Bugger! I didn't realise it was pay walled. I had a logon at work so was able to read it. You need to watch the video to get the full effect….he's very aggressive.
Never understood whats going on with this politically. I thoroughly disagree with prescriptive sentencing legislation like 3 strikes or even anti-smacking, but on the other hand what kind of judge hands out home detention for assault on a child.
I guess a judge who has heard all the evidence and had reports on the offender- that sort of judge. It does raise the question of "Who shall judge the judges?"
I had a coffee with a former police prosecutor this morning and raised the issue of monitoring judge's perfomance. He said there were procedures involving reports and correspondence between police and the chief district court judge who has that supervision role. He agreed with me about the judge being in possession of the facts and therefore being in the best place to act fairly. We also agreed that our judiciary is free of political influence with its separation of powers, and that NZ has a very high rating for lack of corruption internationally.
We also agreed that the trust of the people has to be maintained in our social systems, which have been under great pressure with covid, mandates and things like three waters highighting issue s of trust.
He was charged with wilful damage and pleaded guilty, AFAIK. Was he charged with anything else?
Judges don’t make up the charges, for obvious reasons.
I don’t have access to the linked article (f-ing pay-wall) but it looks like some folks are going off on a half-arsed tangent because they don’t have a clue either what they’re talking about.
And it's this half-arsed, half baked 'reckon' found on social media that is doing damage to our social cohesion that is based on trust, solid information and reasoning.
Agreed! The hurdle to attack the judiciary used to be high and society used to place a lot of trust and respect in it. Many now seem to be all too happy to wag the finger at judges knowing diddly-squat about the facts.
Good question? Let me think on it. Although I will start by saying I agree generally with what you have written:
''We also agreed that our judiciary is free of political influence with its separation of powers, and that NZ has a very high rating for lack of corruption internationally.''
I'm well known on this blog for having major issues with Maoridom. I think as time has gone on white guilt over past wrongs to Maori and Maori activism behind the scenes has lead to rationality flying out the window. It seems to me it's a given that anything involving Maori is subject to circumspect oversight by government organisations and MSM. This allows a culture of exceptions for Maori that can supersede the laws of our land or accepted conventions when Maori consider their culture is at risk. In the case above regarding the judges, the fact Pakeha people where bringing up a Maori child was one factor for what was called a'' breach of judicial independence”
Another example that may be worth considering. Willy Jackson is now the Minister Of Broadcasting. But I haven't heard the media ask if he has relinquished all connections with Maori media or other interests that may be in conflict with his new portfolio. If he was a National Party member the media would be all over him like a rash.
I'm well known on this blog for having major issues with Maoridom.
I would suggest you reconsider. It is not Maoridom you should have issue with. Every culture has both it's strengths and weaknesses – and it has been long been my contention here that the polyglot cultures that make up our society would serve us all well if we opened our eyes to our diverse strengths and helped each walk away from their failings.
In my experience there is a great deal non-Maori NZ can and should learn from those aspects of the Maori world that evolved here before us, that observed and absorbed much knowledge of landscape, wildlife and our raw inner spiritual nature – unencumbered by the intense materialism of modernity.
While this world view challenges us – it is not confronting. Most mature people can respect and connect with it to the degree that makes sense for them. It is a process we can welcome.
What you are reacting against something altogether distinct. It is a radical political movement that is appropriating this deep culture for another purpose.
When Labour lose the election next year, Robert, it's obvious you will have no idea why. But I'm sure some great /sarc will be had for all to enjoy on this blog. Read the article first. Notice all the ''no comments?” I bet when the case is not before the court there will still be ''no comment.''
''The Guidelines for Judicial Conduct 2019 state that judicial independence is a “cornerstone of our system of government in a democratic society and a safeguard of the freedom and rights of the citizen under the rule of law”.
The independence of the judiciary from the legislative and executive arms of government is “fundamental to the constitutional balance under the Constitution Act 1986 as well as to the principle of legality which underlies it and the rights and freedoms organised by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.”
Judge Callinicos :
''If there are concerns about such conduct, then there is an appropriate avenue for how they be addressed. Intruding into the part-heard live case is not one of them,”
Now let's hive off ( no pun intended). You wrote:
''These must remain unchanged, unchallenged, undisputed, yes?Most especially, by Maori.''
See, Robert, tochallenge something, you first have to know what you are challenging. The example I'm about to give is still quite common in Maoridom. Not that you would have a clue because you are ignorant of such things.
This is from Willie Jackson’s former wife Moana Maniapoto:
Quote:
''Back then, Willie had a short attention span. No idea about the Treaty either. I tried to break it down for him once, as we drove from Rotorua to Auckland.
“Repeat back to me what I just said.” He’d give me a blank look, shrug, then laugh. Hopeless.''
How is it even possible that Efeso Collins backed by the Labour Party is only equal to three centre right mayoral candidates?
That means that if only one of those centre right candidates drops out and their support redistributes to the other two, Efeso's campaign gets in trouble fast.
Tempting as it is to complain that Collins' campaign is run by a set of young policy wonks with no money and no fucking attack genes between them, the more basic problem is that Leo Molloy is making the running in the mainstream media and already got many key billboards up.
Good point, Ad. I thought this race may get interesting. But as Mikey said this morning, whoever wins will only have the support of a very low percentage of Aucklanders who bothered to vote.
All I can say Sacha is: if the few voters who crawl out of bed to vote can't see past the smoke and mirrors and bullshit, then they will get what they deserve. Not that the rest of Auckland gives a stuff…unless something goes wrong of course.
So was it that Poto Williams wasn't doing a good job or was it orchestrated public clamour that led to the reshuffle? Thought you had been around long enough to know how political attacks work.
Please excuse my sarcasm. I frame things in the way most on this blog perceive it. If Mikey is involved it must be a slug feast. But it wasn't. Seemed like a reasonable interview to me.
Any comments about the points raised? No, thought not.
I don't know why, I just argue my point. Rarely do I start the nasty stuff. Blog trolls do that. Of course I have to answer them, hence I rack up some miles. But you already know that. Talking of loquacious…I enjoy some of the debates that go on and on and on. It's very interesting, sometimes I could add something to them, but I don't because it's all commentary and conjecture to me. I like to get straight to the core of an issue and suggest ideas and a different perspective preferably based on real life experiences…and talkback radio.
Is it appropriate for an executive of a large corporate (bank) to get down and dirty in expressing his political views? Twice now I have seen snippets from a former prime minister on primetime news bulletins on Covid issues. Perhaps it would be more appropriate for him to comment on and justify the huge excessive profits and dividends the bank he assists in running and the affects on the economy.
Calls to mind his lack of nous when he was interviewed by Paul Henry about "having a real kiwi as our next Governor General" by just smiling. (Hon Anand Satyanand – born and raised in Auckland was GG at the time)
Sorry lprent, commenting from a different computer, and couldn't access/see my reply (to Blade @3) after editing. Had to re-enter my name and got that wrong as well!
You’re welcome. There are other interpretations of the Treaty but these don’t suit the (dominant) partisan narratives. For someone with no prior knowledge, and thus much less bias/prejudice, it is not too hard to level them and compare them on their relative merits of persuasion and reasoning. Salmond has been at it for years and I’d say it is a lifetime project of hers, professionally as well as personally, because she’d make no real distinction between the two, I’d imagine.
Nothing new there about 'race'. Anthropology and Sociology 101 from the 90s. What i take out from that article is that lawyers are intellectually lazy.
'Race' is not and has never been a Maori concept. From the very early days some Pakeha men chose to live with Maori as Maori. They were welcome for the technology they could share. These men were called Pakeha Maori by Maori. They took Maori wives and their children were know as Maori. Pakeha called these children half-caste.
Maori is a collection of related ethnic groups not a 'race'. Individual Maori do not have any more rights than any other New Zealander, but each Iwi as a collective has specific rights as guaranteed by their agreement with the Crown.
In terms of unteaching 'race', it seems to me the first step would be to change the name of the Race Relations Conciliator. It is not rational to try and tell people that 'race' does not exist while at the same time saying we need to manage relations between 'races'.
They sure seem happy to invoke it when it suits them though. But yes – I agree pre-European Maori would have had no use for the concept given their radical geographic isolation.
Maori is a collection of related ethnic groups not a 'race'. Individual Maori do not have any more rights than any other New Zealander, but each Iwi as a collective has specific rights as guaranteed by their agreement with the Crown.
An interesting para. That seems to me to be the reasonable approach – recognising that it was not Maori as a race, culture or even a people at the time of the ToW – but a fractious, polyglot collection of migrant groups who shared a Pacific heritage and not much else.
And in 1840 the iwi had just come off the back of 40 years of internal genocide that saw them kill off almost 40% of their own population. This was not a united society, culture or people in any sense. It was a dozen or so large family groups who all distrusted and hated each other. Their surviving leaders were concerned more than anything else to bring the mayhem to an end and to protect what resources remained to them. To that end the offer of citizenship in the empire of the global superpower of the era – and the legal protections it promised – was the deal of the century.
Erasing the Musket Wars from our history is no accident – it obscures the real motives and intentions around what happened at Waitangi. It makes as much sense as for example explaining why the UN was formed – while pretending WW2 had not just happened.
And in this light – it can be argued that by becoming citizens of the British Empire they gave away any claim to be indigenous at the same time.
The musket wars have not been erased from history. Every Treaty education thing i have ever encountered, and there has been quite a few, has outlined the musket wars and the unifying aspect of the Treaty. Perhaps if you did a Treaty education course you could stop talking such twaddle.
Why then would the several deeply respected kaumatua who explained all this to me be talking 'twaddle'?
I spent a significant fraction of the 80's re-engaging with my paternal Maori heritage. And in that period had the privilege to get to know some remarkable elders – in the true globally understood sense of that word.
I have never written to those experiences for a couple of reasons, one is that the whole story is not mine to tell; it involves lots of other people. Secondly events happened that I cannot properly do justice to with my own words. And finally this is a political forum – not a spiritual one.
But suffice to say that sometime during that period as that authentic generation of Maori, whose roots were firmly located in their local landscapes and peoples, passed on – I then watched as their heritage was appropriated by a new class of university educated radicals whose goal was no longer healing and unity – but power and vengeance.
You make a claim that the musket wars have been erased from history and then start talking about personal discussions with kaumatua from the 80s. I'm going to leave it here as i have no interest in your bad faith discussions. You can have the last word if you want.
Every Treaty education thing i have ever encountered, and there has been quite a few, has outlined the musket wars and the unifying aspect of the Treaty.
But when I outline exactly the same you call it 'twaddle'?
Contradictory much?
Nonetheless I would argue that the significance and historic context of the Musket Wars does get downplayed in the public domain. While the Land Wars later in the century – with a far lower death toll – are constantly played as the colonial crime of the century. It is not hard to detect a selective version of history being played here, and the political agenda it serves.
And in 1840 the iwi had just come off the back of 40 years of internal genocide that saw them kill off almost 40% of their own population
Now do Europe's half-millenia long orgy of bloodshed. From the Italian wars, the French wars of religion, the Thirty Years War ( the population in some areas of Germany declined by between 30% and 66%), The Napoleonic Wars (the population of France declined by an estimated 10%), various French/Anglo/Spanish/Prussian/Russian tiffs, assorted uprisings and revolutions and the conquest of Algeria through to the mechanised killing of the 20th C.
Yup. No-one is standing on any moral high ground here, and nor was I claiming any. Hell I even made explicit reference to WW2.
But the point to be made is that these catastrophes have a chastening effect – and in their immediate aftermath there is often a period when we are open reform and progress. As there will be when this war in Europe finally concludes.
In particular there is a moment when we clearly and bitterly understand that disunity and confrontation – which are the cause of all the grief you list – can only be countered by unity, consensus and justice. And we turn out minds to doing better if only for a while.
I don’t think that many TS readers have done Anthropology and Sociology 101 in the 90s
The term/concept “race” is often a divisionary tool.
What i take out from that article is that lawyers are intellectually lazy.
Lawyers are being tasked, or think they are, to codify the Treaty into Law to have (the) force of law. However, the Treaty was never intended to become Law as such. The problem is that once in motion it cannot be walked back by lawyers even if they wanted to.
That's not how some Maori see it. They don't ever want a republic in New Zealand. Many Maori do if you believe some polls. I can hazard a guess which group may have the university education.
By making Adrian Rurawhe Speaker. He will go list only next year. Leaving a clearish run for Debbie Ngarewa-Packer to win the Māori electorate. Strengthens Te Pati Māori in the House, providing Labour another coalition partner.
Thanks, Stephen D. Certainly arguable so long as Te Pati Māori is seen as a credible and useful coalition partner who are surley more credible than NZF, Labour’s last coalition partner.
Meanwhile, the West is taking a punt on lumbering itself with tens if not hundreds of thousands more early onset dementia patients.
“Brain fog” has emerged as one of the most debilitating symptoms of long COVID, affecting thousands of people globally, impeding their ability to work and function in daily life.
The findings of their study, published this week in Nature Communications, suggest there may be distinct parallels between the effects of COVID-19 on the brain and the early stages of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
[…]
“What we saw is that they formed very similar amyloid clumps, which are basically just ordered assemblies of protein that are stuck together and considered ‘molecular hallmarks’ of the early stages of neurodegenerative disease,” he said.
“To cut a long story short, these amyloid plaques are very toxic to the brain cells and we hypothesise that aggregates of SARS-CoV-2 proteins may trigger neurological symptoms in COVID-19 that many of us call brain fog.”
China is about control, and the fact that it has the shittiest vaccine in the world apparently. I saw a blog which I can’t remember the name of a few weeks ago done by a youngish SouthAfrican who divides his time between SA, the States and China and in relation to the latest massacre in the US he said that while the Chinese do not have mass shootings they do have mass stabbings and a lot of them, in fact he had been a witness to more than one. Life in China is very stressful for a lot of people and help is not really that available if physical or mental health is compromised. He showed a quick video of how the police manage such things and it involved a long pole with a half round attachment on the end which can be used to trap an offender on the ground or up against a wall. Probably not as effective against an assault rifle.
His point was that there is a lot more civil disturbance and dissatisfaction in China than we are made aware of. Hence the need for control, but one day that build up of pressure will bite the political elite on the arse. Not before time either.
Never was much of a fan of VP Mike Pence but the latest Hearing from the Select Committee investigating the 6th Jan attack on the Capitol showed that he not only refused to bend to the corrupt and illegal wishes of a demented Trump and a wild mob that would have killed him had they been able to find him, but carried out his duty and preserved the US from a tyrant, and the democratic process of a republic. If you haven't watched the live showing of the 3 day of the Hearing it is well worth taking the time – 3 hours.
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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 ...
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. ...
Kiwis planning a swim or heading out on a boat this summer should remember to stop and think about water safety, Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop and ACC and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “New Zealand’s beaches, lakes and rivers are some of the most beautiful in the ...
The Government is urging Kiwis to drive safely this summer and reminding motorists that Police will be out in force to enforce the road rules, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“This time of year can be stressful and result in poor decision-making on our roads. Whether you are travelling to see ...
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 ...
Alex Casey chats to David Lomas about the art of finding needles in haystacks.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.There are around 100 ...
Summer reissue: Megan Dunn’s mer-moir, The Mermaid Chronicles, is an immersive, moving and funny search for the meaning of mermaids and the anchors of interests and family in the ebb and flow of life. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these ...
Summer reissue: The groundbreaking show has had mixed reviews over the past two decades. Madeleine Chapman revisits a classic. 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 ...
Summer reissue: After three decades of inhaling American-dominated, disproportionately New York-based media, Sharon Lam’s first time in the city became a traipse through a collage of movie sets rather than any real place.The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds ...
Summer reissue: Why do so many of us install security cameras – and are they breaching other people’s rights? 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 ...
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This year has been a big one for me personally and professionally. The firm won the Litigation and Disputes Resolution Firm of the year award on November 28 and I was an Excellence Finalist in the category of firm leader for a firm with under 100 staff. I was also ...
Opinion: In 2024, 64 countries were scheduled to hold different types of national elections this year for an array of offices.Some of these, of course, were more democratic than others, but it made for a bumper year for election nerds like me.Incumbents had a bad year – more than three ...
Pacific Media Watch Five Palestinian journalists have been killed in a new Israeli strike near a hospital in central Gaza after four reporters were killed last week, reports Al Jazeera citing authorities and media in the besieged enclave. The journalists from the Al-Quds Today channel were covering events near al-Awda ...
RNZ Pacific A large 7.3 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila , shortly after 3pm NZT today. The US Geological Survey says the quake was recorded at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles). Locals have been sharing footage of serious damage to infrastructure ...
By Victor Barreiro Jr in Manila Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, bishop of Kalookan, has condemned the state of Israel on Christmas Eve for its relentless attacks on Gaza that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. “I can’t think of any other people in the world who live in darkness ...
By Cheerieann Wilson in Suva Veteran journalist and editor Stanley Simpson has spoken about the enduring power of storytelling and its role in shaping Fiji’s identity. Reflecting on his journey at the launch of FijiNikua, a magazine launched by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka on Christmas Eve, Simpson shared personal anecdotes ...
Summer reissue: From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter ...
Summer reissue: David Hill remembers an old friend, who you’ve probably never heard of. 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. Doug (I’ll call him ...
Summer reissue: I watched all 46 of Tom Cruise’s films over the past 12 months. The question on everyone’s lips: why?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 ...
Summer reissue: In recent years, checking online for a green tick has become a necessary habit for Aucklanders heading to the beach. Shanti Mathias tags along with the team tasked with testing the water for pollution – and figuring out how to stop it. The Spinoff needs to double the ...
Summer reissue: After two decades of promised redevelopment, Johnsonville Shopping Centre remains neglected and half empty. Joel MacManus searches for answers in the decaying suburban mall. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter ...
Comment: I’ve been digging up dirt over the past few weekends. I plan to dig up more over summer.As global geo-politics heats up, I’ve impulsively turned to tending my wee patch of the world. The world is complex and messy. But I’m determined my quarter acre won’t be. Apparently, this is ...
Winston Peters was 47 when he founded NZ First. David Seymour is 41. “It’s probably unlikely I’ll still be in Parliament when I’m 47,” he tells Newsroom.“I always said, I have no intention of being a Member of Parliament when I’m 70-something.”In saying that, Seymour has already exceeded his own ...
Asia Pacific ReportSilent Night is a well-known Christmas carol that tells of a peaceful and silent night in Bethlehem, referring to the first Christmas more than 2000 years ago. It is now 2024, and it was again a silent night in Bethlehem last night, reports Al Jazeera’s Nisa Ibrahim. ...
Summer resissue: Has the country changed all that much in three decades? Loveni Enari compares his two New Zealands. 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 ...
Summer reissue: Alex Casey goes on a killer journey aboard the Tormore Express.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 was a dark and ...
Summer reissue: Speed puzzling is like a marathon for the mind – intense, demanding, surprisingly exhausting. But does turning it into a sport destroy it as a relaxing pastime? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read ...
Summer reissue: In October, we counted down the top 100 New Zealand TV shows of the 21st century so far (read more about the process here). Here’s the list in full, for your holiday reading pleasure. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue ...
Summer reissue: Told in one crucial moment from every year, by The Spinoff’s founder Duncan Greive. 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.2014: An ...
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The Court of Appeal has dismissed Mike Smith’s “ambitious” climate claim against Attorney-General Judith Collins.Smith, a Māori climate activist, and Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahu elder, appealed a High Court decision that found his claims against the Crown – that its action on climate change was inadequate – untenable.The Appeal Court’s ...
Trish McKelvey is listed 139 times in the index of the New Zealand women’s cricket tome The Warm Sun On My Face, authored by Trevor Auger and Adrienne Simpson.She wrote the foreword for the book and headlines two chapters addressing crucial events in the evolution of the sport.McKelvey’s appointment as New Zealand ...
Summer reissue: The New Zealand comedy legend takes us through her life in television, including the time she hugged Elton John and the unshakeable legacy of a girl named Lyn. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please ...
Summer reissue: You really won’t guess how it ends. 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 October 4, 2024. Parliament’s Economic Development, Science ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary-Rose McLaren, Professor of Teaching and Learning and Head of Program, Early Childhood Education, Victoria University Collin Quinn Lomax/ Shutterstock Some years ago, my daughter was set a maths problem: how much does it cost to drive a family of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine E. Wood, Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Swinburne University of Technology Asier Romero/ Shutterstock Christmas is coming, and with it many challenges for parents of young children. You likely have one festive event after another, late nights, party ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Nicole Driessen, Postdoctoral Researcher in Radio Astronomy, University of Sydney Tayla Walsh/Pexels With billions of children around the world anxiously waiting for their presents, Father Christmas (or Santa) and his reindeer must be travelling at breakneck speeds to deliver them ...
These judge's need to get tougher. What a pathetic punishment. That wont stop him doing the same again.
Nui Kereopa appears for sentence after violent road rage attack on Rotorua's Fenton St – NZ Herald
Pay walled.
Bugger! I didn't realise it was pay walled. I had a logon at work so was able to read it. You need to watch the video to get the full effect….he's very aggressive.
Never understood whats going on with this politically. I thoroughly disagree with prescriptive sentencing legislation like 3 strikes or even anti-smacking, but on the other hand what kind of judge hands out home detention for assault on a child.
I guess a judge who has heard all the evidence and had reports on the offender- that sort of judge. It does raise the question of "Who shall judge the judges?"
Plausible explanation. Implies a very poor standard of NZ court reporting which frequently miss-represents the narrative of the case.
I had a coffee with a former police prosecutor this morning and raised the issue of monitoring judge's perfomance. He said there were procedures involving reports and correspondence between police and the chief district court judge who has that supervision role. He agreed with me about the judge being in possession of the facts and therefore being in the best place to act fairly. We also agreed that our judiciary is free of political influence with its separation of powers, and that NZ has a very high rating for lack of corruption internationally.
We also agreed that the trust of the people has to be maintained in our social systems, which have been under great pressure with covid, mandates and things like three waters highighting issue s of trust.
He was charged with wilful damage and pleaded guilty, AFAIK. Was he charged with anything else?
Judges don’t make up the charges, for obvious reasons.
I don’t have access to the linked article (f-ing pay-wall) but it looks like some folks are going off on a half-arsed tangent because they don’t have a clue either what they’re talking about.
And it's this half-arsed, half baked 'reckon' found on social media that is doing damage to our social cohesion that is based on trust, solid information and reasoning.
There is a report in the Herald confirming the charges were for wilful damage.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/caught-on-camera-driver-pleads-guilty-to-violent-road-rage-incident-on-rotoruas-fenton-st/
Agreed! The hurdle to attack the judiciary used to be high and society used to place a lot of trust and respect in it. Many now seem to be all too happy to wag the finger at judges knowing diddly-squat about the facts.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300383667/judge-in-oranga-tamariki-case-rebukes-senior-judges-over-intervention
I was told by a court employee that judges attend cultural diversity courses.
I have no proof of that, but this link below MAY point in that direction
https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/lawtalk/lawtalk-issue-939/cald-parties-before-the-employment-relations-authority/
This ruling doesn't surprise me.
Thanks, Blade. Do you have an opinion on any of this?
Good question? Let me think on it. Although I will start by saying I agree generally with what you have written:
''We also agreed that our judiciary is free of political influence with its separation of powers, and that NZ has a very high rating for lack of corruption internationally.''
I'm well known on this blog for having major issues with Maoridom. I think as time has gone on white guilt over past wrongs to Maori and Maori activism behind the scenes has lead to rationality flying out the window. It seems to me it's a given that anything involving Maori is subject to circumspect oversight by government organisations and MSM. This allows a culture of exceptions for Maori that can supersede the laws of our land or accepted conventions when Maori consider their culture is at risk. In the case above regarding the judges, the fact Pakeha people where bringing up a Maori child was one factor for what was called a'' breach of judicial independence”
Another example that may be worth considering. Willy Jackson is now the Minister Of Broadcasting. But I haven't heard the media ask if he has relinquished all connections with Maori media or other interests that may be in conflict with his new portfolio. If he was a National Party member the media would be all over him like a rash.
I'm well known on this blog for having major issues with Maoridom.
I would suggest you reconsider. It is not Maoridom you should have issue with. Every culture has both it's strengths and weaknesses – and it has been long been my contention here that the polyglot cultures that make up our society would serve us all well if we opened our eyes to our diverse strengths and helped each walk away from their failings.
In my experience there is a great deal non-Maori NZ can and should learn from those aspects of the Maori world that evolved here before us, that observed and absorbed much knowledge of landscape, wildlife and our raw inner spiritual nature – unencumbered by the intense materialism of modernity.
While this world view challenges us – it is not confronting. Most mature people can respect and connect with it to the degree that makes sense for them. It is a process we can welcome.
What you are reacting against something altogether distinct. It is a radical political movement that is appropriating this deep culture for another purpose.
"the laws of our land or accepted conventions"
These must remain unchanged, unchallenged, undisputed, yes?
Most especially, by Maori.
Even though their history and culture springs from different "laws of the land or accepted conventions".
There must be no challenge! We will not bend!
Are you with me, Brothers!
/sarc
When Labour lose the election next year, Robert, it's obvious you will have no idea why. But I'm sure some great /sarc will be had for all to enjoy on this blog. Read the article first. Notice all the ''no comments?” I bet when the case is not before the court there will still be ''no comment.''
''The Guidelines for Judicial Conduct 2019 state that judicial independence is a “cornerstone of our system of government in a democratic society and a safeguard of the freedom and rights of the citizen under the rule of law”.
The independence of the judiciary from the legislative and executive arms of government is “fundamental to the constitutional balance under the Constitution Act 1986 as well as to the principle of legality which underlies it and the rights and freedoms organised by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.”
Judge Callinicos :
''If there are concerns about such conduct, then there is an appropriate avenue for how they be addressed. Intruding into the part-heard live case is not one of them,”
Now let's hive off ( no pun intended). You wrote:
''These must remain unchanged, unchallenged, undisputed, yes?Most especially, by Maori.''
See, Robert, to challenge something, you first have to know what you are challenging. The example I'm about to give is still quite common in Maoridom. Not that you would have a clue because you are ignorant of such things.
This is from Willie Jackson’s former wife Moana Maniapoto:
Quote:
''Back then, Willie had a short attention span. No idea about the Treaty either. I tried to break it down for him once, as we drove from Rotorua to Auckland.
“Repeat back to me what I just said.” He’d give me a blank look, shrug, then laugh. Hopeless.''
https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/moana-maniapoto-the-willie-jackson-i-know/
How is it even possible that Efeso Collins backed by the Labour Party is only equal to three centre right mayoral candidates?
That means that if only one of those centre right candidates drops out and their support redistributes to the other two, Efeso's campaign gets in trouble fast.
Tempting as it is to complain that Collins' campaign is run by a set of young policy wonks with no money and no fucking attack genes between them, the more basic problem is that Leo Molloy is making the running in the mainstream media and already got many key billboards up.
Hey Efeso, wake the hell up.
Imagine if two of the right candidates had dropped out!
Molloy has a great fundraising team and seasoned campaign players.
He will pull away from the other centre-right ones pretty soon.
Good point, Ad. I thought this race may get interesting. But as Mikey said this morning, whoever wins will only have the support of a very low percentage of Aucklanders who bothered to vote.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-mayoral-poll-nothing-separating-four-candidates-on-the-left-and-right/3V4JJQPFNOFLOIPDI3KUDZHFN4/
Important to note where the poll and its PR comes from though..
https://twitter.com/SachaDylan/status/1537541795797532672
All I can say Sacha is: if the few voters who crawl out of bed to vote can't see past the smoke and mirrors and bullshit, then they will get what they deserve. Not that the rest of Auckland gives a stuff…unless something goes wrong of course.
We will all get what they deserve, unfortunately.
Ad, there are these things called links, to the article you are reading/listening to. Please use them.
If anybody believes in the accuracy of a Curia/Taxpayers Union poll, I have a harbour bridge to sell them.
Only a month a go people here were saying all the polls are wrong, Labour's great, Poto Williams is doing a fine job, no need to change anything.
Nec minnit, major shakeup.
Our PM can read better than the blind-left.
So was it that Poto Williams wasn't doing a good job or was it orchestrated public clamour that led to the reshuffle? Thought you had been around long enough to know how political attacks work.
The view of the Prime Minister is that she had "lost the narrative".
Poto Williams was doing a shit job so she was fired.
I've been around long enough to know when the Prime Minister's judgement is superior to those of her erstwhile supporters.
So which ever candidate takes the Mayoral position – three quarters of the voters do not support them?
Each Councillor has the same vote as the Mayor. The overall lean of the governing body is more important than its figurehead.
(G)ough! (G)ough!
Yet the wrong Mayor can bring a whole Council – not to mention the complete city – in to ridicule.
Ridicule is minor compared with what the wrong PM can wreak.
Are we now recognising just how far down the rabbit hole poor ole NZ has gone?
Not NZ – just many of the right wing. Including groundswell. Way down that rabbit hole.
Mikey v Robbo.
Some points:
1- Mikey predicts a possible double dip recession.
2- Robbo says, predictions, predictions.
3- $45million on consultants for light rail.
4- $337,000 to cut a ribbon to open Transmission Gully.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/grant-robertson-finance-minister-says-gdp-drop-is-a-sign-of-a-difficult-2022/
Let us know who wins and moves onto the final!
Please excuse my sarcasm. I frame things in the way most on this blog perceive it. If Mikey is involved it must be a slug feast. But it wasn't. Seemed like a reasonable interview to me.
Any comments about the points raised? No, thought not.
Oh sorry, they looked like facts to me not recons. In that case,
1&2 probably things they would say. 3&4 your probably miss-representing what was purchased for effect.
Points aren't facts. Deflect, deflect.
Real Madrid won the European Cup Final over Liverpool for 2022 by a margin of 1 point to 0 – Fact.
This was mostly due to their superior deflection – Opinion.
Though having done the research (e.g read the original headline) I can confirm that you have miss-represented in your point 3 – Fact.
Blade: you say, "I frame things in the way most on this blog perceive it."
I think you might be overdoing something there. Presumption, for a start.
I also think some on this site see you as a loquacious troll, and think it better not to feed you.
(But occasionally limits are surpassed..)
I don't know why, I just argue my point. Rarely do I start the nasty stuff. Blog trolls do that. Of course I have to answer them, hence I rack up some miles. But you already know that. Talking of loquacious…I enjoy some of the debates that go on and on and on. It's very interesting, sometimes I could add something to them, but I don't because it's all commentary and conjecture to me. I like to get straight to the core of an issue and suggest ideas and a different perspective preferably based on real life experiences…and talkback radio.
"Mikey is involved, it must be a slug"
Judicious editing reveals so much 🙂
Is it appropriate for an executive of a large corporate (bank) to get down and dirty in expressing his political views? Twice now I have seen snippets from a former prime minister on primetime news bulletins on Covid issues. Perhaps it would be more appropriate for him to comment on and justify the huge excessive profits and dividends the bank he assists in running and the affects on the economy.
Calls to mind his lack of nous when he was interviewed by Paul Henry about "having a real kiwi as our next Governor General" by just smiling. (Hon Anand Satyanand – born and raised in Auckland was GG at the time)
So Mikey's an economist now?
Did you know economists have predicted nine out of the last five recessions?
Do try to use the Reply function. I think that this relates to comment 3.
Sorry lprent, commenting from a different computer, and couldn't access/see my reply (to Blade @3) after editing. Had to re-enter my name and got that wrong as well!
Mikey and Robbo's points exactly…and it's a worry. Adrian Orr and the RB are having some shockers. Maybe we need Brash back?
Brash?
He's gone.
He walked the plank.
Then sank.
Maybe Jacinda is cannier than most give her credit for.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/06/15/race-for-maori-electorate-seats-could-be-in-for-shakeup/
It will be interesting to see how far The Maori Party can go before other groups decide they need race based representation too.
Other groups with a treaty relationship?
Doesn't everyone have a treaty relationship?
Yes. That relationship is binary; between Maori and non-Maori.
It's special and specific.
Not homogenous.
Nope, that’s just one but domineering interpretation, but there are others that challenge that binary dualism, notably Anne Salmond, e.g. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/anne-salmond-time-to-unteach-race.
An excellent link. I'm going to have to read that one a couple of times to get the full import of it.
You’re welcome. There are other interpretations of the Treaty but these don’t suit the (dominant) partisan narratives. For someone with no prior knowledge, and thus much less bias/prejudice, it is not too hard to level them and compare them on their relative merits of persuasion and reasoning. Salmond has been at it for years and I’d say it is a lifetime project of hers, professionally as well as personally, because she’d make no real distinction between the two, I’d imagine.
Nothing new there about 'race'. Anthropology and Sociology 101 from the 90s. What i take out from that article is that lawyers are intellectually lazy.
'Race' is not and has never been a Maori concept. From the very early days some Pakeha men chose to live with Maori as Maori. They were welcome for the technology they could share. These men were called Pakeha Maori by Maori. They took Maori wives and their children were know as Maori. Pakeha called these children half-caste.
Maori is a collection of related ethnic groups not a 'race'. Individual Maori do not have any more rights than any other New Zealander, but each Iwi as a collective has specific rights as guaranteed by their agreement with the Crown.
In terms of unteaching 'race', it seems to me the first step would be to change the name of the Race Relations Conciliator. It is not rational to try and tell people that 'race' does not exist while at the same time saying we need to manage relations between 'races'.
'Race' is not and has never been a Maori concept.
They sure seem happy to invoke it when it suits them though. But yes – I agree pre-European Maori would have had no use for the concept given their radical geographic isolation.
Maori is a collection of related ethnic groups not a 'race'. Individual Maori do not have any more rights than any other New Zealander, but each Iwi as a collective has specific rights as guaranteed by their agreement with the Crown.
An interesting para. That seems to me to be the reasonable approach – recognising that it was not Maori as a race, culture or even a people at the time of the ToW – but a fractious, polyglot collection of migrant groups who shared a Pacific heritage and not much else.
And in 1840 the iwi had just come off the back of 40 years of internal genocide that saw them kill off almost 40% of their own population. This was not a united society, culture or people in any sense. It was a dozen or so large family groups who all distrusted and hated each other. Their surviving leaders were concerned more than anything else to bring the mayhem to an end and to protect what resources remained to them. To that end the offer of citizenship in the empire of the global superpower of the era – and the legal protections it promised – was the deal of the century.
Erasing the Musket Wars from our history is no accident – it obscures the real motives and intentions around what happened at Waitangi. It makes as much sense as for example explaining why the UN was formed – while pretending WW2 had not just happened.
And in this light – it can be argued that by becoming citizens of the British Empire they gave away any claim to be indigenous at the same time.
The musket wars have not been erased from history. Every Treaty education thing i have ever encountered, and there has been quite a few, has outlined the musket wars and the unifying aspect of the Treaty. Perhaps if you did a Treaty education course you could stop talking such twaddle.
Why then would the several deeply respected kaumatua who explained all this to me be talking 'twaddle'?
I spent a significant fraction of the 80's re-engaging with my paternal Maori heritage. And in that period had the privilege to get to know some remarkable elders – in the true globally understood sense of that word.
I have never written to those experiences for a couple of reasons, one is that the whole story is not mine to tell; it involves lots of other people. Secondly events happened that I cannot properly do justice to with my own words. And finally this is a political forum – not a spiritual one.
But suffice to say that sometime during that period as that authentic generation of Maori, whose roots were firmly located in their local landscapes and peoples, passed on – I then watched as their heritage was appropriated by a new class of university educated radicals whose goal was no longer healing and unity – but power and vengeance.
So maybe it is all twaddle to you.
You make a claim that the musket wars have been erased from history and then start talking about personal discussions with kaumatua from the 80s. I'm going to leave it here as i have no interest in your bad faith discussions. You can have the last word if you want.
Every Treaty education thing i have ever encountered, and there has been quite a few, has outlined the musket wars and the unifying aspect of the Treaty.
But when I outline exactly the same you call it 'twaddle'?
Contradictory much?
Nonetheless I would argue that the significance and historic context of the Musket Wars does get downplayed in the public domain. While the Land Wars later in the century – with a far lower death toll – are constantly played as the colonial crime of the century. It is not hard to detect a selective version of history being played here, and the political agenda it serves.
Now do Europe's half-millenia long orgy of bloodshed. From the Italian wars, the French wars of religion, the Thirty Years War ( the population in some areas of Germany declined by between 30% and 66%), The Napoleonic Wars (the population of France declined by an estimated 10%), various French/Anglo/Spanish/Prussian/Russian tiffs, assorted uprisings and revolutions and the conquest of Algeria through to the mechanised killing of the 20th C.
Fuck, Eastern Europe's still at it.
Yup. No-one is standing on any moral high ground here, and nor was I claiming any. Hell I even made explicit reference to WW2.
But the point to be made is that these catastrophes have a chastening effect – and in their immediate aftermath there is often a period when we are open reform and progress. As there will be when this war in Europe finally concludes.
In particular there is a moment when we clearly and bitterly understand that disunity and confrontation – which are the cause of all the grief you list – can only be countered by unity, consensus and justice. And we turn out minds to doing better if only for a while.
I don’t think that many TS readers have done Anthropology and Sociology 101 in the 90s
The term/concept “race” is often a divisionary tool.
Lawyers are being tasked, or think they are, to codify the Treaty into Law to have (the) force of law. However, the Treaty was never intended to become Law as such. The problem is that once in motion it cannot be walked back by lawyers even if they wanted to.
That's not how some Maori see it. They don't ever want a republic in New Zealand. Many Maori do if you believe some polls. I can hazard a guess which group may have the university education.
http://www.republic.org.nz/treaty
Maori are indigenous they got here first and like other indigenous peoples have rights recognised by UN and endorsed by NZ under the Key government.
Care to spell out what that means in practice?
they did not get here first
Yup, it was Neil Armstrong who set foot here first.
Us Neanderthals pre-date the fucking lot of you
But you forgot to plant a flag.
Given that the PM is not mentioned in the article at all, you might have to be a bit more forthcoming about how her canniness is being shown here?
By making Adrian Rurawhe Speaker. He will go list only next year. Leaving a clearish run for Debbie Ngarewa-Packer to win the Māori electorate. Strengthens Te Pati Māori in the House, providing Labour another coalition partner.
Thanks, Stephen D. Certainly arguable so long as Te Pati Māori is seen as a credible and useful coalition partner who are surley more credible than NZF, Labour’s last coalition partner.
That sort of decision is more likely to involve the party's president and strategists.
Not a dumb move that.
China taking the long view?
https://twitter.com/StephTaitWrites/status/1537541275271852032
Meanwhile, the West is taking a punt on lumbering itself with tens if not hundreds of thousands more early onset dementia patients.
“Brain fog” has emerged as one of the most debilitating symptoms of long COVID, affecting thousands of people globally, impeding their ability to work and function in daily life.
Now, a group of Australian scientists believe they are closer to unlocking the mystery behind the lingering neurological condition, which can trigger memory loss, confusion, dizziness and headaches, and leave people grasping to recall everyday words.
The findings of their study, published this week in Nature Communications, suggest there may be distinct parallels between the effects of COVID-19 on the brain and the early stages of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
[…]
“What we saw is that they formed very similar amyloid clumps, which are basically just ordered assemblies of protein that are stuck together and considered ‘molecular hallmarks’ of the early stages of neurodegenerative disease,” he said.
“To cut a long story short, these amyloid plaques are very toxic to the brain cells and we hypothesise that aggregates of SARS-CoV-2 proteins may trigger neurological symptoms in COVID-19 that many of us call brain fog.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-researchers-find-parallels-between-alzheimer-s-and-long-covid-brain-fog-20220614-p5atnp.html
China is about control, and the fact that it has the shittiest vaccine in the world apparently. I saw a blog which I can’t remember the name of a few weeks ago done by a youngish SouthAfrican who divides his time between SA, the States and China and in relation to the latest massacre in the US he said that while the Chinese do not have mass shootings they do have mass stabbings and a lot of them, in fact he had been a witness to more than one. Life in China is very stressful for a lot of people and help is not really that available if physical or mental health is compromised. He showed a quick video of how the police manage such things and it involved a long pole with a half round attachment on the end which can be used to trap an offender on the ground or up against a wall. Probably not as effective against an assault rifle.
His point was that there is a lot more civil disturbance and dissatisfaction in China than we are made aware of. Hence the need for control, but one day that build up of pressure will bite the political elite on the arse. Not before time either.
Never was much of a fan of VP Mike Pence but the latest Hearing from the Select Committee investigating the 6th Jan attack on the Capitol showed that he not only refused to bend to the corrupt and illegal wishes of a demented Trump and a wild mob that would have killed him had they been able to find him, but carried out his duty and preserved the US from a tyrant, and the democratic process of a republic. If you haven't watched the live showing of the 3 day of the Hearing it is well worth taking the time – 3 hours.
Thanks Macro. My evening viewing sorted. 🙂
I was reading a summary of events earlier today and noted that Mike Pence showed principle and courage and should be given full credit for doing so.