional Significance (RoRS), a little brother for the Roads of National (Party) Significance (RoNS). Driving ahead with Roads of Regional ...
School is outAnd I walk the empty hallwaysI walk aloneAlone as alwaysThere's so many lucky penniesLying on the floorBut where the hell are all the lucky peopleI can't see them any moreYesterday morning, I’d just sent out my newsletter on Tama Potaka, and I was struggling to make the coffee. ...
Hi,I wanted to check in and ask how you’re doing.This is perhaps a selfish act, of attempting to find others feeling a similar way to me — that is to say, a little hopeless at the moment.Misery loves company, that sort of deal.Some context.I wish I could say I got ...
I have hitherto been fairly quiet on the new season of Rings of Power, on the basis that the underwhelming first season did not exactly build excitement – and the rumours were fairly daft. The only real thing of substance to come out has been that they have re-cast Adar ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
“The thing is,” Chris Luxon says, leaning forward to make his point, “this has always been my thing.”“This goes all the way back to the first multinational I worked for. I was saying exactly the same thing back then. The name of our business needs to be more clear; people ...
Buzz from the Beehive It’s been a momentous few days for Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court decision which blocked a summons order from the Waitangi Tribunal for her. And today she has announced the Government is putting children first by introducing to ...
In 2014 former Australian army lawyer David McBride leaked classified military documents about Australian war crimes to the ABC. Dubbed "The Afghan Files", the documents led to an explosive report on Australian war crimes, the disbanding of an entire SAS unit, and multiple ongoing prosecutions. The journalist who wrote the ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – According to the respected Pew Research Centre, “In seven of eight [European] countries surveyed, the most trusted news outlet asked about is the public news organization in each country”. For example, “in Sweden, an overwhelming majority (90%) say they trust the public broadcaster SVT”. ...
David Farrar writes – Kata MacNamara reports: Details of Tony Blakely’s involvement in the New Zealand Government’s response to the pandemic raise serious questions about the work of the Covid-19 Royal Commission of Inquiry over which he presides. It has long been clear that Blakely, a ...
Chris Trotter writes – Are you a Brahmin or a Merchant? Or, are you merely one of those whose lives are profoundly influenced by the decisions of Brahmins and Merchants? Those are the questions that are currently shaping the politics of New Zealand and the entire West. ...
RNZ reports – It’s supposed to be a haven of healing and spiritual awakening but residents of the Kawai Purapura community say they’ve been hurt and deceived. It’s the successor to the former Centrepoint commune, and has been on the bush block opposite Albany shopping centre since 2008. It ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. Usually we have a video chat to go with this wrap, but were unable to do one this week. We’ll be back next week.Several reports ...
The Transport Minister has set a hard 'fiscal envelope' of $6.54 billion for transport capital spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy is settling into a state of suspended animation as the Government’s funding freezes and job cuts chill confidence and combine with stubbornly high interest rates to ...
To be precise, the term “anti- Zionism” refers to (a) criticism of the political movement that created a modern Jewish state on the historical land of Israel, and to (b)the subjugation of Palestinians by the Israeli state. By contrast, the term “anti-Semitism” means bigotry and racism directed at Jewish people, ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Because hurricanes are one of the big-ticket weather disasters that humanity has to face, climate misinformers spend a lot of effort muddying the waters on whether climate change is making hurricanes more damaging. With the official start to the hurricane ...
Yesterday the Mayor released what he calls his “plan to save public transport” which is part of his final proposal for the Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP). This comes following consultation on the draft version that occurred in March which showed, once again, that people want more done on transport, especially ...
And it's a pleasure that I have knownAnd it's a treasure that I have gainedAotearoa’s coalition government is fragile. It’s held together by the obsequious sycophancy of Christopher Luxon, who willingly contorts his party into the fringe positions of his junior coalition partners and is unwilling to contradict them. The ...
The Select Committee hearing submissions on the fast-track consenting legislation is starting to become a beat-up of regional councils. The inflexibility and slow workings of the Councils were prominent in two submissions yesterday. One, from the Coromandel Marine Farmers Association, simply said that the Waikato Regional Council’s planning decisions were ...
Back in April, the High Court surprised everyone by ruling that Ministers are above the law, at least as far as the Waitangi Tribunal is concerned. The reason for this ruling was "comity" - the idea that the different branches of government shouldn't interfere with each other's functions. Which makes ...
Buzz from the BeehiveTolling was mentioned when Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced the government was re-introducing the Roads of National Significance (RoNS) programme, with 15 “crucial” projects to support economic growth and regional development across New Zealand. All RoNS would be four-laned, grade-separated highways, and all funding, financing, and ...
or the past 14 years, ever since the Spanish government cheated on an autonomy deal, Catalonia has reliably given pro-independence parties a majority of seats in their regional parliament. But now that seems to be over. Catalans went to the polls yesterday, and stripped the Catalan parties of their majority. ...
David Farrar writes – Radio NZ report: Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins said the Electoral Commission should make sure the system ran smoothly and “taking away the right of thousands of people to vote” was not the answer. “Thousands of people enroled and voted on the day. If ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
Arawata Shane Arawata Shane had wandered long In the wild tangled hills of the West Coast. He came to a stop on the mighty range And looked down at the wide river flats. He breathed in the clean air, And he took in the shadows playing across The face of ...
SPECIAL REPORT:Islands Business in Suva Today is the 24th anniversary of renegade and failed businessman George Speight’s coup in 2000 Fiji. The elected coalition government headed by Mahendra Chaudhry, the first and only Indo-Fijian prime minister of Fiji, was held hostage at gunpoint for 56 days in the country’s ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist and Kelvin Anthony, RNZ Pacific digital journalist Police have used tear gas and stun grenades on rioters at an airport near Nouméa as the chaos in New Caledonia stretched into its sixth day. Five people, including two police officers, have died and hundreds of ...
Asia Pacific ReportThe global human rights watchdog Amnesty International has called on France to not “misuse” a crackdown in the ongoing unrest in the non-self-governing French Pacific territory of Kanaky New Caledonia in the wake of a controversial vote by the French Parliament to adopt a bill changing the territory’s ...
A major provider of school lunches fears the government's new $3 limit for most students will see them eating more pre-packaged and processed food. ...
The star of Dark City: The Cleaner takes us through his life in TV, including the VHS revolution and the John Campbell impression that started it all. Best known for his comedic roles, Cohen Holloway says he struggled at times to maintain the stone cold facade of serial killer on ...
David Hill remembers an old friend, who you’ve probably never heard of. My friend Doug never travelled; he had little interest in the world beyond his own tiny rural town. I’ve rarely known anyone who radiated such contentment. Doug (I’ll call him that) died in March. You won’t know him. ...
Some of the earliest photos of life in Aotearoa are on display at Auckland Museum right now – but the identities of some of the people in them are a mystery.What was it like to be one of the first people in New Zealand to have their photo taken? ...
Since its founding almost a decade ago, Featherston Booktown has grown into one of the country’s most interesting and idiosyncratic literary events. Erin Banks reports from the audience. “Come in, have you had lunch? I’m about to make a cheese toastie.” Mary Biggs, operations manager of Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival, ...
After 33 years abroad, Loveni Enari recently returned to Aotearoa and Samoa in what a friend joked was an “existential crisis”. He learnt and re-learnt so much about his family, friends and both countries. Almost as an afterthought, he got a Samoan tatau. This is his story. (Accompanying it are ...
Nearly 30 years ago, two people told me they’d killed a woman they knew. I thought the truth would come out, that others would tell it. In the end, I had to. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Fact: in 1995, Angela Blackmoore ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at the week and shines a light on some increasingly rare longform journalism. Mōrena and welcome to The Weekend where there will sadly be no aurora to see. After a busy week last week of short, sharp pieces, this week we swung the other way, ...
ANALYSIS:By David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report Jean-Marie Tjibaou, a revered Kanak visionary, was inspirational to indigenous Pacific political activists across Oceania, just like Tongan anthropologist and writer Epeli Hao’ofa was to cultural advocates. Tragically, he was assassinated in 1989 by an opponent within the independence movement during ...
Forget thin is in, apparently now bigger is better … or is it? After over a decade of body positivity, girls, teens and women are even more confused about what body positivity actually is. The movement began with women confronting unrealistic expectations of how their bodies should look. But sub-strands ...
Grace always sat at the bar at the back of The Cambridge, where she could watch who came in. A huge mirror ran the length of the pub, so you could sometimes watch people without them knowing. The mirror made the place seem a lot bigger than it really was. ...
MONDAY Sheriff Mark Mitchell rose at dawn. He had a long day’s ride ahead of him. He was headed for Waikeria. Waikeria! Even the name itself stirred his blood, and set root in his imagination. There was nothing and no one in Waikeria. But he would bend it to his ...
The first phase of the inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones finished this week, turning up plenty of revelations and few answers. But through all the confusion, heartbreak and antipathy on display, the simple fact at the heart of this case remains: if little Lachie’s body had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Benjamin, Professor in Art History, University of Sydney “She’s no oil painting”. Those were the unkind words of a colleague commenting on the subject of Vincent Namatjira’s acrylic painting, Gina. Every one of the prominent Australians and cultural heroes in Namatjira’s ...
Government plans to require local councils hold a referendum on whether to have Māori wards breaches the Treaty of Waitangi, a Waitangi Tribunal report has found. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, Industry Professor and Chief Economist, University of Technology Sydney This year the National Rugby League (NRL) opened its season in Las Vegas. It was an audacious move by the league’s ambitious head honcho Peter V’Landys to showcase the game in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate Professor, Music Industry, RMIT University Leading music organisations have praised the federal budget for its investment in the live music sector. The budget includes A$8.6 million for a program called Revive Live: to provide essential support to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marnee Shay, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, The University of Queensland The 2024 federal budget contains A$110 million for Indigenous education. This includes funding for various different organisations to represent and help Indigenous people as well as scholarships in a bid to ...
Air New Zealand has confirmed Nouméa’s Tontouta International airport in New Caledonia is closed until Tuesday. The airline earlier told RNZ it would update customers as soon as it could. Earlier today, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Morning Report government officials had been working on an “hourly basis” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grant Linley, PhD Candidate in Ecology, Charles Sturt University Grant Linley Australia’s unprecedented Black Summer bushfires in 2019–20 created ideal conditions for misinformation to spread, from the insidious to the absurd. It was within this context that a bizarre story ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcel Scharth, Lecturer in Business Analytics, University of Sydney OpenAI executive Mira Murati launching GPT-4o.OpenAI Earlier this week OpenAI launched GPT-4o (“o” for “omni”), a new version of the artificial intelligence (AI) system powering the popular ChatGPT chatbot. GPT-4o is promoted ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treasure McGuire, Assistant Director of Pharmacy, Mater Health SEQ in conjoint appointment as Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Bond University and as Associate Professor (Clinical), The University of Queensland Speedkingz/Shutterstock Menopause is a natural biological process that marks the end of a ...
A new poem by Hannah Patterson. Xiāng There’s a pear tree in our backyard And Xiāng tells me She can’t eat them anymore Not after some things that have happened in her life. She tells me, in Mandarin The word for pear sounds the same as the word for disassociation ...
‘Cycling Works’ aims to show business support for citywide cycle infrastructure. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, supermarket giant Foodstuffs lost its attempt to block the construction of a cycle lane outside Thorndon New World in Wellington. The Spinoff’s Wellington editor ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Slow Productivity by Cal Newport (Penguin, $40)Taking out the top spot in Auckland this ...
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The idea of a level playing field is certainly not new. It just does not mention that in the 3 dimensional it is slanted towards poverty lane for many.
There are 3 articles today in Staff that catches the eye:
1/ A whole generation has been failed in Mathematic. And English lets just add this too.
This has been pointed out more than 20 years ago by University Lecturers, the estimated that some 30% of entry students are functionally illiterate. Why? Any answers?
2/ Where did the wage subsidy really go?
Well we know that the rich just made a grab for money that is now missing to remedy poverty, infrastructure etc. I am still in utter disbelieve that a finance minister can approve so much money without thinking through foreseeable consequences. In my view, something does not make sense. But what does make sense is that the blackmailing money class has NZ by the short and curlies.
3/New Zealand is a ridiculous name.
No its not. It reflects the history of this country over the last 380 odd years.
Maori would translate NZ: Nu Tereni. Aotearoa traditionally was used as a name for the North Island. (Land of the long white cloud). It is a beautiful name but it neither of them are inclusive. NZ has a long tradition of immigrants from all over the world. If this is to be seen as a partnership, any new name should reflect this and put to a referendum. Just not the laser kiwi please.
One reason for the increase in the estimates of functional illiteracy might be the increase in volumes of students following the introduction of student loans and opening up of universities to all.
Inclusion matters.
https://www.tiktok.com/@skanassa/video/6938628132861676805
"A whole generation has been failed in Mathematic. And English lets just add this too."(Sic.)
The answer is simple. We need to revolutionise the way things are done in primary schools. Tell you what, we'll have a system to improve standards. It'll be nationwide, schools must use the system.
Since it's about standards and it's nationwide we'll call it 'National Standards.' That has a lovely ring to it. Yes, 'National,' sounds good. It will be brilliant, it will work wonders and it'll keep tabs on teachers, make them accountable. Results will be on the rise.
The results of international testing from about 2015 on should show the results of this great innovative move as the cohorts advantaged by the wisdom move through the schooling system.
Ah…..
Yes Hekia Parata did really well as the Minister of Ed with her 'Learnings'.
I think we should look at teachers and their standard. Weather they understand the subject to start with. True story: a teacher told a 15 year old student that they will learn a mathematical solution by research and do it themselves! ???? true response. No wonder the kids need to grow additional fingers, (sarc) Reading? Yep… easy, "recognize the word" that will be extremely helpful when reading a manual of all things with some mathematic tables. This method of teaching is just lazy. And to top it all off the number of school breaks is just ridiculous. Unless your child is in a private school, it will be disadvantaged from the start.
"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn". Benjamin Franklin
"Weather they understand the subject to start with."
Ironic in a post about declining English surely the word is whether.
Yes it is, my apologies. Was a bit in the hurry to get the dog reigned in. Weather certainly played a role . And may I add, here is a word that can be easily misspelled, misread and added to the infamous “recognize the word” vocabulary. 🙂
"Reigned" is the appropriate word if you're describing how a cat interacts with its hooman.
"Reined" is the appropriate word for a human attempting to control their dog.
“Rained” is the appropriate word when it rains cats and dogs.
Surely the word "surely" commences a new sentence.
Indeed, and sentence adverbs are followed by a comma.
Did I make my point yet? Or has none cottoned on to what this was about? Were you able to "recognize" words?
Pretty funny you choose to shoot the messenger, over what could be a result of poor education, rather than engage. Because you know, teachers feelings are far more important than kids achieving
Teachers are part of the equation, and I doubt there are many NZ teachers who want their students to fail. If the profession had higher status then we might make progress, but in NZ the single biggest metric for ranking occupations is not work-life balance, satisfaction and/or contribution to society, but rather how much money you can make. And so it goes.
And. Only 3% private schools, and no “for profit schools”..
So the wealthy have an incentive to support a good State system.
As successive Governments refuse to listen to Teachers, or evidence, you can hardly put the blame on Teachers.
There is learning mathematics and there is learning how to learn. Both can be taught at the same time – and it's easier to do in maths because a student can see if they are right and wrong. For a 15 year old, researching how to do something should be well within their abilities.
Yep. It is common to think that Teaching is the transfer of knowledge from the Teacher to the student.
If that is all we, as a Teacher are doing, then we have failed.
No one person “knows” enough for a start.
The aim is to Teach students to learn and go beyond our knowledge.
When a student takes off and begins to research for themselves, question, argue and analyse what I've taught them, and delves deeper into the subject. I know I'm winning. I want the student to end up more "educated' than me. Not less!
Yes, this is true but mathematical formula are better not learned by browsing through the internet. Or maybe we can all forget about Pythagoras, Galileo Galilei, Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, Paul Erdős, Newton, Albert Einstein etc. We don't need them, we can research this all by ourselves. (sarc) By extension, maybe we don't need teachers at all?
See above.
This is just yet another effort to step up privatisation of education in this country.
"True story: a teacher told a 15 year old student that they will learn a mathematical solution by research and do it themselves! ???? true response."
What was the context? What was the teacher trying to get the pupil to achieve with that kid at that time? Did the teacher use that strategy only and with all lessons?
Using that as an example of why our kids don't score well in international tests?
The comment about children being disadvantaged from the start by not being in a private school is nonsense.
No, the teacher was actually calling for a parent evening and in that context it was mentioned that this is what is expected. Now, if a teacher does not want to teach then maybe he/she should do something else? It is for many parents very frustrating to deal with this kind let down. I am not the only one saying this. But naturally, there will be a lot of defensiveness. I also do know that many parents who are able to afford this, send their children to private schools to make sure that they succeed in an every increasing competitive world.
All I am saying is that, if we don't equip the teacher we cant expect the kids to succeed.
Noting that if you control for socio economic background, private schools do not do as well as State schools.
The contacts made and the access to the "old boy network" is, of course, invaluable.
Question:
Are the Uyghur muslims the first muslims the right wing of New Zealand have paid any attention to?
It would seem the right wing of New Zealand are using the Uyghur muslims for political purposes.
These people might very well be persecuted. But I find it interesting The West has happily trades with, and profited from that trade with China for some decades now despite clear human rights abuses, and now suddenly it's all a big problem.
I think some people have deliberately not been paying attention until it is politically expedient to do so.
According to the right wing Uyghur muslims are suddenly the most important muslims, for some strange reason.
For instance, you wouldn’t find the same right wing of New Zealand advocating for Palestinian muslims, would you?
Can you please point to millions Pakistani Muslim’s suffering genocide by a communist government?
Suddenly China's human rights abuses are a big problem but in reality we've turned a blind eye for decades. We've worn their cheap goods and happily heated our meals in their cheap microwave ovens for years without a thought to justice.
We've even got rich off their cheap money by allowing their citizens to buy up vast swathes of NZ residential property!
It's all too convenient to be crying foul now.
Given that you asserted that as a statement of fact, please back it up with a link.
https://list.juwai.com/news/2020/01/chinese-show-interest-new-zealand-properties-despite-ban
Thanks, but that doesn’t state what you think it states. For example, what was the proportion of all sales? The text in (your) bold was simply marketing clickbait.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/weve-got-chinese-buyers/RQR6KUAUKMNJ5VPBAYKCMNIZLI/
Thanks again, but not compelling. Mostly urban legend stuff, and Phil Twyford’s infamous surname ‘analysis’, based on a small sample from “one unidentified real estate company from February to April”. You’re just continuing the propaganda BS and flawed factoids from the past 🙁
That was Twyford at his zenith. It brought about real change when the government of the time sought to ignore the issue. The last decent thing he did. It's all been downhill from there.
You asked for links to mainland Chinese buying lots of New Zealand property. I have provided that. A simple thank you would suffice.
You’re sadly misguided and misinformed. I can now understand better your assertion, which is based on your misconception and ignorance. However, not everybody likes to spread BS and some even push back on it. Maybe it was too much to ask you for a proper analysis with facts, e.g. from Stat NZ, but you took the piece of rope and showed yourself to be a spreader of populist memes instead of a critical independent thinker and commenter.
For your perusal and edification:
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/drop-in-home-transfers-to-overseas-buyers
This comment shows you didn't read the link I posted at 5.1.1.1.1 because the information in the StatsNZ link is the same.
But on top of that your criticism tries to say that a drop in offshore ownership means that there was not a problem in the first place???
I can't work this one out.
Back to the original point at 5 which was to draw attention to the hypocrisy of the West engaging with China the way we have for 3 decades now despite obvious and ongoing human rights and worker rights breaches.
I watched Tiananmen Square as a 19 year old and was shocked like everyone else. What censure or punishment for China? Nothing. There was no punishment, only reward. The reward was a huge increase in trade, and a proliferation of sweatshops and dodgy manufacturers with which a few players in the West got rich and we all got nice shoes.
I find it gross that some people cry about Uyghur muslims now while for years they conveniently ignored years of China's abuses, because they benefitted from those same abuses.
That money funnelled into the New Zealand residential property market by mainland Chinese and new resident property purchases was tainted with corruption, poor justice, and the abused rights of manual workers.
Over 30 years of civil rights abuse was ignored by us because it was convenient. So for some on the political right to suddenly have newfound sympathy for a group of muslims sticks in the craw.
I did read the link and it did not answer my question and thus it did not support your assertion that Chinese citizens “buy up vast swathes of NZ residential property”.
If you had actually bother to delve into the NZ Stats link I provided you would have known that the percentage of overseas buyers is actually very low. For example, in the March-2019 Quarter, only 0.6% (i.e. 204 from a total of 31,728) so-called Home transfers involved buyers who were not NZ citizens or NZ resident visa holders. Only 90 buyers in that period had the PRC as Country of tax residence (which is not the same as nationality!).
If you had said that there is no NZ register of property owned by overseas people, you’d be 100% correct, which is also mentioned in the NZ Stats link.
I understand your views on PRC but these should not cloud your views on the few Chinese buyers in the NZ housing market, IMO, which you used to support your anti-China narrative and sentiments.
As to whether the Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018 addressed a problem, which may have been overblown for a number of reasons, remains to be seen. The worsening situation since its introduction and even more so since Covid, when overseas buyers cannot even enter into NZ, suggests that it was a red herring and possibly more of a political stunt.
You've picked numbers post Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018. It did what it was designed to do.
That house prices have increased this year is not proof that offshore investors, including those from China, did not have a significant effect on our housing market.
Back to my original point, that we've so long been happy for cheap and tainted foreign cash to prop up our economy, so getting upset for persecuted peoples in China now is more than a little ironic.
You didn’t click on the NZ Stats link because it contains a nice wee bar graph with before and after Overseas Investment Amendment Act 2018 came into place. Overseas buyers came from a high (!) of 3.3%, a whopping 3.3% and that includes more than just Chinese buyers.
Getting back to my original point, your assertion is piss-poor and you have no evidence to support it other than your belief. Such a shame that you don’t want to face the facts 🙁
That bar graphs shows under 80% of NZ houses were sold to Kiwis before the Overseas Investment Act amendment 2018.
Not good enough.
And even that is not the true story because trusts are included as NZ citizens if just one trustee is a NZ citizen.
As always with housing data in this country, this is not a complete picture.
It also shows in March 2018, 7.8% of Auckland homes were sold to people with no NZ citizenship or residency. Not even including the above points, that is significant.
Imagine how much worse the situation would be right now if we hadn't put a stop to it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/residential/119643341/chinese-buyers-seek-boltholes-in-new-zealand-property-market
More variations on the same theme 🙁
The piece is based on increased interest, i.e. literally just clicks on a website. As such, it does not support your assertion at all.
I do question whether you actually read it before you copied & pasted it here!?
In other words, just speculation about speculation.
NZ is not the only property market to have been affected by Chinese buyers. Being a relatively small market, such groups can have disproportionate influence. This from Vancouver:
Why Vancouver's Housing Market Hinges on China's Economy | Smart Cities Dive
Sure, but do you have some solid numbers (AKA stats) for the NZ situation?
Not being a demographer, no. Do you have figures that show the contrary?
You joined this discussion thread and I assumed because you have information to share on NZ.
The contrary of what?? Your Q makes no sense.
@Incognito – you are, without contrary facts, trying to dismiss Muttonbird's thesis, that Chinese property accumulation has become a problem.
We know the Key government declined to collect such statistics, most probably because it would embarrass the group concerned, who were major funders.
You have dismissed the Chinese names data – but I am, among other things, in linguistics. It is quite possible, and perfectly proper to obtain meaningful data from names in that fashion.
Nice of you to join the convo again but please have a coffee first before you start talking nonsense.
Muttonbird asserted a fact.
I asked them to back it up.
I’m still waiting but it looks like I’ll be waiting till the cows come up because they’re not playing ball.
Waiting =//= dismissing.
Feel free to apply your linguistics skills and tools to the question. What/which database(s) are you going to use? The same crap one as Phil Twyford?
Further, see my comment @ 10:11 pm (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-14-03-2021/#comment-1783274).
This is the New Zealand residential property market, there are no stats.
Have you been in a coma the last 10 years?
Huh?
Stuart talked about Vancouver and I asked about NZ, just as I’ve asked you about NZ. But nothing useful so far. Meanwhile, “mainland Chinese buying lots of New Zealand property” according to you @ 3:35 pm and seemingly also according to Stuart!? But you now claim there are no data to back this up!? So, did you pluck that assertion out of your orifice just as Phil Twyford did?
The same crap one as Phil Twyford?
It wasn't dismissed because it was crap, but because the usual media suspects weren't up to understanding how it worked. The failure was political, not factual.
In a field where data is scarce, imperfect data is better than none. It may well be corrected by subsequent full data, if it were collected. But what can be learned from partial data doesn't go away just because the Chinese speculators howled 'racism!' Just as the Indian prospective husbands, denied the end-run allowed under the Key administration, made similar claims of oppression, but went silent as the trope surfaced.
Our property register has (irresponsibly) not been collecting the data. Comparative data sets like behaviours of the same expatriate community in other countries form a reasonable estimate of their activity here, in the absence of the figures any responsible administration would collect as a matter of course. As do name frequency analyses, which revealed a disproportionate activity level among Chinese purchasers.
Phil Twyford’s ‘data analysis’ was crap. Crap data in, crap ‘conclusions’ out. Pretty much what happened 🙁
Blablablah, irrelevant diversion.
Did they now? So, a “name frequency” analysis equals a “linguistic” analysis? Shame that they, which or whatever they (any links besides to Twyford’s crap one?), seem to be inconsistent with Stats NZ data. You didn’t read my comment @ 10:11 pm, did you? Or you didn’t understand it, or wilfully ignored it.
The data it generated is consistent with market behaviour, which is not even discernable from Stats' failure to measure.
“name frequency” analysis equals a “linguistic” analysis?
Yes, in fact. Ethnicity is reasonably correlated with names, which are linguistic data. We can predict Irish ancestry from names with an O patronymic, or Georgian from a -shvili, or Chinese from a surname like Zhou. Though the match is not perfect, as people change their names, emigrate, or intermarry, the correlation is strong enough to use for some purposes, such as determining whether the NZ property market has enjoyed an inexplicable immunity from the problems created by an inflow of Chinese real estate investment in comparable communities like Vancouver.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/106836362/chinese-pour-15-billion-into-nz-housing-market-last-year
This is getting tedious. The only ‘hard’ number is “nearly 1600” but it does not state where that figure came from and what fraction of the total number it represents. The piece also suggests that the number was what it was because “a desire to beat New Zealand's new partial foreign buyers ban buoyed the local market”.
https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/leaked-data-shows-chinese-offshore-buyers-fuelling-rampant-auckland-property-speculation
What percentage were sold to wealthy offshore buyers, from places other than China?
No idea. But for the purposes of this argument, were those other offshore buyers from countries with such appalling human rights records as China???
I know several from the country that is currently bombing Syria, and supplying weapons to Saudi Arabia.
As well as starving Venezuala and Iran into submission.
But. They are our "friends".
I know Chinese immigrants, and Chinese Kiwi’s, that are not at all happy with the CCP, BTW.
FFS!
To be honest, the crocodile tears shed by the right about what is happening in Xinjiang province seem to happen when the Chinese government is starting to:
1) slow its privatisation and market reform programs
2) jail corrupt billionaires
3) have SOE's invest in 3rd World nations.
Thanks Millsy – my fave comment so far.
Mediaworks are in trouble again. They have failed to recognise an abuser in their ranks, probably one which delivers some sort of profit to them.
Staff have gone to directly to social media to out this predator such is their power and now the bigwigs are scrambling to cover their tracks.
I'm reminded of the popularity of such 'boys will be boys' behaviour at radio stations such as this which were so very popular with the serial pony-tail puller, Sir John Key.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/radios-prison-rape-joke-with-pm-falls-flat/YZJQMY3CSUKDUSVG4K4UQUC6YY/
Seems The Rock and Mediaworks still haven't cleaned up their act.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/investigation-into-sexual-harassment-allegations-at-the-rock-mediaworks-radio-station/YV5UT4VMNU6DTKS2IW5OVUIRGA/
What the Key government did when it came to not fully acknowledging though ACC the damage (not addressing the full impact) which a schedule 3 event can cause showed me how out of touch Key was when it came to a sexual offence causing a mental injury.
I am going to call out the Ardern government for not addressing the damage and impact which a person who has PTSD is not covered unless they have a physical injury.
Little should not have been given the job to implement changes due to 15 March 2019. How can Little be impartial when he is the Minister of the SIS and GCSB?
Fair go,Treetop, how the fuck was Little supposed to know what the arsehole was up to when his own mother and other people he lived with didn’t have a clue?
You are just sniping for snipings sake.
Anker you or I could go into the city highly intoxicated and fall over and smash our face in and ACC will cover you.
ACC give cover using the 1961 Crimes Act, which they refer to as a schedule 3 injury for mental injury cover. Some physical accidents also have a mental injury component such as pain and they are assessed for this. A lot of interpretation goes on. Is this what parliament intended when they deny cover for a no fault accident?
In 1992 the then National government took cover away for a mental injury which did not have a physical cause.
Most people are not aware of what PTSD can do to the body. The physical effects need to be acknowledged such as autoimmune conditions and the effects that the trauma has on the central nervous system. This is what exposure to a high magnitude event will do.
Surprise surprise, border closures are winning strategy.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/wa-election-bloodbath-as-labor-triumph-historic-landslide-victory/f9575b08-8eb3-447c-8b41-316f334cd896
This is WA, the opportunity to tell the eastern states, and especially Federal Government / Canberra to go forth and multiply is electoral gold for any incumbent politician. A complete separation / secession would be just fine with most of the State's residents.
Poor dear's doing it tough.
/
https://twitter.com/mrJeffHowell/status/1370846696054292480
Reply to Adrian @8
That is a big stretch for you to think that I hold Little responsible for the actions of a deranged gunman. Little is the face of the government on the direction of the matter.
The President of the Islamic Council of NZ on The Nation yesterday everything she said I agree with.
Little cannot drag his heels when it comes to not looking into the future of those who have PTSD but are not covered because they do not have a so called physical injury. It needs to be fully acknowledged that the PTSD was caused by a high magnitude event which government agencies were unprepared for.
Correction Islamic Women's Council of NZ
Hi Treetop, just remember that right now there are voices asking for extended cover for those who are contributing to the system. ACC is funded by taxpayers under a model of user pay, i.e. payroll deduction, employer contribution, car rego. etc. Do not confuse any welfare provision that is being paid by setting aside a fund from general taxation with this self funding mechanism.
Also remember, in NZ medical services and not even the Ambulance service is being fully funded by the tax allocations. ACC is NOT part of that at all.
Interesting interview with an old school diplomate re; China/USA (ie the rest of the western world)..
Biden’s China Policy: A More Polite Trump – Amb. Chas Freeman
"Retired Ambassador Chas Freeman, Nixon's translator during his 1972 trip to China, says U.S. policy to China remains a desire to hold on to primacy globally and regionally. Biden's approach so far is not much different than the aggressive posture of Trump."
UK police trying to shut down publicity for a crime committed by one of their own:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/13/sarah-everard-pressure-for-new-laws-to-curb-violence-against-women
Their chosen instrument: the Covid restrictions (which weren't actually being violated till the flatfoots themselves invaded the bandstand where the organisers were). I suppose it’s at least different from the usual "fire regulations" catch-all.
Worth noting because the same sort of crap might be tried on by our own boys in blue at some point when they see something going down that offends their ideas of order.