This is good stuff, but why does it stop at the arrival of euros in NZ? Surely for a comprehensive NZ history it should go back pre-euro, to how NZ was colonised by the polynesians, why and how they came here, the trials and tribulations in spreading across the country, the conflicts and wars, the new lands, the extinctions, the explorations, the good times and bad.
The current obsession with just one part of this history – the wars with the english crown – is distorting the full picture and will not result in a "historically aware aotearoa"
The full picture is fascinating. We should embrace it – warts and all – not just certain parts of it.
The Musket Wars, that drove Waikato iwi into invading Taranaki, pushing some Taranaki tribes to migrate down the Te Ika West Coast into the Kapiti & Wellington areas, the murder & subjugation of the Moriori by one of those Taranaki tribes, the Rampages into Nelson/Marlborough by Te Rauparaha – these are all also part of the history of Kiwiland that should be unashamedly & dispassionately taught.
As First Nations peoples, Māori iwi were all essentially separate small independent nations in the same way that the US American First Nations were: Apache, Commanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne etc.
The history of Maori inter-tribal warfare mirrors that of long-established societies everywhere. Europe & UK went thru similar inter-tribal conflcts. Ditto every other continent & large populated Islands. It’s just part of the human condition.
Michael King estimated that between 1800 and 1840 iwi managed to reduce their own population by around 40%. That’s an impressive genocide by anyone’s measure.
It’s just part of the human condition.
Yes and no. The human condition is an immensely powerful driver of human affairs but I don't believe it's an implacable monster we cannot negotiate with
It took less than a generation for Europeans to slaughter each other in huge numbers after the Great War, the first war to industrialise killing.
Look at what’s going on in the Sahel & other parts of Africa, just to name ine part of the world. We never seem as a species to be able to get away with global peace breaking out for long.
Too many human apes are Silverback Gorilla equivalents & too many other human apes are forced – or consent – to attak other human apes often for reasons that have nothing to do with food or access to resources for survival.
The “brute” wiring in the human brain is still way too primitively powerful. It overrides the higher intellect way too easily.
Yup. There is no 'Genocide Olympics' to be won here, everyone reading this understands that human history is littered with atrocities – everywhere.
But this does not mean progress has not happened either. It's entirely remarkable but usually overlooked fact, that in 2021 the average person is far less likely to die in warfare or violence than at any time in our history ever. We might want to celebrate this a little more than we do.
It is of course no guarantee of future peace, a constant vigilance is necessary to guard against atrocity – but the progress we have achieved is not nothing. It hints at what we might really be capable of.
The problem is the world does not want to have a global law: nations can't agree on many things. The UN is in many respects as toothless – when it comes to preventing conflicts – as the League of Nations was. The superpowers and great powers on the SC do as they please.
Even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is eschewed by Muslim nations who've signed up to the lesser Islamic version:
The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) is a declaration of the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) adopted in Cairo, Egypt, on 5 August 1990, (Conference of Foreign Ministers, 9–14 Muharram 1411H in the Islamic calendar) which provides an overview on the Islamic perspective on human rights, and affirms Islamic sharia as its sole source. CDHRI declares its purpose to be "general guidance for Member States [of the OIC] in the field of human rights".
This declaration is widely acknowledged as an Islamic response to the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948. It guarantees some, but not all, of the UDHR and serves as a living document of human rights guidelines prescribed for all members of the OIC to follow, but restricts them explicitly to the limits set by the sharia. Because of this limit, the CDHRI has been criticized as an attempt to shield OIC member states from international criticism for human rights violations, as well as for failing to guarantee freedom of religion, justifying corporal punishment and allowing discrimination against non-Muslims and women.
Many signed peace treaties that were ignored by invaders as well.colonizers claiming to bring civilization were just raping and piliging and demonising indigeonous people as inferior.
Yes that's a good framing vto. Historical awareness is something you tend to gain with maturity and age, but selective awareness usually serves another purpose altogether.
According to the headline I won't click on it's to be into "our terrible Covid response."
As is said in Parliament's Question Time, "I reject the premise of the question." That is, there is no "terrible covid response to look into because the response was not terrible.
Stephen Bannon has said to destroy the opposition baffle them with mountains of BS. Troll the Democrats into oblivion.
Hosking NZs Bannon the bullying BSer.
Looks like that's happening here even on this site with tag team trolling.Their is a pattern of Trolling by a few players who's job it is just to continually wind up the left.
My understanding is: a 'review' of the government's handling of the Covid pandemic is already underway. That would be a good start, followed by a full-scale inquiry if it was deemed necessary to clear up suspicion and innuendo one way or the other.
Transgender women should no longer be required to reduce their testosterone levels to compete in the women’s sport category, new International Olympic Committee guidelines have suggested.
The new IOC framework, which replaces its 2015 guidelines, also concludes there should be no presumption that trans women have an automatic advantage over natal women – a controversial view that reverses the IOC’s previous position.
However the IOC says ultimately it is up to individual sports to decide their rules – and they can still impose restrictions on trans women entering the female category if needed to ensure fair and safe competition.
Such decisions, it adds, should be based on “robust and peer-reviewed science … which demonstrates a consistent, unfair and disproportionate competitive advantage and/or an unpreventable risk to the safety of the athletes.”
My bold. IOC are gutless and are handing the problem on.
I'm sure there is a dark parody to be done here. Men are no longer to be considered a specific sexual or physical violence threat to women. There should be no presumption that men have an automatic physical advantage over natal women.
If that were true ( that men cannot be presumed to have a physical advantage over women) we should do away with men's and women's sports altogether. Also why not get rid of other classes in sport as well such as weight classes and age classes? And anybody should be able to take whatever hormone or testosterone treatments they like and still compete. Clearly I just don't get it.
Equestrian events are sports and don't have a separate male/female category. If your the IOC you also need to account for outliers so a blanket rule of assuming advantage can force these exceptions to adjust, even if its nearly always true. And I don't have any idea how male rhythmic gymnasts fit into this (are there any?).
This document is probably badly worded but pushing the decision down to sports federations is a good decision.
Each sport has and will have different rules, traditions and requirements so ultimately the decisions must rest with them how they define a sporting sub category. The IOC can't define a blanket rule because there will be exceptions, and the blanket rule of testosterone limits was not a good one.
I also think Ross makes some good points about describing the framework inside which each code should define those specifics.
Its also a more democratic structure, where the activism is setup to take over a structure from the top-down. I don't think a lot of the people cheering this activism on give a toss about sport and how its run anyway and don't participate in it. While the discussion was happening over Rugby and Woman's Rugby codes there were 0 trans Rugby players identified in NZ anyway (and NZ Rugby is able to decide separately to World Rugby). But the question comes up, are we actually talking about sports and sports governance, or is this a theoretical discussion happening online between people who are not interested in playing sports anyway.
dunno, maybe talk to GC women who play sport or work in the area.
IOC could have said there will be a female category and you cannot play in it if you are male (no matter the hormones and surgery you choose). Intersex issues can be dealt with in addition to that (because they're not gender identity issues). That doesn’t preclude individual sporting associations from having their own boundaries and processes. But if x sport says yes to trans women in female sports, how is that fair at the Olympics.
The rule that you will have a female category and will exclude males from that is presently violated by Equestrian events. It clearly depends on the sport so should be left to the code how that works for each code.
If a code can justify (and that includes evidence) that its fair and safe for trans women to be in the female then that would be a reasonable outcome to include them there for social reasons.
If that were true ( that men cannot be presumed to have a physical advantage over women) we should do away with men's and women's sports altogether. Also why not get rid of other classes in sport as well such as weight classes and age classes? And anybody should be able to take whatever hormone or testosterone treatments they like and still compete. Clearly I just don't get it.
Quite. I think the bit you might not be getting is the politics around gender identity and biological sex. The problem is some people want us to elevate the importance of GI and lower or remove the importance of biological sex. That's a political position.
IMO Blazer makes a lot of pronouncements from a position of cluelessness. Lots of sports organisations look to the IOC for leadership and high standards. This is a pathetic abdication of responsibility.
If you can't see what a can of worms this is and the mitigating factors regarding all the sports that have Olympic representation,and think' one size fits all',you have alot to…learn.
I don't care much about pronouns – I’ve never liked to use them myself
I’m not overly bothered by the public toilets issue – I reckon some clever designers are beginning to manage solutions.
For personal reasons the term 'pregnant people' doesn't bother me
I don't even know why we still have the problematic M/F check box on our birth certificates
I very much care if women are losing spaces that enable them to compete fairly and safely in sports, in education, in business and anything else. The IOC is evading their duty to uphold these values. A separate category, or changing the men's category to 'open' would have been fairer.
I'm thinking that women may as well have their own Olympics because these Olympics have just been closed to them in terms of being the supposed best in the world.
Public toilets/changing rooms/rape refuges/domestic violence homes are all women's spaces that had the protected characteristic of biological sex.
Thinking this is just about toilets, ignores the very implications for women in all such spaces. Particularly for women whose religious, cultural, trauma or modesty precludes them from being in such spaces with male-bodied people. By insisting on the inclusion of male-bodied people into women's spaces, we now have excluded groups of women. Just let that sink in.
There is also a pushback against provision of third spaces, such as in sports. If you look further, there is a demand for total capitulation, not actually provision of alternative spaces. While there may be reasons for this, misogyny, requiring external validation, none of them are justified.
Those other small adjustments to language may also seem innocuous, but after much thought, I don't think they are. Distortion of language means conversations become all about semantics and meanings, rather than dealing with the issues at hand. Statistics no longer sex-based become meaningless, and we end up with stories like this.
The IOC have capitulated, and joined the ranks of those unconcerned about the impact on women.
I agree with you Molly, It's just that I've seen (and used) uni-sex public toilets and changing rooms that still retain the privacy that women need. So I think this issue can be solved.
I agree totally that rape refuges/domestic violence homes are all women's spaces that had the protected characteristic of biological sex. Transgender women clearly need their own spaces as well and their need is great. It's just that it's incompatible with born women's needs. And that spaces that relate to reproductive health, pregnancy and post-natal spaces are absolutely reserved for females as well.
I also agree that statistics that are no longer sex-based become meaningless. This conflict has led me to question whether we actually need a sex definition on a birth certificate where that information that is accurate or can be inferred is, these days available in other places. Of course I realise this is just a personal opinion and I'm not going to try and convince anyone else.
The IOC, on the other hand, is a whole different issue, and I agree that the IOC have capitulated, and joined the ranks of those unconcerned about the impact on women.
Miravox, most change rooms aren't unisex, they are female or male only. even with unisex cubicles it still opens the doors for biological males to be in what I believe should be women only spaces. This gives them access to do things like plant cameras to film women getting changed. Happened recently in a unisex gym in Auckland. I have also read that women are assaulted more in unisex change and bathrooms.
Personally I don't want male bodied people in these spaces and I certainly don't want them around girls and teen girls.
I do think the IOC's decision might be the catalyst that brings things to a head. Around the time of the Olympics there were numberous polls, unscientific I admit, that overwhelmingly showed Kiwis did not support transwomen competing in women's sport. It will be a disaster for women. If you don't think some men who are not really trans at all will use these regulations to enter and win women's sporting competitions, your dreaming. Think of a mediocre male athelete declaring themself non-binary. They were born male and have all the biology that gives men the advantage over women in sport. Why not compete against women! You have got politicians, media cheering you on telling you how brave you are etc, etc! And female atheletes being silenced as was reported by a brave woman weight lifter who spoke up and said they were being told to shut up about Laureen Hubbard. I hope this situation causes the outrage it deserves.
I agree with you Molly, It's just that I've seen (and used) uni-sex public toilets and changing rooms that still retain the privacy that women need. So I think this issue can be solved.
If it could be solved, with consideration given to the groups of women I mentioned before, I think I still would have some concern. Because I have seen protections and safeguards eroded bit by bit, and I think you do have to have a frank and full discussion before conceding hard-won ground. For me, third spaces fit the bill – given that the majority of transwomen have no surgical or medical transitioning, and are male-bodied.
I don't want to give much ground on the issue of change rooms.
The mumber of transwomen in NZ was infitesimal and likely those who had transitioned biology did make use of women's bathrooms, although I remember a student holiday job I had with a women who was likely trans. She never declared she was, but the voice, the hands kind of gave it away. She was well accepted at work and people liked her. I don't recall seeing her in a women's bathroom, but it wasn't an issue as such.
What is an issue is male who assert their gender identity trumps biological reality and expect women to go along with this.
Anyone who thinks some men won't use gender self id to access womens spaces for neferious purposes is dreaming.
It does get me that transwomen feel unsafe in men's toilets, but don't understand that the same thing occurs when women see 'some' transwomen in female toilets. I agree that some men will use take advantage – they do already (hence the obvious fear).
Honestly, I prefer spaces with closed cubicles and open hand washing spaces that are discrete but easily accessible if someone has a health or security problem. I don't, by any stretch of the imagination think that most of our current loos are safe if shared, but I've been in places that have shared spaces that work really well, I think. I do feel this is an issue that can be resolved by design. Maybe it's not perfect yet, but people are working on this I'm interested to see where this goes.
So I consider myself to be for want of a better term, an expert on safety in women's change rooms, having experienced what could have been a very serious sexual assault possibly homicide. It happened many, many years ago. And when that young women was raped and murdered in Mt Albert a few months back, I knew exactly how she would have felt the moment she knew she was in trouble. Adrenalin pulsing threw my body, I thought I was going to be murdered.
One of the things that saved me is my attacker tried to stop me getting the hell out of the change room and told me to "get back in the cubicle". Instinctively, perhaps from the old protests days, I sat down and told him "do it here". This really flawed him I think. If I had of gone back in the cubicle I think I would have been raped, possibly murdered.
For years I never talked about this attack (I was remarkably unscathed physically but he did punch me in the face). One of the things that I have found deeply shocking in this debate, both on The Standard and in letters I have written to female MP's is nobody who is pushing trans ideology has expressed any sympathy or compassion about what I might feel about women's change rooms and toilets. And how for years I avoided them like the plague. So when men on this site have told me no problem with the toilets or others have trivialized my concerns I feel very angry.
So my personal experience of women's change rooms with cubicles is its not all good. He obviously wanted me in that cubicle for a reason such as easier to stop me yelling if someone entered the change room
I'm so sorry you experienced this horror. Please don't think I'm trivialising your concerns. Safety is the major reason why I believe a redesign is necessary. It's rather ironic that the trans debate has brought the issue of safety in public toilets to the fore, when these places always have been dangerous for women and girls. Thank you for disclosing something so personal – please be kind to yourself today.
Thanks Mirovox. I do appreciate that and I appreciate where you are coming from re bathroom design. I believe you are correct on that, because what happened to me shows that a public change room can be a really unsafe space. Just like for the poor Mt Albert woman, walking alone in a bushy area was unsafe.
And by the way, I don't disagree with anything you said (perhaps other than the cublicle comment as instintively I knew when he ordered me back into the cubicle where I had been changing it wasn't going to go well, that I would be more vulnerable).
This attack happened in 1997 btw. A lot of the friends I have made since then don't know about it. I think psychologically I have been left remarkable unscathed, but my fear around public change rooms persisted for sometime. I still do a quick check of cubicles when I find myself in a public toilet on my own. I don't talk about it much. But when I heard about gender self id, I was immedicatly concerned. Frankly it felt like a kick in the guts that my concerns about sharing public change rooms and toilets with male bodied people was trivialized and discounted. Sometimes it has been implied that I am transphobic or a prude. Both are deeply offensive to me. And I see them as tactics to silence women. It is also quite galling when some people claim to care about women who have been murdered in similar circumstances. Maybe they are geniune in their concern, sure they are, but the reality is I have lived through the most frightening experience of realising that I was in deep trouble. When I first saw the guy (who was wearing a mask by the way) I thought I am going to be murdered. I know how that feels. How women who have been murdered would have felt when they realized their fate. That I thought I would be murdered I think made me less scared that he would rape me. That's why I sat down and refused to get back in the cubicle.
This is one of the things lead me into the gender ideology issue. The more I read, the more I couldn't believe how reasonably intelligent people were taking on this new ideology without question and a gospel like zeal.
Back in the early 1990s my favorite game was "Wing Commander". Found a legacy copy a few years ago, tried cranking it up and forgot how much command-line code was needed to calibrate the video and sound cards, because WC was just before plug and play standardisation came in. I gave up. That experience reminded me of linux.
Damien Grant was one of two liquidators of a hydroponics company
The liquidators of a hydroponics company have been ordered to pay creditors more than $56,000 after charging “not reasonably incurred” fees, a High Court judge has ruled.
Maybe his good character was offset by a belief that any fee payable to him is reasonable.
Or maybe he was smoking what a lot of hydroponics enthusiasts are selling, and that inhibited his record-keeping, and he earned every penny but couldn't keep up with the paperwork.
Or maybe it was a perfectly innocent slip of the pen that overcharged the fees by (checks article) half as much again.
Liquidators should be regulated very rarely do you see low fees for this sort of work. Most insolvencies end up with the liquidators taking nearly all the money/assets leaving nothing or very little for creditors.
Looks like Covid is spreading to animals wild white tail deer in the US have found to have contracted C19.scary as this could be a new breeding ground for the virus to mutate.
Keeping MIQ in place is a must if a mutation ends up like Delta it could be more disastrous for our country.
Got an annoying bit of spam today: the freeze peach shallot (shallots aren't really "onions") looks to be shilling its membership to uni folk because "The Royal Society is undermining the academic freedom of their own".
They don't support or oppose intellectually-and-morally-bankrupt pro-covid talk, but think academics should have the right to step well outside their scope of expertise in order to promulgate material that is directly contradicted by the scientific evidence and consensus amongst actual specialists in that area. Ot at least, that's what it looks like the Royal Society might be investigating in regards these two academics.
Funnily enough, the email doesn't seem to say anywhere that my FSU membership dues or donation will actually be spent assisting those two academics. Probably an oversight /sarc
I suspect they've just trawled tertiary education websites for email addresses to plug this academic freedom BS. I sure as heck haven't been signing petitions for them, lol
New Ipsos poll is out. It's much more detailed than the TV polls, going beyond the headlines.
Asked to rate the gov't out of 10, 54% said 7 or higher. Only 18% said 0-3. So all that foamy frothing about tyrant Cindy represents less than 1 in 5 of NZ voters.
Asked who was best at 20 different issues (health, housing, climate change etc) National scored … zero. (Labour 17, Greens 2, TPM 1).
The last poll was 3 months ago and Auckland has been in lockdown since then, and are thoroughly exhausted and exasperated. So the gov't rating from Aucklanders has declined, from 6.5 to 6. You'd think it would be 3 or 4.
Summary: government obviously down from an election high, opposition still no alternative.
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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 ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?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 ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
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. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
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 ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The Acumen Edelman Trust barometer reported that New Zealand’s political trust score now sits below the global average, a topic explored in a recent discussion paper by Maxim Institute. ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman says, "The Fast-Track Bill is the most damaging piece of environmental legislation any Government has introduced in living memory. People are angry, and it’s time to march." ...
“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird. But not just any bird: the bird. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition DPVUE .images/Shutterstock Your home was probably designed for a climate that no longer exists. As long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuel, padding the heat-trapping blanket of gases in Earth’s atmosphere, the ...
A senior lawyer has filed a complaint about tikanga becoming a required law school module. Law lecturer Carwyn Jones explains what he’s getting wrong. “…the first law of Aotearoa, a law that served the needs of tangata whenua for a thousand years before the arrival of tauiwi.”– Ani Mikaere ...
In 2019, an Auckland woman woke up from surgery to find that she had undergone a treatment she didn’t consent to. She tells Alex Casey about her experience. From her very first period at the age of 14, Laura experienced “debilitating” levels of pain that forced her to withdraw from ...
Comment: Concerns about the state of the economy are creeping up to the top of firms’ list of challenges. That’s evident in both surveys and the tone of our recent client discussions. Skimming the past few weeks of eco-news, it’s not hard to see why. – Retail card spending fell ...
Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might ...
In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University Unsplash We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s deputy opposition leader James Nomane has accused the government of “reckless economic management” that has forced devaluation to manage loan repayments in foreign currency and placate the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister James Marape “must stop lying to the people of Papua New Guinea”, ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Jane Arthur, author of Brown Bird, and former bookseller at Good Books.The book I wish I’d writtenI have been working on not comparing myself to others. On accepting that what I can ...
The final decision on the Wellington District Plan makes it official: High-density housing is legal across most of Wellington. Housing minister Chris Bishop has announced his decision on the Wellington District Plan, approving a series of amendments to radically upzone most of Wellington, allowing tens of thousands of new townhouses ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
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An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
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This is good stuff, but why does it stop at the arrival of euros in NZ? Surely for a comprehensive NZ history it should go back pre-euro, to how NZ was colonised by the polynesians, why and how they came here, the trials and tribulations in spreading across the country, the conflicts and wars, the new lands, the extinctions, the explorations, the good times and bad.
The current obsession with just one part of this history – the wars with the english crown – is distorting the full picture and will not result in a "historically aware aotearoa"
The full picture is fascinating. We should embrace it – warts and all – not just certain parts of it.
2c
https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300456857/signs-are-encouraging-for-a-historically-aware-aotearoa
thumbs up to that
Ditto.
The Musket Wars, that drove Waikato iwi into invading Taranaki, pushing some Taranaki tribes to migrate down the Te Ika West Coast into the Kapiti & Wellington areas, the murder & subjugation of the Moriori by one of those Taranaki tribes, the Rampages into Nelson/Marlborough by Te Rauparaha – these are all also part of the history of Kiwiland that should be unashamedly & dispassionately taught.
As First Nations peoples, Māori iwi were all essentially separate small independent nations in the same way that the US American First Nations were: Apache, Commanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne etc.
The history of Maori inter-tribal warfare mirrors that of long-established societies everywhere. Europe & UK went thru similar inter-tribal conflcts. Ditto every other continent & large populated Islands. It’s just part of the human condition.
Michael King estimated that between 1800 and 1840 iwi managed to reduce their own population by around 40%. That’s an impressive genocide by anyone’s measure.
It’s just part of the human condition.
Yes and no. The human condition is an immensely powerful driver of human affairs but I don't believe it's an implacable monster we cannot negotiate with
It took less than a generation for Europeans to slaughter each other in huge numbers after the Great War, the first war to industrialise killing.
Look at what’s going on in the Sahel & other parts of Africa, just to name ine part of the world. We never seem as a species to be able to get away with global peace breaking out for long.
Too many human apes are Silverback Gorilla equivalents & too many other human apes are forced – or consent – to attak other human apes often for reasons that have nothing to do with food or access to resources for survival.
The “brute” wiring in the human brain is still way too primitively powerful. It overrides the higher intellect way too easily.
Yup. There is no 'Genocide Olympics' to be won here, everyone reading this understands that human history is littered with atrocities – everywhere.
But this does not mean progress has not happened either. It's entirely remarkable but usually overlooked fact, that in 2021 the average person is far less likely to die in warfare or violence than at any time in our history ever. We might want to celebrate this a little more than we do.
It is of course no guarantee of future peace, a constant vigilance is necessary to guard against atrocity – but the progress we have achieved is not nothing. It hints at what we might really be capable of.
Do you mean the' average western person'?
I imagine the average middle eastern person would not…agree.
The problem is the world does not want to have a global law: nations can't agree on many things. The UN is in many respects as toothless – when it comes to preventing conflicts – as the League of Nations was. The superpowers and great powers on the SC do as they please.
Even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is eschewed by Muslim nations who've signed up to the lesser Islamic version:
The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) is a declaration of the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) adopted in Cairo, Egypt, on 5 August 1990, (Conference of Foreign Ministers, 9–14 Muharram 1411H in the Islamic calendar) which provides an overview on the Islamic perspective on human rights, and affirms Islamic sharia as its sole source. CDHRI declares its purpose to be "general guidance for Member States [of the OIC] in the field of human rights".
This declaration is widely acknowledged as an Islamic response to the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948. It guarantees some, but not all, of the UDHR and serves as a living document of human rights guidelines prescribed for all members of the OIC to follow, but restricts them explicitly to the limits set by the sharia. Because of this limit, the CDHRI has been criticized as an attempt to shield OIC member states from international criticism for human rights violations, as well as for failing to guarantee freedom of religion, justifying corporal punishment and allowing discrimination against non-Muslims and women.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Declaration_on_Human_Rights_in_Islam
Apologies for not doing justice to this. Worth revisiting at some other time.
No Gezza the gorilla eats greens and is a vegetarian. Chimpanzees our nearest kin hunt and kill for meat.
Chimps can be very dangerous. Smart, aggressive and resourceful.
Zoos pair them with the wildcats etc in terms of the threat and security required to mitigate.
Many signed peace treaties that were ignored by invaders as well.colonizers claiming to bring civilization were just raping and piliging and demonising indigeonous people as inferior.
The same behaviour iwi had been inflicting on each other since forever. Exactly what moral molehill are you trying to perch on here?
That lot come as christians,no
"signed peace treaties" is the relevant bit you missed, I guess.
The new colonisers claim to bring civilization but we're just the same as you point out.
Yet obviously they're not the same. Somewhere you need to re-think your logic.
Yes that's a good framing vto. Historical awareness is something you tend to gain with maturity and age, but selective awareness usually serves another purpose altogether.
Selective awareness is of course a bad thing. It might be worse though to believe that one's self is not guilty of it.
I suspect that many teachers will take the new curriculum as a guide.
Most will focus on their own rohe. If that includes the Musket Wars, Te Rauparaha's atrocities, as well as colonial devastation, so be it.
.
Week old baby pukeko, Jojo, and her family, on a sunny Autumn morning in North Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand (Kiwiland)
Dogs barks at passing car….in other news hosk wants a royal commission.
What on?
And is he offering to pay for it?
According to the headline I won't click on it's to be into "our terrible Covid response."
As is said in Parliament's Question Time, "I reject the premise of the question." That is, there is no "terrible covid response to look into because the response was not terrible.
it is the type of thing that needs a royal commission. not for hoskings reasons, but to ensure that we are better prepared next time.
If the first few paragraphs are any guide he want a royal commission to relitigate the 2017 election result. GET OVER IT MIKE.
Gotta keep those attack lines current for his paymasters.
Stephen Bannon has said to destroy the opposition baffle them with mountains of BS. Troll the Democrats into oblivion.
Hosking NZs Bannon the bullying BSer.
Looks like that's happening here even on this site with tag team trolling.Their is a pattern of Trolling by a few players who's job it is just to continually wind up the left.
My understanding is: a 'review' of the government's handling of the Covid pandemic is already underway. That would be a good start, followed by a full-scale inquiry if it was deemed necessary to clear up suspicion and innuendo one way or the other.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/nov/16/trans-women-should-not-have-to-reduce-testosterone-say-new-ioc-guidelines
Hmmmm
Seems like we're about to scrap sex segregation in sport
This will affect a few women's sporting careers
Looks like the male hormone is undermining the female hormone.
Why not just have a separate category
When World Rugby made this offer, it was turned down, according to Ross Tucker.
Sorry, link to Instagram video where he said this.
Thanks for this.
But,
My bold. IOC are gutless and are handing the problem on.
I'm sure there is a dark parody to be done here. Men are no longer to be considered a specific sexual or physical violence threat to women. There should be no presumption that men have an automatic physical advantage over natal women.
If that were true ( that men cannot be presumed to have a physical advantage over women) we should do away with men's and women's sports altogether. Also why not get rid of other classes in sport as well such as weight classes and age classes? And anybody should be able to take whatever hormone or testosterone treatments they like and still compete. Clearly I just don't get it.
Equestrian events are sports and don't have a separate male/female category. If your the IOC you also need to account for outliers so a blanket rule of assuming advantage can force these exceptions to adjust, even if its nearly always true. And I don't have any idea how male rhythmic gymnasts fit into this (are there any?).
This document is probably badly worded but pushing the decision down to sports federations is a good decision.
How so? Not sure you are wrong, but would like to hear your thinking.
(and the IOC are still gutless).
Each sport has and will have different rules, traditions and requirements so ultimately the decisions must rest with them how they define a sporting sub category. The IOC can't define a blanket rule because there will be exceptions, and the blanket rule of testosterone limits was not a good one.
I also think Ross makes some good points about describing the framework inside which each code should define those specifics.
Its also a more democratic structure, where the activism is setup to take over a structure from the top-down. I don't think a lot of the people cheering this activism on give a toss about sport and how its run anyway and don't participate in it. While the discussion was happening over Rugby and Woman's Rugby codes there were 0 trans Rugby players identified in NZ anyway (and NZ Rugby is able to decide separately to World Rugby). But the question comes up, are we actually talking about sports and sports governance, or is this a theoretical discussion happening online between people who are not interested in playing sports anyway.
dunno, maybe talk to GC women who play sport or work in the area.
IOC could have said there will be a female category and you cannot play in it if you are male (no matter the hormones and surgery you choose). Intersex issues can be dealt with in addition to that (because they're not gender identity issues). That doesn’t preclude individual sporting associations from having their own boundaries and processes. But if x sport says yes to trans women in female sports, how is that fair at the Olympics.
The rule that you will have a female category and will exclude males from that is presently violated by Equestrian events. It clearly depends on the sport so should be left to the code how that works for each code.
If a code can justify (and that includes evidence) that its fair and safe for trans women to be in the female then that would be a reasonable outcome to include them there for social reasons.
Quite. I think the bit you might not be getting is the politics around gender identity and biological sex. The problem is some people want us to elevate the importance of GI and lower or remove the importance of biological sex. That's a political position.
Imo the IOC are quite right and handing the problem on to those who need to deal with it.
For further info, Prof Ross Tucker podcast.
IMO Blazer makes a lot of pronouncements from a position of cluelessness. Lots of sports organisations look to the IOC for leadership and high standards. This is a pathetic abdication of responsibility.
If you can't see what a can of worms this is and the mitigating factors regarding all the sports that have Olympic representation,and think' one size fits all',you have alot to…learn.
maybe you could both explain your thinking instead of having a pop at each other.
Yes, good idea. 👌🏼 Not a very edifying exchange for the reader.
I don't care much about pronouns – I’ve never liked to use them myself
I’m not overly bothered by the public toilets issue – I reckon some clever designers are beginning to manage solutions.
For personal reasons the term 'pregnant people' doesn't bother me
I don't even know why we still have the problematic M/F check box on our birth certificates
I very much care if women are losing spaces that enable them to compete fairly and safely in sports, in education, in business and anything else. The IOC is evading their duty to uphold these values. A separate category, or changing the men's category to 'open' would have been fairer.
I'm thinking that women may as well have their own Olympics because these Olympics have just been closed to them in terms of being the supposed best in the world.
This sucks. Big Time, imo.
Public toilets/changing rooms/rape refuges/domestic violence homes are all women's spaces that had the protected characteristic of biological sex.
Thinking this is just about toilets, ignores the very implications for women in all such spaces. Particularly for women whose religious, cultural, trauma or modesty precludes them from being in such spaces with male-bodied people. By insisting on the inclusion of male-bodied people into women's spaces, we now have excluded groups of women. Just let that sink in.
There is also a pushback against provision of third spaces, such as in sports. If you look further, there is a demand for total capitulation, not actually provision of alternative spaces. While there may be reasons for this, misogyny, requiring external validation, none of them are justified.
Those other small adjustments to language may also seem innocuous, but after much thought, I don't think they are. Distortion of language means conversations become all about semantics and meanings, rather than dealing with the issues at hand. Statistics no longer sex-based become meaningless, and we end up with stories like this.
The IOC have capitulated, and joined the ranks of those unconcerned about the impact on women.
I agree with you Molly, It's just that I've seen (and used) uni-sex public toilets and changing rooms that still retain the privacy that women need. So I think this issue can be solved.
I agree totally that rape refuges/domestic violence homes are all women's spaces that had the protected characteristic of biological sex. Transgender women clearly need their own spaces as well and their need is great. It's just that it's incompatible with born women's needs. And that spaces that relate to reproductive health, pregnancy and post-natal spaces are absolutely reserved for females as well.
I also agree that statistics that are no longer sex-based become meaningless. This conflict has led me to question whether we actually need a sex definition on a birth certificate where that information that is accurate or can be inferred is, these days available in other places. Of course I realise this is just a personal opinion and I'm not going to try and convince anyone else.
The IOC, on the other hand, is a whole different issue, and I agree that the IOC have capitulated, and joined the ranks of those unconcerned about the impact on women.
Miravox, most change rooms aren't unisex, they are female or male only. even with unisex cubicles it still opens the doors for biological males to be in what I believe should be women only spaces. This gives them access to do things like plant cameras to film women getting changed. Happened recently in a unisex gym in Auckland. I have also read that women are assaulted more in unisex change and bathrooms.
Personally I don't want male bodied people in these spaces and I certainly don't want them around girls and teen girls.
I do think the IOC's decision might be the catalyst that brings things to a head. Around the time of the Olympics there were numberous polls, unscientific I admit, that overwhelmingly showed Kiwis did not support transwomen competing in women's sport. It will be a disaster for women. If you don't think some men who are not really trans at all will use these regulations to enter and win women's sporting competitions, your dreaming. Think of a mediocre male athelete declaring themself non-binary. They were born male and have all the biology that gives men the advantage over women in sport. Why not compete against women! You have got politicians, media cheering you on telling you how brave you are etc, etc! And female atheletes being silenced as was reported by a brave woman weight lifter who spoke up and said they were being told to shut up about Laureen Hubbard. I hope this situation causes the outrage it deserves.
I do think some men will do exactly this. That is why I'm entirely against the IOC decision.
Exactly Mirovox. Sorry I didn't write that well, I didn't mean you personally, I meant if you are one of the people who think that.
I agree with you Molly, It's just that I've seen (and used) uni-sex public toilets and changing rooms that still retain the privacy that women need. So I think this issue can be solved.
If it could be solved, with consideration given to the groups of women I mentioned before, I think I still would have some concern. Because I have seen protections and safeguards eroded bit by bit, and I think you do have to have a frank and full discussion before conceding hard-won ground. For me, third spaces fit the bill – given that the majority of transwomen have no surgical or medical transitioning, and are male-bodied.
Exactly Mirovox. Sorry I didn't write that well, I didn't mean you personally, I meant if you are one of the people who think that.
I don't want to give much ground on the issue of change rooms.
The mumber of transwomen in NZ was infitesimal and likely those who had transitioned biology did make use of women's bathrooms, although I remember a student holiday job I had with a women who was likely trans. She never declared she was, but the voice, the hands kind of gave it away. She was well accepted at work and people liked her. I don't recall seeing her in a women's bathroom, but it wasn't an issue as such.
What is an issue is male who assert their gender identity trumps biological reality and expect women to go along with this.
Anyone who thinks some men won't use gender self id to access womens spaces for neferious purposes is dreaming.
It does get me that transwomen feel unsafe in men's toilets, but don't understand that the same thing occurs when women see 'some' transwomen in female toilets. I agree that some men will use take advantage – they do already (hence the obvious fear).
Honestly, I prefer spaces with closed cubicles and open hand washing spaces that are discrete but easily accessible if someone has a health or security problem. I don't, by any stretch of the imagination think that most of our current loos are safe if shared, but I've been in places that have shared spaces that work really well, I think. I do feel this is an issue that can be resolved by design. Maybe it's not perfect yet, but people are working on this I'm interested to see where this goes.
So I consider myself to be for want of a better term, an expert on safety in women's change rooms, having experienced what could have been a very serious sexual assault possibly homicide. It happened many, many years ago. And when that young women was raped and murdered in Mt Albert a few months back, I knew exactly how she would have felt the moment she knew she was in trouble. Adrenalin pulsing threw my body, I thought I was going to be murdered.
One of the things that saved me is my attacker tried to stop me getting the hell out of the change room and told me to "get back in the cubicle". Instinctively, perhaps from the old protests days, I sat down and told him "do it here". This really flawed him I think. If I had of gone back in the cubicle I think I would have been raped, possibly murdered.
For years I never talked about this attack (I was remarkably unscathed physically but he did punch me in the face). One of the things that I have found deeply shocking in this debate, both on The Standard and in letters I have written to female MP's is nobody who is pushing trans ideology has expressed any sympathy or compassion about what I might feel about women's change rooms and toilets. And how for years I avoided them like the plague. So when men on this site have told me no problem with the toilets or others have trivialized my concerns I feel very angry.
So my personal experience of women's change rooms with cubicles is its not all good. He obviously wanted me in that cubicle for a reason such as easier to stop me yelling if someone entered the change room
Hi Anker,
I'm so sorry you experienced this horror. Please don't think I'm trivialising your concerns. Safety is the major reason why I believe a redesign is necessary. It's rather ironic that the trans debate has brought the issue of safety in public toilets to the fore, when these places always have been dangerous for women and girls. Thank you for disclosing something so personal – please be kind to yourself today.
Thanks Mirovox. I do appreciate that and I appreciate where you are coming from re bathroom design. I believe you are correct on that, because what happened to me shows that a public change room can be a really unsafe space. Just like for the poor Mt Albert woman, walking alone in a bushy area was unsafe.
And by the way, I don't disagree with anything you said (perhaps other than the cublicle comment as instintively I knew when he ordered me back into the cubicle where I had been changing it wasn't going to go well, that I would be more vulnerable).
This attack happened in 1997 btw. A lot of the friends I have made since then don't know about it. I think psychologically I have been left remarkable unscathed, but my fear around public change rooms persisted for sometime. I still do a quick check of cubicles when I find myself in a public toilet on my own. I don't talk about it much. But when I heard about gender self id, I was immedicatly concerned. Frankly it felt like a kick in the guts that my concerns about sharing public change rooms and toilets with male bodied people was trivialized and discounted. Sometimes it has been implied that I am transphobic or a prude. Both are deeply offensive to me. And I see them as tactics to silence women. It is also quite galling when some people claim to care about women who have been murdered in similar circumstances. Maybe they are geniune in their concern, sure they are, but the reality is I have lived through the most frightening experience of realising that I was in deep trouble. When I first saw the guy (who was wearing a mask by the way) I thought I am going to be murdered. I know how that feels. How women who have been murdered would have felt when they realized their fate. That I thought I would be murdered I think made me less scared that he would rape me. That's why I sat down and refused to get back in the cubicle.
This is one of the things lead me into the gender ideology issue. The more I read, the more I couldn't believe how reasonably intelligent people were taking on this new ideology without question and a gospel like zeal.
Hi Anker, thanks for sharing.
Your perspective about refusing to leave the open area for the private cubicles put voice to one of my concerns about unisex toilets as a solution.
I agree with your comments on this.
No thank you
Anybody here taken up Microsoft's offer to download and install Microsoft 11 yet?
If so, whaddya think of it?
Yep. Couple of weeks ago.
No major changes. Lots of little ones, some quite good. I like being able to have Chrome tabs along side each other, foe example.
It doesn't cope well with Google Meet, gets slow. But I think 10 did that too.
Bet that is deliberate. 🙂
I want to, have been waiting for the first load of patches, because like all 1.0 releases it is full of bugs!
Why not ditch microsux and install Linux?
Tried linux. Needed a degree in rocket surgery to get games and random software fully armed and operational.
Linus Torvalds had a wee rant about this in 2014. So many different distros require their own bespoke package development, and the different distros tend to break backwards compatability.
Back in the early 1990s my favorite game was "Wing Commander". Found a legacy copy a few years ago, tried cranking it up and forgot how much command-line code was needed to calibrate the video and sound cards, because WC was just before plug and play standardisation came in. I gave up. That experience reminded me of linux.
I like Linux, use it all the time, as long as it stays in its little sandbox in the WSL environment (windows services for linux). 😛
Most of the time I'm in MacOS, i.e. a proper Unix implementation.
The only thing I miss is a really good CAD program and don't find GIMP as intuitive as photoshop.
I use gimp – the lack of drawing shapes is an issue, but I cut and paste from office-style programmes lol
@ Brigid
Old habits die hard.
Damien Grant was one of two liquidators of a hydroponics company
The liquidators of a hydroponics company have been ordered to pay creditors more than $56,000 after charging “not reasonably incurred” fees, a High Court judge has ruled.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/126989003/liquidators-ordered-to-pay-creditors-56000-after-charging-not-reasonably-incurred-fees
A sense of entitlement? He has been convicted of fraud and had to go to court to get his licence, seems the regulator could see this coming?
Hey, that's unfair.
Maybe his good character was offset by a belief that any fee payable to him is reasonable.
Or maybe he was smoking what a lot of hydroponics enthusiasts are selling, and that inhibited his record-keeping, and he earned every penny but couldn't keep up with the paperwork.
Or maybe it was a perfectly innocent slip of the pen that overcharged the fees by (checks article) half as much again.
maybe lol
Seems his financial ethics are still in the toilet.
He learned a good lesson in jail…..be more sophisticated in how you go about ripping people.
Liquidators should be regulated very rarely do you see low fees for this sort of work. Most insolvencies end up with the liquidators taking nearly all the money/assets leaving nothing or very little for creditors.
Looks like Covid is spreading to animals wild white tail deer in the US have found to have contracted C19.scary as this could be a new breeding ground for the virus to mutate.
Keeping MIQ in place is a must if a mutation ends up like Delta it could be more disastrous for our country.
Got an annoying bit of spam today: the freeze peach shallot (shallots aren't really "onions") looks to be shilling its membership to uni folk because "The Royal Society is undermining the academic freedom of their own".
They don't support or oppose intellectually-and-morally-bankrupt pro-covid talk, but think academics should have the right to step well outside their scope of expertise in order to promulgate material that is directly contradicted by the scientific evidence and consensus amongst actual specialists in that area. Ot at least, that's what it looks like the Royal Society might be investigating in regards these two academics.
Funnily enough, the email doesn't seem to say anywhere that my FSU membership dues or donation will actually be spent assisting those two academics. Probably an oversight /sarc
Seems the FSU has been doing naughty things with their email list. Someone on twitter was also complaining about their spam today.
I suspect they've just trawled tertiary education websites for email addresses to plug this academic freedom BS. I sure as heck haven't been signing petitions for them, lol
New Ipsos poll is out. It's much more detailed than the TV polls, going beyond the headlines.
Asked to rate the gov't out of 10, 54% said 7 or higher. Only 18% said 0-3. So all that foamy frothing about tyrant Cindy represents less than 1 in 5 of NZ voters.
Asked who was best at 20 different issues (health, housing, climate change etc) National scored … zero. (Labour 17, Greens 2, TPM 1).
The last poll was 3 months ago and Auckland has been in lockdown since then, and are thoroughly exhausted and exasperated. So the gov't rating from Aucklanders has declined, from 6.5 to 6. You'd think it would be 3 or 4.
Summary: government obviously down from an election high, opposition still no alternative.
PDF link:
https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2021-11/15th%20Ipsos%20New%20Zealand%20Issues%20Monitor_Report%20V2.pdf