Open mike 17/06/2025
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- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #29 2025
Open access notables Climate change has increased the odds of extreme regional forest fire years globally, Abatzoglou et al., Nature Communications Regions across the globe have experienced devastating fire years in the past decade with far-reaching impacts. Here, we examine the role of antecedent and concurrent climate variability in enabling ...7 hours ago - How Taipei is fighting back against Beijing’s spies
Taiwan has dramatically stepped-up efforts to address what authorities describe as a growing espionage challenge linked to China. In 2024, 64 individuals were charged with espionage-related offences—more than in the previous two years combined. According ...8 hours ago - Make your predictions
Trying something new here, please stand back if steam escapes, and do please let me know if the locomotive fails to move 🙂FREE AT LAST!Imagine we just give them everything they want and leave them to it — all the Manosphere tough guys and the Mr Atlas libertarians and the ...9 hours ago - Bookshelf: risks of Sino-Indian rivalry set to grow
The geopolitical rivalry between China and India poses an important threat to Asian and global security, even if it receives much less attention than that between China and the United States, argue Manjeet Pardesi, Sumit ...9 hours ago
- Luxon Doesn’t Think the Proud Boys are Terrorists
In a highly questionable move, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has allowed the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a track record of extreme violence, to slip off the New Zealand terrorist watch list. Despite advice from the NZ Police and other government agencies, Luxon’s administration opted not to renew the ...10 hours ago - When a RNZ Host gets it “terribly wrong” – Re-visited
10 hours ago - Climate Change: Holding conservatives responsible
Last week the regime released its approach to climate adaptation: basically "you're on your own". The government won't use policy to manage retreat and minimise costs, but rather just let people keep building in stupid places where they will be flooded and eroded. But they won't bail people out for ...11 hours ago - Lee Jae-myung’s AI aspirations for South Korea may be too ambitious
During his campaign, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung pledged 100 trillion Korean won (about A$112 billion) over a five-year period to turn the country into one of the top three AI powers in the world. ...12 hours ago
- Drawn
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Residential Tenancies (Registration of Boarding House Landlords) Amendment Bill (Rachel Brooking) (Thanks to Dave for getting the results up before parliament did) There were 72 bills in the ballot, including two ...13 hours ago
- A few more bits from recent RB releases
There are still lots of outstanding questions around the sudden departure of the Reserve Bank Governor, and the handling of those events by the board and the Minister. But, even amid ongoing OIA obstructionism – the Bank simply ignoring the substance of specific requests, in a flagrantly illegal way – ...14 hours ago - Britain brings together cyber and EW. Australia take note
This September, Britain will rename Strategic Command as the Cyber & Specialist Operations Command (CSOC) following emphasis on the cyber and electromagnetic (CyberEM) domain within the Strategic Defence Review issued on 2 June, marking deep ...14 hours ago
- You Can’t Kill A Rainbow
Photo: NZ GeographicToday I’d like to speak about something in which I have no qualifications in - LGBTQ+At a younger age, I remember sitting on a train and feeling the eyes of an individual on me.I looked up, and it was another young person, the same gender as I.I felt ...15 hours ago - Thursday 17 July
About 500 lab workers employed by medical testing company – Awanui – have settled on a 9.2 percent salary increase after six months of strike action. The PSA is urging health officials to reopen consultation into proposals to close an Auckland mental health facility, citing concerns about predetermination. Camilla Belich’s ...15 hours ago - Potaka delaying homelessness data release
Briefly for all subscribers on Thursday, July 17, the key scoops, breaking news, deep-dives, editorials, analysis and other news links in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate today are:Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka is delaying the release of a regular Housing and Urban Development Ministry (HUD) report on ...17 hours ago - For drone defence, Canberra should choose independent Australian companies
A crucial decision will occur in the next few months that will shape Australia’s capability against small drones for decades: the selection of the systems integration partner (SIP) for Canberra’s Land 156 drone-defence project. The ...17 hours ago
- Gordon Campbell On The Costs Of Regulating Cost, And Burkina Faso As A Role Model
Funny how “blow-out” gets so readily applied to cost escalation in the provision of public services (hospital rebuilds, the Cook Strait ferries) but when politicians get the figures wrong for their pet projects, its just a matter of opinion. Case in point : the original cost estimates for the Regulatory ...1 day ago - Climate Adam & GeoGirl explain a recent study reconstructing 485-million-year history of Earth&#...
The videos include personal musings and conclusions of the creators climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy and geologist Dr. Rachel Phillips. They are presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video descriptions for references (if any). Adam Levy and Rachel Phillips collaborated on two videos for their respective Youtube channels ...1 day ago
- Friends to all: Competing for Pacific security partnerships
The Pacific faces a rapidly evolving security environment. Foreign partners increasingly compete for comprehensive partnerships, engagements, coordination and influence. Security risks are also evolving, with a greater emphasis on climate- and disaster-driven security threats, and ...1 day ago
- Hope has no expiry date
1 day ago - It looks like the US has just pulled Indonesia into South China Sea cooperation
Has Indonesia just promised closer security cooperation with the United States in return for tariff concessions? There are strong reasons to think so—and, if it has, it has put itself in awkward spot, one that ...1 day ago
- Demonstrating sovereignty, not declaring it, is what matters. Demonstrate it in northern Australia
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s six-day visit to China, now underway, comes on the heels of two other critical moments: the cancellation of a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the ...1 day ago
- ACT means secrecy
Back in April an OIA request exposed the absurd cost of ACT's charter schools - five times more per student than the government spends on public schools. ACT obviously didn't like that, but they have a solution: keep the number of students secret: The seven charter schools set up ...1 day ago
- Submission guide: Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025
When the National-led Government passed the Equal Pay Amendment Act under urgency in May this year, they did so without consulting the working women affected. The People’s Select Committee on Pay Equity has been formed by 10 former MPs from across the political spectrum to examine the changes made to ...1 day ago
- Reserve Bank planned spending: 12% up on 2023/24
Yesterday’s post focused on the puzzling events around the adoption of last year’s Reserve Bank budget: the board planned to spend massively above what the Funding Agreement had allowed and for reasons still totally obscure neither Treasury nor the Minister of Finance raised any concerns whatever. A few months ...2 days ago
- Bishop wants a growth economy that isn’t just a housing market with bits tacked on
Bishop wants to change zoning and building rules to increase housing supply, but now 2/3 of builders report they are significantly affected by housing project suspensions or cancellations. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāBriefly for all subscribers on Wednesday, July 16, the key scoops, breaking news, deep-dives, editorials, analysis and ...2 days ago - Member’s Day
Today is a Member's Day. First up is the first reading of Debbie Ngarewa-Packer's Resource Management (Prohibition on Extraction of Freshwater for On-selling) Amendment Bill, and then it's the second readings of Tracey McLellan's Evidence (Giving Evidence of Family Violence) Amendment Bill and Camilla Belich's Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) ...2 days ago
- The future of US facilities in northern Australia
As the Indo-Pacific becomes the defining theatre of 21st-century strategic competition, northern Australia has emerged as a crucial area for US force projection and deterrence. But while their presence offers undeniable strategic value, it also ...2 days ago
- Winston Revels As Seymour Cowers
Liveliness..Summary Headlines TodayGuy BodyConstruction industry falters big time under NationalNational Coalition oversees 17,000 job losses in construction over the last 18 months. Kāinga Ora axed hundreds more building developments this year that would have seen 3500 new homes built, including cancelling 40 new Northland projects. Construction is New Zealand’s fifth ...2 days ago - Wednesday 16 July
New Zealand’s construction industry is emerging from one of its toughest periods, with more than 17,000 jobs lost over the past 18 months. Penny Simmonds is confident her approach to polytechnics will not impact training in the regions, pushing back on criticism from the TEU. David Seymour has been given ...2 days ago
- Play the Game
Open up your mind and let me step insideRest your weary head and let your heart decideIt's so easy when you know the rulesIt's so easy, all you have to do is fall in loveSongwriter: Freddie Mercury.Yesterday afternoon, in a parallel reality, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon fronted the media with ...2 days ago - A national innovation mandate would drive ideas to capability
Across recent debates about sovereignty, capability and technological competition, one thing is clear: Australia does not lack ideas. What it lacks is an innovation system capable of converting those ideas into deployable capability. Previous analysis ...2 days ago
- The heat is starting to go on Luxon
The Government is coming under increasing pressure to pull out of the Paris Climate Change Accord. It is caught, alone and at odds with its two coalition partners and left to make some very hard political decisions. Both ACT and New Zealand First want out of the Paris Accord. Meanwhile ...2 days ago - The EU Was Always Anti-British
...2 days ago - Flightless Bird: Denver Photos
Hi,Here are some photos from our Flightless Bird live show in Denver, taken by Andrew Rowley. From our shownotes, this may help explain what the photos are all about!This week’s Flightless Bird is Live From Denver! Rob and David explore the sights and sounds of Denver, CO, presenting their findings ...2 days ago - The Mystery of the Nineteen Bells – To Be Reprinted
2025 has been a year where some of my long-neglected literary pieces have, at last, found a home. That trend continues today – though in this case it is not an unpublished work, but rather a text that first saw light in March 2018. The magazine that published it – ...2 days ago - China is still coercing Australia—with implicit threats
Look beyond the so-called stabilisation of diplomatic ties between Australia and China. Look beyond Beijing’s lifting of trade bans and its ending of the freeze on ministerial dialogue that began in 2020. China’s unfair trade ...2 days ago
- Fact brief – Did CO2 contribute to early 20th century warming?
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Did CO2 contribute to early 20th century warming? Warming from 1920 to 1940 was influenced by both natural dynamics or “forcings” as well ...2 days ago
- Australia wins by committing to Horizon Europe
The race for dominance in certain technologies sits at the core of the ever-intensifying competition for strategic advantage, and Australia is part of this dynamic. It will have to remain competitive and avoid becoming a ...2 days ago
- Was MethaneSAT Deliberately Compromised?
New Zealand’s MethaneSAT, launched with fanfare in March 2024 to tackle methane emissions, has become a troubling case study in corporate overreach and government opacity. The satellite’s abrupt failure in June 2025, attributed to a mysterious loss of power, raises serious questions about the role of Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT), ...2 days ago
- This industry should be destroyed, not subsidised
The health insurance industry is parasitic on our public health system, taking people's money, providing them with th easy, cheap stuff, then sending them straight back into the public health system for anything which might cost them money. But not enough people are buying it anymore. So they're doing what ...2 days ago
- Australia must fight for its voice in the Indo-Pacific
The battle for hearts and minds in the Indo-Pacific is being fought not on traditional battlefields, but in the digital realm where truth and falsehood collide at the speed of light. As authoritarian regimes weaponise ...2 days ago
- Health NZ Caught Faking Wait Times
In a nation that prides itself on fairness and transparency, the National-led coalition’s handling of New Zealand’s health system is nothing short of a scandalous betrayal. Reports emerging from Nelson Hospital suggest Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) may have instructed hospitals to concoct “ghost appointments”, non-existent bookings designed to ...3 days ago
- What were the Minister and Treasury doing?
Four weeks ago I noted that I was going to be tied up for the following couple of weeks. Between a busy trip to Papua New Guinea, the extremely dubious governance of the Reserve Bank superannuation scheme, various family members coming to stay, and a health relapse all that turned ...3 days ago
- Compensating Criminals & Animal Abusers: A Dystopian Future
ACT already planning to compensate property owners under the RSBACT’s Nicole McKee is obtaining advice on how to compensate bitcoin ATM owners1, under the Regulatory Standards Bill framework, as the government plans to ban crypto ATMs. The Ministerial Advisory Group on Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime noted these ATMs are ...3 days ago - Tuesday 15 July
The TEU is calling the government’s disestablishment of Te Pūkenga a “disaster for regional New Zealand”. ASMS and NZNO have accused Nelson Hospital of booking patients for appointments that didn’t exist to make their numbers look better. The RMTU says it was not consulted on KiwiRail’s melatonin ban, and the ...3 days ago
- Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace: A Resource for New Zealand Trade Unions
SUMMARY This resource has been developed to support trade union organisers dealing with the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. It outlines existing laws and organising tools relevant to AI and how collective bargaining can be used to ensure workers benefit from and are not harmed by AI. ...3 days ago
- South Pacific threats are rising. JORN now needs to look eastwards
Australia’s eastern maritime approaches haven’t got much attention since World War II. Defence policy has tended to look northwards and westwards. So, too, do the three great Jindalee over-the-horizon radars that we have deep inland. ...3 days ago
- Women, Peace and Security is more than a side quest
Somewhere between the fifth email about rescheduled meetings and the third cup of coffee, another email arrives. It’s about Women, Peace and Security (WPS). A few people skim it. One or two frown: ‘Didn’t we ...3 days ago
- Look Who’s Back…
Sharp and open, leave me aloneAnd sleeping less every nightAs the days become heavier and weightedWaiting in the cold lightA noise, a scream tears my clothes as the figurines tightenWith spiders inside themAnd dust on the lips of a vision of hellI laughed in the mirror for the first time ...3 days ago - Manufacturing, services & retail mired in recession
The services sector joined the manufacturing sector in contracting in June,and retail sales have fallen 7.5% in inflation-adjusted terms in the last two years.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāBriefly for all subscribers for at 7 am on Tuesday, July 15, the key scoops, breaking news, deep-dives, editorials, analysis and other ...3 days ago - Gordon Campbell On Ducking The Costs Of Climate Change
Looking for consistency in all things is said to be the hallmark of a small mind. Duly noted, but the Luxon government’s stance on climate change does seem strikingly inconsistent. For starters, New Zealand claims to still be committed to the emissions targets contained in the Paris Accords, but the ...3 days ago
- Update on Texas flooding
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler My heart is breaking for the tragedy that’s unfolding in central Texas right now. At present, more than 70 people have died in the flooding in the Texas Hill Country. Given the widespread interest in this event and numerous requests ...3 days ago
- Cost of Defence’s roadmap for spending 3 percent of GDP on defence
The current debate on Defence funding, sparked by our 29 May report The Cost of Defence: ASPI Defence budget brief 2025–2026, and a subsequent US request for Australia to spend more, has swung between a ...3 days ago
- Chain gang
This is really nice. Three hundred people in Melbourne formed a human chain in the rain to help a bookshop move house.Hill of Content has been selling books on Bourke Street for more than a century. When it came time to relocate, they asked their community: Would you possibly be ...3 days ago - In the fight against drugs, Australia should follow the money
Australia is losing the fight to disrupt illicit drug supply chains, not for lack of effort, but because we need additional weapons and new approaches. Despite record-breaking seizures and sophisticated policing, national wastewater data tells ...3 days ago
- Bookshelf: Taiwan’s journey to geopolitical hotspot
The US administration is still formulating its Indo-Pacific policy, but recent indications suggest that it will take a tough stance on Taiwan. At the Shangri-La Dialogue, held in Singapore from 30 May to 1 June, ...3 days ago
- A step towards freedom in Kanaky
Last year, New Caledonia burned after colonial France attempted to renege on a hard-won decolonisation deal and unilaterally impose constitutional changes without the consent of Kanaks. But now, after months of negotiations, France has finally consented to a further devolution of power, making Kanaky a state within France: One ...3 days ago
- The Moral Abyss of Concentration Camps
The concept of detention centres and concentration camps is a grim spectre in human history, a mechanism of dehumanisation and control that has no place in a civilised world. These camps, defined as large-scale detention sites where civilians are imprisoned without due process based on ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs, ...3 days ago
- Black Nykövä: Accepted
New story acceptance! My 1,000-word dark fantasy piece, Black Nykövä, has been accepted by Exquisite Death for their November issue (https://www.exquisitedeathezine.com/fiction.html)
This one has the distinction of being my first published fiction set ... 4 days ago - Luxon, back from a week’s holiday, comes back swinging
It’s hard not to see the contradictions in National Party policies and statements.Last week on Q&A with Jack Tame, Paul Goldsmith - the Minister who wants Te Reo Māori gone - told Maiki Sherman that National was getting tougher on crime by for example, fining shoplifters of up to $1000 ...4 days ago - Shane Jones’ Sky News Lies
In a cringe-worthy spectacle, Shane Jones, New Zealand First’s shameless spruiker for the oil and gas industry, slithered onto Sky News Australia on Friday, peddling lies so brazen that they would have collapsed under even a whiff of scrutiny.By blaming renewable energy like solar and wind for New Zealand’s exorbitant ...4 days ago
- India, Australia collaborate on critical minerals for renewable energy and climate action
India and Australia are reinforcing their partnership on critical minerals to secure supply chains and enable the global transition to clean energy. This strategic collaboration recognises that lithium, cobalt, rare earth elements and similar resources ...4 days ago
- Women Rise Up: 2025 Women’s Council Conference
On July 4 and 5, NZCTU Women’s Council welcomed over 120 wāhine toa at the biennial Women’s Conference “Women Rise Up” at the Lower Hutt Event Centre. The programme was designed around “anger, hope, action.” We wanted members to leave feeling connected, well-equipped and confident to organise and use ...4 days ago
- Monday 14 July
More than 36,000 Te Whatu Ora nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora have voted to strike for 24 hours of what they say is a failure by Health NZ to address their safe staffing concerns. Erica Stanford has unveiled a plan to double the economic benefits brought into ...4 days ago
- A studiously ignored problem: force projected from Australia must go through Indonesia
While the United States spends billions on military infrastructure from Guam to Darwin, one crucial enabler of Indo-Pacific deterrence remains noticeably underdeveloped: rights to pass through Indonesia. The sea and air space of the archipelago ...4 days ago
- Rolling Stone Gets Hoaxed about a Hoax
Hi,Last week legendary music magazine Rolling Stone, home to some quite amazing journalism over the years, blasted an exclusive story:If you just woke up from a decade long coma, that headline would make very little sense. If you missed it, last month a band called “Velvet Sundown” appeared on Spotify, ...4 days ago - Slash blamed in climate change-free flash-flood coverage
Briefly for all subscribers for at 6am on Monday, July 14, the key scoops, breaking news, deep-dives, editorials, analysis and other news links in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate today are:Another slash catastrophe unfolded over the weekend in the Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman region as the second ‘one-in-one-hundred-year’ flash flood ...4 days ago - David Seymour Can’t Handle the United Nations Jandal
David Seymour, who is unfortunately the current Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, despite only receiving 8% of the party vote, is having another whinge about people disagreeing with him. This time it's the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert K. Barume, who recently issued a ...4 days ago
- 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #28
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 6, 2025 thru Sat, July 12, 2025. Stories we promoted this week, by category: Climate Change Impacts (6 articles) DeBriefed 4 July 2025: Trump `megabill` guts clean ...4 days ago
- The Malign and Indifferent Goeteia of Faerie: Tolkien and AI
Redoubtable YouTuber GirlNextGondor has put out a detailed look at how Tolkien might have viewed contemporary AI. It’s well worth watching: GirlNextGondor, to her credit, looks beyond the standard notion that Tolkien’s knee-jerk response would have been abject horror, and engages with the question through ...4 days ago - Managed Retreat gets Mentioned in the News
The Nelson Tasman region, battered by relentless storms, stands as a stark reminder of New Zealand’s vulnerability to climate-driven disasters. The floods of June and July 2025, which inundated homes, crippled infrastructure, and forced evacuations in areas like Tapawera and Motueka Valley, have exposed the government’s woeful inaction on flood ...4 days ago
- Statesmanship
In our democracy, former leaders usually fade into the background after they lose power. Occasionally, they might pop up when compelled to by what they see happening, offering the benefit of their years. Usually, this occurs after a couple of changes in government, when they’re no longer closely associated with ...5 days ago - What if there’d been no vaccine?
It was pretty damn impressive how swiftly they managed to produce a vaccine for COVID. Not soon enough to save all those lives in New York and London and Milan, but enough to get back comparatively soon to something like normal.Feels a bit comical now to recall how fondly some ...5 days ago - DOGE is Legally Liable for Texas Drownings
In a world increasingly battered by the ferocity of climate-driven storms, the catastrophic Texas floods of July 2025 stand as a grim testament to governmental negligence. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), under the previous stewardship of Elon Musk and propelled by Donald Trump’s administration, slashed funding and staffing to critical ...5 days ago
- Since Australia hosts US facilities, we need a joint war plan
Australia hosts several joint Australian-American facilities and provides the US with privileged access to a range of functions that are performed at Australian facilities. As a consequence, Australia is deeply integrated into US strategies of ...5 days ago
- Government Attacks Māori Rights on World Stage
Te Pāti Māori condemns the Government’s escalating assault on tangata whenua, following the letter sent by Regulations Minister David Seymour to the United Nations and Prime Minister Luxon’s weak attempt to distance himself while still endorsing its dangerous intent. “This Government is setting fire to Māori rights through regressive, colonial ...13 hours ago
- Benefit sanctions double under National as unemployment soars
Latest figures from the Ministry of Social Development show the Government is pushing more and more people into unemployment, while punishing them with sanctions for being out of work. ...14 hours ago - Communities Can’t Foot the Bill for Climate Crisis
Te Pāti Māori sends aroha to whānau, and communities impacted by the recent severe weather across Nelson Tasman, Banks Peninsula, Northland and beyond. While dozens of people are still unable to return home, National and Labour are already hinting at a Climate Adaptation plan that would see impacted communities pay ...1 day ago
- Making New Zealand and New Zealanders Safer
New Zealand First knows how important law and order is to the quality of life that hardworking Kiwi battlers expect and deserve. This remains a priority, and we are delivering on our coalition commitments to make our communities and neighbourhoods safe. Our investment in Police with an extra 500 officers, ...2 days ago - Minister must back regional vocational education with real support
The Government’s move to re-establish ten polytechnics fails to ensure the thriving, future-focussed vocational education sector Aotearoa deserves. ...3 days ago
- Submissions show overwhelming opposition to RSB
The Green Party is calling on Cabinet to stop the Regulatory Standards Bill, after only 19 of a total 208 submissions heard over the course of last week’s submissions process supported the Bill. ...4 days ago
- An update on Winston’s War on Woke & June wrap up
New Zealand First continues to bring balance, experience, and commonsense to Government. During the month of June, we made progress on many of our promises to New Zealand. An update on Winston's War on Woke ...6 days ago
- Green Party won’t contest Tāmaki Makaurau by-election
After careful consideration, the Green Party will not stand a candidate in the upcoming Tāmaki Makaurau by-election. ...7 days ago
- Te Pāti Māori Announces Award-Winning Broadcaster Oriini Kaipara to Contest Tāmaki Makaurau By-El...
Te Pāti Māori have confirmed the selection of celebrated broadcaster and longtime West Auckland advocate Oriini Kaipara (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangitihi) as its candidate for the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election. Oriini’s deep whakapapa to Tāmaki Makaurau is grounded in her upbringing at Hoani Waititi Marae, where she was ...1 week ago
- OPED – Mark Patterson: “Do something about the bloody trees”
“Do something about the bloody trees” would be the most common refrain I hear around Clutha and when travelling about rural New Zealand. Forestry has been, and is, a legitimate land use option for farmers and forestry companies. Always has been, always will. Sensible farmers have incorporated planting out of ...1 week ago
- OPED – Jenny Marcroft: Supporting our oyster farmers
Most of us who live in the Mahurangi region are well aware of the ongoing challenges faced by oyster farmers because of multiple significant sewage spills into Mahurangi Harbour. Watercare’s sewerage network in Warkworth is infiltrated with stormwater following rainfall, resulting in overflows into the Mahurangi River and the wider ...1 week ago
- NZ First Introduces Bill to Protect New Zealanders’ Ability to Use Cash
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would protect New Zealanders’ ability to use cash. The Bill will provide for the enduring use of cash as a private, accessible, and reliable method of payment. “People who rely on cash due to barriers to digital banking deserve ...1 week ago
- New study shows speed of Antarctic ice melt, Govt fans climate flames
As the Government pulls out of global climate commitments, a significant new report shows that sea ice around Antarctica is melting at unprecedented speed. ...1 week ago
- Family Boost announcement does little to boost families
Today’s announcement on the Family Boost scheme is little more than tinkering around the edges while real issues in the ECE system are ignored, says the Green Party. ...2 weeks ago
- Serious Response to Serious Problems
As New Zealand has positively responded to the crack down on gang patches there has been a growing recognition of the influence of organized crime on our communities. New Zealand First continues to be focused on all aspects that undermine the safety and security in our neighbourhoods, businesses, and ...2 weeks ago
- NZ First Bill: Only Official New Zealand Flag to Fly on Government Buildings
New Zealand First has today introduced a member's bill which would make it law that government buildings can only display the official flag of New Zealand. “Government buildings are for all New Zealanders and should not be hijacked to force cultural, woke, or divisive political ideology down the throats of ...2 weeks ago
- Healthy Homes standards need more teeth
With mandatory Healthy Homes standards coming into effect for all tenancies tomorrow, the Green Party is calling for a new Rental Warrant of Fitness system to give the new standards true effect. ...2 weeks ago
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- Susi Newborn among activists featured in Pacific ‘nuclear free heroes’ video
Pacific Media Watch Greenpeace pioneer and activist Susi Newborn is among the “nuclear free heroes” featured in a video tribute premiered this week in an exhibition dedicated to a nuclear-free Pacific. The week-long exhibition at Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s Ellen Melville Centre, titled “Legends of the Pacific: Stories of a Nuclear-Free ...56 minutes ago - Grattan on Friday: New parliament presents traps for Albanese and Ley
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese hasn’t been in any rush to convene the new parliament, which Governor-General Sam Mostyn will open on Tuesday. It’s only mildly cynical to observe that governments of both persuasions often seem to ...2 hours ago
- Police protection for New Caledonian politicians following death threats
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk New Caledonian politicians who inked their commitment to a deal with France last weekend will be offered special police protection following threats, especially made on social media networks. The group includes almost 20 members of New Caledonia’s parties — both pro-France ...3 hours ago
- 12 countries agree to confront Israel collectively over Gaza after Bogotá summit
ANALYSIS: By Mick Hall Collective measures to confront Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people have been agreed by 12 nations after an emergency summit of the Hague Group in Bogotá, Colombia. A joint statement today announced the six measures, which it said were geared to holding Israel to account for ...4 hours ago
- Rainbow Warrior bombing by French secret agents remembered 40 years on
SPECIAL REPORT: By Te Aniwaniwa Paterson of Te Ao Māori News Forty years ago today, French secret agents bombed the Greenpeace campaign flagship Rainbow Warrior in an attempt to stop the environmental organisation’s protest against nuclear testing at Moruroa Atoll in Mā’ohi Nui. People gathered on board Rainbow Warrior III ...6 hours ago
- Why a surprise jump in unemployment isn’t as bad as it sounds
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Borland, Professor of Economics, The University of Melbourne New figures show Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 4.3% – its highest level since late 2021 – in June this year, up from 4.1% in May. While this is bad ...6 hours ago
- The Helen Clark Foundation Launches Honorary Fellow Programme
Rt Hon Helen Clark, the Foundation's patron, says "we are very pleased to have these values-driven thought leaders contributing to our Foundation's mission of developing fair, sustainable and inclusive solutions to key long-term issues facing New Zealand." ...8 hours ago - Rate capping: ‘You’ve got to be able to control the costs first’ – ACT leade...
Both ACT and New Zealand First are casting doubt on whether capping council rates is the answer. ...9 hours ago - Australia got off on a technicality for its climate inaction. But there are plenty more judgement da...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wesley Morgan, Research Associate, Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney This week, the Federal Court found the Australian government has no legal duty to protect Torres Strait Islanders from climate change. The ruling was disappointing, but it’s not the end ...10 hours ago
- Pay talk protection: National backs Labour’s transparency bill
A bill protecting workers who talk about pay has passed its second reading with rare cross-party backing. ...10 hours ago
- ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for July 17, 2025
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on July 17, 2025. Do women really need more sleep than men? A sleep psychologist explainsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amelia Scott, Honorary Affiliate and Clinical Psychologist at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, and ...10 hours ago
- Do women really need more sleep than men? A sleep psychologist explains
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amelia Scott, Honorary Affiliate and Clinical Psychologist at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, and Macquarie University Research Fellow, Macquarie University klebercordeiro/Getty If you spend any time in the wellness corners of TikTok or Instagram, you’ll see claims women need one ...11 hours ago
- I created a Vivaldi-inspired sound artwork for the Venice Biennale. The star of the show is an endan...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miriama Young, Associate Professor Music Composition, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne Marco Zorzanello It was late January when I got the call. I’m asked to bring my sound art to a collaborative ecology and design project, Song of ...11 hours ago
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- David Seymour lashes officials after LINZ becomes latest agency raising concerns about his Regulator...
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Today's Posts (updated through the day):
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/564274/economy-hits-a-brick-wall-as-services-sector-continues-to-decline-economist
National still doesn't understand that austerity doesn't work.
From your Link…
And she further opines (obliviously, and with a complete lack of Irony that BusinessNZ fully support all that NACT1 have done, and are doing, to employees/customers..)
These type…will never get it.
Once were navigators.
Islands below standing stars.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/06/17/matariki-2025-celebrating-puanga-an-extra-star/
https://earthsky.org/sky-archive/use-orions-belt-to-find-two-other-stars-2006/
ACT, and its leader David Seymour, oppose Matariki….(this nearly 7 years ago..where are we now with our "fascist state" ?)
FACT CHECK (Seymour's lips were moving)
A public holiday is unrelated to personal use of an annual leave entitlement.
Seems David was just jokes (the "fascist" part anyway…)
Although he does have form…..
Seymour wasn’t joking, he was dog-whistling.
His dog whistle is especially special. ACTs also as a magic flute…..
Mozart would do a better job
David Seymour presents as disingenuous and cynical.
A timely perspective: https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/06/15/an-ode-to-david-seymour/
Thanks for the other Bards latest work. Well crafted wit : )
And. re Seymour as Jester in Bard Billot's ode ? Sometimes when I look at him….I see Joker " Burn it all down"…
Maybe its a trickster of the light?
Because of Russian attacks on Ukraine's hospitals, they have gone underground.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/ukraine-war-surgeons-operate-in-hidden-underground-hospital/Z6O27WGINFGWPHGWT5NJDIBS3Q/
Neo-liberals attempting to impose their decisions on future governments.
The longer term (boil the frog) agenda is to create a public funder private health care (for profit) provider split.
ACT also wants foreigners to supply buildings and for the government to lease them back (in both health and education).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/564316/health-nz-told-to-give-private-hospitals-10-year-outsourcing-contracts
As everyone discovered with the ferry debacles, contracts don't mean anything to a government that is willing to repudiate them.
Yip imagine the howling if a future government just take all the ppp property back
They are discussing the long-term 10 year private contracts for non-complicated surgery on ZB at the moment.
First a guy came on and said he had been waiting over 2 years for a knee replacement, and he was still months away from getting it. He had talked to the surgeon who had told him he could do it in a couple of weeks if he went private. It was $33k to go private.
Then (to ZB's credit) an expert on health policy came on and said handing the easy operations to the private sector "was no substitute for a properly funded public health system".
Labour really should campaign on this. I have said before on TS that if they instituted a Wealth Tax, but called it a "Social Investment Levy" they could use this money to properly fund the public health service and for other social purposes-dentistry, public housing etc.
That sounds all well and good.. but the national opposition will say ..why are you spending $$ on whale songs for kauri trees??
Why are you diversion-trolling here?
@bg… ring fencing the soak the rich taxes for health/other good works ..makes perfect sense…
And it makes the policies much easier to sell to the rest of us….
In fact..they would be silly not to do that…
Yeah – the agenda is always to divert the money that the government gets from taxes away from public sector employees who provide services directly to the public. Instead, this money must go into the hands of business owners as profits and to their private sector employees as wages for delivering a shadow form of those formerly public services.
They're not really about small government or efficiency at all. They're about enriching their own social class by enforcing this more circuitous flow of money that now includes a profit extraction stage that adds no extra social value at all, but rather substracts from the sum of social value because the services provided become inferior.
In-sourcing is also a huge financial drain on the public health system and half-way to full out-sourcing.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/06/13/follow-the-money-its-enough-to-buy-surgeons-tropical-cruises/
Your last paragraph AB is a perfect description of this process.
Treasury is not convinced that having Brown as Minister of Health is a good idea.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2025/06/18/balls-not-so-golden-simeons-manufactured-funding-crisis-and-health-privatisation-gets-roasted-by-treasury/
Brown, making things worse – the speed bump in the public health system, or is it the policy of the C of C itself at fault.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2025/06/12/guest-blog-ian-powell-the-disgrace-of-the-hospice-care-funding-scandal/
Seems more like an excuse to deliberate delay to renewal of contracts with mental health providers to then coerce acceptance of new terms.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360723364/contracts-leaked-minister-intervenes-health-nzs-spat-mental-health-providers
Which is why the surgical out-sourcing referred to above might not go anywhere. MH service provision has been out-sourced for 20+ years, and is a cost this Government is trying to reduce. Same will happen to surgical services, unfortunately that will be able to speak up for themselves. Also why the providers want long term contracts, they're more worried about the current Government and it's offspring than Labour & co.
If you post pro-Palestinian content, prepare to be detained by US Customs: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/15/australian-deported-from-us-says-he-was-targeted-due-to-writing-on-pro-palestine-student-protests
To be pro Palestinian is now being posed as UnAmerican. It's as if support for a Palestinian state is seen as supporting a DEI hire.
It's weird. It's appalling. It's reaching the point when people dare not voice an opinion one way or another for fear of being targeted – even in NZ. It's as if reason, commonsense and impartiality has gone out the window.
World leaders are prostrating themselves before the psychopathic tramp who is leading the charge towards global oblivion, whilst pretending to be the peace maker. The Yanks have lost their collective minds and those who are still living in reality are having to hunker down like hunted animals.
The last time that happened……..
When combined with the more isolationist position of the GOP, as per any support for Ukraine, it appears like appeasement of the aggressor.
Hopefully the EU/UK/UN/Arab League step into the breach and propose a plan to get aid into Gaza, remove both the IDF and Hamas, set up a UN administration (with Arab League peacekeepers) for the rebuild.
ACT want to rewrite the ERA. according to their sponsors instruction, just as they did tenancy rules to that of landlords.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/06/17/less-security-or-more-flexibility-employment-law-changing/
David Seymour is acting PM.
After reading Ardern's book he references the impact on our schools as per our border policy.
He appears ignorant of the fact that our school lockdowns were in fact shorter than many nations, because of our border policy.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/acting-pm-david-seymour-takes-swipe-at-dame-jacinda-ardern-after-reading-her-book/BDZKX4HVWVFYJE2MEZGD2V2UVU/
https://www.ifo.de/en/publications/2021/article-journal/europes-schools-coronavirus-pandemic-country-comparison
The Anti Ardern creeps seem to think it was just Jacinda Ardern behind our NZ decision.
Reality : there were many extremely professional Doctors, Professors, Scientists et al…
Thank you…
Where we maybe could have been under a NACT1 type govt….
And even worse ?…
Fuck Seymour.
He also ignores the fact that ScoMo ran the same border policy.