Open mike 18/09/2020

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 18th, 2020 - 62 comments
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62 comments on “Open mike 18/09/2020 ”

  1. Ed 1

    We don't know how lucky we are.

    The World Health Organisation is now warning of 'alarming' Covid transmission across Europe, Canada is losing control of the virus and the UK government's incompetency means they don't have an effective track and trace system.

    Meanwhile, Dr John Campbell reports on a vaccine the Chinese have developed in conjunction with the UAE. Sounds highly encouraging..

    "The UAE has approved the urgent use of China-developed COVID-19 vaccine after testing on 31,000 volunteers. Phase I and II results in June were successful. 100 percent of volunteers were generating antibodies after two doses in 28 days. Phase 3 started on 16th July. 100,000 injections have been given so far, with no adverse reactions, no infections."

    The part of the video is at 26:45

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqZLMoLvhgk

    • greywarshark 1.1

      Covid 19 is getting in the way of the proper destiny of western nations and Swiss gnomes et al which is to make money and pretend to be civilised, educated, intelligent and have highly developed intellects, being cultured and sophisticated. This was thought about Europe which brought forward the Enlightenment but then too recently, also the most awful and barbarous behaviour in its culling of human beings sent to slaughter in their millions.

      We must not blindly follow other western nations wherever they may lead, and if any doubted that, the way they have handled the Covid-19 pandemic shows the thin cover of committed enlightened behaviour that decorates the surface of the real framework of their societies.

      There is much that is good in the culture we adhere to, but thoughtful people need to be aware of the fragility of a good culture, and keep the memory to the fore, of the fictional hero of Ian McKellen's Gandalf saying "You shall not pass".

      • Tiger Mountain 1.1.1

        Well put greywarshark.

        There is more support around for ‘closing off the Mountain pass’ than pundits and business lobbyists might imagine, or enjoy contemplating.

        • greywarshark 1.1.1.1

          I refer to my 7 below with a bit from Chris Trotter. He is thinking about how many might want to close off, and how far they might go in trying to limit things agreed as unsatisfactory and other knotty matters.

          • greywarshark 1.1.1.1.1

            And thinking about Europe and how concerned about humanity they are, putting Greece into austerity and hardship in the way they handled their financial crisis? Greece also has the cost of a refugee crisis, and has Europe helped them with this? It is ongoing, and particularly hard on the people of Lesbos Island. Recently the crowded refugee camp experienced a devastating fire.
            https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/aid-workers-face-growing-hostility-lesbos-200214215806963.html

            Germany is going to take 1500 of the refugees.
            “They will all leave,” the civil protection minister, Michalis Chrysochoidis, told the Guardian. “Of the roughly 12,000 refugees here currently, I foresee 6,000 being transferred to the mainland by Christmas and the rest by Easter. The people of this island have gone through a lot. They’ve been very patient.”...
            Chrysochoidis, who flew into Lesbos to help oversee relief efforts, welcomed reports that Germany was prepared to take in as many as 1,500 people from Moria.

            The German coalition government on Tuesday agreed to take in a total of 1,553 people from 408 families whose protected status has been confirmed by Greek authorities, Angela Merkel’s spokesperson said. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/15/after-fire-greece-vows-to-empty-lesbos-of-all-refugees-by-easter

            These people haven't gone to Greece for a holiday but are fleeing terrible conditions in their home countries:
            https://helprefugees.org/volunteer-blog/moria-february-2020/
            Most camp inhabitants have walked thousands of miles to stand at Turkey’s western shore, usually travelling under the cover of darkness in order to avoid detection. Smugglers then charge large sums to escort them across the Mitilini Strait to the northern beaches of Lesbos in various water crafts. Adverse seas and the fact that many of these boats are not fit for the crossing has resulted in countless lives lost in this corner of the Mediterranean.

            Many have had several attempts, previously having been thwarted by border police or abandoning due to dangerous sea conditions. The position and state of the vessel will determine whether it is turned back towards Turkey or guided to Lesbos, establishing a sort of high stakes hide and seek. In extreme instances refugees have sabotaged themselves by puncturing and sinking their own boats in a desperate bid to be rescued and so complete this step of their journey. When the Lesbos shore is finally reached life jackets are discarded and lie piled on some of the islands’ northern beaches. Their vivid tones contrasting the native landscape as a silent narrative of this reality.

            Want to help:
            Kitrinos healthcare – a British charity providing medical care:
            https://www.kitrinoshealthcare.org/

            Movement on the ground – responding to humanitarian crises worldwide:
            https://movementontheground.com/

            Together for Better days – an NGO bringing humanity and compassion into the delivery of humanitarian aid:
            https://www.betterdays.ngo/

            Refugees 4 refugees – offers sustainable support, humanitarian assistance and emergency response to refugees arriving on the shores of the Greek islands – Lesbos and Samos:
            https://refugee4refugees.gr/

            • greywarshark 1.1.1.1.1.1

              And a spinoff from Brexit. The French were I think talking about the UK paying 5 million pounds I think for their services in keeping migrants from leaving their shores for Brit. Presumably that was thumbs down and now they are clearing their shores of these pesky people. This from The Telegraph for those able to receive it.

              The pandemic and Brexit have drawn much of the attention away from what would otherwise be a highly significant crisis – the crossing of the Channel by migrants in small boats. Our reporter spent the day at sea and became the first journalist to document what had long been suspected: that the French Navy is shepherding migrant boats into UK waters and abandoning them.

    • mpledger 1.2

      100,000 injections and no adverse reactions is a load of crap.

      There is no way 100,000 people were perfectly healthy for however long they were followed-up after the injection. Even the safest vaccines have some side effects for some people – swollen arm at the injection site, mild fevers etc. Adverse events even happen under placebo treatment.

  2. Tricledrown 2

    The Hologram/ R#$@%r Seymour's latest rant on how the govt is wasting 10 of billions of taxpayer dollars every year.Shot himself in the foot saying they will cut $750 million a year in spending less than Nationals $800 million cut in spending.

    Dr Wesselbaum Otago University economist says in these times it's an all or nothing approach,on the fiscal side spend ,don't worry about a few % points keep the economy flowing don't cut its blood supply when the patient is hemoraging.

    National and ACT's policies would damage our economy as happened in the early 1930's and 1990's when conservative govts fixation with balancing budgets and only letting the foot off 6 months out from an election then cutting the other 21/2 years ie Ruthenomics.

  3. Pataua4life 3

    Genuine Question.

    How do the people of the old Dunedin South Electorate feel with an Aucklander been gifted the nomination?

    As an Aucklander i go down to Dunedin lots for work and they are salt of earth people down there but i would imagine this has gone down like a cup of cold sick?

  4. Oh how I miss the 'good old days', when crime was low, our society was Christian based, morals were high, no pornography, the Police held in high regard and we directed our violence against those horrible commies in Vietnam.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12365950

    Why DO the Police wait until all these sick pedos are in the Rest Home before they act? I worked for two years at the Diocese of **** as Financial Officer. Never met such bunch of bigoted, racist, nasty scum as I met there. And of course they were all respectable members of the community and staunch members of the church.

    And some people complain of Destiny Church, yet I bet that for all their sins they have helped more people than the above Diocese ever did.

  5. satty 5

    National's answer to everything… tax cuts. Who would have thought?

    So far we had:

    • Build even more roads than Labour
    • Tough on crime
    • Continue pollution
    • Tax cuts

    Really inspirational.

    • Pat 5.1

      and not just tax cuts but tax cuts for those who need them least and little for those who need them most

      https://www.interest.co.nz/news/107118/national-walks-away-debt-target-committing-income-tax-cuts-16-months-and-temporary-tax

      • satty 5.1.1

        Yes, of course. Only for the (mainly white, male, entitled) middle class people. They have to strengthen their essential voter base.

    • RedBaronCV 5.2

      Straight out of the US republican play book. Temporary tax cuts for the lower end for a few months but permanent tax cuts for the favoured. No mention of what services will be cut to provide this. Or do they intend to blow the Cullen fund early? Or reduce the minimum wage because "hey these people are paying less tax".

      But this gives Labour some wriggle room when they are back in. They can rejig the thresholds and introduce higher rate bands at the top to skew the distribution back. And they need to grow a spine. Tax cuts at the higher end have been getting enshrined. And our public spending on infrastructure is constantly being kicked down the road. They should promise to thump it up immediately so that we can maintain our public services by what has been cut in the national years.

      • Patricia Bremner 5.3.1

        So tax cuts for the wealthy then?

        Those people won't need it for expenses so it won't get spent.

        Another failed "Trickle Down" theory.

        • Draco T Bastard 5.3.1.1

          Tax cuts are always for the wealthy even if they're only on the lowest bracket.

          1. The wealthy will get the tax cut it self and
          2. The wealthy will then put prices up so that the needy will have to spend the extra cash they have straight into the hands of the wealthy

          Its not a Trickle Down theory at all, its Trickle Up, it works really well and National damn well know it.

          They just dress it up as Trickle Down so that people will accept it.

      • Andre 5.3.2

        Judthulhu sez nobody has ever taxed their way out of recession – but both Clinton and Obama raised the top marginal tax rates early in their presidencies as the US was coming out of recession, both leading to long sustained economic booms.

    • Wensleydale 5.4

      This is National being National. They're like a covers band that only knows three songs — roads, tax cuts, stick it to the gangs… and their encore is kicking beneficiaries. The only thing I find consistently surprising is that people keep voting for them. They're fucking hopeless.

    • Cinny 5.5

      Yup, and the ones who really need help miss out.

      I'd much rather stay on 30% and have it pumped into health and education than get an extra $45 a week.

      To be honest I'd probably just waste it on takeaway food for two kids. That would be pointless considering it could go towards helping many instead of just two.

  6. swordfish 6

    Anniversary of the Savage Govt's First State House Opening … a personal memoir

    https://sub-zero-politics.blogspot.com/2020/09/first-state-house-anniversary-personal.html

    • greywarshark 6.1

      Very interesting Swordfish. This story about the constant work for the betterment of NZ society is heartening and amazing. I am aware that you get nothing if you do nothing and to see so much of what was achieved by this constant work and commitment to left causes, now left to roll over a cliff just breaks my heart. We must conserve what we have left that is good for the present times, and continue the work.

      I am interested in the last para. I have Robin Hyde's books but have yet to really get into her life. So Sub-zero please write away and let us have more. She, Margaret Moth, Ettie Rout, Margaret Thorn are luminaries that have lodged in my mind. Don't know of Phyllis Symons; and 'tooting tradition'?

      Two last items of interest … seeing I'm obviously intent on heading down this narcissistic road of forebear hero-worship … social historians & the Literati may be interested to know that my grandmother was a longtime friend of Poet/Novelist/Journalist Iris Wilkinson (aka Robin Hyde) & my Mother has one or two very early memories of Iris … my grandmother was also the cousin of Phyllis Symons, murdered in 1931, buried near Mt Victoria Tunnel & frequently discussed in the media over recent years in the context of the tooting tradition. Really interesting – and quite poignant – details & social history surrounding this story that are known only to the family … something I intend to write on in the near future.

      • swordfish 6.1.1

        Cheers, Grey.

        This is a good summary for the uninitiated:

        http://undergroundhistory.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-tragedy-of-phyllis-symons.html

        Comes up in the media regularly in relation to the Mt Vic Road Tunnel's Tooting Tradition in Wellington. Phyllis's youngest sister only died quite recently & she had some really poignant family detail about the case & its rather awful fallout.

        About 15 years ago, I also did some quite extensive research through contemporary newspaper stories on the trial (and was able to give previously unknown details to Phylis’s younger sister).

        They were a very bright & attractive family … the press were clearly particularly taken with Phyllis’s oldest sister at the time … poor Phyllis was considered the somewhat slow & less pretty one.

      • Patricia Bremner 6.1.2

        Thanks Swordfish, a very interesting read.

  7. greywarshark 7

    Chris Trotter is doing some 'grinding' on our future political leanings and learnings. Here are two paras where he poses questions to dismiss if you don't want to be troubled and uncomfortable.

    Increasingly, this will be the choice confronting those coming of age in the 2020s. Embrace Neoliberalism’s belief in racial and sexual equality; adopt its secular and scientific world view; and cultivate the technocratic, multicultural, global outlook required of those who keep the machinery of hyper-capitalism humming.

    Or, throw your support behind the defenders of the national people’s community; agitate for an end to free-trade and globalisation; and use any means necessary (including violence) to uphold the social, sexual and racial hierarchies of your ancestors. That is to say – become a fascist.

    Neither of these options has anything to offer the poor. Neither of them will restrain the rich. Neither will do anything like enough, or anything at all, to combat climate change. Neoliberalism believes itself to be rational. Fascism claims to reflect the natural order. But the followers of both ideologies remain content to be carried on the backs of human-beings whose rights and aspirations they do not consider worthy of serious regard. It was to these people that the socialists used to speak.

    https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2020/09/uncomfortable-choices.html

    • McFlock 7.1

      Talk about a bullshit dichotomy.

      For one thing, the concept that neoliberalism means a belief in anything other than complete economic deregulation seems a bit of a stretch, let alone seeing Roger Douglas as a hero of gender and ethnic equality.

      • greywarshark 7.1.1

        But does it show that neoliberalism as one side that will appear to encompass all including the woke? That seems to me that is the point of the overview.

        • McFlock 7.1.1.1

          Well, no, that paragraph clearly says "Neoliberalism’s belief in racial and sexual equality". Beliefs in equity/equality have as much to do with neoliberalism as the colour of your coat has to do with your height. He might as well say "tall people wear green coats" as "neoliberalism believes in equality".

          There are socialists who are awake, too.

          • greywarshark 7.1.1.1.1

            Perhaps he should have said neoliberalism's use of racial and sexual equality beliefs as a rallying point for attention, and business creation and profit. For instance, business was able to make money out of the psychedelic movement, and loves anything new. The masses get excited, and business sells them Tshirts!

            At the moment the BBC head is setting all sorts of new standards in line with current young adult obsessions. It is like the BBC is bowing to the wave of outrage that has arisen in the last few years.

            • McFlock 7.1.1.1.1.1

              But even that wouldn't have suited his dichotomy.

              To use an older terminology, it's possible to be economically neoliberal and socially conservative.

              Nationalist and neoliberal don't go together happily, but the nats show that the two can work together for a time.

              But nowhere in the two trotter paragraphs was workers' rights or socialism. Advocating for an economic underclass is more consistent with advocating for other social underclasses than social conservatism. Sure, cognitive dissonance about that is strong in some sectors (we're all equal comrades, but who always ends up making the tea afterthe meeting?), but advocating for other people becomes a habit.

        • Dennis Frank 7.1.1.2

          His thesis does have merit. Use of the divide & rule strategy is trad, of course, so individualism producing the woke variant is handy for controllers.

          Hyper-capitalism is now ready to embrace the “woke” – and heaven help any employee who declines to polish her corporate employer’s public image by challenging, even privately (via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) the new orthodoxy.

          From a Green perspective, the biodiversity principle and multiculturalism both support the trend. Common ground, then…

      • Dennis Frank 7.1.2

        Don't read me as a defender of the faith, but there is an ideology within neoliberalism: market forces make the economy efficient. I think that was the rationale that captured the rogernomes.

        So deregulation was merely a means to that ideological end. Bolger has learnt from application of the theory: doesn't deliver benefits promised. Roger is still staying mum. Will he come clean before he dies?

      • Dennis Frank 7.1.3

        a bullshit dichotomy

        True. Yet most players in the political game are binary, so they will naturally line up as soldiers on either side of the culture war. Trotter doesn't write to catalyse solutions. To do so, he would have to give weight to a third alternative. It's the path to the future, always. Problem-solving is not in his nature. He's a commentator only.

        • greywarshark 7.1.3.1

          Even if he just noted what he observed and wrote about it with some analysis and critique, he is doing something worthwhile. We often can't see what is on the end of our noses. A wart!

          • McFlock 7.1.3.1.1

            Trotter barely looks beyond the inside of his own eyelids these days.

            I'm almost tempted to read the piece just to see if the rest of it is as tepid as the quoted paragraphs.

            It does make one wonder what side he thinks his "Waitakere Man" is on, and whether Labour should be going for that particular voting segment. Seems more New Conservative territory lol

            • greywarshark 7.1.3.1.1.1

              One thing – he introduces new ideas. To a lot of the comfortably off NZs I know it would be like revolutionary material, their idea of discussion doesn't go beyond the material and personal.

  8. ianmac 8

    Not sure if this has been covered but the Elevator Pitch is interesting. Jacinda's was the most credible but I can't find it. Judith seems tired and without conviction.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/425790/the-elevator-pitch-can-a-politician-convince-you-to-vote-for-them-in-a-lift

  9. McFlock 9

    Oh look, turns out that the epidemiologist who doesn't want us to eliminate covid has a competing interest: "providing paid advice to Auckland International Airport related to health risks associated with covid-19".

    • greywarshark 9.1

      There are so many kind experts sharing their love around without prejudice, one must admire them for their service to humankind.

      • aj 9.1.1

        Instead, we must protect our elderly people

        It's the same old solution. Just make sure people over 60-65 lock themselves down for the duration of the pandemic, that's the only sure fire way to achieve it.

        • McFlock 9.1.1.1

          Doesn't do anything for the people in their fifties and younger who have long term health problems because of it, or even been killed by it.

  10. Fireblade 10

    Remember this?

  11. karol121 11

    PLEASE STOP BEING MEAN TO THE GREENS, AND LET'S GET RID OF MOTOR CARS AND TRUCKS FOR GOOD!

    Power to the people (and the animals).

    No more anything spent on Electric Vehicle research or manufacture which would identify with beautiful Aotearoa. Sure, I don't think that we do anyway, but let's be ambassadors to the globe and rally to put paid to all of the trouble motor vehicles have caused us, permanently.

    The rest of the world would fall in into line because we are one of the most respected nations on the planet, and they will listen to us.

    Only horse/cart, horse/buggy, bicycle and tricycle research, development and resourcing should be allowed in Aotearoa (AKA Godzone).

    We need to go back about two to three hundred years when things were simple and where every inhabitant appeared charitable and community supportive with one another.

    A time when they all knew who the chiefs were and what their own respective roles and positions were. That is, before technology and foreign ideas wrecked it for them all.

    Noteworthy is that there are at least 9 million electric bicycles in the category of ride and charge that we know about around the Pacific region already. With just a little more CO2 emitted, we could increase this a hundred fold, so as to have clean and green bicycles that would last for decades. We could find ways to attach small carrier carts to the bicycles to cart items, inter suburb or intracity.

    I know that some people in the Ruapehu district associated with the Seventh Day Adventists and the Hope Foundation have been working with a prototype of this for some months now.

    Another has taken to getting as many demerit points as she can by collecting speeding tickets. Presumably she wants to have her drivers licence taken off her because she is so fed up with this modern day rat race reliance.

    I feel that in relation to true socialism and reverting back to; "A La Naturale" transport and domestic methods, we're high on a wire with the world in our sight.

    It just takes imagination and AOTEAROA WILL POWER!

    It could be just like in the good old days. Adopt a "can do" approach and you can do almost anything K1W1.

    There is a wealth of opportunity for peddle powered runabout and dinghy motors (as an addition to oars) for our foreshore, river way and lake transport needs.

    You know; it is the major vested interests as well as both the intelligencia and the bourgeois from our own various bordered metropolis bourgs who have become comfortable with the convenience of modern day technologies, including transport infrastructure. And the are screwing it up for all of us.

    Look at the Amish, they at least try to walk (or ride) the talk.

    Come on K1W1, let's get our hands really dirty in the soil and get ourselves superbly fit by throwing away all of these 20th and 21st century luxuries.

    Get governmental to seize all motor powered vehicles and convert them to emergency housing for the needy, wind powered coastal transport or prison accommodations for those who resist.

    Get rid of petrol or electric lawn mowers as well.

    Build more maternity hospitals and breed like there is no tomorrow so that we can produce fine farm specimens to work the fields and on the farms.

    Man, the possibilities are limitless.

    We could reserve about two thirds of arable land for grass and fodder to feed the horses, sheep and cattle with, and the remainder for growing kai (such as carrots and other veggies).

    Broccoli also. No more eating of animals either!

    Never again let any store assistant or green grocer tell us; "There is no f…… broccoli"

    The other third of arable land for orchards, berry farms and vineyards so we can produce beautiful fruits for consumption, juices, potatoes, hemp, Mary J and copious quantities of precursor alcohol product for a wealth of alcoholic beverage so that most of us can be as happy as sand boys (and sand girls).

    But it starts with US, and it starts NOW.

    Air New Zealand has taken a noble first step by parking up some of it's fleet in the desert, mothball fashion. And now we need a good home run (economically, perhaps a 1929 scenario) so that they will have the impetus to follow through and park the entire fleet up.

    This is surely the home grown K1W1 spirit, especially from what I've observed throughout rural NZ in small towns in and around the King Country, South Waikato and the Ruapehu District. They may talk grand tourist plans and modernization, but deep down inside they really do foster the simple life and the "back to basic" spirit. They really do not want too many outsiders or foreigners interfering with them and theirs doing things their way; the proper way.

    Why can we not pick up our pitch forks, our shovels and our ploughshares behind the coulter?

    We can then form a massive Campaign for Modern Technology Disablement and organize hikoi as well as home guard units to repel any sod who has any intention of coming to these shores to either introduce or support any of these Technologies of Mass Distraction and Destruction.

    I'm about to stop posting because I have deliberated on collecting up all of my computer related material, my entertainment equipment, all of my household appliances including whiteware). I consider that I might only be keeping earthenware and greyware, and I may well gift the rest back to Mother Nature. Back to the good earth.

    We must all strive to be good earth worms, my comrades.

    Live humble, live simple and let hope, faith and charity be our guiding lights and our Matariki.

    • Draco T Bastard 11.1

      We could find ways to attach small carrier carts to the bicycles to cart items, inter suburb or intracity.

      I know that some people in the Ruapehu district associated with the Seventh Day Adventists and the Hope Foundation have been working with a prototype of this for some months now.

      Really? Here's a few ideas:

      • karol121 11.1.1

        Yes, Draco T Bastard.

        Thank you.

        The snaps shown in the twitter feed you provided are purrrfect examples of what can be achieved!

        Innovation and willpower can put K1W1 on the right track to total self reliance, and exclusive of dependency on any other nation.

        From statements I hear being bandied around in both political and corporate Aotearoa circles, we are almost there already, (total independence, that is).

        I bet the rest of the world is jealous of our achievements and of our assets. Unblemished, unencumbered and pure to the max is what many would be uttering.

        yes

  12. Macro 12

    I thought I would let you know that yesterday I volunteered for the vaccine trials for Covid-19 held in the FarmAc store near us. The vaccine is one that was created in Russia. I received my first shot yesterday at 4:00 pm, and I wanted to let you know that it’s completely safe with иo side effects whatsoeveя, and that I feelshκι χoρoshό я чувствую себя немного странно и я думаю, что вытащил ослиные уши. Und wadka

    cheeky

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    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    12 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    13 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    14 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    16 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
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    5 days ago
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