Last nights doco is essential viewing. Thanks for posting it rawshark-yeshe, for those that missed it.
The grief, already unbearable for some of those women, is made so much worse by the massive injustice of no justice, no accountability, no burial for the men, an uncaring government and Key’s lies and insincerity.
Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary. Love and respect to all families.
“No respect to people who support and vote for this neoliberal system.”
vto. I have some real confusion about the National supporting voting patterns of the West Coast.
They were betrayed and mislead by the Key Government. Forget about what damage the Key regime has done to NZ society in general, It IS personal, in their communities. Surely they can see that, but then post Pike River, in 2011 and then in 2014 they party voted National in the 44% – ish range.
Why did they do that? Why did the community not stand in solidarity with the victims and do their bit to vote the bastards that betrayed them out?
Don’t know Rosie, all I can put it down to is a lack of knowledge, understanding and thinking….
I have a family member who always votes National yet complains about the things they do. When questioned on why the continued support the answer is nowhere to be seen amongst the mumbling and excuses ….
With Pike River, very few people understand how the situation arose. It takes time to read, consider and come to a conclusion – few people do that. They only allocate time for a wave, pandas and flags.
You’re probably quite right. Even so, you would not have had to read the commissions findings or Rebecca McFie’s excellent book, if you lived in the area, instead, relying on local talk, I would have thought.
I throw my hands up. Really, I do.
PS. One thing that did bring a little smile to my face watching the doco last night was seeing Jo Hall in the background of some of the shots, outside the hall Key was entering and in a meeting room. I couldn’t see all the writing on her t shirt but you could see FERAL on part of it. Whatever it said in full, it must have been a fingers up to Slater.
Good on her. She suffered so much. losing so many sons and those bastards (Key and Slater) kicked her while she was down.
It seems strange that those who break even the most minor laws are examined, taken through the Courts and punished without fear or favour. Except for those who ran Pike River. Very alarming.
Great result against bad New Zealand Corporate Talley’s, locked out workers gain a win. Interesting to see the details of the Employment Courts finding today.
Dairy prices in decline again.
Kids living in garages.
Unemployment expected to stay high.
Who will Bennett and English blame next?
Beneficiaries
Lazy workers
The Labour Party
The GFC
The Christchurch earthquakes
Other
What distraction will Key pull out of the Crosby Textor handbook next?
Polar bears and pandas
A surprise visit by Will and Kate
The knighting of the whole All Black team
A selfie with Barack Obama
Declaring war on Syria
Another Instagram by Max?
Other
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11546915
As someone who feels a little like a pakeha tuhoe and would love to see the uruwera lifted out of the doldrems this is very interesting.
BTW Mr Climo is the reason I love reading .and I’ve meet Nikapuru several times .
Nice one b, that’s a very interesting read and good to see something a bit more indepth. The thing that stands out for me is the core of it is Tūhoe identity and the importance of maintaining culture.
There’s going to be a challenge for lefties. It’s time we started seeing iwi as having governance rights rather than being private enterprises. If Tūhoe want to manage welfare, education, health etc for their people, let them.
I’m a strong believer in the state providing for the common good, but it’s obvious now that the state is no longer competent at many of those things. Let Māori lead the way on this. The tricky thing is going to be the power structures used, but for Māori at least it’s hard to see them being any worse off than they are now.
Looking at your last paragraph made me click on b waghorn’s link out of interest, but it is coming up with an error notice. I’m wondering if the article is about Tuhoe self governance.
They have a strong and proud past of being self sufficient and independent under the leadership of Rua Kenana and his community at Maungapohotu in Te Urewera in the early 20th century.
Tragically this independence caused real irritation among the authorities and had disastrous consequences for the community during Te Urewera’s first Police raids, well before they returned in 2007.
Can yourself or bw direct me to a google search related to the article perhaps?
Looks like the Herald site in general is down, I’d try again a bit later. The article is about the intitiatives that Tūhoe are taking to address the welfare, health and education needs of the people in their rohe, according to their own kaupapa. That includes to what extent they can get the funding to replace state services. It’s definitely worth a read if it comes back.
When it comes to welfare I still don’t have a strong set of opinions due to its complexity but surely a one size fits all method is going to fail.
Nikipuru or Joe as I knew him had his house tipped over in the Tuhoe raids so to come through all he has and be on a positive path is awesome.
It will be very interesting to see how this turns out over the years. All power to Tuhoe if they can give their people’s lives more meaning. I wonder if they can create some sort of Co-op scheme where they house and feed their people in return for modest labour or casual work.
I think they’ll take a more holistic approach to governance and will be much more adaptive. Considering most of the rest of the country’s ruling institutions are enslaved to neo-liberal ideas, Tuhoe might get through the economic and climate disasters that the 21st century throws at us the best.
I dont think privatization of social services into the hands of a tribal elite is going to help anyone. It seems to me that Tamiti Kruger wants his own fiefdom and control the lives of those in his rohe.
Listening on the news this morning about Auckland’s homeless, hearing the Salvation Army spokeswoman talking of a homeless family living in a Housing Corp garage being evicted from it. They had a child who had a terminal illness and the S.A. lady was saying that Housing Corp could have at least allowed them to stay in the garage.
What a vindictive, nasty underbelly we have in this country in our Government social agencies. What is this punishing element getting out of kicking people out of their homes because their income cannot support housing rents. Very saddening that it has become a “punishment regime” they are now putting in place. Vindictive is all I can say about evicting a family out of a garage and on to the street with a very sick child who needs vital warmth and a roof over its head. The people seen sleeping on the streets is a national disgrace.
We, each and every one of us is a heart beat away from homelessness from many different circumstances. We should be very very afraid.
The “vindictive, nasty underbelly” WK comes not only from the elected representatives but also from those who have been part of the bureaucracy for years.
These “public servants” can be so removed from the real world that they forget they are making policy that actually puts the lives of children at risk.
Perhaps they really don’t care.
(I have looked in the eyes of some of these public servants..cold, dead, and happy to condemn)
Rosemary I think its a bit rich this country calling Australia in for their Human Rights abuses with Christmas Island – what about the basic Human Right of having a roof over one’s head. Absolutely appalling the track this Government is going down – reminds me of Rachett Ruth in the ’90’s.
I wonder how low the National voters of this country will stoop before their conscience and moral compass sees the light – it will take the AK housing market to crash and then lets see them whinging. Sickening.
While they’re so alive with the ‘Cocktail Party Grimace’ and the “Gorgeous Darling…..” and the fucking ‘Double Shot’ coffee wank. Pigs ! All of them !
“Well you must admit……many of these people just don’t want to work……wah wah wah”
While their fucking idols the Talleys are found guilty of bad faith in the workplace thereby shitting on a fundamental plank of The Law while His Gaucheness gives the Big Talley the knighthood quid pro quo the funding.
And Marie Antoinette Tolley plumps for three times the already outrageous grand a day of public money for soldier Rebstock to produce the goods politically convenient for her.
Where the fuck are we ? Haiti ? Papa Doc ? We’re meant to respect their daubed gargoyles ?
Josie Pagani tweeted that ISIS is worse than TPP but you can’t tell that from the protests.
Has she taken to the streets for anything in the last 20 years? Her sneering disregard for those who choose to protest is frightening in one who claims such strong Labour affiliations. I wonder if she tweeted it from a cafe in a wealthy area while she supped coffee during a wroking day.
Sounds like she should be joining our troops in Taji cheering them on. Ignoring hospitals that get caught in the crossfire and the like. She is on a war footing and the baddies need to be wiped off the face of the earth.
and our PM has been fighting the war on terrorism for months or years, hasn’t he? That’s why we sent troops, that’s why we have to be surveilled. It’s like Josie doesn’t know that ISIS is being eradicated already.
Currently – I’m over in Brisbane at the 2015 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference.
However – Im taking the time to post this ‘Whistle-blower ALERT’ – which may be controversial to some people.
So be it.
Please be reminded of the following?
STATE housing is PUBLIC.
SOCIAL housing is PRIVATE.
Alan Johnson, Co-convenor of the Child Poverty Action Group, and employee of the Salvation Army, supports SOCIAL housing, and supports the Tamaki Redevelopment Company (TRC).
Please note that the Salvation Army ‘Policy and Research Unit’ – for which Alan Johnson works – is an ‘honorary member’ of the private sector lobby group, the Committee for Auckland.
The TRC is jointly owned by the Crown and Auckland Council (Central and Local Government).
Alan Johnson supports the transfer of 2,800 Housing NZ properties (STATE houses) to the TRC.
(Alan Johnson told me this to my face).
Once these 2,800 STATE houses are transferred to the TRC – the next step will be their privatisation to ‘social housing’ providers / developers.
Beware the ‘weasel words’!
That is why I for one am opposed to the ‘Hikoi for homes’ – because in my view, there is another agenda, a PRIVATISATION agenda happening behind the scenes.
I support some of the work being done by Child Poverty Action Group, but NOT this action on housing.
I’m a ‘whistle-blower’ and will call it as I see it, based upon FACTS and EVIDENCE.
I stand with those directly affected State tenants who are opposing the privatisation of STATE housing, and opposing the TRANSFER of 2,800 Housing NZ properties to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company.
In my view – it is time for a major review and ROLL BACK of neo-liberal ‘Rogernomic$’.
In my view, essential services such as the provision of STATE housing, should be owned, operated and managed under the ‘not for profit’ PUBLIC SERVICE, not the ‘commercialised / corporatised / PRIVATISED ‘model.
Throwing the ‘corporatised’ Housing NZ baby out with the bath water and replacing it with the PRIVATE ‘social housing’ model, in my view is fundamentally flawed.
In my view, STATE housing should remain under public ownership, operation and management, where looking after State tenants and State houses, should be the Numbef One priority.
This WAR on the POOR – has got to stop.
In my view, people need to be aware Remember folks!
STATE housing is PUBLIC.
SOCIAL housing is PRIVATE.
Alan Johnson, Co-convenor of the Child Poverty Action Group, and employee of the Salvation Army, supports SOCIAL housing, and supports the Tamaki Redevelopment Company (TRC).
Please note that the Salvation Army ‘Policy and Research Unit’ – for which Alan Johnson works – is an ‘honorary member’ of the private sector lobby group, the Committee for Auckland.
The TRC is jointly owned by the Crown and Auckland Council (Central and Local Government).
Alan Johnson supports the transfer of 2,800 Housing NZ properties (STATE houses) to the TRC.
(Alan Johnson told me this to my face).
Once these 2,800 STATE houses are transferred to the TRC – the next step will be their privatisation to ‘social housing’ providers / developers.
Beware the ‘weasel words’!
That is why I for one am opposed to the ‘Hikoi for homes’ – because in my view, there is another agenda, a PRIVATISATION agenda happening behind the scenes.
I support some of the work being done by Child Poverty Action Group, but NOT this action on housing.
I’m a ‘whistle-blower’ and will call it as I see it, based upon FACTS and EVIDENCE.
I stand with those directly affected State tenants who are opposing the privatisation of STATE housing, and opposing the TRANSFER of 2,800 Housing NZ properties to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company.
Tolley wanted to pay Rebstock 3000k per day, sow e need to be very grateful she ONLY got 2000k a day, thanks to Paula Bennett. WHAT planet are these peopel living on… look at the struggles of those Talley’s workers while a Government supporter was breaking our laws.
If that had been a Labour minister advocating such a pay extravaganza, we would hear about it morning, noon and night, on radio, television and in the papers until the next election.
She’s notoriously soft on politicians, but she’s a terror to choreographers.
Is Susie Ferguson the weakest performer on RNZ National? Morning Report, RNZ National, Wednesday 18 November 2015, 8:50 a.m.
If you’ve endured TV3’s pisspoor The Nation you may have noticed RNZ National’s Susie Ferguson, who occasionally appears as a panelist. She sits silent most of the time, with a sardonic half grin on her lips, rarely contributing anything of value or interest to the discussions.
Susie Ferguson first came to our attention two years ago, like a woman unwittingly blundering into the crosshairs of Chris Kyle’s semi-automatic 7.62 NATO Mk 11 sniper rifle, when she conducted a particularly foolish radio interview with movie executive Neil Foley….
This morning she was back at it, when she interviewed Justin Bieber’s choreographer Paris Goebel, who is a New Zealander. Ferguson’s producer must have thought that was an idiot-proof assignment. Unfortunately, Ferguson took it into her head to treat Paris Goebel as if she were not a choreographer, but a felon….
SUSIE FERGUSON: In these clips you’ve got quite a few New Zealanders, and quite a lot of the filming was done in New Zealand as well. Is that right?
PARIS GOEBEL: Yep.
SUSIE FERGUSON: Why was it that yoooouuu… chose to go THAT way?
…Long, awkward pause…
PARIS GOEBEL: Ahhhhmmm, ‘cos I’m FROM New Zealand?
SUSIE FERGUSON:[closing in for the kill] But was it as straightforward as that? ‘Cos obviously, you know, you’ve worked in a lot of different places, why was it for this, for Justin Bieber’s album, y’know he’s a Canadian, and I guess, y’know, you just wanted to go back to your roots.
This is why abortions need to be freely available:
A new study quantifies some of those fears: At least 100,000 Texas women—and as many as 240,000—between the ages of 18 and 49 have attempted to self-induce abortions, according to a report released today by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project (TxPEP). The study also found that it is possible that the rate of women attempting to self-induce abortions is rising in Texas as a result of the state’s additional restrictions on abortion care. The report points to previous studies that have explored the correlation between a rise in abortion restrictions and the prevalence of self-induced abortions. A 2008 national study found that about 2 percent of women reported that they tried to terminate pregnancies on their own. In 2012, a year after Texas passed several new abortion restrictions, a study of Texas women seeking care at an abortion clinic found that about 7 percent reported attempting to end their pregnancies without medical assistance before seeking clinic care.
The song has been beautifully sung by Micheal Domnhaill and by Loreena McKennit. This is Domnhaill’s version. It is one of the most moving pieces of music I know, especially with the uillean pipes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aeNwpU19pA
Then of course the problem was not the issue between abortion and allowing birth, but between caesarean section and the death of both mother and probably the child, in times of medical inadequacy. But the rights of the mother versus the child and the inherent danger to a mother in pregnancy and childbirth were the issues. The song speaks both of the sacrifice which Queen Jane considers and wants to happen, and the agonising of the father, King Henry.
The song though does beautifully portray the notion of sacrifice and danger.
That depends on the definition of alive, doesn’t it? I’d class a foetus as alive, just not capable of independent survival in the early stages of development. Some will object to the characterisation but looked at objectively, like any other developing offspring in a womb, it’s parasitic on the mother.
That’s a very unequivocal statement – are you sure about that?
When does sentience begin – all at once?
It puzzles me the seemingly ideological determination of people to run this argument and, essentially, deny reality.
I support abortion law reform but that’s because I’m uncomfortable about abortion – in other words, it’s more humane to carry out the procedure as early as possible.
Your definition is too narrow DTB. What characterises life is an organism that has all or most of several characteristics. A foetus has an organised multicellular structure, its cells respond to external stimuli, it consumes nutrients & expels waste, undergoes cell division and multiplication, increases in complexity and size as it grows and develops. It has life, even if it’s completely dependent on its mother for continued survival as it develops.
I’m not talking about when a foetus should be considered a conscious human being which is a separate matter altogether.
I should correct my earlier observation that a foetus is parasitic. I was wrong. To be parasitic it has to be a separate species from the host.
I don’t have any argument with that up to the point where the foetus is viable weka. After that it’s a grey area for me. I wouldn’t like a woman aborting in the 9th month for example if there was no health or safety issue for her. It becomes a bit more complicated for me working back from there as we’ve a baby born at 20 weeks in the family who’s survived & thrived.
Edit: Actually 20 weeks can’t be right: I need to check that. But it was an emergency caesarian and not many weeks beyond 20. The baby was perfectly formed but would fit in my hand.
The smallest contiguous unit of life is called an organism. Organisms are composed of one or more cells, undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, can grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce (either sexually or asexually) and, through evolution, adapt to their environment in successive generations.[1]
What you have selected is only one definition of an organism. And the article even starts with:
Life is a characteristic distinguishing physical entities having biological processes (such as signaling and self-sustaining processes) from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased (death), or because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate.
(It’s talking about cell-signalling, by the way, it says “such as”, and even though it requires a mother, a foetus does actually have its own separate self-sustaining properties or it wouldn’t survive & grow in a womb, which is the environment to which it is adapted.)
Well, actually, it does.
*It does maintain homeostasis within the womb, as it develops it regulates its own internal bodily processes.
*It does reproduce, both through cell division and multiplication as it grows, and through sexual reproduction in its adult form (the reproduction definition in biology applies to the whole life cycle of the organism)
*and it does adapt to its own environment in successive generations (do you think human adults are not alive and that their embryos and adult forms have not adapted through evolution?)
A month old baby is has brain activity and is not a lump of decaying and cyanotic cells within moments of being removed from the body of a specific person.
Anybody can feed or house a particular baby. But a particular fetus needs a particular womb to reproduce its cells enough to one day possibly become a living, thinking, person.
meh.
legally, yes.
Personally, I wouldn’t be committing to it until it can live for more than a few minutes outside of an artificial environment. And then whether it has any higher brain function.
Babies are ok, but they’re pretty one-dimensional for the first few months after full term.
At the moment there seem to be three different uses of the word “life” in this conversation:
biological, as in a cluster of cells, such as a plant;
legal, as in whether the killing of that thing would count as homocide in a court of law; and
the one that is most relevant to the abortion ethics discussion: human life. Not just a cluster of cells, a human being.
Biologically a growing foetus is alive. So is a premature baby. I explain why above. If it is alive it must have life. When it ceases to do all those things I mention above it is dead. It is no longer alive.
A foetus has an organised multicellular structure, its cells respond to external stimuli, it consumes nutrients & expels waste, undergoes cell division and multiplication, increases in complexity and size as it grows and develops.
well, yes, in the sense that a plant is alive.
But somehow I think the protestors I saw outside the hospital the other day weren’t saying people shouldn’t mow their lawn…
The claim was made above that a foetus is not alive. It is. That’s all. The abortion discussion is therefore not about whether a foetus is alive.
The debate is about whether and when that life should be deliberately terminated. I’m of the view it’s the woman’s right to decide, and I don’t like the idea of women being forced to carry a child they don’t want to. But I’m conflicted about it when the foetus is a fully formed and viable child. The issue of viability itself is even more complicated now by improved technology.
Seen. The question of whether something is alive is biological. Whether and when it is considered an independent human being is another matter. I explain my view on that in the abortion context above. It is not set in stone. Good night McFlock.
Grindlebottom, cutting plants is not murder, even though plants are “alive”.
The abortion discussion is about whether it’s ending a human life, not plant life.
McFlock. Yes. I have already agreed that. The issue of abortion is not whether a foetus is alive but whether and when it is a human and whether and when that life can/should be terminated.
The discussion just persisted way past the point where it needed to because the abortion debate is not about whether a foetus is alive. It is, which you grudgingly acknowledge.
The abortion debate is on issues like whether and when a human foetus is a human person, whether and when it is a child and independently viable outside a womb (subject to someone being willing to care for it), and whether and when it has an independent and inherent “right to life” – which in the abortion context means the right not to have its life terminated.
You can choose to believe that. Others can choose to believe otherwise. It’s a matter of semantics what a human being is. A human foetus to me is a human being, just in its embryonic developing form, not its juvenile developing or adult form.
I don’t consider it a human person though.
OMG what bullshit. At least be honest about what you are advocating for. Termination of a pregnancy is termination of a life. Support it if you want, but dont kid yourself.
—-Heather Du Plessis-Allan, Story, TV3, Tuesday 17 November 2015
Inanity Watch, also known as Mediocrity Watch, aims to keep you informed of—or, to quote the epically mediocre Simon Dallow, to be “right across”—the shoddiest, least professional, most insulting journalism and taxpayer-subsidised-sensitive-singer-songwriting from all over the world, but especially New Zealand. It is produced by DeakerWatch®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
What did we expect from Annette King?
MP for Rongatai, Ms King, has shown she is either a liar or else merely completely stupid.
When claiming that the standards for getting on the waiting list for surgery she compared the minimum pain value for getting surgery in 2013 with the average value in 2015 and claimed that people were worse off.
I suppose it was worth it though. The hard-left, and lazy, journalists in the MSM happily published her claims without checking them and they became a front page story.
The real numbers get fitted into the paper on an inside page some days later. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/74122871/annette-king-accused-of-misleading-house-over-surgery-figures
I suppose we have to accept these things from the OAP in Wellington’s south. She has to try something of course. I have heard rumours, from some Labour party supporting friends, that she is under severe pressure to relinquish the Labour nomination in the seat to little Andie. Anyone more closely involved willing to comment?
I have commented before on this subject and the fact is that at least you are told the truth. Under King you would have been put on the waiting list and then dropped after 6 months so they could claim that nobody was on the waiting list for more than that period.
You have my sympathy about the m-Eslon.
Horrible stuff isn’t it? I couldn’t stop taking it fast enough after the op.
alwyn
This is a good subject for your grandstanding. You can always claim the high ground by going all emotional about the matter whenever commenters discuss it. What it means for the afflicted, young as well as old, when there is a budget just keeping up with minimal inflation and failing to meet needs based on population numbers, plus increased need from antibiotic failure, new organisms from overseas visitors, and RW desire to reduce taxes for the wealthy and run down services for everyone else.
I remember when I was studying Economics someone I knew did a study on what could be done with the money in the health budget. I was asked to check the numbers as they thought they must have made an arithmetic error.
At that time, about 30 years ago, it would have cost more than New Zealand’s total health budget to treat, to the maximum possible extent, kidney disease. That was it, just kidney disease! There would have been nothing else to spend on all the other health needs of the country.
With the best will in the world it is impossible to treat to the limit all the health needs of the country and why “rationing” is inevitable. I can only assume that the current situation is worse.
That is why Thomas Carlyle had a grain of truth in his reference to Economics as being the dismal science.
On the other hand don’t make him one of your heroes. He thought that Slavery was morally superior to a market economy.
Except anecdotally she has a point, I have a friend who waited 4 years for his hip replacement, finally getting it last year ONCE the 8 panadol every 4 hours ceased to work on the pain.
The other hip has needed replacing too. He is back on 8 panadol every 4 hours (and its resultant impact on his stomach) but it is no longe renough for him to be in pain at this dosage to get on the waiting list.
My boss had lots of hip problems which led to him stacking the weight on the hips have been done but his knees are buggered and they won’t do them till he cuts his weight. How someone is supposed to lose weight when they can’t get around is beyond me.
I think that your numbers are a trifle out. The maximum recommended dose of paracetamol (Panadol) is, I believe, 8 500mg tablets per day.
You are quoting 48/day which seems unlikely. I’m am not a Doctor so don’t take that remark as gospel.
Nope, that is the number. I stayed with him and helped him take the dose his GP told him to take. And it was 8 every 4 hours, which kinda makes Ms King’s point if you think about it… GP’s over prescribing drugs, beyond recommended doses? I wonder why they might do that alwyn?
As I say I’m not a doctor. It sounds awfully high though.
I always thought it was 4000mg/day (usually 8 tablets) http://www.drugs.com/paracetamol.html
I never found it worked anyway. m-Eslon does but it leaves you feeling very strange and it is addictive I believe.
I repeat. This is an uninformed opinion based solely on what worked for me. I am not recommending anything. Go see your doctor.
You mean he should go see the doctor who prescribed that dose because he doesn’t yet feel enough pain through the high doses to qualify for a hip replacement? That is the system you advocate he utilises?
No Tracey, I am not advocating anything at all.
I was simply stating that the dose you said he was taking seemed to be very high. On the standard 500mg tablet size it would seem to be about 6 times the normal limit. I was surprised that that was what you nominated. I have no opinion at all on what the Doctor may have prescribed because I am not a doctor and I don’t know anything about the patient.
Hey Trollwyn……you still haven’t given us the link to verify your fantastical report of a couple of days ago of the Kelvin Davis / Paremoremo / Serco number. You got no balls Trollwyn ?
The horrific attacks in Paris on Friday have, predictably, led to much over-reaction and demands that we do more of the exact things that radicalize people and make them want to attack us. The French military wasted no time bombing Syria in retaliation for the attacks, though it is not known where exactly the attackers were from. Thousands of ISIS fighters in Syria are not Syrian, but came to Syria to overthrow the Assad government from a number of foreign countries — including from France and the US.
Ironically, the overthrow of Assad has also been the goal of both the US and France since at least 2011.
Because the US and its allies are essentially on the same side as ISIS and other groups – seeking the overthrow of Assad – many of the weapons they have sent to the more “moderate” factions also seeking Assad’s ouster have ended up in the hands of radicals. Moderate groups have joined more radical factions over and over, taking their US-provided training and weapons with them. Other moderate groups have been captured or killed, their US-provided weapons also going to the radicals. Thus the more radical factions have become better equipped and better trained, while occasionally being attacked by US or allied planes.
Does anyone not believe this is a recipe for the kind of disaster we have now seen in Paris? The French in particular have been very active in arming even the more radical groups in Syria, as they push for more political influence in the region. Why do they still refuse to believe in the concept of blowback? Is it because the explanation that, “they hate us because we are free,” makes it easier to escalate abroad and crack down at home?
It may not be popular to say this as emotions run high and calls ring out for more bombing in the Middle East, but there is another way to address the problem. There is an alternative to using more military intervention to address a problem that was caused by military intervention in the first place.
That solution is to reject the militarists and isolationists. It is to finally reject the policy of using “regime change” to further perceived US and western foreign policy goals, whether in Iraq, Libya, Syria, or elsewhere. It is to reject the foolish idea that we can ship hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons to “moderates” in the Middle East and expect none of them to fall into the hands of radicals.
More bombs will not solve the problems in the Middle East. But a more promising approach to the Middle East is currently under fire from the isolationists in Washington. The nuclear deal with Iran ends UN sanctions and opens that country to international trade. Just last week the presidents of France and Iran met to discuss a number of trade deals. Other countries have followed. Trade and respect for national sovereignty trumps violence, but Washington still doesn’t seem to get it. Most presidential candidates compete to thump the table loudest against any deal with Iran. They will use this attack to propagandize against approving trade with Iran even though Iran has condemned the attack and is also in the crosshairs of ISIS.
Here is the alternative: Focus on trade and friendly relations, stop shipping weapons, abandon “regime change” and other manipulations, respect national sovereignty, and maintain a strong defense at home including protecting the borders from those who may seek to do us harm.
We should abandon the failed policies of the past, before it’s too late.
In this web exclusive, Sean Stone sits down with Virginia state Senator Dick Black to talk about the ongoing crisis in Syria, and what policies the US and other world powers should adopt to return the region to peace and stability.
Inappropriate stock photo of sexy female butt in jeans (if I can be so blunt) used to illustrate story about drycleaning worker who loses her employment case. Even names the worker in question. I don’t have a problem with the photo in itself. Just feel it is out of context for the nature of the story, particularly where the person is named.
“A dry-cleaning worker who claimed she was told she could not wear pants to work and was criticised and threatened after rolling her eyes has lost her case against her former employer.”
“Hacktivist group Anonymous has reported that more than 5,500 Twitter accounts belonging to Islamic State have been taken down. It comes after the collective declared a “total war” on the militant group following the Paris attacks…
I read yesterday about Anonyous vow to start hacking ISIS. The solution may come from a most unepxetce dplace, and one feared by many right wing governments… the Anonymous hackers!
This is interesting too…will the Paris crisis be used by USA and friends ( Saudi Arabia , Israel) for further attacks on Assad ( undermining Russia) and eventually an attack on Iran?
“As we all grieve for Paris in the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks, some very hard and painful questions must be addressed to what degree are the attacks in Paris blowback for Western meddling in the Middle East? And has the West’s war on terror only generated more terror?
CrossTalking with Mark Sleboda, Dmitry Babich, and John Laughland.”
“It is official – the Russian plane flying from Egypt was indeed a victim of terror. Who is really responsible remains unclear, nonetheless there can be no doubt much of the terrorism coming out of the Middle East has its origins in the West.CrossTalking with Alexander Mercouris, David Swanson, and Mohammad Marandi.”
Hi Morrissey, tell me the last time you saw a member of the media behave towards any labour representative the same as Jeremy’s interviewer did, this is example of unbiased journalism, which is what’s sadly missing in NZ, allowing people to have their say regardless of their own personal view point.
A good interviewer..as you say Expat, unbiased.
Compare her professional manner to that of Hoskings, Gower, Henry and co.
Also can’t help comparing Corbyn’s manner to Key’s.
I am curious to find out why so many left leaning bloggers are happy to bag the Labour party, they’re not the ones in power, and haven’t been for seven years, any body blaming them for anything has lost sight of the goal.
There will never be a hard left wing govt in modern NZ, it’s economic suicide, and there will never be enough voters to support it any way, however, the current govt is a hard right wing govt, not centre as they would have you believe. For any person with any degree of compassion, empathy, and fairness for all, will disagree with the current direction NZ is heading, and that’s understandable.
In todays modern society there are some basic fundamentals that we need to accept, commercial aspects of any economy require businesses, corporations and banks to help build the economy, right leaning govts tend to support this group through all sorts of law and policy changes, the sale public assets, that benefit them, and usually results in a poor outcome for society, to say the least, left leaning govts still need these businesses, banks and corporations to help build the economy but the crucial difference is recognising the need to have policies and laws that protect ordinary citizens and NZ’s long term interests while still allowing all these businesses, banks and corporations to operate profitably.
If you want to see a change of govt, supporting “all” left leaning parties is mandatory, a lot of people don’t like labour, but without them, there is no one to fill the void, “some times you have to support the lesser of two evils” to at least get a step in the right direction, and changing the govt is the first step.
For a coalition of left leaning parties to be successful, there needs to be a high level of cohesion and support for one another, no stupid criticisms on public TV, trust needs to be regained. Public support of each others policies that they are in agreement to, show NZ that there is another choice, a credible choice.
Thank-you Expat for your sane, sensible comments. It’s a pleasure to read them.
As far as the Labour knockers go, I think it has become a bit of a sport in NZ. I put it down to a lack of political maturity especially among our so-called political journalists and interviewers. The chances of a Labour leader in particular being treated with respect in NZ is low. More often than not they are continuously interrupted and shouted down by ego-centric interveiwers who are more interested in turning everything into a studio version of a bull-fight.
My gut feeling on why some bag labour (including the odd journo ) is the frustration at the fact that a crooked little shister like key is in his third term and labour s issues are in no small way part of why.
please explain why we should bother changing the National Government when the replacement one is 90% plus aligned with the National one?
And I’m not the only one who thinks this way.
” In todays modern society there are some basic fundamentals that we need to accept, commercial aspects of any economy require businesses, corporations and banks to help build the economy”
this is a nonsense.Transnational corporate power is destroying local economies and undermining sovereignty at every turn. It is the core rationale of the TPP.
If you cant see that you are clearly part of the ruling establishment or its professional courtiers.
why is a citation needed? Why not just trust your own eyes.
voted for Nationals social welfare legislation.
For Nationals spying and terrorism legislation.
greenlight most of the TPPA
greenlight oil and gas drilling
keep blowing up the property bubble
won’t enforce a living wage
think it is the economic model supporting everything that is the issue Weka…..what you have listed is that which is considered “at the edges” by those espousing a tangible difference between National and Labour.
That’s a bit academic Pat. I was taking it at the level of why should people bother voting Labour instead of National. The reason is that Labour have some actual good policies (despite not being left wing enough) and they will do far less damage than National. That Labour will still do some damage is not a good reason to vote National, that’s daft. Lesser of evils is not nothing.
That Labour will still do some damage is not a good reason to vote National, that’s daft. Lesser of evils is not nothing.
Labour is part of the problem weka. And you know what the problem is – a slide into societal destruction via climate change, fossil fuel depletion and corporation led austerity.
“academic” it may be Weka, but if you believe that the underlying cause of society’s ills is a fundamentally flawed model of course you would seek wholesale change for anything less would be perceived as having no impact on those things you seek to change….we can all go to hell at 90 mph or 100 mph ..either way were still heading for the same destination.
BTW weka, thank you for pointing out those instances where people have been making up shit about me. You taking the time to do that is very much appreciated, cheers.
Personally I’m looking for something more than that Weka.
I want someone to say that “this is the kind of country I want, and I have the courage to operate the instruments to achieve it.”
I want poverty eradicated as a goal, and housing for everyone, food on the table for families, cities that work, jobs for everyone, and I want a strong well funded state that can help everyone do that for generations to come.
I am so over abstract nouns about love, country, hope, vision, etc.
I want a political party with a plan. And I’ll start being interested in party politics again when I see that.
It’s easy to be seduced by the argument that Labour’s the better of two evils but it’s not that simple. In a political system like ours where there’s two main parties and both of those parties are as good as the same in a number of key areas there’s no room for an alternative. It’s the cultural damage this causes which we should be worried about. When the thinking of a nation becomes so entrenched over generations. User pays in tertiary education is one example. Ask a student whether they think education should be free and they’ll look at you like you’re from another planet. Labour needs to start thinking about this kind of damage that’s caused by an ineffective opposition, rather than constantly looking to work out what to say to become the government. If Labour gets its values right first getting into government will follow.
ok, you all get that I’m a Green party member right? And I’ve been voting Green since they first stood for parliament. In regards the actual change needed, you’re trying to teach your grandmother to suck eggs here.
CV asks what’s the point of changing the govt when the two main parties are so similar. I guess he’s being rhetorical, but hey, I took the question at face value. I’m not making a case that Labour are doing the right things or that they’re going to radically change the way NZ is governed in the way that we all want They’re not. I’m saying that there are still significant differences between National and Labour (esp if we got a Labour/GP govt) that make it worthwhile voting on the left.
If we cede that bit of ground, as CV is apparently suggesting, the non-vote will increase, and we will have another term of NACT. Now if we had time, it could be argued that a 4th term could be galvanising to the left. Maybe Labour would finally collapse/split. Or another party would emerge. Or people would finally vote Green. But the whole point is we simply we don’t have time. AGW is here, now. We have a rapidly shrinking window to do the things to lessen the chance of runaway CC. I’m not saying that Labour will do those things. They won’t. I’m saying that the rest of us will have more of a chance under a left wing govt of shifting the culture so we all do those things. Government is not going to save us, we are going to lead the way and government will eventually get in behind. Thus as it ever was.
This is why the lesser of evils is significantly better. Even just to give activists some breathing space to refocus on what’s important instead of running round putting out fires all the time.
CV, you’re welcome. And I think your list of tinkering is wrongly characterised, if I get the chance later I’ll hash it out.
Hi Weka, What about human rights, to add to the list.
If C Viper thinks there is no difference between the main parties then he must have his head in the sand or been listening to the MSM, brainwashed by BS
Wake up NZ, there can be no change in direction without changing the govt, and getting rid of NZ’s most dishonest govt ever!
I’m curious to find out why a small number on here and in the Labour Party are happy to bag the Green Party because they are not the ones in power, and although never held Treasury benches have been able to implement some of their policies from outside that structure (both under Labour and the national Party). If you want to see a change of govt, supporting “all” left leaning parties is mandatory, a lot of people don’t like the Greens, but without them, there is no left government in any form base don current polling, “some times you have to support the lesser of two evils” to at least get a step in the right direction, and changing the govt is the first step.
For a coalition of left leaning parties to be successful, there needs to be a high level of cohesion and support for one another, no stupid criticisms on public TV, trust needs to be regained. Public support of each others policies that they are in agreement to, show NZ that there is another choice, a credible choice.
But only if you want to change the govt…… and if you want to see a different way of leading change rather than a harsher or smilier version of what we have had for too many decades, you will see the place the Greens have in NZ. As long as some in LP and here see the Green party as the enemy, national wins, again, and again, with short hiatus for a slightly right leaning LP
+100…”For a coalition of left leaning parties to be successful, there needs to be a high level of cohesion and support for one another, no stupid criticisms on public TV, trust needs to be regained. Public support of each others policies that they are in agreement to, show NZ that there is another choice, a credible choice…”
Thus far Labour and NZF seem to be supporting each other…but the Greens have been undercutting Labour and NZF…a decided turn off of former Green voters
by Daphna Whitmore I thought the #LetWomenSpeak meeting would be a good time to talk about free speech and why it is important for the left. Then the mob stampeded the open-air gathering and no one got to speak. Here’s what I was had prepared. Today I want to talk ...
By Don Franks Today my friend Ani O’Briien went to a meeting in Auckland and wrote: “No sooner had Kellie-Jay Keen Minshull arrived at the Rotunda, a protestor (who had managed to get past the barrier) ran at her and threw a red substance all over her and a security ...
Jonathan Milne, managing editor for Newsroom Pro, has expressed his indignation about the outcome of a court decision yesterday in an article headed Posie Parker wins the beautiful freedom to make an ugly argument.Newsroom Pro laments: High Court Justice David Gendall has regretfully allowed an outspoken anti-trans activist to enter New ...
imagine my surprise this week when the National Party, in their infinite wisdom, decided to release an education policy. As you can imagine, this got us so riled up here in the office that we dusted off our Windows XP laptop, waiting 17 hours for all the updates to be ...
Come on Jess thought Mr Evans come on. He watched the large clock on the wall tick closer to 8:40am. Come on girl.In two minutes he had to submit the class attendance report and with Jess having already been late once that term it’d mean an automatic visit from the ...
This week’s UN IPCC report warned climate emissions will need to be cut by almost half by 2030, if warming is to be limited to 1.5°C. Bronwyn Hayward points out in The Hoon podcast how far behind NZ’s government and councils are now on climate action compared to the rest ...
Chris Hipkins, after he became prime minister, committed to defeating the cost-of- living crisis. He proceeded to make a bonfire of policies that were at the heart of Jacinda Ardern’s administration. But, as Richard Prebble pointed out this week, “the government has not just U-turned, it has repudiated the ...
There are some wellness, crystal-gazing, holistic spiritual guidance types in my disaster-hit coastal community who insist that the power of positive thinking will overcome the physical and material damages incurred by the community. They object to restrictions on road travel … Continue reading → ...
Evaluating the recent crashes of Silicon Valley Bank in the US and Credit Suisse in Switzerland plus two other banks (perhaps more by the time you read this) needs to begin with a review of the inevitable instability in the financial sector. The financial sector is inherently unstable, like military ...
1. We see here new police minister Ginny Andersen. Which larger than life NZ political figure was her great-uncle?a. Rob Muldoonb. Bill Andersenc. Richard John Seddond. Norman Kirk2. We see here archival footage of Ginny Andersen coming out of her electorate office to ask ex-tobacco lobbyist Chris Bishop if he ...
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Photo by Josh Mills on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for the next hour, including:The runs on Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank on the west coast of the United States that forced the ...
Roundup is back! We skipped last week’s Friday post due to a shortage of person-power – did you notice? Lots going on out there… Our header image this week shows a green street that just happens to be Queen St, by @chamfy from Twitter. This week (and last) in ...
After threatening Prime Minister Chris Hipkins of consequences if he dared to bar her entry, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull has been given her visa, regardless. This will enable her to hold rallies in Auckland and Wellington this weekend, and spread her messages of hostility against an already marginalised trans community. Neo-Nazis may, ...
* Bryce Edwards writes – The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as ...
Boomers voted him in, but Brown’s Trumpish moments might spook Aucklanders worried about what a change to National nationally might mean. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR:Auckland MayorWayne Brown has become our version of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, except without any of the insatiable appetite for media appearances. He ...
The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as part of its Aukus pact with the ...
Recently you might have heard of a person called Posie Parker and her visit to Aotearoa. Perhaps you’re not quite sure what it’s all about. So let’s start with who this person is, why their visit is controversial, and what on earth a TERF is.Posie Parker is the super villain ...
The chair of Parliament’s Select Committee looking at the Government’s resource management legislation wants the bills sent back for more public consultation. The proposal would effectively kill any chance of the bills making it into law before the election. Green MP, Eugenie Sage, stressing that she was speaking as ...
Open access notables The United States experienced some historical low temperature records during the just-concluded winter. It's a reminder that climate and weather are quite noisy; with regard to our warming climate,, as with a road ascending a mountain range we may steadily change our conditions but with lots of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The Nanny State has scored some wins (or claimed them) in the past day or two but it faltered when it came to protecting Kiwi citizens from being savaged by one woman armed with a sharp tongue. The wins are recorded by triumphant ministers on the ...
Sometimes you see your friends making the case so well on social media you think: just copy and share.On acceptance and decency, from Michèle A’CourtA notable thing about anti-trans people is they way they talk about transgender women and men as though they are strangers “over there” when in fact ...
Not that long ago, things were looking pretty good for climate change policy in Aotearoa. We finally had an ETS, and while it was full of pork and subsidies, it was delivering high and ever-rising carbon prices, sending a clear message to polluters to clean up or shut down. And ...
Comparing (and switching) electricity providers has become easier, but bundling power up with broadband and/or gas makes it more challenging. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā TL;DR: The new Consumer Advocacy Council set up as a result of the Labour Government’s Electricity Price Review in 2019 has called on either ...
Hokitika-based Westland Milk Products has put the heat on dairy giant Fonterra with a $120m profit turnaround in 2022, driven by record sales. Westland paid its suppliers a 10c premium above the forecast Fonterra price per kilo, contributing $535m to the West Coast and Canterbury economies. The dairy ...
* Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public ...
New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public office and becoming lobbyists and ...
This is a guest post by accessibility and sustainable transport advocate Tim Adriaansen It originally appeared here. A friend calls you and asks for your help. They tell you that while out and about nearby, they slipped over and landed arms-first. Now their wrist is swollen, hurting like ...
Floating offshore wind turbines offer incredible opportunities to capture powerful winds far out at sea. By unlocking this wind energy potential, they could be a key weapon in our arsenal in the fight against climate change. But how developed are these climate fighting clean energy giants? And why do I ...
Over the past two or three weeks, a procession of Maori iwi and hapu in a series of little-noticed appearances before two Select Committees have been asking for more say for Maori over resource management decisions along the co-governance lines of Three Waters. Their submissions and appearances run counter ...
The decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue war crimes arrest warrants for the Russian President and the Russia Children Ombudsman may have been welcomed by the ideologically committed but otherwise seems to have been greeted with widespread cynicism (see Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants ...
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National Party leader Christopher Luxon may be feeling glum about his poll ratings, but he could be tapping into a rich political vein in describing the current state of education as “alarming”. Luxon said educational achievement has been declining, with a recent NCEA pilot exposing just how far it has ...
Way Beyond Reform: Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have no more interest in remaining permanent members of “New Zealand’s” House of Representatives than did Lenin and Trotsky in remaining permanent members of Tsar Nicolas II’s “democratically-elected” Duma. Like the Bolsheviks, Te Pāti Māori is a party of revolutionaries – not reformists.THE CROWN ...
Buzz from the Beehive Auckland was wiped off the map, when Education Minister Jan Tinetti delivered her speech of welcome as host of the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers “here in Tāmaki Makaurau”. But – fair to say – a reference was made later in the speech to a ...
Morning mate, how you going?Well, I was watching the news last night and they announced this scientific report on Climate Change. But before they got to it they had a story about the new All Blacks coach.Sounds like important news. It’s a bit of a worry really.Yeah, they were talking ...
Always a bailout: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Government would fully guarantee all savers in all smaller US banks if needed. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: No wonder an entire generation of investors are used to ‘buying the dip’ and ‘holding on for dear life’. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ...
Wealthy vested interests have an oversized influence on political decisions in New Zealand. Partly that’s due to their use of corporate lobbyists. Fortunately, the influence lobbyists can have on decisions made by politicians is currently under scrutiny in Guyon Espiner’s in-depth series published by RNZ. Two of Espiner’s research exposés ...
Yesterday afternoon it rained and traffic around the region ground to a halt, once again highlighting why it is so important that our city gets on with improving the alternatives to driving. For additional irony, this happened on the same day the IPCC synthesis report landed, putting the focus on ...
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Hi,From an incredibly rainy day in Los Angeles, I just wanted to check in. I guess this is the day Trump may or may not end up in cuffs? I’m attempting a somewhat slower, less frenzied week. I’ve had Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record on non-stop, and it’s been a ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
RNZ has been shining their torch into corners where lobbyists lurk and asking such questions as: Do we like the look of this?and Is this as democratic as it could be?These are most certainly questions worth asking, and every bit as valid as, say:Are weshortchanged democratically by the way ...
RNZ has continued its look at the role of lobbyists by taking a closer look at the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Andrew Kirton. He used to work for liquor companies, opposing (among other things) a container refund scheme which would have required them to take responsibility for their own ...
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James Shaw gave the Green party's annual "state of the planet" address over the weekend, in which he expressed frustration with Labour for not doing enough on climate change. His solution is to elect more Green MPs, so they have more power within any government arrangement, and can hold Labour ...
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Nick Matzke writes – Dear NZ Herald, I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. I teach evolutionary biology, but I also have long experience in science education and (especially) political attempts to insert pseudoscience into science curricula in ...
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Buzz from the Beehive The building of financial capability was brought into our considerations when Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced she had dipped into the government’s coffers for $3 million for “providers” to help people and families access community-based Building Financial Capability services. That wording suggests some ...
Do you ever come across something that makes you go Hmmmm?You mean like the song?No, I wasn’t thinking of the song, but I am now - thanks for that. I was thinking of things you read or hear that make you stop and go Hmmmm.Yeah, I know what you mean, ...
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When word went out that Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would be making an announcement about Stuart Nash on the tiles at parliament at 2:45pm yesterday, the assumption was that it was over. That we had reached tipping point for Nash’s time as minister. But by 3pm - when, coincidentally, the ...
Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go on to attack physics by citing Newton.So ...
Photo by Walker Fenton on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on Riverside (we’ve moved from Zoom) for our chat about the week’s news with ...
In a nice bit of news, my 2550-word deindustrial science-fiction piece, The Dream of Florian Neame, has been accepted for publication at New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). I have published there before, of course, with Of Tin and Tintagel coming out last year. While I still await the ...
In response to Newshub and Amelia Wade’s obvious and ham-fisted attempt at a typical and predicted political hit job. As any politically aware reporter would know, any Cabinet subcommittee has a duty and obligation as a part of any government to respond to any UN declaration, in this case ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today and in your busy lives turning up to this meeting. Forty five years ago, in Howick, often described as racist, and where few Maori lived because it had been a ‘Fencible’ settlement at the time of the Anglo-Maori ...
The Green Party has marked the National Party’s new education policy and given it a fail, especially for its failure to address the underlying drivers of school performance. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
You will never truly understand, from the pictures you’ve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
We’re boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
“Cabinet needs to do better - and today has shown exactly why we need Green Ministers in cabinet, so we can prioritise action to cut climate pollution and support people to make ends meet,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. ...
Biggest increase in food prices for over three decades shows the need for an excess profit tax on corporations to help people put food on the table. ...
The Green Party has today launched a submission guide to help Aucklanders give crucial input and prevent potentially disastrous Auckland Council budget proposals. ...
With calls growing for inquiries and action on bank profits, the Greens say the Government has all the information it needs to act now and put a levy on banks. ...
As large parts of Aotearoa recover from two of the worst climate disasters we have ever experienced, it would be a huge mistake for the Government to deprioritise climate action from future transport investments, the Green Party says. ...
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little has delivered the Crown apology to Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua for its historic breaches of Te Tiriti of Waitangi today. The ceremony was held at Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton, hosted by Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-a-Rua, with several hundred ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta has concluded her visit to China, the first by a New Zealand Foreign Minister since 2018. The Minister met her counterpart, newly appointed State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, who also hosted a working dinner. This was the first engagement between the two ...
World-class satellite positioning services that will support much safer search and rescue, boost precision farming, and help safety on construction sites through greater accuracy are a significant step closer today, says Land Information Minister Damien O’Connor. Damien O’Connor marked the start of construction on New Zealand’s first uplink centre for ...
Attorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Christopher John Dellabarca of Wellington, Dr Katie Jane Elkin of Wellington, Caroline Mary Hickman of Napier, Ngaroma Tahana of Rotorua, Tania Rose Williams Blyth of Hamilton and Nicola Jan Wills of Wellington as District Court Judges. Chris Dellabarca Mr Dellabarca commenced his ...
A new Government-backed project will help ocean-related businesses in the Nelson Tasman region to accelerate their growth and boost jobs. “The Nelson Tasman region is home to more than 400 blue economy businesses, accounting for more than 30 percent of New Zealand’s economic activity in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing,” ...
After three years of COVID-19 disruptions schools are finally settling down and National want to throw that all in the air with major disruption to learning and underinvestment. “National’s education policy lacks the very thing teachers, parents and students need after a tough couple of years, certainty and stability,” Education ...
People aged over 50 with innovative business ideas will now be able to receive support to advance their ideas to the next stage of development, Minister for Seniors Ginny Andersen said today. “Seniors have some great entrepreneurial ideas, and this programme will give them the support to take that next ...
A cross government target for relevant government procurement contracts for goods and services to be awarded to Māori businesses annually will increase to 8%, after the initial 5% target was exceeded. The progressive procurement policy was introduced in 2020 to increase supplier diversity, starting with Māori businesses, for the estimated ...
77,000 fewer children living in low income households on the after-housing-costs primary measure since Labour took office Eight of the nine child poverty measures have seen a statistically significant reduction since 2018. All nine have reduced 28,700 fewer children experiencing material hardship since 2018 Measures taken by the Government during ...
Deputy Prime Minister Kamikamica; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Tēnā koutou katoa, ni sa bula vinaka saka, namaste. Deputy Prime Minister, a very warm welcome to Aotearoa. I trust you have been enjoying your time here and thank you for joining us here today. To all delegates who have travelled to be ...
$2.9 million convertible loan for Scapegrace Distillery to meet growing national and international demand $4.5m underwrite to support Silverlight Studios’ project to establish a film studio in Wanaka Gore’s James Cumming Community Centre and Library to be official opened tomorrow with support of $3m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has today launched the first national EV (electric vehicle) charging strategy, Charging Our Future, which includes plans to provide EV charging stations in almost every town in New Zealand. “Our vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have world-class EV charging infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, ...
Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan has today launched the Love Better campaign in a world-leading approach to family harm prevention. Love Better will initially support young people through their experience of break-ups, developing positive and life-long attitudes to dealing with hurt. “Over 1,200 young kiwis told ...
Hon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealand’s first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. “This appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealand’s wider coronial system.” Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...
The Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. “The Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...
E te huia kaimanawa, ko Ngāpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao Māori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo Māori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is Ngāpuhi who ...
113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Government’s investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...
The Government’s priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited ...
E nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kātoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...
The new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi Raupō received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. “It’s an honour ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the country’s second P-8A Poseidon aircraft alongside personnel at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Base at Ohakea today. “With two of the four P-8A Poseidons now on home soil this marks another significant milestone in the Government’s historic investment in ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further humanitarian support to those seriously affected by last month’s deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “The 6 February earthquakes have had devastating consequences, with almost 18 million people affected. More than 53,000 people have died and tens of thousands more ...
Migrant communities across New Zealand are represented in the new Migrant Community Reference Group that will help shape immigration policy going forward, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced today. “Since becoming Minister, a reoccurring message I have heard from migrants is the feeling their voice has often been missing around policy ...
Construction has begun on major works that will deliver significant safety improvements on State Highway 3 from Waitara to Bell Block, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan announced today. “This is an important route for communities, freight and visitors to Taranaki but too many people have lost their lives or ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has today appointed Ginny Andersen as Minister of Police. “Ginny Andersen has a strong and relevant background in this important portfolio,” Chris Hipkins said. “Ginny Andersen worked for the Police as a non-sworn staff member for around 10 years and has more recently been chair of ...
Six further bailey bridge sites confirmed Four additional bridge sites under consideration 91 per cent of damaged state highways reopened Recovery Dashboards for impacted regions released The Government has responded quickly to restore lifeline routes after Cyclone Gabrielle and can today confirm that an additional six bailey bridges will ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for China tomorrow, where she will meet with her counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in Beijing. This will be the first visit by a New Zealand Minister to China since 2019, and follows the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions between New Zealand and China. ...
Education Ministers from across the Pacific will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau this week to share their collective knowledge and strategic vision, for the benefit of ākonga across the region. New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti will host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) for three days from today, ...
A vital transport link for communities and local businesses has been restored following Cyclone Gabrielle with the reopening of State Highway 5 (SH5) between Napier and Taupō, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan says. SH5 reopened to all traffic between 7am and 7pm from today, with closure points at SH2 (Kaimata ...
Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds has thanked generous New Zealanders who took part in the special Lotto draw for communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Held on Saturday night, the draw raised $11.7 million with half of all ticket sales going towards recovery efforts. “In a time of need, New Zealanders ...
The Government has announced funding of $3 million for providers to help people, and whānau access community-based Building Financial Capability services. “Demand for Financial Capability Services is growing as people face cost of living pressures. Those pressures are increasing further in areas affected by flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,” Minister for ...
Minister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti, has announced appointments to the Board of Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao. Tracey Bridges is joining the Board as the new Chair and Dr Therese Arseneau will be a new member. Current members Dr Linda Sissons CNZM and Daniel Wilson have ...
Fifteen ākonga Māori from across Aotearoa have been awarded the prestigious Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships and Awards for 2023, Associate Education Minister and Ngarimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The recipients include doctoral, masters’ and undergraduate students. Three vocational training students and five wharekura students, ...
High Court Judge Jillian Maree Mallon has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and District Court Judge Andrew John Becroft QSO has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Mallon graduated from Otago University in 1988 with an LLB (Hons), and with ...
The economy has continued to show its resilience despite today’s GDP figures showing a modest decline in the December quarter, leaving the Government well positioned to help New Zealanders face cost of living pressures in a challenging global environment. “The economy had grown strongly in the two quarters before this ...
Aucklanders now have more ways to get around as Transport Minister Michael Wood opened the direct State Highway 1 (SH1) to State Highway 18 (SH18) underpass today, marking the completion of the 48-kilometre Western Ring Route (WRR). “The Government is upgrading New Zealand’s transport system to make it safer, more ...
This section contains briefings received by incoming ministers following changes to Cabinet in January. Some information may have been withheld in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982. Where information has been withheld that is indicated within the document. ...
Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta reaffirmed her commitment to working together with the new Government of Fiji on issues of shared importance, including on the prioritisation of climate change and sustainability, at a meeting today, in Nadi. Fiji and Aotearoa New Zealand’s close relationship is underpinned by the Duavata ...
The Government is delivering a coastal shipping lifeline for businesses, residents and the primary sector in the cyclone-stricken regions of Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan announced today. The Rangitata vessel has been chartered for an emergency coastal shipping route between Gisborne and Napier, with potential for ...
The Government will progress to the next stage of the NZ Battery Project, looking at the viability of pumped hydro as well as an alternative, multi-technology approach as part of the Government’s long term-plan to build a resilient, affordable, secure and decarbonised energy system in New Zealand, Energy and Resources ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Dean Lewins/AAP With 36% of enrolled voters counted in today’s New South Wales state election, the Poll Bludger’s results currently ...
A former entertainment mecca in the middle of Auckland is up for grabs. The problem? It’s been run into the ground. Have you got spare cash sitting around? Do you want to buy something grand, something special? How does a nine-storey complex covering 3,486 square metres in the middle of ...
Posey Parker appeared in Auckland today for a brief few moments, but it was clear that she was going to have a hard time being heard above thousands of people exercising their own right to free speech The streets of Auckland’s city centre were thick today with the noise of tubas, ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson was knocked to the ground by a motorcyclist who appeared to fail to stop at a pedestrian crossing after today's counter-protest against Posie Parker. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson was struck by a passing motorcycle this morning as she protested Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s rally event at Albert Park. Davidson was standing on Princes St holding a sign reading “trans solidarity” when a band of motorcyclists, there in support of Brian and Hannah Tamaki’s Vision NZ, ...
By Krishneel Nair in Suva“The most important thing from my perspective is a strategic partnership — a partnership where the media should not be seen as the enemy or a nuisance.” This was the view of the Communications Fiji Ltd news director and Fijian Media Association executive Vijay Narayan ...
The noise began long before Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (AKA Posie Parker) arrived. Despite an 11am scheduled start time to her planned rally to “speak for women”, the Albert Park rotunda was surrounded by 10.30. But the crowd was not there to see or hear her. A truck parked at the entrance ...
Chris Schulz on the nearly three-hours of joy Keanu Reeves’ latest non-stop orgy of violence brings. This is an excerpt from our pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up to have it delivered to your inbox every Friday here. Keanu Reeves has annihilated the place. In what appears to be ...
Teacher unions have criticised National's curriculum plan, but the party was targeting concerned parents and his political opponent, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. ...
Don’t underestimate the significance of TVNZ’s new documentary series about Kai Kara-France, a fighter acclaimed on the world stage but still criminally underrated at home, writes Don Rowe. In 2015, when I first profiled Kai Kara-France for the now-defunct Mana magazine, he told me he’d never wanted to sign with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Justin Lloyd/AAP The New South Wales state election is today. Polls close at 6pm AEDT. Votes cast on election day ...
If current trends continue, by 2053 half of retirement-age New Zealanders will be renters. Right now, options for over-65s who don’t own their own home are limited.This story was first published on Stuff. What’s life like when you reach retirement age, but don’t own a home of your own? Most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Feigin, Postdoctoral Fellow in Genomics and Evolution, The University of Melbourne Anom Harya/ShutterstockShoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land on the next tree. Many groups of mammals seem to have taken this evolutionary advice to ...
When a big corporate is alarmed about possible law changes, it asks its well-connected lobbyist to intervene. A text message exchange between a Cabinet Minister and his lobbyist "mate" follows. ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend This week, it's What's Up With ADHD?, written by Mirjam Guesgen and published in North & South's April 2023 issue. You can find the full article, with illustrations by Rachel Salazar, in this month’s issue of North & South. Once a condition ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend This week, it's What's Up With ADHD?, written by Mirjam Guesgen and published in North & South's April 2023 issue. You can find the full article, with illustrations by Rachel Salazar, in this month’s issue of North & South. Once a condition ...
"He imagines the rattling windows of his bach": a sad seaside saga by Majella Cullinane Màiri watches him as he walks down the hill next to her house. The man appears gradually – first his head covered in a tweed cap and earphones, then the unkempt hair and beard, ...
"He imagines the rattling windows of his bach": a sad seaside saga by Majella Cullinane Màiri watches him as he walks down the hill next to her house. The man appears gradually – first his head covered in a tweed cap and earphones, then the unkempt hair and beard, ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we looked at how our top authors make a living writing books, the sky-high fares coming from independent taxi drivers, how the people of Muriwai are putting their lives back together post-Cyclone Gabrielle, why a Levin chocolate maker is ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we looked at how our top authors make a living writing books, the sky-high fares coming from independent taxi drivers, how the people of Muriwai are putting their lives back together post-Cyclone Gabrielle, why a Levin chocolate maker is ...
The popularity of stories about unhappy rich people says more about our need to view them that way than it does about how they experience their livesOpinion:Succession is returning to Aotearoa’s television screens. It joins other portrayals of the emotional traumas that come from having far, far too ...
The popularity of stories about unhappy rich people says more about our need to view them that way than it does about how they experience their livesOpinion:Succession is returning to Aotearoa’s television screens. It joins other portrayals of the emotional traumas that come from having far, far too ...
Not content with transforming KiwiSaver, Simplicity is now planning to out-build Kāinga Ora. Duncan Greive meets a pair of of unlikely revolutionaries trying to fix housing – a task which seems impossible, even for the state itself.In September of 2020, a builder named Shane Brealey sat down and typed ...
The Auckland Writers Festival has just launched its 23rd programme, the first since Covid to include its signature line-up of visiting international writers. With 160 events to choose from, here’s books editor Claire Mabey’s top 10 to help you navigate your way through the lit fest universe.Straight Up: Ruby ...
Taking her her young family around the world as she rows is a key factor in Emma Twigg's decision to defend her Olympic single sculls title at next year's Paris Olympics. And, Andy Hay writes, the next Emma Twigg could be waiting in the wings at the Maadi Cup next week. ...
The Fijian Drua will need to start and finish well, while Moana Pasifika’s coach wants to see a full 80-minute performance this weekend as the two regional teams continue their Super Rugby Pacific campaigns. The Drua tackle the Highlanders in Dunedin today and Pasifika face the Hurricanes at Mt Smart ...
By Todagia Kelola in Port Moresby A number of small contractors in Papua New Guinea are still waiting for positive feedback for money owed to them by government agencies after 12 years. A 2015 Post-Courier front page picture showed a man, David Goli, who chained himself at the then headquarters ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Beryl Exley, Professor, Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University, Griffith University Shutterstock Last August, the federal government set up an expert panel to look at the continuous improvement agenda in teacher education in Australia. The panel, led by ...
The New Zealand First leader took to the altar of an East Auckland church today to set out his 2023 election agenda. It was, as Stewart Sowman-Lund found out, pretty much what you’d expect. Winston Peters rolled into Howick today with a state of the nation speech that, he claimed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Wardle, Professor of Public Health, Southern Cross University Shutterstock Earlier this week, Australian retail giant Woolworths announced a move into health-care delivery via development of its subsidiary HealthyLife’s online portal. Through this portal, Australians can book a same-day ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters - eyeing a political comeback - has used a scene-setting speech in Auckland warning against a "conceited, conniving, cultural cabal". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Peterson, Adjunct Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology The Sheep Song.Tim Standing/Daylight Breaks/Adelaide Festival Few Adelaideans remember a time before the Adelaide Festival. Formed in 1960 as a civic enterprise and financed against loss by prominent Adelaide businessmen, the ...
Analysis - The Greens lay down a challenge as the minor parties approach an election in which both National and Labour are going to need coalition partners to form a government, writes Peter Wilson. ...
By Arieta Vakasukawaqa in Suva Communications Fiji Ltd (CFL) chair William Parkinson has called for a repeal of Fiji’s Media Industry Development Act 2010 and more discussion on the proposed Media Ownership and Registration Bill 2023. He said this during a public consultation on the review of MIDA Act 2010 ...
High Court Justice David Gendall regretfully allows anti-trans activist to enter New Zealand, but warns the expression of her views may be harmful to our vulnerable rainbow community. Jonathan Milne does his best to be civil.Opinion: Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull calls herself Posie Parker. And that's what I'm going to call her. Because she is ...
It’s about time somebody made a wacky TV show about how bonkers spelling is. Enter comedian Guy Montgomery and his Guy Mont Spelling Bee. The three years since Covid-19 began have been pretty rocky, but one of the best things to come out of the chaos was Guy Montgomery’s Guy ...
Te Rōpū Mātai Hinengaro o Aotearoa, The New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS) stands beside LGBTQIA+ and Takatāpui communities rallying against anti-trans rhetoric in light of the impending visit of Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (Posie Parker). We are ...
Earlier this month, everybody’s favourite Monster of the Week series Married at First Sight Australia toppled 1News to become the highest rating television show for New Zealand viewers aged 25-54. The controversial reality series garnered an average audience of 137,000, or 6.7% audience share from March 5 until March 11. ...
It’s the most wonderful time of the year for feijoa lovers – here’s how to make the most of it.Fragrant and sweet, with a delicate jelly centre surrounded by gritty, tangy flesh, all encased in a green sour skin. My parents’ feijoa tree has just dropped its first fruit, ...
A new poem by poet and novelist Maggie Rainey-Smith. Bang a Drum We’ve hit Gentle Annie passed the pub at Okaramio and on the left, at Wakapuaka there’s Sunnybank where parents left their children An oddly named orphanage manned (ha) by Nuns childless women in black habits, scapula, cowls and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cathy Buntting, Director, Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato Getty Images Less than a fortnight after teachers staged a national strike, education was back in the headlines with the National Party’s release of its curriculum policy – ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)Number one in both ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision of the High Court to reject the application to overrule the decision of the Minister of Immigration to allow Kellie-Jay entry into New Zealand. This was the only right result for a nation that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fan Yang, Research Associate at RMIT and Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University Baidu’s ERNIE Bot was launched to considerable disappointment.Ng Han Guan / AP On March 16, Baidu unveiled China’s latest rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT – ERNIE Bot (short for “Enhanced ...
By Meri Radinibaravi in Suva Former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has told The Fiji Times to ask the Republic of Fiji Military Forces about claims that his bodyguards were allowed to take guns on to Fiji Link flights without proper authorisation. “I understand that there’s some enquiries going on regarding that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University Installation view of Troy Emery’s work Mountain climber 2022 on display as part of the Melbourne Now exhibition at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne from 24 March – 20 August ...
National’s education policy reinforces an old-fashioned and hierarchical curriculum that does lasting harm to many students, writes educational specialist Dr Sarah Aiono. Announcing the National Party’s new education policy this week, leader Christopher Luxon cited a recent NCEA pilot in which two-thirds of students were unable to meet the minimum ...
Attempts by rainbow groups to stop an anti-trans campaigner entering the country have failed. The High Court has dismissed a judicial review application from Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT Kōara and Auckland Pride, aimed at the immigration minister for allowing Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull into New Zealand. As part of the application, the ...
The High Court is this morning considering an interim order that would prevent an anti-trans campaigner from making it into New Zealand. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull is expected to arrive on our shores today ahead of two planned rallies in Auckland and Wellington over the weekend. After immigration officials deemed her safe ...
I was disappointed to see yesterday afternoon’s announcement that Auckland has chosen to leave Local Government NZ (LGNZ). Hamilton’s membership of LGNZ is one of collaboration and sharing. Being a member gives us important views from other ...
It’s the most talked about local opera production in years – but does it live up to the chatter?The lowdownYou’ve probably heard of the “unruly tourists”, the British family who created a media firestorm as they toured around the country leaving trash and turmoil in their wake. You’ve ...
As reported by Newsroom’s Marc Daalder this morning, correspondence released under the Official Information Act shows advice about puberty blockers was removed from the Ministry of Health website “in the hopes it creates fewer queries” from anti-trans campaigners. The line that was removed from the site said puberty blockers “are ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: NZ needs to distance itself from Australia’s anti-China nuclear submarines The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The ...
Secondary teachers will strike again next week after an agreement on improved pay and working conditions was not reached. The strike will take place on Wednesday, less than two weeks after thousands of educators took to the streets across the country. “PPTA Te Wehengarua members have shown they are serious ...
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission is encouraging organisations and individuals to share their views on human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand for the government’s upcoming report to the United Nations. The report informs a process ...
Secondary and area school teachers around the country have voted overwhelmingly in favour of more industrial action, including a one day national strike next Wednesday, in support of their collective agreement negotiations. “PPTA Te Wehengarua members ...
At a time when our need for collective action is stronger than ever, Auckland Council has opted out to save each of its residents just 25c a year, writes former Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins.I grew up in rural Southland, in the shadows of the Cut The Cable movement. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Jakoboski, Oceanographic Data Scientist, Moana Project’s Te Tiro Moana Team Lead, MetService — Te Ratonga Tirorangi Moana project, CC BY-ND The world’s oceans are buffering us from the worst climate impacts by taking up more than 90% of the ...
Morning Report - RNZ and Newsroom's political editors consider National's education pitch, and the political responses to lobbying revelations and Posie Parker. ...
The Free Speech Union will be an intervener this morning as the High Court considers whether Immigration New Zealand's decision to allow Posie Parker (Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull) entry into New Zealand was legal, says Jonathan Ayling, Chief Executive of the Free ...
For over a decade, Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club has come under fire for denying entry to people wearing religious headwear. Despite the Human Rights Commission getting involved, it seems the rule remains unchanged.One of the definitions given by the Oxford dictionary for the word cosmopolitan is: “including people from many ...
Chris Hipkins’ dump of Ardern-era policy has potentially jeopardised a major part of the government’s climate change response. In this week’s episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks to climate policy expert Christina Hood from Climate Compass to find out why this month’s Emissions Trading Scheme auction failed and ...
The head of Local Government NZ, the group representing councils across the country, has hit back at claims made by Auckland mayor Wayne Brown. It was his casting vote that saw Auckland Council leave the representative group yesterday evening, with councillors divided on whether or not it was the right ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Al-Tamini Tapu, Geoscientist, The University of Queensland Warrumbungle national park.colinslack/Shutterstock Our new study published in Nature Geoscience on an ancient chain of Australian volcanoes is helping to change our understanding of “hotspot” volcanism. You may be surprised to learn eastern ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University There’s been a lot of recent shouting about Australia’s national security policy. It began with the Nine newspapers’ “Red Alert” extravaganza, spread over multiple articles. Featuring a graphic of warplanes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Goldlust, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University Shutterstock Earlier this month, regulators flagged electricity price rises in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Like many people, you’re probably wondering how you can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Veal, Adjunct Professor, Business School, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock A little more than a century ago, most people in industrialised countries worked 60 hours a week – six ten-hour days. A 40-hour work week of five eight-hour days ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xavier Ho, Lecturer in Interaction Design, Monash University Sony Entertainment Mainstream games are embracing openly queer characters – and so are many of their players and fans. The Last of Us, the prestige HBO adaptation of the critically lauded ...
The capital’s transport overhaul will have spent $130 million on consultant fees by the end of next year, Stuff reports. Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) expects to spend $60 million on outside experts in the coming year, after already spending $38.5m in the past three years and $35m this year. Greater ...
Chris Hipkins’ dump of Ardern-era policy has potentially jeopardised a major part of the government’s climate change response. Bernard Hickey talks to climate policy expert Christina Hood from Climate Compass to find out why this month’s Emissions Trading Scheme auction failed and how she feels cabinet have destroyed confidence in ...
Christopher Luxon says the policy is what’s needed to address serious issues with reading, writing and maths in primary schools. Others aren’t so sure, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.Back ...
Although Auckland Council’s big cleanup following this year’s extreme weather events continues, “things are getting more difficult at this point”. Five weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle, some 7,000 Aucklanders remain impacted by the aftermath of the floods, slips and heavy winds that battered the region in January and February. Auckland Council’s ...
A traffic bypass stole 20,000 potential daily visitors from its main streets and local businesses. Three years on, how are the Waikato town’s 9,000 residents coping?The tourism centre is closed – “permanently”, says the sign. The cafe next door, once called River Haven, now with two missing letters making ...
The Women of Pike River doco exposes…
The laws failed to protect the 29 men. Why doesn’t the chief law-maker take some responsibility?
The owners failed to protect the 29 men. Why don’t the owners take some responsibility?
Governments – irresponsible and not trustworthy
Owners – irresponsible and not trustworthy
Failures all round
Complete and deadly failures from our current system.
THE CURRENT SYSTEM IS FUCKED
Yup and the system failed to hold anyone accountable which was no surprise at all with this owned govt.
Yep V. Just disgusting all round.
Of all the promises Key has broken, his promises to these courageous families are the very worst example of his natural venality.
Key’s legacy is a trail of snail slime across all we hold dear and decent.
Brilliant in-depth documentary making; so rare in these tabloid days. Here if you missed it:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/content/tvnz/ondemand/shows/t/the-women-of-pike-river.html
Brave natural warriors, defeated by unnatural justice and criminality.
Last nights doco is essential viewing. Thanks for posting it rawshark-yeshe, for those that missed it.
The grief, already unbearable for some of those women, is made so much worse by the massive injustice of no justice, no accountability, no burial for the men, an uncaring government and Key’s lies and insincerity.
Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary. Love and respect to all families.
I would also recommend the Dreams Lie Deeper doco
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/ondemand/dreams-lie-deeper/19-11-2014/series-special-episode-1
Yep.
No respect to John Key or government
No respect to owners
No respect to people who support and vote for this neoliberal system.
Shameful. Especially as these people are the ones who constantly call for accountability and responsibility from so many others. Scum bastards
“No respect to people who support and vote for this neoliberal system.”
vto. I have some real confusion about the National supporting voting patterns of the West Coast.
They were betrayed and mislead by the Key Government. Forget about what damage the Key regime has done to NZ society in general, It IS personal, in their communities. Surely they can see that, but then post Pike River, in 2011 and then in 2014 they party voted National in the 44% – ish range.
Why did they do that? Why did the community not stand in solidarity with the victims and do their bit to vote the bastards that betrayed them out?
Here’s the link to election results:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/mpp/electorates/data/DBHOH_Lib_EP_West_Coast-Tasman_Electoral_Profile/west-coast-tasman-electoral-profile#_40
Don’t know Rosie, all I can put it down to is a lack of knowledge, understanding and thinking….
I have a family member who always votes National yet complains about the things they do. When questioned on why the continued support the answer is nowhere to be seen amongst the mumbling and excuses ….
With Pike River, very few people understand how the situation arose. It takes time to read, consider and come to a conclusion – few people do that. They only allocate time for a wave, pandas and flags.
What’s your family member’s occupation vto, out of interest?
You’re probably quite right. Even so, you would not have had to read the commissions findings or Rebecca McFie’s excellent book, if you lived in the area, instead, relying on local talk, I would have thought.
I throw my hands up. Really, I do.
PS. One thing that did bring a little smile to my face watching the doco last night was seeing Jo Hall in the background of some of the shots, outside the hall Key was entering and in a meeting room. I couldn’t see all the writing on her t shirt but you could see FERAL on part of it. Whatever it said in full, it must have been a fingers up to Slater.
Good on her. She suffered so much. losing so many sons and those bastards (Key and Slater) kicked her while she was down.
It seems strange that those who break even the most minor laws are examined, taken through the Courts and punished without fear or favour. Except for those who ran Pike River. Very alarming.
Agree with all of the above. Pike River is shocking in every way.
No justice has been served.
Great result against bad New Zealand Corporate Talley’s, locked out workers gain a win. Interesting to see the details of the Employment Courts finding today.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/289923/meatworkers-win-dispute-with-affco
Awesome work from the Unions there, and I sincerely hope that the Maori lrunholders who were called on to boycott Talley’s for supply do so.
I never, ever buy Talley’s anything at the supermarket.
Talley’s probably shold have focused on their workers rather than the Royal visit…
Yes, a rare bit of great news yesterday! Well done workers for hanging in there for what was a really hard slog up against the Talleys.
Obama to Key re TPP…….” Well done ‘my son’ “.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11546856
Kelvin Davis…..I guess you’re noting that cheap old “my son” line in Parliament the other day was never original.
From the article you link:
‘They will talk about a formal signing ceremony early next year and how other countries may join the existing grouping of 12 TPP countries’
It’s not signed yet.
Remind everyone you know.
Dairy prices in decline again.
Kids living in garages.
Unemployment expected to stay high.
Who will Bennett and English blame next?
Beneficiaries
Lazy workers
The Labour Party
The GFC
The Christchurch earthquakes
Other
What distraction will Key pull out of the Crosby Textor handbook next?
Polar bears and pandas
A surprise visit by Will and Kate
The knighting of the whole All Black team
A selfie with Barack Obama
Declaring war on Syria
Another Instagram by Max?
Other
Everybody except the bludgers responsible.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11546915
As someone who feels a little like a pakeha tuhoe and would love to see the uruwera lifted out of the doldrems this is very interesting.
BTW Mr Climo is the reason I love reading .and I’ve meet Nikapuru several times .
Nice one b, that’s a very interesting read and good to see something a bit more indepth. The thing that stands out for me is the core of it is Tūhoe identity and the importance of maintaining culture.
There’s going to be a challenge for lefties. It’s time we started seeing iwi as having governance rights rather than being private enterprises. If Tūhoe want to manage welfare, education, health etc for their people, let them.
I’m a strong believer in the state providing for the common good, but it’s obvious now that the state is no longer competent at many of those things. Let Māori lead the way on this. The tricky thing is going to be the power structures used, but for Māori at least it’s hard to see them being any worse off than they are now.
Looking at your last paragraph made me click on b waghorn’s link out of interest, but it is coming up with an error notice. I’m wondering if the article is about Tuhoe self governance.
They have a strong and proud past of being self sufficient and independent under the leadership of Rua Kenana and his community at Maungapohotu in Te Urewera in the early 20th century.
Tragically this independence caused real irritation among the authorities and had disastrous consequences for the community during Te Urewera’s first Police raids, well before they returned in 2007.
Can yourself or bw direct me to a google search related to the article perhaps?
Looks like the Herald site in general is down, I’d try again a bit later. The article is about the intitiatives that Tūhoe are taking to address the welfare, health and education needs of the people in their rohe, according to their own kaupapa. That includes to what extent they can get the funding to replace state services. It’s definitely worth a read if it comes back.
edit, it’s back now.
Good thanks weka. I’m out of time now but will go back to it when I’m free again.
When it comes to welfare I still don’t have a strong set of opinions due to its complexity but surely a one size fits all method is going to fail.
Nikipuru or Joe as I knew him had his house tipped over in the Tuhoe raids so to come through all he has and be on a positive path is awesome.
It will be very interesting to see how this turns out over the years. All power to Tuhoe if they can give their people’s lives more meaning. I wonder if they can create some sort of Co-op scheme where they house and feed their people in return for modest labour or casual work.
I think they’ll take a more holistic approach to governance and will be much more adaptive. Considering most of the rest of the country’s ruling institutions are enslaved to neo-liberal ideas, Tuhoe might get through the economic and climate disasters that the 21st century throws at us the best.
I dont think privatization of social services into the hands of a tribal elite is going to help anyone. It seems to me that Tamiti Kruger wants his own fiefdom and control the lives of those in his rohe.
Have you got any evidence he’s just in it for himself.? Is it possible that trying something else might work.?
Listening on the news this morning about Auckland’s homeless, hearing the Salvation Army spokeswoman talking of a homeless family living in a Housing Corp garage being evicted from it. They had a child who had a terminal illness and the S.A. lady was saying that Housing Corp could have at least allowed them to stay in the garage.
What a vindictive, nasty underbelly we have in this country in our Government social agencies. What is this punishing element getting out of kicking people out of their homes because their income cannot support housing rents. Very saddening that it has become a “punishment regime” they are now putting in place. Vindictive is all I can say about evicting a family out of a garage and on to the street with a very sick child who needs vital warmth and a roof over its head. The people seen sleeping on the streets is a national disgrace.
We, each and every one of us is a heart beat away from homelessness from many different circumstances. We should be very very afraid.
+1
Perhaps someone could ask Paula Rebstock how these families are to survive when their rent is about the same as her hourly rate of pay.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/289946/minister-wanted-to-pay-panel-chair-$3000-a-day
It bodes ill for Natrad airing these stories…http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/289945/akl-kids-sleeping-in-cars-and-garages
The “vindictive, nasty underbelly” WK comes not only from the elected representatives but also from those who have been part of the bureaucracy for years.
These “public servants” can be so removed from the real world that they forget they are making policy that actually puts the lives of children at risk.
Perhaps they really don’t care.
(I have looked in the eyes of some of these public servants..cold, dead, and happy to condemn)
Rosemary I think its a bit rich this country calling Australia in for their Human Rights abuses with Christmas Island – what about the basic Human Right of having a roof over one’s head. Absolutely appalling the track this Government is going down – reminds me of Rachett Ruth in the ’90’s.
I wonder how low the National voters of this country will stoop before their conscience and moral compass sees the light – it will take the AK housing market to crash and then lets see them whinging. Sickening.
I’m sure that many would be happy with the return of the poorhouses and even with outright slavery. Some don’t actually have a conscience.
While they’re so alive with the ‘Cocktail Party Grimace’ and the “Gorgeous Darling…..” and the fucking ‘Double Shot’ coffee wank. Pigs ! All of them !
“Well you must admit……many of these people just don’t want to work……wah wah wah”
While their fucking idols the Talleys are found guilty of bad faith in the workplace thereby shitting on a fundamental plank of The Law while His Gaucheness gives the Big Talley the knighthood quid pro quo the funding.
And Marie Antoinette Tolley plumps for three times the already outrageous grand a day of public money for soldier Rebstock to produce the goods politically convenient for her.
Where the fuck are we ? Haiti ? Papa Doc ? We’re meant to respect their daubed gargoyles ?
well said
Anyone else getting multiple Pledgeme Scoop requests? 5 more late last night?
Josie Pagani tweeted that ISIS is worse than TPP but you can’t tell that from the protests.
Has she taken to the streets for anything in the last 20 years? Her sneering disregard for those who choose to protest is frightening in one who claims such strong Labour affiliations. I wonder if she tweeted it from a cafe in a wealthy area while she supped coffee during a wroking day.
Sounds like she should be joining our troops in Taji cheering them on. Ignoring hospitals that get caught in the crossfire and the like. She is on a war footing and the baddies need to be wiped off the face of the earth.
“Josie Pagani tweeted that ISIS is worse than TPP but you can’t tell that from the protests.”
But Josie…New Zealand isn’t signing up with ISIS……………
and our PM has been fighting the war on terrorism for months or years, hasn’t he? That’s why we sent troops, that’s why we have to be surveilled. It’s like Josie doesn’t know that ISIS is being eradicated already.
Pagani is a fraudulent thing. Just like that other goon who departed his claimed leftist roots years ago but still flaunts and vaunts.
which one? 😉
For those of you interested in learning more about the events in Paris I’ll be on Raglan radio at 9:35 am. That is in five minutes:
http://www.raglanradio.com/
http://www.warrenphotographic.co.uk/photography/bigs/33610-Young-Grey-Squirrel-with-wicker-basket-of-hazel-nuts-white-background.jpg
who shot jfk poppy?
Lee harvey Oswald’s squirrel.
RWNJ with tall tail.
Currently – I’m over in Brisbane at the 2015 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference.
However – Im taking the time to post this ‘Whistle-blower ALERT’ – which may be controversial to some people.
So be it.
Please be reminded of the following?
STATE housing is PUBLIC.
SOCIAL housing is PRIVATE.
Alan Johnson, Co-convenor of the Child Poverty Action Group, and employee of the Salvation Army, supports SOCIAL housing, and supports the Tamaki Redevelopment Company (TRC).
Please note that the Salvation Army ‘Policy and Research Unit’ – for which Alan Johnson works – is an ‘honorary member’ of the private sector lobby group, the Committee for Auckland.
Check for yourselves.
http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz membership
The TRC is jointly owned by the Crown and Auckland Council (Central and Local Government).
Alan Johnson supports the transfer of 2,800 Housing NZ properties (STATE houses) to the TRC.
(Alan Johnson told me this to my face).
Once these 2,800 STATE houses are transferred to the TRC – the next step will be their privatisation to ‘social housing’ providers / developers.
Beware the ‘weasel words’!
That is why I for one am opposed to the ‘Hikoi for homes’ – because in my view, there is another agenda, a PRIVATISATION agenda happening behind the scenes.
I support some of the work being done by Child Poverty Action Group, but NOT this action on housing.
I’m a ‘whistle-blower’ and will call it as I see it, based upon FACTS and EVIDENCE.
I stand with those directly affected State tenants who are opposing the privatisation of STATE housing, and opposing the TRANSFER of 2,800 Housing NZ properties to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company.
In my view – it is time for a major review and ROLL BACK of neo-liberal ‘Rogernomic$’.
In my view, essential services such as the provision of STATE housing, should be owned, operated and managed under the ‘not for profit’ PUBLIC SERVICE, not the ‘commercialised / corporatised / PRIVATISED ‘model.
Throwing the ‘corporatised’ Housing NZ baby out with the bath water and replacing it with the PRIVATE ‘social housing’ model, in my view is fundamentally flawed.
In my view, STATE housing should remain under public ownership, operation and management, where looking after State tenants and State houses, should be the Numbef One priority.
This WAR on the POOR – has got to stop.
In my view, people need to be aware Remember folks!
STATE housing is PUBLIC.
SOCIAL housing is PRIVATE.
Alan Johnson, Co-convenor of the Child Poverty Action Group, and employee of the Salvation Army, supports SOCIAL housing, and supports the Tamaki Redevelopment Company (TRC).
Please note that the Salvation Army ‘Policy and Research Unit’ – for which Alan Johnson works – is an ‘honorary member’ of the private sector lobby group, the Committee for Auckland.
Check for yourselves.
http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz membership
The TRC is jointly owned by the Crown and Auckland Council (Central and Local Government).
Alan Johnson supports the transfer of 2,800 Housing NZ properties (STATE houses) to the TRC.
(Alan Johnson told me this to my face).
Once these 2,800 STATE houses are transferred to the TRC – the next step will be their privatisation to ‘social housing’ providers / developers.
Beware the ‘weasel words’!
That is why I for one am opposed to the ‘Hikoi for homes’ – because in my view, there is another agenda, a PRIVATISATION agenda happening behind the scenes.
I support some of the work being done by Child Poverty Action Group, but NOT this action on housing.
I’m a ‘whistle-blower’ and will call it as I see it, based upon FACTS and EVIDENCE.
I stand with those directly affected State tenants who are opposing the privatisation of STATE housing, and opposing the TRANSFER of 2,800 Housing NZ properties to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company.
Penny Bright.
Apologies for the duplication in my previous post.
Don’t know how that happened, and although I clicked on ‘edit’ – it wouldn’t let me 🙁
Sorry about that.
Penny Bright
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/289946/tolley-wanted-to-pay-chair-%243000-a-day
Tolley wanted to pay Rebstock 3000k per day, sow e need to be very grateful she ONLY got 2000k a day, thanks to Paula Bennett. WHAT planet are these peopel living on… look at the struggles of those Talley’s workers while a Government supporter was breaking our laws.
If that had been a Labour minister advocating such a pay extravaganza, we would hear about it morning, noon and night, on radio, television and in the papers until the next election.
Oh, but you don’t understand. If we will not pay such amounts they will take all their talent and go overseas (/sarc).
I volunteer to deliver these people, and their feeling of entitlement, their plane ticket.
She’s notoriously soft on politicians, but she’s a terror to choreographers.
Is Susie Ferguson the weakest performer on RNZ National?
Morning Report, RNZ National, Wednesday 18 November 2015, 8:50 a.m.
If you’ve endured TV3’s pisspoor The Nation you may have noticed RNZ National’s Susie Ferguson, who occasionally appears as a panelist. She sits silent most of the time, with a sardonic half grin on her lips, rarely contributing anything of value or interest to the discussions.
Susie Ferguson first came to our attention two years ago, like a woman unwittingly blundering into the crosshairs of Chris Kyle’s semi-automatic 7.62 NATO Mk 11 sniper rifle, when she conducted a particularly foolish radio interview with movie executive Neil Foley….
This morning she was back at it, when she interviewed Justin Bieber’s choreographer Paris Goebel, who is a New Zealander. Ferguson’s producer must have thought that was an idiot-proof assignment. Unfortunately, Ferguson took it into her head to treat Paris Goebel as if she were not a choreographer, but a felon….
SUSIE FERGUSON: In these clips you’ve got quite a few New Zealanders, and quite a lot of the filming was done in New Zealand as well. Is that right?
PARIS GOEBEL: Yep.
SUSIE FERGUSON: Why was it that yoooouuu… chose to go THAT way?
…Long, awkward pause…
PARIS GOEBEL: Ahhhhmmm, ‘cos I’m FROM New Zealand?
SUSIE FERGUSON: [closing in for the kill] But was it as straightforward as that? ‘Cos obviously, you know, you’ve worked in a lot of different places, why was it for this, for Justin Bieber’s album, y’know he’s a Canadian, and I guess, y’know, you just wanted to go back to your roots.
PARIS GOEBEL: I guess it just makes sense….
….ad absurdum….
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201779216/justin-bieber-makes-kiwi-moves-thanks-to-nz-choreographer
More Susie Ferguson inanity….
She’s just inept. The best was asking how she was going to top that.
Recently on the Nation.
If you can bear it.
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/thenation/panel-michael-wood-susie-ferguson–ben-thomas-2015110710#axzz3rpGQfwO9
Parris, Moz. Perhaps you had recent events on your mind?
Ferguson……the gold standard, state of the art…..in obtuse.
This is why abortions need to be freely available:
Eventually this will result in death.
My immediate reaction to “Eventually this will result in death”, is that abortions do…………… always.
death has many guises. Did you think of the notion of sacrificing a woman for a child too?
Tracey, I am very aware of that notion, and the conflict brought between the two separate rights.
I believe that it has been most poignantly expressed in the song “Queen Jane” which is one of the Child ballads. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Queen_Jane
The song has been beautifully sung by Micheal Domnhaill and by Loreena McKennit. This is Domnhaill’s version. It is one of the most moving pieces of music I know, especially with the uillean pipes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aeNwpU19pA
Then of course the problem was not the issue between abortion and allowing birth, but between caesarean section and the death of both mother and probably the child, in times of medical inadequacy. But the rights of the mother versus the child and the inherent danger to a mother in pregnancy and childbirth were the issues. The song speaks both of the sacrifice which Queen Jane considers and wants to happen, and the agonising of the father, King Henry.
The song though does beautifully portray the notion of sacrifice and danger.
I only asked, mac1, because through history women have been sacrificed over and over and over for the hope of, or the fact of, a boy child.
The song is about a woman at full term.
Nope, a foetus isn’t alive.
That depends on the definition of alive, doesn’t it? I’d class a foetus as alive, just not capable of independent survival in the early stages of development. Some will object to the characterisation but looked at objectively, like any other developing offspring in a womb, it’s parasitic on the mother.
It also lacks sentience.
That’s a very unequivocal statement – are you sure about that?
When does sentience begin – all at once?
It puzzles me the seemingly ideological determination of people to run this argument and, essentially, deny reality.
I support abortion law reform but that’s because I’m uncomfortable about abortion – in other words, it’s more humane to carry out the procedure as early as possible.
The earlier in the development, the more sure I am.
The problem I have with the ‘it’s not viable’ argument is what happens when science gets to the point of making it viable.
Well, my impulse is to say that it’s still not viable. It still ceases to function almost immediately without intensive support.
But then the alternative treatment to abortion might end up being to transfer it from the womb into some artificial equivalent.
Which is what prevents it from being classified as life.
stop kidding yourself with cleverness DTB.
Next you’ll claim that murder of a woman in her first trimester doesn’t also involve the murder of the foetus.
Your definition is too narrow DTB. What characterises life is an organism that has all or most of several characteristics. A foetus has an organised multicellular structure, its cells respond to external stimuli, it consumes nutrients & expels waste, undergoes cell division and multiplication, increases in complexity and size as it grows and develops. It has life, even if it’s completely dependent on its mother for continued survival as it develops.
I’m not talking about when a foetus should be considered a conscious human being which is a separate matter altogether.
I should correct my earlier observation that a foetus is parasitic. I was wrong. To be parasitic it has to be a separate species from the host.
It’s part of the woman’s body, and like other parts she gets to decide what happens to it.
I don’t have any argument with that up to the point where the foetus is viable weka. After that it’s a grey area for me. I wouldn’t like a woman aborting in the 9th month for example if there was no health or safety issue for her. It becomes a bit more complicated for me working back from there as we’ve a baby born at 20 weeks in the family who’s survived & thrived.
Edit: Actually 20 weeks can’t be right: I need to check that. But it was an emergency caesarian and not many weeks beyond 20. The baby was perfectly formed but would fit in my hand.
No it’s not as I included the entire scientific definition:
By that definition a foetus is not a life.
Read the whole Wikipedia article, well at least down to here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life#Biology.
What you have selected is only one definition of an organism. And the article even starts with:
Life is a characteristic distinguishing physical entities having biological processes (such as signaling and self-sustaining processes) from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased (death), or because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate.
(It’s talking about cell-signalling, by the way, it says “such as”, and even though it requires a mother, a foetus does actually have its own separate self-sustaining properties or it wouldn’t survive & grow in a womb, which is the environment to which it is adapted.)
Yes, I missed that bit for a reason – it’s not the scientific definition and misses essential parts such as:
* maintain homeostasis
* reproduce (either sexually or asexually)
* through evolution, adapt to their environment in successive generations
A foetus can do none of those things.
Well, actually, it does.
*It does maintain homeostasis within the womb, as it develops it regulates its own internal bodily processes.
*It does reproduce, both through cell division and multiplication as it grows, and through sexual reproduction in its adult form (the reproduction definition in biology applies to the whole life cycle of the organism)
*and it does adapt to its own environment in successive generations (do you think human adults are not alive and that their embryos and adult forms have not adapted through evolution?)
Here, read a bit more:
http://www.healthcaremagic.com/questions/How-does-a-child-in-the-womb-maintain-homeostasis/121170
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cell_Biology/Introduction/What_is_living
http://www.biologyreference.com/La-Ma/Life-What-Is.html
http://faculty.fmcc.suny.edu/mcdarby/majors101book/Chapter_01-The_Basics/01-Defining_Life.htm
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cell_Biology/Introduction/What_is_living
Why is that relevant? Mosquitos are alive and I kill every one of those I see.
Why do you say that, Draco?
How could a foetus not be alive?
Because it’s not self sustainable. Sure, it’s in the formation stage of life but it is not yet life.
So a month-old baby who depends on its parents to sustain its life with food and shelter is not alive?
A month old baby is has brain activity and is not a lump of decaying and cyanotic cells within moments of being removed from the body of a specific person.
Anybody can feed or house a particular baby. But a particular fetus needs a particular womb to reproduce its cells enough to one day possibly become a living, thinking, person.
What about a baby born at 24 weeks’ gestation connected to an incubator to enable survival? Are they alive?
meh.
legally, yes.
Personally, I wouldn’t be committing to it until it can live for more than a few minutes outside of an artificial environment. And then whether it has any higher brain function.
Babies are ok, but they’re pretty one-dimensional for the first few months after full term.
But given your comments below, you see the life as being ”legally” equivalent with that of a plant? How does that work?
At the moment there seem to be three different uses of the word “life” in this conversation:
biological, as in a cluster of cells, such as a plant;
legal, as in whether the killing of that thing would count as homocide in a court of law; and
the one that is most relevant to the abortion ethics discussion: human life. Not just a cluster of cells, a human being.
Biologically a growing foetus is alive. So is a premature baby. I explain why above. If it is alive it must have life. When it ceases to do all those things I mention above it is dead. It is no longer alive.
this bit?
well, yes, in the sense that a plant is alive.
But somehow I think the protestors I saw outside the hospital the other day weren’t saying people shouldn’t mow their lawn…
But somehow I think the protestors I saw outside the hospital the other day weren’t saying people shouldn’t mow their lawn…
Ahhh, yup … lost me a bit there, but as long as we’re agreed something alive has life the above I think is another issue.
Yes. A fetus has just as much “life” as a plant.
How that strictly biological interpretation applies to the abortion discussion, I have no idea.
The claim was made above that a foetus is not alive. It is. That’s all. The abortion discussion is therefore not about whether a foetus is alive.
The debate is about whether and when that life should be deliberately terminated. I’m of the view it’s the woman’s right to decide, and I don’t like the idea of women being forced to carry a child they don’t want to. But I’m conflicted about it when the foetus is a fully formed and viable child. The issue of viability itself is even more complicated now by improved technology.
see above.
Seen. The question of whether something is alive is biological. Whether and when it is considered an independent human being is another matter. I explain my view on that in the abortion context above. It is not set in stone. Good night McFlock.
IMO a foetus is “nascent life” not actual life and not a full human person.
Grindlebottom, cutting plants is not murder, even though plants are “alive”.
The abortion discussion is about whether it’s ending a human life, not plant life.
McFlock. Yes. I have already agreed that. The issue of abortion is not whether a foetus is alive but whether and when it is a human and whether and when that life can/should be terminated.
Well, only if you’re a biologist sticking purely to the meaning of “life” that is most irrelevant to the discussion
It wasn’t irrelevant to the discussion McFlock.
The discussion just persisted way past the point where it needed to because the abortion debate is not about whether a foetus is alive. It is, which you grudgingly acknowledge.
The abortion debate is on issues like whether and when a human foetus is a human person, whether and when it is a child and independently viable outside a womb (subject to someone being willing to care for it), and whether and when it has an independent and inherent “right to life” – which in the abortion context means the right not to have its life terminated.
It is a biological cluster of human tissue cells. By a strictly biological definition it is “human” and “alive”.
But it is not a human life, or a live human.
You can choose to believe that. Others can choose to believe otherwise. It’s a matter of semantics what a human being is. A human foetus to me is a human being, just in its embryonic developing form, not its juvenile developing or adult form.
I don’t consider it a human person though.
this entire subthread has been semantics.
“Nope, a foetus isn’t alive.”
OMG what bullshit. At least be honest about what you are advocating for. Termination of a pregnancy is termination of a life. Support it if you want, but dont kid yourself.
too many people on the planet is also termination of life
…it is about time people woke up to this fact
…and stopped being so anthropocentric
…not to mention chauvinist ( eg Catholic Church )
…too many humans ( in the billions) on this planet are causing this planet to die …and with it all other forms of life
…abortion is the least of our problems
but only to women
Note how quickly and substantively the responses moved to the unborn child, ignoring the danger being faced by already alive women?
+1
Inanity Watch
No. 11: HEATHER DU PLESSIS-ALLAN
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“The next step for the people of Paris is the process of healing up.”
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—-Heather Du Plessis-Allan, Story, TV3, Tuesday 17 November 2015
Inanity Watch, also known as Mediocrity Watch, aims to keep you informed of—or, to quote the epically mediocre Simon Dallow, to be “right across”—the shoddiest, least professional, most insulting journalism and taxpayer-subsidised-sensitive-singer-songwriting from all over the world, but especially New Zealand. It is produced by DeakerWatch®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More inanity and mediocrity….
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
1.) English newspaper, 2015….
http://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/t31.0-8/12265796_916298591740631_5874437591890929009_o.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9
2.) German newspaper, eighty years earlier….
http://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlt1/v/t1.0-9/11204944_1071718366195369_3774621996202774181_n.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=7e05a95deb04ad20a5872f18053ec9d5&oe=56AC3F18
What did we expect from Annette King?
MP for Rongatai, Ms King, has shown she is either a liar or else merely completely stupid.
When claiming that the standards for getting on the waiting list for surgery she compared the minimum pain value for getting surgery in 2013 with the average value in 2015 and claimed that people were worse off.
I suppose it was worth it though. The hard-left, and lazy, journalists in the MSM happily published her claims without checking them and they became a front page story.
The real numbers get fitted into the paper on an inside page some days later.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/74122871/annette-king-accused-of-misleading-house-over-surgery-figures
I suppose we have to accept these things from the OAP in Wellington’s south. She has to try something of course. I have heard rumours, from some Labour party supporting friends, that she is under severe pressure to relinquish the Labour nomination in the seat to little Andie. Anyone more closely involved willing to comment?
Mrs King will never leave of her own volition. Mr Little wants her there and she will hang on to the job/perk/sinecure forever and a day.
If only Labour had 300k per intended retiree to sweeten the post like National, aye clean-power (seeing as you are a fan of uninformed comment)
On the upside, those on fifty points will be delighted to know they’ll be treated at seventy.
//
Good God Joe.
You really are as stupid, or mendacious, as Annette is.
In pain, with little or no hope of anything other than m-Eslon SR and we are unable to offer surgery at this time, actually.
I have commented before on this subject and the fact is that at least you are told the truth. Under King you would have been put on the waiting list and then dropped after 6 months so they could claim that nobody was on the waiting list for more than that period.
You have my sympathy about the m-Eslon.
Horrible stuff isn’t it? I couldn’t stop taking it fast enough after the op.
alwyn
This is a good subject for your grandstanding. You can always claim the high ground by going all emotional about the matter whenever commenters discuss it. What it means for the afflicted, young as well as old, when there is a budget just keeping up with minimal inflation and failing to meet needs based on population numbers, plus increased need from antibiotic failure, new organisms from overseas visitors, and RW desire to reduce taxes for the wealthy and run down services for everyone else.
I remember when I was studying Economics someone I knew did a study on what could be done with the money in the health budget. I was asked to check the numbers as they thought they must have made an arithmetic error.
At that time, about 30 years ago, it would have cost more than New Zealand’s total health budget to treat, to the maximum possible extent, kidney disease. That was it, just kidney disease! There would have been nothing else to spend on all the other health needs of the country.
With the best will in the world it is impossible to treat to the limit all the health needs of the country and why “rationing” is inevitable. I can only assume that the current situation is worse.
That is why Thomas Carlyle had a grain of truth in his reference to Economics as being the dismal science.
On the other hand don’t make him one of your heroes. He thought that Slavery was morally superior to a market economy.
Except anecdotally she has a point, I have a friend who waited 4 years for his hip replacement, finally getting it last year ONCE the 8 panadol every 4 hours ceased to work on the pain.
The other hip has needed replacing too. He is back on 8 panadol every 4 hours (and its resultant impact on his stomach) but it is no longe renough for him to be in pain at this dosage to get on the waiting list.
My boss had lots of hip problems which led to him stacking the weight on the hips have been done but his knees are buggered and they won’t do them till he cuts his weight. How someone is supposed to lose weight when they can’t get around is beyond me.
and then there is the depression from being in pain all the time and not being able to go anywhere, including the garden of your own home.
I think that your numbers are a trifle out. The maximum recommended dose of paracetamol (Panadol) is, I believe, 8 500mg tablets per day.
You are quoting 48/day which seems unlikely. I’m am not a Doctor so don’t take that remark as gospel.
Nope, that is the number. I stayed with him and helped him take the dose his GP told him to take. And it was 8 every 4 hours, which kinda makes Ms King’s point if you think about it… GP’s over prescribing drugs, beyond recommended doses? I wonder why they might do that alwyn?
As I say I’m not a doctor. It sounds awfully high though.
I always thought it was 4000mg/day (usually 8 tablets)
http://www.drugs.com/paracetamol.html
I never found it worked anyway. m-Eslon does but it leaves you feeling very strange and it is addictive I believe.
I repeat. This is an uninformed opinion based solely on what worked for me. I am not recommending anything. Go see your doctor.
permanent kidney failure is a major risk at these extremely high doses.
You mean he should go see the doctor who prescribed that dose because he doesn’t yet feel enough pain through the high doses to qualify for a hip replacement? That is the system you advocate he utilises?
No Tracey, I am not advocating anything at all.
I was simply stating that the dose you said he was taking seemed to be very high. On the standard 500mg tablet size it would seem to be about 6 times the normal limit. I was surprised that that was what you nominated. I have no opinion at all on what the Doctor may have prescribed because I am not a doctor and I don’t know anything about the patient.
If journalists checked claims before publishing Key would be a backbencher
He’d be in Hawaii already !
😉
@ Tracy. If journo’s checked.
We wish
Sigh
Hey Trollwyn……you still haven’t given us the link to verify your fantastical report of a couple of days ago of the Kelvin Davis / Paremoremo / Serco number. You got no balls Trollwyn ?
Paris and What Should Be Done
by RON PAUL, November 17, 2015
http://original.antiwar.com/paul/2015/11/16/paris-and-what-should-be-done/
The horrific attacks in Paris on Friday have, predictably, led to much over-reaction and demands that we do more of the exact things that radicalize people and make them want to attack us. The French military wasted no time bombing Syria in retaliation for the attacks, though it is not known where exactly the attackers were from. Thousands of ISIS fighters in Syria are not Syrian, but came to Syria to overthrow the Assad government from a number of foreign countries — including from France and the US.
Ironically, the overthrow of Assad has also been the goal of both the US and France since at least 2011.
Because the US and its allies are essentially on the same side as ISIS and other groups – seeking the overthrow of Assad – many of the weapons they have sent to the more “moderate” factions also seeking Assad’s ouster have ended up in the hands of radicals. Moderate groups have joined more radical factions over and over, taking their US-provided training and weapons with them. Other moderate groups have been captured or killed, their US-provided weapons also going to the radicals. Thus the more radical factions have become better equipped and better trained, while occasionally being attacked by US or allied planes.
Does anyone not believe this is a recipe for the kind of disaster we have now seen in Paris? The French in particular have been very active in arming even the more radical groups in Syria, as they push for more political influence in the region. Why do they still refuse to believe in the concept of blowback? Is it because the explanation that, “they hate us because we are free,” makes it easier to escalate abroad and crack down at home?
It may not be popular to say this as emotions run high and calls ring out for more bombing in the Middle East, but there is another way to address the problem. There is an alternative to using more military intervention to address a problem that was caused by military intervention in the first place.
That solution is to reject the militarists and isolationists. It is to finally reject the policy of using “regime change” to further perceived US and western foreign policy goals, whether in Iraq, Libya, Syria, or elsewhere. It is to reject the foolish idea that we can ship hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons to “moderates” in the Middle East and expect none of them to fall into the hands of radicals.
More bombs will not solve the problems in the Middle East. But a more promising approach to the Middle East is currently under fire from the isolationists in Washington. The nuclear deal with Iran ends UN sanctions and opens that country to international trade. Just last week the presidents of France and Iran met to discuss a number of trade deals. Other countries have followed. Trade and respect for national sovereignty trumps violence, but Washington still doesn’t seem to get it. Most presidential candidates compete to thump the table loudest against any deal with Iran. They will use this attack to propagandize against approving trade with Iran even though Iran has condemned the attack and is also in the crosshairs of ISIS.
Here is the alternative: Focus on trade and friendly relations, stop shipping weapons, abandon “regime change” and other manipulations, respect national sovereignty, and maintain a strong defense at home including protecting the borders from those who may seek to do us harm.
We should abandon the failed policies of the past, before it’s too late.
In this web exclusive, Sean Stone sits down with Virginia state Senator Dick Black to talk about the ongoing crisis in Syria, and what policies the US and other world powers should adopt to return the region to peace and stability.
RIP Jonah Lomu. A legendary sportsman and a great human being.
.
Always my first pick All Black in any team I select
I always have Christian Cullen.
.
RIP Jonah 🙁
Inappropriate stock photo of sexy female butt in jeans (if I can be so blunt) used to illustrate story about drycleaning worker who loses her employment case. Even names the worker in question. I don’t have a problem with the photo in itself. Just feel it is out of context for the nature of the story, particularly where the person is named.
“A dry-cleaning worker who claimed she was told she could not wear pants to work and was criticised and threatened after rolling her eyes has lost her case against her former employer.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11547297
“Rolls eyes!”
Marijuana blamed for Paris bombings (sort of)
“Paris terror attacks: Ex-wife of suicide bomber calls him a lazy pothead”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11547260
Let the hacking war commence
‘#OpParis: Anonymous takes down 5,500 ISIS Twitter accounts’
https://www.rt.com/news/322427-anonymous-isis-twitter-accounts/
“Hacktivist group Anonymous has reported that more than 5,500 Twitter accounts belonging to Islamic State have been taken down. It comes after the collective declared a “total war” on the militant group following the Paris attacks…
Is there a list of members of ISIS?
Possibly. Here’s their how-to guide for identifying Islamic State Twitter accounts:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/anonymous-opisis-hacktivists-publish-how-guide-identifying-islamic-state-twitter-accounts-1496378
I read yesterday about Anonyous vow to start hacking ISIS. The solution may come from a most unepxetce dplace, and one feared by many right wing governments… the Anonymous hackers!
Yeah – this is not going to be “the solution”.
Would you like a definition for “may”?
No. But “May” indicates there is a chance. There isnt.
Probably not the smartest idea in hindsight to call for one minute’s silence in Turkey.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/74150336/paris-attacks-turkey-fans-boo-minutes-silence-for-paris-victims-before-friendly
I’ll be on Vinny Eastwood’s who 5 pm NZ. We’ll talk about Paris, ISIS, False flags and how we know this is one too!
This is interesting too…will the Paris crisis be used by USA and friends ( Saudi Arabia , Israel) for further attacks on Assad ( undermining Russia) and eventually an attack on Iran?
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/322247-mourning-victims-paris-attack/
“As we all grieve for Paris in the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks, some very hard and painful questions must be addressed to what degree are the attacks in Paris blowback for Western meddling in the Middle East? And has the West’s war on terror only generated more terror?
CrossTalking with Mark Sleboda, Dmitry Babich, and John Laughland.”
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/322473-terror-sinai-plane-crash/
“It is official – the Russian plane flying from Egypt was indeed a victim of terror. Who is really responsible remains unclear, nonetheless there can be no doubt much of the terrorism coming out of the Middle East has its origins in the West.CrossTalking with Alexander Mercouris, David Swanson, and Mohammad Marandi.”
Not enough notice. What about a summary?
what about a link?
Jeremy Corbyn: “Who’s funding ISIS? Who’s arming ISIS?”
Why can’t our Labour leader speak as plainly and honestly as Corbyn does?
Hi Morrissey, tell me the last time you saw a member of the media behave towards any labour representative the same as Jeremy’s interviewer did, this is example of unbiased journalism, which is what’s sadly missing in NZ, allowing people to have their say regardless of their own personal view point.
Corbyn is a good man, I hope he is successful.
A good interviewer..as you say Expat, unbiased.
Compare her professional manner to that of Hoskings, Gower, Henry and co.
Also can’t help comparing Corbyn’s manner to Key’s.
I am curious to find out why so many left leaning bloggers are happy to bag the Labour party, they’re not the ones in power, and haven’t been for seven years, any body blaming them for anything has lost sight of the goal.
There will never be a hard left wing govt in modern NZ, it’s economic suicide, and there will never be enough voters to support it any way, however, the current govt is a hard right wing govt, not centre as they would have you believe. For any person with any degree of compassion, empathy, and fairness for all, will disagree with the current direction NZ is heading, and that’s understandable.
In todays modern society there are some basic fundamentals that we need to accept, commercial aspects of any economy require businesses, corporations and banks to help build the economy, right leaning govts tend to support this group through all sorts of law and policy changes, the sale public assets, that benefit them, and usually results in a poor outcome for society, to say the least, left leaning govts still need these businesses, banks and corporations to help build the economy but the crucial difference is recognising the need to have policies and laws that protect ordinary citizens and NZ’s long term interests while still allowing all these businesses, banks and corporations to operate profitably.
If you want to see a change of govt, supporting “all” left leaning parties is mandatory, a lot of people don’t like labour, but without them, there is no one to fill the void, “some times you have to support the lesser of two evils” to at least get a step in the right direction, and changing the govt is the first step.
For a coalition of left leaning parties to be successful, there needs to be a high level of cohesion and support for one another, no stupid criticisms on public TV, trust needs to be regained. Public support of each others policies that they are in agreement to, show NZ that there is another choice, a credible choice.
But if you want to change the govt……
Thank-you Expat for your sane, sensible comments. It’s a pleasure to read them.
As far as the Labour knockers go, I think it has become a bit of a sport in NZ. I put it down to a lack of political maturity especially among our so-called political journalists and interviewers. The chances of a Labour leader in particular being treated with respect in NZ is low. More often than not they are continuously interrupted and shouted down by ego-centric interveiwers who are more interested in turning everything into a studio version of a bull-fight.
My gut feeling on why some bag labour (including the odd journo ) is the frustration at the fact that a crooked little shister like key is in his third term and labour s issues are in no small way part of why.
please explain why we should bother changing the National Government when the replacement one is 90% plus aligned with the National one?
And I’m not the only one who thinks this way.
” In todays modern society there are some basic fundamentals that we need to accept, commercial aspects of any economy require businesses, corporations and banks to help build the economy”
this is a nonsense.Transnational corporate power is destroying local economies and undermining sovereignty at every turn. It is the core rationale of the TPP.
If you cant see that you are clearly part of the ruling establishment or its professional courtiers.
“when the replacement one is 90% plus aligned with the National one”
Citation needed for that.
why is a citation needed? Why not just trust your own eyes.
voted for Nationals social welfare legislation.
For Nationals spying and terrorism legislation.
greenlight most of the TPPA
greenlight oil and gas drilling
keep blowing up the property bubble
won’t enforce a living wage
etc.
I think the 90% is an exaggeration and minimises the distinct differences.
please name four of those “distinct differences ” you say exists which are more than just tinkering on the edges. I cant think of them…
welfare reforms
asset sales
restoring Ecan
GCSB
Corporate manslaughter
Living wage
I’m sure I could pull a few more things off Labour’s policy page but that’ll do to start with.
think it is the economic model supporting everything that is the issue Weka…..what you have listed is that which is considered “at the edges” by those espousing a tangible difference between National and Labour.
That’s a bit academic Pat. I was taking it at the level of why should people bother voting Labour instead of National. The reason is that Labour have some actual good policies (despite not being left wing enough) and they will do far less damage than National. That Labour will still do some damage is not a good reason to vote National, that’s daft. Lesser of evils is not nothing.
Labour voted for National’s spying and anti-terror legislation.
Labour voted for National’s welfare reforms.
There is no daylight between National and Labour on those issues.
Labour talks about a living wage. Is Labour going to lift the minimum wage up to a minimum wage level? No, it is not.
Restoring ECAN – so what – that is tinkering.
Corporate manslaughter – has Labour drawn up a bill on this?
Asset sales – is Labour going to reverse an of National’s asset sales – no.
So sorry, your list is irrelevant or just tinkering or posturing.
Labour is part of the problem weka. And you know what the problem is – a slide into societal destruction via climate change, fossil fuel depletion and corporation led austerity.
“academic” it may be Weka, but if you believe that the underlying cause of society’s ills is a fundamentally flawed model of course you would seek wholesale change for anything less would be perceived as having no impact on those things you seek to change….we can all go to hell at 90 mph or 100 mph ..either way were still heading for the same destination.
BTW weka, thank you for pointing out those instances where people have been making up shit about me. You taking the time to do that is very much appreciated, cheers.
Personally I’m looking for something more than that Weka.
I want someone to say that “this is the kind of country I want, and I have the courage to operate the instruments to achieve it.”
I want poverty eradicated as a goal, and housing for everyone, food on the table for families, cities that work, jobs for everyone, and I want a strong well funded state that can help everyone do that for generations to come.
I am so over abstract nouns about love, country, hope, vision, etc.
I want a political party with a plan. And I’ll start being interested in party politics again when I see that.
It’s easy to be seduced by the argument that Labour’s the better of two evils but it’s not that simple. In a political system like ours where there’s two main parties and both of those parties are as good as the same in a number of key areas there’s no room for an alternative. It’s the cultural damage this causes which we should be worried about. When the thinking of a nation becomes so entrenched over generations. User pays in tertiary education is one example. Ask a student whether they think education should be free and they’ll look at you like you’re from another planet. Labour needs to start thinking about this kind of damage that’s caused by an ineffective opposition, rather than constantly looking to work out what to say to become the government. If Labour gets its values right first getting into government will follow.
ok, you all get that I’m a Green party member right? And I’ve been voting Green since they first stood for parliament. In regards the actual change needed, you’re trying to teach your grandmother to suck eggs here.
CV asks what’s the point of changing the govt when the two main parties are so similar. I guess he’s being rhetorical, but hey, I took the question at face value. I’m not making a case that Labour are doing the right things or that they’re going to radically change the way NZ is governed in the way that we all want They’re not. I’m saying that there are still significant differences between National and Labour (esp if we got a Labour/GP govt) that make it worthwhile voting on the left.
If we cede that bit of ground, as CV is apparently suggesting, the non-vote will increase, and we will have another term of NACT. Now if we had time, it could be argued that a 4th term could be galvanising to the left. Maybe Labour would finally collapse/split. Or another party would emerge. Or people would finally vote Green. But the whole point is we simply we don’t have time. AGW is here, now. We have a rapidly shrinking window to do the things to lessen the chance of runaway CC. I’m not saying that Labour will do those things. They won’t. I’m saying that the rest of us will have more of a chance under a left wing govt of shifting the culture so we all do those things. Government is not going to save us, we are going to lead the way and government will eventually get in behind. Thus as it ever was.
This is why the lesser of evils is significantly better. Even just to give activists some breathing space to refocus on what’s important instead of running round putting out fires all the time.
CV, you’re welcome. And I think your list of tinkering is wrongly characterised, if I get the chance later I’ll hash it out.
Hi Weka, What about human rights, to add to the list.
If C Viper thinks there is no difference between the main parties then he must have his head in the sand or been listening to the MSM, brainwashed by BS
Wake up NZ, there can be no change in direction without changing the govt, and getting rid of NZ’s most dishonest govt ever!
I’m curious to find out why a small number on here and in the Labour Party are happy to bag the Green Party because they are not the ones in power, and although never held Treasury benches have been able to implement some of their policies from outside that structure (both under Labour and the national Party). If you want to see a change of govt, supporting “all” left leaning parties is mandatory, a lot of people don’t like the Greens, but without them, there is no left government in any form base don current polling, “some times you have to support the lesser of two evils” to at least get a step in the right direction, and changing the govt is the first step.
For a coalition of left leaning parties to be successful, there needs to be a high level of cohesion and support for one another, no stupid criticisms on public TV, trust needs to be regained. Public support of each others policies that they are in agreement to, show NZ that there is another choice, a credible choice.
But only if you want to change the govt…… and if you want to see a different way of leading change rather than a harsher or smilier version of what we have had for too many decades, you will see the place the Greens have in NZ. As long as some in LP and here see the Green party as the enemy, national wins, again, and again, with short hiatus for a slightly right leaning LP
+100…”For a coalition of left leaning parties to be successful, there needs to be a high level of cohesion and support for one another, no stupid criticisms on public TV, trust needs to be regained. Public support of each others policies that they are in agreement to, show NZ that there is another choice, a credible choice…”
Thus far Labour and NZF seem to be supporting each other…but the Greens have been undercutting Labour and NZF…a decided turn off of former Green voters
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201779226/the-shadowy-world-of-tax-avoidance-specialists
NZ for sale….sound familiar?