For a political marketing expert, Labour's campaign slogan to examine…
Lee, who is an associate professor in the University of Auckland’s marketing department, said before he could really analyse the slogan’s potential, the competition had to publish theirs.
There was an appetite for change, he said, and this slogan could have missed an opportunity to tap into that desire. If National and the Greens were to “play their cards right”, their campaign slogans should do just that.
“I can bet it will be something that is encouraging people to change, for something new.”
I wouldn't. Clueless dork syndrome has all parties in its relentless grasp. I'll be a war of evasive banalities. One of bomber's commentators defined the Labour target niche for us with succinct elegance:
Transgender Maori vegan cyclist members of the Wellington bureaucracy.
Wellington bureaucrat number 28,054 or 0.5% of our community. They comprise 44% of all of our civil servants.
All in all, our clueless dork has insulted two fifths of the population. If he showed 'succinct elegance', then I'm glad I'm a wordy wearer of ill-fitting hand-me-downs.
Not that I support insulting anyone, but looking at the quoted figures.
That seems like a very high population percentage for Vegans.
Do you have a source for this?
I can't find any official surveys – but one research project from 2021 indicates that there are around 6% vegetarians and vegans.
It is difficult to know exactly how many people living in Aotearoa New Zealand are vegetarians as different statistics are reported by different organisations and researchers. A national poll in 2019 suggested that 1 in 10 New Zealanders were vegetarian, up 3% from the year before. A larger scale national research project in 2021 found that 6% were vegetarian or vegan.
I agree that minorities have nothing to be ashamed of. Any attempt to selectively correlate Labour's campaign strategy with a select nexus of such minority groups is proceeding upon a flawed assumption: it's the Greens who are more likely to do what the commentator expects.
The entire point of Labour is to seem different to National in the tiny minds of sheeple. So Labour will inevitable target the soft underbelly of National poll supporters. For another insight into that, tune into 1News tonight. RNZ's deputy political editor told us earlier this morning that they will feature another poll.
You wrote "I agree that minorities have nothing to be ashamed of." Do you agree that minorities should not be disrespected, as our clueless dork did?
The same clueless dork who you quoted approvingly with "succinct elegance".
Sorry, Dennis, but you don't walk away from this one without acknowledging that you approved of, and re-quoted to us, a racist, prejudiced, bigoted and shameful comment.
I don't have that sectarian view of things. Usage of categories in political commentary is endemic, so why anyone would be fussed about any particular usage by leftists or rightists isn't ever likely to be evident to a centrist.
The entire point of any particular usage is whether it is effective propaganda or not. You're aware of how toxic wokeism has become for leftists? Important to learn from such unhealthy cultural trends whenever they occur.
Unless it learns how to do effective political framing, the left isn't likely to get much attraction amongst floating voters. Merely virtue-signalling at them has failed. Are you trying to suggest that such failure can't be learnt from?
"Transgender Maori vegan cyclist members of the Wellington bureaucracy."
This is a political framing of a point of view that is the opposite of what I stand for- literally, in my case, because I have been a political candidate.
Belittling terms have always been around. I choose to object to them when I feel that if I don't object then I become complicit.
I'm old enough to remember 'political framing' aka insults, such as 'bleeding heart liberal', 'pinko', 'commo', 'lefty', 'peacenik', 'and more recently 'virtue-signalling', 'politically correct' and a 'woke' practitioner of the 'politics of envy'.
Are you arguing that we should also be into such political framing in order to compete?
I much prefer 'In it for you".
Yes, you. All those pakeha, meat-loving, car-addicted, straight(-ish), provincial self-employed persons included.
At least, there was no mention of women in our 'clueless dork' friend's statement.
Because that issue raised itself on the Standard with misogynistic rants in the time of PM Jacinda Ardern. I rebutted them, too.
Look where that pile of insults got those mysogynistic 'political framers' in 2020 when women turned out for Labour.
The level of insults in this election is now, and will be high- as a counter to the politics of inclusion, fairness, compassion and "in it for you'.
I do understand where you are coming from, as a result of your articulation of it. There's a spectrum tween framing and insult. Seems to me some folks will see an insult where none was intended. One often sees that with satire, irony, etc. Some folks see a motive that the framer doesn't have.
My view is akin to that of an amateur social scientist: I note framings that achieve resonance because they then operate similarly to levers or portals, inasmuch as resonance tends to constellate collective opinion.
In my view a commentator has a mental interface with the public arena, as well as a tech interface. Each of those being driven by a triad (user/interface/public) plus a tetrad (user/interface/network/public) when you incorporate the systems view. Such is the basis of ecosystemic human relations in the Deep Green view, but one must to go further & include stuff like mimesis/memetics that generate field effects between people & systems.
Philip, I left out a lot of things. I am all of those things I listed though I do own a bike that is unusually ridden (unusual in terms of frequency but especially since I don't often pedal as it's battery electric). But it sticks in my craw to read jokes based on 'othering'.
I believe in joking at my own expense so I can take the piss of Irish and Scottish traits happily, being a Mac1, but not of others. One little trick I learned is to tell Irish jokes but change the subject of the humour to a Kiwi- suddenly it's not funny any more!
"How do you get a Kiwi up onto a roof?" "Tell him the drinks are on the house…."
Against my better judgement I ventured over to The Daily Blog for a wee gander. I soon vacated the blog site very rapidly. What a vapid next of vipers the commenters (and of course B B himself) have degenerated into. I used to make TDB one of my daily reads but thank Dog, no longer. I do wonder who 'they' will ultimately vote for, if at all.
This last weekend we went on a road trip from Nelson to Hokitika to celebrate a 100th birthday of a whanau and made it a round trip. (Via Reefton one way then Westport the other) Never saw 1 pothole. Never had a ramrade in our parts for about 20 years either for that matter!
Interesting. A conspiracy theorist would deduce that this regional paradise effect was produced by a Labour strategy to grow their support base in the top of the South Island and west coast. As if departmental maintenance is regionally-driven, I presume.
Although such regional bias would be denied by both the departmental heads and the minister, to reassure sheeple. In order to import ram-raids into your region, you must first import the foreigners to establish attractive shops! Worked well in Ak.
I've been watching TV coverage of the Tour de France lately. No road potholes, although on one stage the riders had to contend with cobbles, which were very tricky and led to crashes.
Seen this way France looks terrific, with its mountains and picturesque old towns.
What's striking is how much vegetation cover the French have retained. A contrast with good old NZ, where the odd macrocarpa stands in a sea of grass.
My memory of 3000 kms of driving on French provincial roads was their quality, similar to our two-lane SH1 standard but mostly I remember the 70 km/h speed limit. A speed that respected safety, the road surface and the views to be had.
The Crown Range is still 100km/h at the moment and there are regular accidents. I would speculate that many are caused by people being distracted by the wonderful views.
A clear case for either 70km/h or 80km/h between Cardrona and SH6 at the Arrow Junction.
Ad says (above) that he drives it most days-I wonder what he thinks.
France is happy to run national debt at 90-100% of GDP. It has been doing so for decades to prop up its excellent healthcare and aged care sectors, with retirement at 60y. Personal tax runs at ~40%.
Dr David Jenkins and Eileen Corcoran sketch out three general directions Aotearoa urbanism might follow. Jenkins is a lecturer in political theory at the University of Otago. Corcoran is completing a Masters in Politics at the University of Otago
According to Loneliness NZ, more than 650,000 Kiwis have felt lonely within the past four weeks, with 137,000 of them feeling lonely most or all of the time. Especially worrying is that loneliness is highest among 15-24-year-olds, a demographic in this country that has the highest rate of suicide within the OECD countries.
First, rather than focus on moving materials around our cities, we should prioritise improving tenants’ rights. Improving security of tenure, imposing price controls and more strictly enforcing sanctions against errant landlords can help people put down the kinds of deep roots that turn neighbourhoods into communities.
The Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2020 signals improvements in the right direction but Aotearoa can continue to strengthen tenants’ rights and, perhaps, develop more proactive government provision of high-quality social housing, of the kind enjoyed by 60 percent of the residents of Vienna, the most liveable city in the world, according to a report by the Economist.
For second, they just go for extending the Greener cities trend. Third, they just go for rejuvenating centers of cities, which has also been happening for years. Would've been better to devise collaborative projects folks can join into.
I'm okay on the principle of their policy: satisfactory resolution of problems created by past maladministration. Natural justice. I'll reserve judgment on their proposed method until I see if others find any flaws.
Yeah…Riiight. Complete with two hands in pockets, pothole plonkers.
Reality….
The government was spending $2.8 billion on highway maintenance, saying it was a 65 percent increase on what the previous National government had spent.
And beside that, NZ's chronic car culture addiction is just exacerbating any existing problem . To say nothing of the fkn heavy truck trailers rooting the roads/highways.
Should we spend more money on "fixing" something that should be being replaced….by major Public Transport and Rail networks ?
F#$@%ing Joyce back in 2010 permitted trucks as heavy as 53 tonnes on NZ roads. This greatly increases the level of road wear per truck, where truck road wear was already massive compared to a family 4WD.
I'm expecting Nationals Pot Hole Policy to dovetail with their Corrections Policy next – prisoner chain gangs filling pot holes with shovels and buckets of gravel being dragged behind them. /sarc
Danielo Dolci, a most remarkable man known as the Ghandi of Sicily, organised unemployed men in what is known aa a 'reverse strike' to work on roads in Sicily in the early Fifties.
Instead of prisoners he used the unemployed who showed their willingness to work and thus denied the claim that some use to vilify the out- of-work as lazy. He also challenged the local government, the Mafia and the corrupt by so doing. He also used hunger strikes and non-violent resistance, resisted war and gave up a comfortable existence as an architect for the wealthy, instead to work as a toilet cleaner and gardener in an orphanage after WW2.
Leggett said $500m over three years was a good place to start.
The same Nick?
Following Nick Leggett’s departure to Infrastructure New Zealand at the end of April, Dom Kalasih becomes the Interim Chief Executive of Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand. Board Chair Warwick Wilshier says “Dom is passionate about road transport
How's a city allowed to keep expanding on already polluted harbours that are regularly closed to human food gathering and recreation due to human sewage over flows??
The Green party appears to have a death wish. The same sort of activist fanaticism that led to anti-smacking debacle that saw the Left in opposition for 9 years appears to be back with the insane suggestion that private property be subject to Maori land claims. Talk about lunatics with a death wish!
Apart from anything else, who is this policy meant to appeal to? It is the sort of insanity you'd expect from a bunch of unwashed anti-capitalist student anarchists living in squat, not a party with mainstream aspirations.
The Green Party has unveiled its plan to return land wrongly taken from Māori.
If part of the next government, the Greens would amend the Public Works Act to prevent Māori land being taken in future.
It would repeal the 2008 deadline to lodge new Treaty claims and reinstate the ability for the Waitangi Tribunal to make recommendations on privately-owned land, as it comes on the property market.
The Greens also want to establish a Royal Commission to investigate land taken through breaches of the Treaty.
I think it should be mainstream to attempt to resolve the illegal breaches of our nation's founding document by the state. Private property would only be included as it was sold by current owners. Try and read before you react.
Right so your the sort of person who thinks telling every person in NZ who owns their own home or farm or factory, or has a mortgage pursuant to that end, that what they've purchased in good faith can now be subject to a Maori land claim is a vote winner?
It us ridiculous policy no one asked for and seems to be mainly designed as a masochistic desire to upset 98% of the electorate.
The Greens keep whining that they are a serious party. On the basis of this policy I say bullshit to that.
[“… that what they've purchased in good faith can now be subject to a Maori land claim is a vote winner?”
You appear to be implying that land would be taken off non-Māori and given to Māori. This is not true, it’s been pointed out to you that it’s not true, and you’ve repeated it. Even if you didn’t mean that, both your comments can easily be construed by people reading to mean that.
If I see you run this line again, I will consider you to be knowingly lying and I will ban you until well after the election. Only warning.
Current market value at the time………..would have to agree with Sanctuary though that its a very problematic proposition and in reality would have many fish hooks to extract………………
I was trying to recall over the weekend how many times I’ve voted Green, Labour and collectively other parties to date. At a reasonable guess I think about one third each. But there is no way on planet earth I’d consider voting Green in their current incarnation – trying to out manoeuvre TPM to see who can steer hardest left. Meanwhile they drag Labour down with then. Hopefully somewhere in the inevitable election postmortem someone asks the very basic question – what does an environmental based party look like?
The Greens keep whining that they are a serious party.
There’s much more whining around election time – potholes, tax/cut, iwi/kiwi, bene bashing, light bulbs, shower heads and the madness of the nanny state.
In days gone by, such whining might have fetched the whiners a smack as part of good voter correction – whether/weather that's still the case, time will tell.
It is sad to see that the green party has no real interest in Green issues that really matter. Like a marine sanctuary or an end to bottom trawling. Even the damage of the land and infrastructure through iwi owed forest companies is not mentioned and the taxpayer has to foot the bill. I am interested how all the claims are set vis a vis the billions already paid in reparation and the tax exemption of iwis.
Lets not forget, it is not the "Crown" who pays but the taxpayer.
As an immigrant, settling here some 37 years ago, this discussion is provoking the feeling that I to have to uproot again. It was psychologically some work to feel "at home" but it seems I need to be prepared to move as the situation here is getting more and more unsettling.
In that vain, I think all immigrants and people thinking about coming back should be told in an unambiguous way what they will have to expect and expectations about their contribution.
Look at the policies and you will find what you claim is not there:
Establish a well-resourced and politically independent Ocean Commission to develop and establish Te Tiriti-based ocean governance of our entire marine area, including the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and to advise Government on legislative, policy and institutional reform. (1.1)
Reform fisheries and marine protection legislation and establish a national, comprehensive, and coherent system of no-take, marine protected areas. (2.1)
Resource mātauranga Māori organisations and promote the use of marine cultural health indices to empower community action and well-being to inform policy, management, and operations. (2.4)
Halt any further degradation of marine and estuarine habitats through the extraction of natural resources, destructive fishing practices or inappropriate construction of our built environments. (4.1)
Phase out bottom trawling, prioritising seamounts and areas with high levels of sequestered carbon and biodiversity for protection. (5.1)
Enable kaitiakitanga, including upholding and underpinning Māori fisheries rights in the transition of the QMS to an ecosystem-based management. (5.4)
Move away from exploiting the environment for the economy, and towards a circular economy. (1.2)
Protect and restore populations of native species to ensure healthy ecosystems; access to these species for the purposes of tikanga Māori, and build resilience to a changing climate. (2.2)
Honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi by resourcing tangata whenua to exercise tino rangatiratanga as kaitiaki, including through the return of land. (5.1)
Resource youth-led research on environmental issues, and protect and restore the environment for future generations. (5.6)
Implement and strengthen measures to rapidly reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions. (6.6)
Uphold and resource the kaitiaki role of tangata whenua, and work with them to protect taonga species and significant places, including through the return of whenua. (1.1)
Establish a complete linked network of ecologically representative areas – terrestrial, marine and aquatic – under protective management. (3.2)
Work with local government and communities to ensure a minimum 5% of the land area of all ecological districts in Aotearoa New Zealand is in native vegetation or set aside for the restoration of nature. (3.3)
Establish legal protection for indigenous plants and ensure legal protections for indigenous wildlife are robust enough for all threatened species. (3.8)
Implement strategies for climate-change adaptation of native ecosystems and species (…). (4.1)
Manage human activity outside of public conservation land in a way that supports the wellbeing of natural ecosystems, indigenous species and habitats (…). (5.1)
Bit of a racist remark there? You will be surprised to know that I have been told twice that pakeha ate only "allowed" to be here to pay for the upkeep of Maori. Seems to be confirmed.
By Maori on a hui no less. But never mind, people like you have made up their mind that anybody else is just out to exploit. Thats ok. I will make my decision and thats that.
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After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
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 ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
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. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
The club’s surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong… and a few other factors.“There’s no way that Wellington Phoenix play finals this year. I can’t see it happening at all.” Those are the words of Lachlan Raeside, an Australian football content ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By César Albarrán-Torres, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology Apple TV+ As one of billions of bilingual individuals in the world, it disappoints me when a film or TV show with characters of a non-English-speaking background is ...
The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Corderoy, Medical doctor and PhD candidate studying involuntary psychiatric treatment, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney shop_py/Shutterstock Picture two people, both suffering from a serious mental illness requiring hospital admission. One was born in Australia, the other in Asia. Hopefully, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Treby, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University P.j.Hickox, Shutterstock Peatlands store more carbon per square metre than any other ecosystem on Earth. These waterlogged, mossy bogs beat even dense rainforests for their ability to act as carbon reservoirs. Under the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Goss, Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra Government spending on health has been growing so rapidly that a decade ago the then health minister Peter Dutton called it “unmanageable” and “unsustainable”. Health spending grew in real terms by ...
New Zealand's largest electricity distributor is warning the country to hurry up with controls around charging electric vehicles or face unnecessary bills running into the billions. ...
New Zealanders have been asked to conserve energy this morning to combat a possible electricity shortfall, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A call to conserve power New Zealand is facing a possible electricity shortfall, with people up ...
Writer Rebecca K Reilly breaks down the national book awards. What are the Ockhams?The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are our annual national awards for books published for adults, and have existed in this form since 2016. There are four categories: Fiction, Poetry, General Non-fiction and Illustrated Non-fiction. There ...
Wellington City Council should keep its 34% ownership share in Wellington International Airport, argue Unions Wellington spokespeople Finn Cordwell and Ashok Jacob. Insanity, as the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Wellington City Council (WCC) is yet again proposing to dispose ...
New Zealand’s largest book publisher has undergone drastic changes this week, leaving its future role in local publishing uncertain. Two of the most recognisable local publishers in New Zealand are among those restructured out of Penguin Random House, it was announced this week. Head of publishing Claire Murdoch will leave ...
Successive governments have tried, and failed, to count Māori. But with the return of social investment, it’s more important than ever to get good data. The post Government looks for a better way to count Māori appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Experts in financing social investment initiatives say New Zealand is in a prime position to tackle social issues via a social investment approach The post What will Willis’ social investment fund look like? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
In 2021 the Public Interest Journalism Fund launched the Te Rito Journalism project, a $2.4 million initiative to boost diversity in New Zealand’s newsrooms. The initiative was in response to the decades-long shortage of Māori and Pacific journalists in the media industry. It was billed as New Zealand’s ...
The Black Ferns Sevens appeared to be a mile behind Australia at the halfway point of the 2023-24 SVNS international circuit. Winless in three tournaments, a cup quarter-final exit in Perth was one of their worst results. To add insult to injury, talismanic skipper Sarah Hirini had been ruled out ...
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For a political marketing expert, Labour's campaign slogan to examine…
Good point: comparative analysis rules, okay?
I wouldn't. Clueless dork syndrome has all parties in its relentless grasp. I'll be a war of evasive banalities. One of bomber's commentators defined the Labour target niche for us with succinct elegance:
"Transgender Maori vegan cyclist members of the Wellington bureaucracy."
What a shameful outing of prejudice and 'othering' of minorities in the guise of humour…. 'clueless dork' indeed.
Just to add some figures into this issue.
Māori are 17% of our community.
Vegans are 6% of our community.
Transgender people are 0.0-2% of our community.
Cyclists number 21% of our community.
Wellington bureaucrat number 28,054 or 0.5% of our community. They comprise 44% of all of our civil servants.
All in all, our clueless dork has insulted two fifths of the population. If he showed 'succinct elegance', then I'm glad I'm a wordy wearer of ill-fitting hand-me-downs.
Not that I support insulting anyone, but looking at the quoted figures.
That seems like a very high population percentage for Vegans.
Do you have a source for this?
I can't find any official surveys – but one research project from 2021 indicates that there are around 6% vegetarians and vegans.
https://healthify.nz/hauora-wellbeing/v/vegetarianism-veganism/
The site, annoyingly, doesn't link to either source….
It's *possible* that it's this one:
https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/most-kiwis-still-eat-meat
If the number of vegetarians is around 6%, I'd say that the numbers of vegans would be considerably lower….
I'm presuming that the survey informs the NZ Wikipedia data – which has Vegetarians at 6% – and no total for Vegans at all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country
This is the source.https://healthify.nz/hauora-wellbeing/v/vegetarianism-veganism/
3 or 6%. Not the issue for me, but rather that a group of people in our society were being insulted.
Yep, that's the one I found as well – no total for vegans.
I was wondering if there actually was some data out there – but looks as though there isn't….
Agree that insulting people (regardless of the % of the population) isn't OK.
🙂
I agree that minorities have nothing to be ashamed of. Any attempt to selectively correlate Labour's campaign strategy with a select nexus of such minority groups is proceeding upon a flawed assumption: it's the Greens who are more likely to do what the commentator expects.
The entire point of Labour is to seem different to National in the tiny minds of sheeple. So Labour will inevitable target the soft underbelly of National poll supporters. For another insight into that, tune into 1News tonight. RNZ's deputy political editor told us earlier this morning that they will feature another poll.
You wrote "I agree that minorities have nothing to be ashamed of." Do you agree that minorities should not be disrespected, as our clueless dork did?
The same clueless dork who you quoted approvingly with "succinct elegance".
Sorry, Dennis, but you don't walk away from this one without acknowledging that you approved of, and re-quoted to us, a racist, prejudiced, bigoted and shameful comment.
It's the opposite of "In it for you"!
I don't have that sectarian view of things. Usage of categories in political commentary is endemic, so why anyone would be fussed about any particular usage by leftists or rightists isn't ever likely to be evident to a centrist.
The entire point of any particular usage is whether it is effective propaganda or not. You're aware of how toxic wokeism has become for leftists? Important to learn from such unhealthy cultural trends whenever they occur.
Unless it learns how to do effective political framing, the left isn't likely to get much attraction amongst floating voters. Merely virtue-signalling at them has failed. Are you trying to suggest that such failure can't be learnt from?
"Transgender Maori vegan cyclist members of the Wellington bureaucracy."
This is a political framing of a point of view that is the opposite of what I stand for- literally, in my case, because I have been a political candidate.
Belittling terms have always been around. I choose to object to them when I feel that if I don't object then I become complicit.
I'm old enough to remember 'political framing' aka insults, such as 'bleeding heart liberal', 'pinko', 'commo', 'lefty', 'peacenik', 'and more recently 'virtue-signalling', 'politically correct' and a 'woke' practitioner of the 'politics of envy'.
Are you arguing that we should also be into such political framing in order to compete?
I much prefer 'In it for you".
Yes, you. All those pakeha, meat-loving, car-addicted, straight(-ish), provincial self-employed persons included.
At least, there was no mention of women in our 'clueless dork' friend's statement.
Because that issue raised itself on the Standard with misogynistic rants in the time of PM Jacinda Ardern. I rebutted them, too.
Look where that pile of insults got those mysogynistic 'political framers' in 2020 when women turned out for Labour.
The level of insults in this election is now, and will be high- as a counter to the politics of inclusion, fairness, compassion and "in it for you'.
I do understand where you are coming from, as a result of your articulation of it. There's a spectrum tween framing and insult. Seems to me some folks will see an insult where none was intended. One often sees that with satire, irony, etc. Some folks see a motive that the framer doesn't have.
My view is akin to that of an amateur social scientist: I note framings that achieve resonance because they then operate similarly to levers or portals, inasmuch as resonance tends to constellate collective opinion.
In my view a commentator has a mental interface with the public arena, as well as a tech interface. Each of those being driven by a triad (user/interface/public) plus a tetrad (user/interface/network/public) when you incorporate the systems view. Such is the basis of ecosystemic human relations in the Deep Green view, but one must to go further & include stuff like mimesis/memetics that generate field effects between people & systems.
Toxic wokeism, unhealthy cultural trends, virtue signalling. Dennis Frank, you're seasoning your comments with meaningless rw catchphrases again.
I'm guessing you are a casualty of the meaningless rw culture war against phantoms…Head injury?
Don't do that. You had an argument that you could make coherently, insulting someone doesn't add to that, it just inflames things.
@ macl..
You left out 'fleshist'..
(Def: flesh-eater who sneers at non-flesh-eaters..)
Philip, I left out a lot of things. I am all of those things I listed though I do own a bike that is unusually ridden (unusual in terms of frequency but especially since I don't often pedal as it's battery electric). But it sticks in my craw to read jokes based on 'othering'.
I believe in joking at my own expense so I can take the piss of Irish and Scottish traits happily, being a Mac1, but not of others. One little trick I learned is to tell Irish jokes but change the subject of the humour to a Kiwi- suddenly it's not funny any more!
"How do you get a Kiwi up onto a roof?" "Tell him the drinks are on the house…."
I'm a Kiwi, btw.
Hear hear.
Against my better judgement I ventured over to The Daily Blog for a wee gander. I soon vacated the blog site very rapidly. What a vapid next of vipers the commenters (and of course B B himself) have degenerated into. I used to make TDB one of my daily reads but thank Dog, no longer. I do wonder who 'they' will ultimately vote for, if at all.
You're braver than me JB. I won't go there. Too depressing.
[comment with quotes but no links deleted]
Oops! Sorry…
This last weekend we went on a road trip from Nelson to Hokitika to celebrate a 100th birthday of a whanau and made it a round trip. (Via Reefton one way then Westport the other) Never saw 1 pothole. Never had a ramrade in our parts for about 20 years either for that matter!
Interesting. A conspiracy theorist would deduce that this regional paradise effect was produced by a Labour strategy to grow their support base in the top of the South Island and west coast. As if departmental maintenance is regionally-driven, I presume.
Although such regional bias would be denied by both the departmental heads and the minister, to reassure sheeple. In order to import ram-raids into your region, you must first import the foreigners to establish attractive shops! Worked well in Ak.
Nick Smith both as local MP and as Minister defended his part of the state highway network really well.
Also that route barely gets a major truck.
I do the Crown Range from Wanaka to Queenstown most days, and frankly it's a dream compared to anything north of Taupo.
I've been watching TV coverage of the Tour de France lately. No road potholes, although on one stage the riders had to contend with cobbles, which were very tricky and led to crashes.
Seen this way France looks terrific, with its mountains and picturesque old towns.
What's striking is how much vegetation cover the French have retained. A contrast with good old NZ, where the odd macrocarpa stands in a sea of grass.
My memory of 3000 kms of driving on French provincial roads was their quality, similar to our two-lane SH1 standard but mostly I remember the 70 km/h speed limit. A speed that respected safety, the road surface and the views to be had.
Agreed Mac.
The Crown Range is still 100km/h at the moment and there are regular accidents. I would speculate that many are caused by people being distracted by the wonderful views.
A clear case for either 70km/h or 80km/h between Cardrona and SH6 at the Arrow Junction.
Ad says (above) that he drives it most days-I wonder what he thinks.
Crown Range definitely should be down to 80km.
Seriously what's the point of risking your life.
I came away from France with the conclusion that the french know how to do country…
New Zealand does not…
France is happy to run national debt at 90-100% of GDP. It has been doing so for decades to prop up its excellent healthcare and aged care sectors, with retirement at 60y. Personal tax runs at ~40%.
Loneliness as producer of health costs: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/how-our-cities-could-help-alleviate-loneliness
For second, they just go for extending the Greener cities trend. Third, they just go for rejuvenating centers of cities, which has also been happening for years. Would've been better to devise collaborative projects folks can join into.
Greens giving the Nat/ACT bear a prod: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/greens-launch-maori-land-policy-hoki-whenua-mai-vows-to-return-stolen-land-revisit-claims-and-redress/IH4JRCB53BFAZD2VAJA2GUH774/
I'm okay on the principle of their policy: satisfactory resolution of problems created by past maladministration. Natural justice. I'll reserve judgment on their proposed method until I see if others find any flaws.
Just the 9 comments this morning Dennis-you are losing your touch.
Ha ha BG prob his wife has a sock taped to his mouth at home so he has to make up for it on TS !!
I'm a loner once again these days…
Well I could do more – but I'm just trying to keep faith with all the left-wingers who have gone into hiding…
Yeah…Riiight. Complete with two hands in pockets, pothole plonkers.
Reality….
And beside that, NZ's chronic car culture addiction is just exacerbating any existing problem . To say nothing of the fkn heavy truck trailers rooting the roads/highways.
Should we spend more money on "fixing" something that should be being replaced….by major Public Transport and Rail networks ?
No.
F#$@%ing Joyce back in 2010 permitted trucks as heavy as 53 tonnes on NZ roads. This greatly increases the level of road wear per truck, where truck road wear was already massive compared to a family 4WD.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/change-lifts-truck-load-limit-to-53-tonnes/O2ARXF3BQRBBRTJWMAZY2TDX5U/#:~:text=*%20Trucks%20will%20be%20permitted%20to,up%20from%2012.6m%20now.
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2010/04/03/heavier-trucks-approved/
I'm expecting Nationals Pot Hole Policy to dovetail with their Corrections Policy next – prisoner chain gangs filling pot holes with shovels and buckets of gravel being dragged behind them. /sarc
Danielo Dolci, a most remarkable man known as the Ghandi of Sicily, organised unemployed men in what is known aa a 'reverse strike' to work on roads in Sicily in the early Fifties.
Instead of prisoners he used the unemployed who showed their willingness to work and thus denied the claim that some use to vilify the out- of-work as lazy. He also challenged the local government, the Mafia and the corrupt by so doing. He also used hunger strikes and non-violent resistance, resisted war and gave up a comfortable existence as an architect for the wealthy, instead to work as a toilet cleaner and gardener in an orphanage after WW2.
https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/danilo-dolci-a-gandhi-in-sicily.html
National would have no idea about any of that…….
They walked in with Labour, but got the car with National.
It's been done before.
Well…Dom. Thanks for pointing out the Obvious. However do the vehicles you represent..have eighteen tyres and wheels ?
And huge weight? And cause most of the damage ?
Also…Nick Leggett got a mention in the RNZ link.
The same Nick?
Riiight.
Question:
Why are dairy farms allowed right on the edge of the already polluted Manukau harbour..?
Given all we now know..
..how the fuck is this allowed to continue…?
For cow shit/nitrates to be allowed to just pour into the harbour..?
How's a city allowed to keep expanding on already polluted harbours that are regularly closed to human food gathering and recreation due to human sewage over flows??
The Green party appears to have a death wish. The same sort of activist fanaticism that led to anti-smacking debacle that saw the Left in opposition for 9 years appears to be back with the insane suggestion that private property be subject to Maori land claims. Talk about lunatics with a death wish!
Apart from anything else, who is this policy meant to appeal to? It is the sort of insanity you'd expect from a bunch of unwashed anti-capitalist student anarchists living in squat, not a party with mainstream aspirations.
Or, alternatively:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/493846/greens-announce-policy-to-repeal-2008-deadline-to-lodge-treaty-claims
I think it should be mainstream to attempt to resolve the illegal breaches of our nation's founding document by the state. Private property would only be included as it was sold by current owners. Try and read before you react.
Right so your the sort of person who thinks telling every person in NZ who owns their own home or farm or factory, or has a mortgage pursuant to that end, that what they've purchased in good faith can now be subject to a Maori land claim is a vote winner?
It us ridiculous policy no one asked for and seems to be mainly designed as a masochistic desire to upset 98% of the electorate.
The Greens keep whining that they are a serious party. On the basis of this policy I say bullshit to that.
[“… that what they've purchased in good faith can now be subject to a Maori land claim is a vote winner?”
You appear to be implying that land would be taken off non-Māori and given to Māori. This is not true, it’s been pointed out to you that it’s not true, and you’ve repeated it. Even if you didn’t mean that, both your comments can easily be construed by people reading to mean that.
If I see you run this line again, I will consider you to be knowingly lying and I will ban you until well after the election. Only warning.
https://www.greens.org.nz/hoki_whenua_mai_announcement
And you're the sort of person unable to comprehend what they announced and have instead reacted to a scenario that you have manufactured in your head.
Try again:
And who decides the price Arkie?
Current market value at the time………..would have to agree with Sanctuary though that its a very problematic proposition and in reality would have many fish hooks to extract………………
what are the problems and fish hooks you see?
I was trying to recall over the weekend how many times I’ve voted Green, Labour and collectively other parties to date. At a reasonable guess I think about one third each. But there is no way on planet earth I’d consider voting Green in their current incarnation – trying to out manoeuvre TPM to see who can steer hardest left. Meanwhile they drag Labour down with then. Hopefully somewhere in the inevitable election postmortem someone asks the very basic question – what does an environmental based party look like?
If you look at GP policy and listen to GP speeches, it's very clear that the environment is high in their list of priorities.
https://www.greens.org.nz/manifesto_2023
.https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17-07-2023/#comment-1960174
https://www.greens.org.nz/green_party_agm_2023_james_shaw_s_speech
There’s much more whining around election time – potholes, tax/cut, iwi/kiwi, bene bashing, light bulbs, shower heads and the madness of the nanny state.
In days gone by, such whining might have fetched the whiners a smack as part of good voter correction – whether/weather that's still the case, time will tell.
Grumbler get your gun!
mod note.
It is sad to see that the green party has no real interest in Green issues that really matter. Like a marine sanctuary or an end to bottom trawling. Even the damage of the land and infrastructure through iwi owed forest companies is not mentioned and the taxpayer has to foot the bill. I am interested how all the claims are set vis a vis the billions already paid in reparation and the tax exemption of iwis.
Lets not forget, it is not the "Crown" who pays but the taxpayer.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/5130429/Super-rich-tribes-pay-no-tax#:~:text=A%20law%20change%20by%20the,those%20businesses%20are%20getting%20big.
As an immigrant, settling here some 37 years ago, this discussion is provoking the feeling that I to have to uproot again. It was psychologically some work to feel "at home" but it seems I need to be prepared to move as the situation here is getting more and more unsettling.
In that vain, I think all immigrants and people thinking about coming back should be told in an unambiguous way what they will have to expect and expectations about their contribution.
Look at the policies and you will find what you claim is not there:
https://www.greens.org.nz/marine_policy
https://www.greens.org.nz/environmental_protection_policy
https://www.greens.org.nz/conservation_policy
etc etc
What alarmist b.s. there f.w..
Are you a'fearing a brown people uprising..?
What exactly is 'unsettling' you..?
You aren't just pearl-clutching for the sake of it..?
Do tell..!
Bit of a racist remark there? You will be surprised to know that I have been told twice that pakeha ate only "allowed" to be here to pay for the upkeep of Maori. Seems to be confirmed.
Been told twice…?..eh..?
By two different racist whites..?
Or was it the same one saying it twice..?
And what exactly 'seems to be confirmed'..?
And how exactly..?
By Maori on a hui no less. But never mind, people like you have made up their mind that anybody else is just out to exploit. Thats ok. I will make my decision and thats that.
This idea of mini-ministries (c f. fix potholes) could have merit..
How about a ministry to fix scumbag slum landlords..?
For starters..?
Alternatively you could put the landlords in the potholes.
Heh..!