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.
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I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
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 ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
What happens when cash is king – and then your bank leaves. A businessman in a town that hasn’t had a bank for three years says the Reserve Bank’s plans to put more cash in the hands of its people and introduce digital cash could save hours of time. John ...
The people have spoken, in their hundreds. Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton has been overwhelmingly voted the favourite New Zealand book of 2023 as nominated by ReadingRoom readers. The vote can informally be regarded as the People’s Choice award – ahead of tonight’s Ockham book awards, where Catton’s novel is competing ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Garrow, Editorial Web Developer The government has handed down its budget for 2024–25. It’s delivered a $9.3 billion surplus for the financial year just about to finish but is forecasting a $28.3 billion deficit for next year. Here’s the key points: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Jim Chalmers has produced a benign third budget aimed at soothing hard-pressed voters agitated about their high cost of living and punishing interest rates. At the same time he has walked a tightrope, trying ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND A $300 energy rebate for all households from July 1 and a 10% increase in Commonwealth Rent Assistance are key measures in a budget targeting cost-of-living relief that put ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra Treasurer Jim Chalmers promised an “inflation-fighting and future-making budget” and he has delivered by introducing measures aimed at directly bringing down inflation. Combined, his A$300-per-household energy rebate and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra Treasurer Jim Chalmers promised an “inflation-fighting and future-making budget” and he has delivered by introducing measures aimed at directly bringing down inflation. Combined, his A$300-per-household energy rebate and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Bartos, Professor of Economics, University of Canberra Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been bitten by the giveaway bug. This budget contains not only the well-foreshadowed tax cuts for all taxpayers, but a range of new spending measures in health, education, infrastructure, aged ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews French authorities have imposed a curfew on New Caledonia’s capital Nouméa and banned public gatherings after supporters of the Pacific territory’s independence movement blocked roads, set fire to buildings and clashed with security forces. Tensions in New Caledonia have been inflamed by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Greste, Professor of Journalism and Communications, Macquarie University Governments and their agencies wield awesome power. At times, it is quite literally the power over life and death. That is why in any functioning democracy, we have robust checks and balances designed ...
As the world commemorates the 71st Everest Day, it's not just a celebration of human achievement but also a reflection of the enduring bond between New Zealand and Nepal. This day marks the historic feat of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa ...
Individuals in Wellington, led by City Councillor Nīkau Wi Neera, are working to use the ‘hecklers veto’ to shut down Inflection Point , a gender-critical event to be held at a Te Papa venue this weekend featuring speakers such as Bob McCoskrie ...
The transgender community, whānau & allies will rally outside Tākina/Wellington Convention Centre against anti-trans confederation “Inflection Point NZ,” who are hosting a conference to encourage parliamentarians to restrict trans people’s ...
A strategic asset for Auckland that has been fought over for years as either sacrosanct or a sacred cow looks certain to be sold and the proceeds of around $1.3 billion put in a new investment fund. A year after bitter political struggle ended in a compromise in which Auckland ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – the Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. 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 ...
RNZ Pacific New Caledonians lined up in long queues outside shopping centres to buy supplies in the capital Nouméa today amid political unrest in the French territory Demonstrations, marches and clashes with security forces erupted yesterday and French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc told the public broadcaster he had called ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Chalmers, Senior Lecturer in Human Movement, University of South Australia The tragic death of Manly rugby league player Keith Titmuss in 2020 due to exertional heat stroke is a reminder of the life-threatening nature of the condition. Titmuss died after ...
Internet Governance Project founder Milton Mueller asked “is the Christchurch Call accomplishing anything?” Increasingly it seems the only thing it hopes to achieve is killing off free expression. ...
New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has cancelled his visit to New Caledonia due to pro-independence unrest throughout the French Pacific territory. Peters and a delegation of other ministers was due to visit the capital Nouméa later this week. Nouméa’s La Tontouta International Airport is expected to remain closed ...
Audition by Pip Adam and Lioness by Emily Perkins are both shortlisted for the fiction award at the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Here the authors discuss awards, writing, Selling Sunset, review culture, Zoolander and more.Pip Adam: Whenever I think about writers and our ambitions, I can’t help ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Broomhall, Director, Gender and Women’s History Research Centre, Australian Catholic University Andrea Mantegna, Minerva (Athena) expelling Vices from the Garden of Virtue, from the Studiolo of Isabella d’Este, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua (c. 1499–1502).Louvre Museum/Wikimedia Commons Wartime has often presented opportunities ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images The stories Aotearoa New Zealand tells itself about the history of Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi have evolved considerably over time. For many decades, starting with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Carter, Associate Professor, RMIT University Aurora visible from Cope Cope, Victoria on May 11 2024.cafuego/Flickr, CC BY-SA On Saturday evening before Mother’s Day, Australians witnessed a rare celestial spectacle: a breathtaking display of aurora australis, also known as the southern ...
Tara Ward watches as TVNZ’s long-running current affairs show bows out with humility and grace.We have just 12 days left to view the final episode of Sunday on TVNZ+. In just over a week, there will be no more evidence of the award-winning current affairs show on the digital ...
To celebrate New Zealand Music Month, Sophie Ricketts wears a different band T-shirt every day. Here she picks her top 20. I love music. I love listening to it, I love seeing it live, and I love buying a T-shirt from the band or artist I’ve enjoyed. Every year, during ...
Research from AA Insurance reveals more and more people are taking pride in their garage. Meet three New Zealanders using their space in creative ways.If you think of a garage, you might picture a dark room with a parked car. There might be some tools on the wall, or ...
Government spending cuts have forced Scion, the dedicated Crown research institute charged with growing forestry exports, to propose shedding a significant number of scientists. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yasir Arafat, Senior Research Associate, Edith Cowan University asharkyu, Shutterstock As electric vehicle (EV) demand accelerates, so does the need for lithium batteries. But these batteries contain valuable critical minerals, as well as toxic materials, so they should not be treated ...
NZDF personnel will support the New Zealand National Commemorative Service at the Cassino War Cemetery and a New Zealand Service of Remembrance at the Cassino Railway Station, next week. ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a masseuse tells us how much she earns and where she spends it. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 33 Ethnicity: NZ EuropeanRole: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Byrne, Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne For many reasons, the 2024 US presidential election will be like no other. Republican nominee Donald Trump’s campaign is unprecedented. Never before has a former president who ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meru Sheel, Associate Professor and Epidemiologist, Infectious Diseases, Immunisation and Emergencies Group, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney We know vaccines have been a miracle for public health. Now, new research led by the World Health Organization has found vaccines ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chrissy Severinsen, Associate Professor in Public Health, Massey University Getty Images Becoming a mother is a significant identity shift, and many new mums struggle. Up to 18% of New Zealand mothers experience depression and anxiety after giving birth. The first ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron Teo, Lecturer in Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of Southern Queensland ABC Much has been written and produced about white men’s fetishisation of Asian women (crudely nicknamed “yellow fever”). The ABC’s comedy series White Fever breaks new ground by exploring an ...
The children’s minister could have been legally brought before the tribunal after all, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. The end of ...
Seen comments on social media about eating bugs? Byron Clark explains the short history of our latest conspiracy. “No, Bill Gates nor Klaus Schwab has not funded the research done here,” reads an August 2023 Facebook post from Otago Locusts, the first farm in Aotearoa rearing insects for human consumption. ...
Rural post is essential but expensive, and residents are worried about its future. It’s 9.30am on a Monday morning in rural Manawatū, and farmer Mairi Whittle is on an all-terrain vehicle with her two young sons. After moving sheep from one slope to another, she swings by the letterbox. Opening ...
Analysis: The Government’s decision to return to a mega-style prison seems to be missing a clear business case The post Mega-prison’s missing business case appeared first on Newsroom. ...
New Zealand authors hate houseplants. They are frightened of them, have nightmares about them, regard them as bad omens; they are afraid, too, of the responsibility of caring for them, and think of them as an alien species that will take over the selfish planet of their interior lives. There ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 14 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
More than 160 languages are spoken in New Zealand. Week-long events celebrate the unique languages heard across the country, and this week the focus is on the Rotuman language. According to Unesco, the Rotuman language is listed as endangered along with four other Pacific languages – Tokelauan, Niuean, Cook Islands ...
China’s massive military buildup and aggressive actions in the South China Sea are creating “volatility” that the controversial Aukus pact can help counter, the UK’s top diplomat in New Zealand says. British High Commissioner Iona Thomas will deliver a speech to the NZ Institute of International Affairs on Tuesday evening, ...
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.