Open mike 19/01/2025
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6:00 am, January 19th, 2025 - 73 comments
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- Climate Adam: Why Has Global Warming Just Spiked?
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate scientists weren't expecting 2023. The planet's temperature is increasing thanks to that whole burning fossil fuels thing. ...1 hour ago - It’s not just software. Physical critical equipment can’t be trusted, either
Just auditing the software in critical equipment isn’t enough. We must assume that adversaries, especially China, will also exploit the hardware if they can. The latest report on the dangers from China-made solar inverters is ...3 hours ago - Fighting The Left, Fighting The Right
4 hours ago - Winston Peters: The Architect Of Political Decay
Winston Peters, New Zealand’s 80-year-old Deputy Prime Minister, has once again proven himself unfit for office and a complete hypocrite by dragging political discourse into the gutter while preaching decorum. Last week, Peters lamented declining standards in the House, only to hurl a homophobic slur at Chris Hipkins, calling him ...6 hours ago - Member’s Day
Today is a Member's Day. Unusually, its not starting with bills; instead there will be two debates, the first on ACT MP Joseph Mooney's disallowance motion for the tikanga provisions in the Professional Examinations in Law Regulations 2008, and the second to authorise a select committee inquiry into online harm. ...7 hours ago - Australia should establish a unit dedicated to financial warfare capabilities
In an age of great-power competition, the next major conflict may be waged not in the skies over the Indo-Pacific or in the South China Sea, but through sanctions regimes, targeted financial disruptions and coercive ...8 hours ago
- Parliamentary privilege is a threat to all of us
People are rightly outraged about psycho fascist Parmjeet Parmar "inquiring" about using the privileges committee to arbitrarily imprison her political opponents. As Chris Hipkins said yesterday, that is the sort of thing which happens in tinpot dictatorships, undemocratic and wrong, and a permanent stain on our Parliament. But its worse ...9 hours ago
- Imprisoning Māori For Doing The Haka?
The ACT Party floating the idea of imprisoning Te Pāti Māori MPs for performing a haka in Parliament isn’t just a shameful overreach; it’s a chilling glimpse into a fascist mindset that seeks to silence indigenous voices through state power. According to RNZ, ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar asked the Privileges ...9 hours ago
- Overloaded EDs send patients back to after-hours clinics
‘Lucky’ patients who have made it to a trolley in a corridor. Now many others are being redirected to private urgent care clinics due to ED overloading. Photo: Getty ImagesThe six key news items from Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, May 21 are: Emergency departments ...9 hours ago - Australia must rethink cybercrime to tackle it effectively
Let’s face it: Australia is seen as a soft target for cybercriminals. Its fragmented cybercrime response makes both individuals and institutions more vulnerable. Australia’s cybercrime framework must be informed by diverse perspectives, and it must ...11 hours ago
- Yellow Mellow
Yellow mellow, yellow mellowHello, hello, yellow mellowYellow mellow, yellow mellowOh, marmaladeSongwriters: Baden Jack Donegal / Nicholas Paul Blom / Mitchell Kenneth Galbraith / Lachlan George Galbraith / Thomas Patrick O'Brien / Angus Owen Goodwin.What a mad day in politics. In yesterday’s newsletter, I expressed hope that politicians from the left ...12 hours ago - China’s geopolitical dominance game in the South China Sea
For all the talk about the South China Sea’s complexity as a security issue, its geopolitical significance to China is simple: China wants to condition Southeast Asian states to subordinate status. Southeast Asian countries would ...1 day ago
- Chris Hipkins’ Passionate Speech During Te Pati Māori Penalty Debate
Immediately after Hipkins’ speech, National House Leader Chris Bishop rose to defer the debate, without giving the opposition notice.This means no other opposition members were allowed to speak, despite the government scheduling the debate for today.A shortened clip of 3 minutes for those short on time:Tin-Pot DemocracyI was right in ...1 day ago - 65
Today my heart attack turns 38 and I turn 65. It's now way older than I was when it grabbed me in a hotel bar at ten in the morning on my 27th birthday and squeezed.So many things I think of as just the other day turn out to be ...1 day ago - Indonesia has good reasons to reject Russian aircraft basing
Indonesia has plenty of reason to reject basing of Russian aircraft at its air force base on Biak, an island north of New Guinea at 1,400 km from Darwin. From Russia’s point of view, keeping ...1 day ago
- A desperate delay
So, that was a bit of a damp squib. Everyone having geared up for an epic filibuster battle which would upset the government's legislative program for at least the day, National has now abused its parliamentary majority to adjourn the debate on its outrageous and anti-democratic punishment of Te Pāti ...1 day ago
- Reported back
The Justice Committee has reported back on the Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill. The bill as introduced was a tyrannical law which threatened to outlaw protest and ordinary democratic activity in Aotearoa on the basis of government conspiracy theories and fantasies about its motivations. The good news is that ...1 day ago
- Hard to believe really
Take a scenario, just as a thought experiment for now. A new government gets elected, amid a lot of rhetoric about excessive increases in government spending and public service numbers. They pretty quickly move to require government departments – typically funded by Parliament through annual appropriations – to cut their ...1 day ago - Submission on Industry Skills Boards’ Coverage
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It took less than two days for the Government to announce their changes to the Equal Pay Act, and then make those changes. Because things happened this fast, a huge amount of information about pay equity has sprung up in a really short time-frame—which can be pretty confusing for anyone ...1 day ago- Tuesday 21 May
Unions are pointing out that changes to the pay equity system have made it “virtually impossible” for new claims to succeed. The government will spend more than $600 million to upgrade the country’s rail network as part of this year’s Budget. Cabinet has signed off on introducing the Regulatory Standards ...1 day ago- OECD Debt Comparisons For NZ Are Wrong
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand recently patted itself on the back, claiming our government debt-to-GDP ratio of around 44.3% in 2024 was "low" compared to OECD peers like the US (113%) or Japan (242%). Sounds comforting, right? Wrong! This smug comparison glosses over a critical reality: New Zealand’s geographic ...1 day ago- Which side are you on, Labour?
Today will see an unprecedented moment in Parliament. A racist government whose leader opposes the "Maorification" of New Zealand is using its parliamentary majority to suspend opposition MPs from the House for being Māori, silencing them and the people they represent for up to 21 days. It is outrageous and ...1 day ago- Federalism could torpedo AUKUS
AUKUS is under pressure, not from adversaries abroad but from state governments at home. While Canberra drives the security pact forward, Australian states are the ones that that hold the constitutional levers over the land ...1 day ago- Luxon’s Anti-Māori Mask Slips Again
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has once again stocked the fire a racial disharmony, this time with a damning comment that reeks of anti-Māori sentiment. In a recent Newstalk ZB interview with Mike Hosking, Luxon responded to a question about the “Māorification of this country” by saying, “Well where ...1 day ago- How do you stop a pitchfork?
Last night, I put up a video where Luxon said he would not back down on the 21 day penalty for Te Pāti Māori MPs.Then came the pitchforks:“Boot them out. No compromise.”“Why debate....boot them....rules are rules!!!!”There were outwardly racist comments too.It’s hard to explain to an angry mob that there ...1 day ago- Monday 19 May
The PSA says mediation has failed to resolve its conflict with the government over working from home, with the case now heading to the ERA. Food prices have risen at their fastest pace in more than a year driven by more expensive dairy products, hinting that inflation pressures are gathering ...1 day ago- May AMA (+ Webworm Updates)
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The New Zealand government, National, ACT, and NZ First, has been very busy recently earning its moniker: the Coalition of Chaos. This unholy trinity seems hell-bent on trying to rewrite reality, peddling lies that erode public trust in politics, and flouting the rules of decorum in an orchestrated attack on ...1 day ago- The Green Budget: Cutting Through Right-Wing Spin
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1 day ago- ‘Weaponise rates to drive housing intensification’
Should Auckland Council set higher higher rates to densify housing around the stations on the City Rail Link, where low-rise warehouses and housing currently predominate? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāThe six key news items from Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, May 20 are: Apartment ...2 days ago- Nasty
Catch catch the horror taxiI fell in love with a video nastyCatch catch the horror trainFreeze frame gonna drive you insaneWriters: Raymond Burns, Christopher John Millar, David Vanian, Roman Paul Jug, Bryn Merrick.Speak English.Yesterday, the Prime Minister of our country appeared on the Mike Hosking show to beat the anti-woke ...2 days ago- Nasty
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Since last Thursday, intensified Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed over 500 Palestinians, and a prolonged Israeli aid blockade has led to widespread starvation among the territory’s two million residents. Belatedly, Israel is letting in a token amount of food aid that UN under-secretary Tom Fletcher has called a ...2 days ago- The Pacific needs to upgrade regional intelligence cooperation
Strengthening regional partnerships can help Pacific intelligence capabilities overcome rising challenges. The Pacific should establish a centralised intelligence hub alongside or through the expansion of the existing Pacific Fusion Centre to deliver greater intelligence capabilities ...2 days ago- There goes the neighbourhood, there goes my loafer
So, a funny thing happened last Friday. I had just dropped a couple of tabs and I was lining up side four of Tales from Topographic Oceans when out of nowhere I had this incredible vision.It got me so damn excited I wrote the whole thing down and put it ...2 days ago- From customer to catalyst: anchoring Australia’s northern marine industry through government procu...
To turn northern Australia’s marine potential into performance, the Australian government must stop acting as a passive regulator and start acting as an active customer. Procurement is power, and in thin, undercapitalised markets such as ...2 days ago- Chipping away at National’s gang-patch ban
National's racist gang-patch was clearly intended to humiliate gangs and allow them to be punished for being seen in public, and police have taken on that mission with enthusiasm, attacking funerals and kicking in doors to seize banned clothing (meanwhile, they've also abandoned domestic violence and mental health callouts, in ...2 days ago- The Coalition of Chaos: Democracy Be Damned
The New Zealand coalition government, a Frankenstein’s monster of National, ACT, and NZ First, has once again shown its utter contempt for our democracy. This time it's the Ministry for Regulation, who didn’t even bother to read thousands of submissions on the Regulatory Standards Bill, a piece of legislation so ...2 days ago- Assault From All Sides
The majority of the 23,000 submissions for the Regulatory Standards Bill consultation weren’t even read.According to Marc Daalder1 David Seymour said ‘there just weren’t that many’ worthwhile ideas in the submissions.But how does he know when his new $76 million Ministry, with some of the highest paid public servants in ...2 days ago- National’s Blogger David Farrar Smears Senior Doctors
2 days ago- Climate Change: Now what?
When National came to power in 2023, one of its first acts was to repeal all useful climate change policy. When they finally released their amended emissions reduction plan, it relied on a single project using a fantasy technology for the bulk of its reductions. And now, that project has ...2 days ago- Fiscal starting points
Not that long ago, New Zealand’s fiscal balances looked pretty good by advanced country standards. Sure, the fiscal pressures from longer life expectancies were beginning to build – as they were in most of the advanced world – but in absolute and relative terms New Zealand still looked in pretty ...2 days ago- Jack Tame vs. Chlöe Swarbrick: Q+A’s Double Standards
Jack Tame’s Q+A interviews are often a litmus test for political discourse in Aotearoa, but his recent frost-fest with Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick exposed a troubling bias that contrasts sharply with his kid-gloves treatment of other politicians, such as ACT’s Brooke van Velden in prior appearances. The disparity in ...2 days ago- Ensuring Australia’s defence through complex interdependence
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..Yesterday (18 May), Ministers Simeon Brown and Matt Doocey released statements announcing $164 million over four years to “expand” urgent and after-hours healthcare services throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.Minister Brown said:“This means 98 per cent of New Zealanders will be able to receive in-person urgent care within one hour’s drive of ...2 days ago- Prabowo chooses ambiguity in South China Sea policy
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s South China Sea policy has many contradictions and inconsistencies, particularly regarding China’s nine-dash line. In separate joint statements Indonesia has shown an inconsistent stance on China’s maritime claims. Indonesia’s parliament is ...2 days ago- Turning the Page
Your love is my turning pageWhere only the sweetest words remainEvery kiss is a cursive lineEvery touch is a redefining phraseSongwriter: Ryan O'NealMorena folks, today I’d like to share a little about the Writers Festival we’ve just had in Tamaki Makaurau and where my mind went as I listened to ...2 days ago- Gentailers threaten 25% power price hikes
The six key news items from Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, May 19 are: The lobby group for the big electricity gentailers has warned the Electricity Authority that consumer power prices could rise 25% if the market is reformed to force Meridian, Contact, Genesis & ...3 days ago- Taking back political sanity in Aotearoa can be done, but don’t underestimate the work ahead
An article in The Conversation this week, titled “A ‘Trump slump’ has lifted the left in Canada and now Australia – what are the lessons for NZ?“ poses some interesting challenges for our Left as a whole right now, and it’s worth considering at least some of the questions it raises ...3 days ago- 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #20
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 11, 2025 thru Sat, May 17, 2025. Plugging the Weather & Climate Livestream planned to start on May 28 During the past week and thanks to Andrew Dessler's ClimateBrink ...3 days ago- Nikki ‘Noboats’ Willis has 200+ Guests turn up at her Electorate Office
..As most of the mainstream media was meeting behind school sheds, sniggering as Act Minister Brooke Van Velden uttered the word ‘cunt’ in Parliament, adults around the country were continuing the struggle for pay equity in industries that have been traditionally under-valued, under-paid, and undertaken by women.For many families, this ...3 days ago- Privileges Committee delivers racist decision
Many MPs stand and support the hakaThere is no other credible interpretation of what has influenced the Privileges Committee decision regarding the penalties for performing a haka in the house other than pure racism. The broader context for this cannot be ignored and supports a view that Te Pāti Māori have ...3 days ago- Judith Collins – Arsehole Of The Week
In a move that reeks of authoritarianism, Judith Collins, as chair of Parliament’s Privileges Committee, has overseen the unprecedented suspension of three Te Pāti Māori MPs...Rawiri Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke...for performing a haka in protest against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. This 21-day suspension for the co-leaders and ...3 days ago- Coalition’s Climate Chaos: Selling Out To Big Polluters
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Big wheels roll through fieldsWhere sunlight streamsOh meet me in a land of hope and dreamsMeet me in a land of hope and dreamsSong: Bruce Springsteen. Read more ...3 days ago- As big as our problems are, the possibilities are bigger
Let me be blunt, says Nicola Willis to a room of people in suits, it's not the easiest time to be putting together a Budget.Let me be blunt: that's the only line in the speech with even the hint of a pulse.The rest is utterly bland and predictable. It's the ...4 days ago- Has this country’s media lost its collective mind?
..To re-cap:Tuesday 6 May - Workplace Minister, and member of the Act Party which won only 8.64% of the vote, Brooke van Velden, announced that she had unilaterally scrapped thirty-three equal pay agreements.Minister Van Velden explained:"Claims have been able to progress without strong evidence of undervaluation and there have been ...4 days ago- Fact brief – Did Viking settlers enjoy a warm beach climate in Greenland?
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Thomas Hobbes wrote his seminal work Leviathan in 1651. In it he describes the world system as it was then as being in “a state of nature,” something that some have interpreted as anarchy. However, anarchy has order and purpose. It is not chaos. In fact, if we think of ...4 days ago- Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to May 17
Labour’s Finance Spokesperson Barbara Edmonds (left) committed to the same Government net debt cap of 50% of GDP and the same aspiration of returning the budget to surplus by 2028/29 as National, which would severe limit the ability of any future Labour-led government to fix the unmeasured infrastructure, housing, health, ...4 days ago- National Has Increased The Child Suicide Rate
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So, Andrew Little thinks the Wellington City Council should cancel its plans for the Golden Mile, because there's an election in five months: Andrew Little told Nine to Noon he'd be disappointed to see the council march ahead with the plan, given local body elections are to be held ...5 days ago- Showcasing the economic benefits of AUKUS—today
To convince the public of AUKUS’s value, government and industry messaging should focus on how the program can provide benefits in the near term—not in 20 years. AUKUS is a megaproject that will define the ...5 days ago- Friday 16 May
The Council of Trade Unions met with Brooke van Velden and demanded that she reversed the recent pay equity changes. Remaining staff members at polytech UCOL may be expected to pick up some of the work of colleagues made redundant if a proposed restructure goes ahead. Health NZ on Thursday ...5 days ago- The Haka. The Cheering. Then The Bite.
IMPORTANT: Even if next week’s debate lessens the severe penalty onTe Pāti Māori, the punishment has been timed to ice their leaders out of Budget 2025, and the introduction of the anti Treaty of Waitangi Regulatory Standards Bill.When Te Pāti Māori stood up to perform a historic haka in the ...5 days ago- How to help the US Navy as it helps us: build a joint submarine facility
There’s a way for Australia to strengthen its case for the US presidential certification it will need for acquiring Virginia-class submarines. It should do so by accelerating construction of a planned shipyard in Western Australia ...5 days ago- Why Hasn’t Nicole McKee Registered Her Firearms?
In a stunning display of hypocrisy, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee, who also oversees firearms policy, has admitted she hasn’t registered her own firearms on New Zealand’s Firearms Registry, despite the legal requirement for all licensed firearms owners to do so.This isn’t just a minor oversight; it’s a slap in ...5 days ago- The Hoon around the week to May 16
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on news about climate change. about the latest news from Trump and others on Gaza, Kashmir, Ukraine and much more. ...5 days ago - Pay Equity Explainers
- Release: Half a billion dollar tax break for tech giants
The Government is taking the Digital Services Tax off their books, effectively handing a $479 million tax break to global tech giants, like Facebook and Google. ...3 hours ago - Release: Govt helps banks dodge repayment claims for Kiwis
The Government is moving to let two of the country’s most profitable banks off the hook for money owed to their customers. ...3 hours ago
- Release: Search begins for rare family receiving $250
The Government can’t say if even a single family has received the $250 a fortnight they were promised. ...1 day ago
- Release: Govt risks hospice care by cutting women’s pay
The Government’s decision to cut women’s pay could result in an exodus of palliative care nurses from the profession. ...1 day ago
- Release: Govt leaves sexual abuse survivors out in the cold
The Government is quietly cutting more services for women, this time it’s ACC support for survivors of sexual abuse and pausing the expansion of a major sexual violence prevention programme. ...1 day ago
- Report shows Govt’s callous lack of support for system at breaking point
A new report from Aotearoa Educators’ Collective, released today, has confirmed what teachers, students, and whanau have been calling out for years–our learning support system is overstretched, underfunded, and simply not working. ...1 day ago - Prime Minister must scrap the Regulatory Standards Bill
The Green Party is urging the Prime Minister to get rid of the Regulatory Standards Bill after the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Bill breaches the Crown’s Tiriti o Waitangi obligations. ...2 days ago
- Release: Women in funded sector unlikely to get pay equity
The Government is unlikely to fund pay equity for hospice and Plunket nurses, care and support workers and other workforces made up of mostly women. ...2 days ago
- Chris Hipkins Speech Auckland regional conference
Tēnā koutou katoa. It’s fantastic to be here with you all—grassroots campaigners, organisers, union members, councillors, MPs, and Labour whānau. ...4 days ago
- Release: Minister’s rash orders fail frontline providers
The Auditor-General has found serious failings in the Government’s review of frontline providers such as counselling and prevention services. ...5 days ago
- Release: Prices keep rising while National cuts women’s pay
Prices for essentials, like milk, butter and electricity continue to get more expensive under National, at the same time as the Government takes money from women’s pockets to save their budget. ...5 days ago
- Te Pāti Māori Condemns Fast-Track Approval of Seabed Mining
Te Pāti Māori is gravely concerned by the Government’s approval of the Trans-Tasman Resources (Taranaki VTM) seabed mining project under its fast-track regime. This marks the first time a commercial shallow seabed mining operation has been approved anywhere in the world- pushed through with no transparency, no public input, and ...5 days ago
- Social Security Amendment Bill pushes poverty on people
The Government’s just-passed Social Security Amendment Bill is set to create more benefit sanctions that will push families deeper into poverty. ...6 days ago
- Report exposes damage of rushed cuts to Oranga Tamariki
Today’s report into last year’s Oranga Tamariki contract procurement process confirms the Government’s brutal cuts were rushed, poorly managed, and made with no concern for the impact on tamariki. ...6 days ago
- 210,000 Māori Silenced: Committee Delivers Harshest Punishment in Parliament History
Today the Privileges Committee handed down a severe punishment. Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have been suspended for 21 days, and MP for Hauraki-Waikato Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke has been suspended for 7 days. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt finally admits 180,000 in line for a pay cut
The Government finally admitted late last night that roughly 180,000 people will be affected by its decision to halt pay equity claims. ...1 week ago
- Release: Admin nearly a quarter of entire FamilyBoost spend
Nearly a quarter of the money spent on the Government’s flagship FamilyBoost policy has gone to administration, not to families to help with childcare. ...1 week ago
- Green Budget for a country worth fighting for
The Green Budget shows how much better our lives could be under a Green Government, instead of one dominated by corporate greed. ...1 week ago
- Green Budget: Early Childhood Education for Everyone
The Green Party has unveiled its new plan to make Early Childhood Education (ECE) free. ...1 week ago
- Green Budget delivers for Māori
The Green Party is delivering for Māori with its Green Budget. ...1 week ago
- Green Budget: Free GPs for all
The Green Party has launched its plan for Free GPs as part of its Green Budget. ...1 week ago
- Chris Hipkins: Pre-Budget speech
Tēnā koutou katoa. Good morning. I read recently that one of the keys to success in life is to do the hard stuff first thing in the morning. ...1 week ago
- Release; Budget should not be paid for by working women
The Government must do three things in Budget 2025 if it is genuinely going to turn things around for New Zealanders. ...1 week ago
- Release: Peeni Henare takes over foreign affairs
Labour’s Peeni Henare will pick up the foreign affairs portfolio, following David Parker’s departure from Parliament. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt better at crushing women’s rights than cars
Rehashing old laws around boy racers is not going to make our communities safer, or distract New Zealanders from the appalling decision to cut women’s pay. ...1 week ago
- No Justice for State Abuse Survivors- Kapa-Kingi
Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau calls out the government’s decision to keep funding state abuse, turning their backs on justice and real change for abuse in care survivors. “The government has committed to throwing $744 million down the drain, reinforcing a violent regime of disrespect against the ...2 weeks ago
- Govt’s War on Te Tiriti Continues as Review of Treaty Act Announced
Te Pāti Māori is absolutely disgusted by the Government’s announcement to review the Waitangi Tribunal- a deliberate and dangerous escalation in its ongoing campaign to undermine Te Tiriti o Waitangi and silence tangata whenua. “The Government’s onslaught against Te Tiriti continues with this latest move to review the Treaty of ...2 weeks ago
- Tribunal review an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Government’s plans to limit the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal is a disgrace. ...2 weeks ago
- Tribunal review an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Government’s plans to limit the powers and scope of the Waitangi Tribunal is a disgrace. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour asks why Govt is silent on Gaza
Labour is asking the Government why it is silent on Israel’s deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, saying New Zealand should be speaking out. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt ignores the voices of survivors
Survivors of abuse in state care have a right to feel disappointed and sidelined by the Government. ...2 weeks ago
- Redress announcement leaves little justice for survivors
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s decision to severely underfund financial compensation for survivors of abuse in state care. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Bill launched to stop tobacco industry lobbying
Labour is launching a members’ bill to stop the Government from putting tobacco industry interests ahead of public health. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour fights for firefighters
The Labour Party backs volunteer firefighters who are currently not covered by ACC for workplace disease and mental injury and is drafting policy to put this right when the party wins the election in 2026. ...2 weeks ago
- Wildlife law change a deep betrayal of public trust
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s use of urgency to rewrite the Wildlife Act–without consultation, without an impact statement, and in direct response to a court ruling in favour of protecting wildlife. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National cuts women’s pay
National has forced through a law change that will take money out of women’s pockets. ...2 weeks ago
- ‘Govt’s Pay Bill Entrenches Discrimination Against Women’ – Kemp
Te Pāti Māori stands in staunch and emotional opposition to the Government’s so-called Equal Pay Amendment Bill, calling it a calculated attack on working women and a cruel betrayal of the generations who have fought for pay equity in Aotearoa. “This bill doesn’t just undermine equal pay — it completely ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Fewer jobs and opportunities for Māori, again
In the last 12 months life has only got worse for Māori under Christopher Luxon’s Government. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: More than one in 10 Pacific people unemployed under National
There are more Pacific people unemployed as the rate increases to a staggering 10.8% under National. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Unemployment remains high under National
Job losses remain stubbornly high under National, as their attack on jobs, wages, and women rages on. ...2 weeks ago
- Stepping up in a changing global environment
Good evening. Thank you to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs for organising this event, and for your efforts to foster New Zealand’s understanding of international affairs. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak here today. As keen observers and practitioners of international relations, you will all ...2 weeks ago - New High Commissioner to Kiribati announced
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Pati Gagau as New Zealand’s next High Commissioner to Kiribati. “Our diplomats play a critical role in advancing New Zealand’s interests overseas,” Mr Peters says. “Nowhere is this truer than in the Pacific, where we strive to work with our Pacific partners to forge a more ...2 weeks ago
- Changes to improve pay equity process
The Government is amending the Equal Pay Act [the Act] to make the process of raising and resolving pay equity claims more robust, workable and sustainable, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden announced today. Pay equity is achieved when women and men are paid the same for work ...2 weeks ago
- Proposals to strengthen biodiversity released
Toitū te taiao – Our environment endures The Government is consulting on proposals to better protect our precious biodiversity and its economic benefits for future generations, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says. “Today, the Department of Conservation – Te Papa Atawhai is releasing two discussion documents for public consultation, and I ...2 weeks ago
- Trade negotiations with India commence
Following significant engagement over the last month, the first in-person round of negotiations towards a comprehensive India New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will take place in India this week. This follows the highly successful visit to India last year by Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters and the formal launch ...2 weeks ago
- NZ-EU trade deal delivers export growth
The early entry into force of the New Zealand–European Union Trade Agreement (FTA) is paying off, with Kiwi goods exports to the EU surging by 28 per cent during the first year. “In the last 12 months our goods exports to the EU surged from $3.8 billion to over $4.8 ...2 weeks ago
- Celebrating New Zealand Sign Language
Now is the time for Kiwis to give New Zealand Sign Language a go as we take a week to celebrate the language, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) week. The theme is that “anyone can sign anywhere”. “NZSL is an official ...2 weeks ago
- Boosting high-tech exports with advanced technology
New investment in advanced technology research will boost high-tech exports, strengthen connections between research and industry and generate high value jobs, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “Advanced technology research leads to life-changing innovation,” says Dr Reti. “The breakthroughs that can be achieved through areas like ...2 weeks ago
- Post-Cabinet Press Conference: Monday 5 May 2025
POST-CABINET PRESS CONFERENCE: Monday, 5 May 2025 EPIQ TRANSCRIPT PM: Well, look, good afternoon, everyone. It’s great to be joined this afternoon by our awesome Trade Minister, Todd McClay, who’s doing some incredible work. As you know, it’s a big sitting block with the Budget at the end of ...2 weeks ago
- Parent Portal launched to empower parents
Every parent wants to see their child thrive at school — to feel confident, supported, and capable. Today, the Government is taking a major step toward making that aspiration a reality with the launch of a new Parent Portal: an online resource designed to enable families to play their part ...2 weeks ago
- New helicopters a commitment to global security
The Defence Force’s ageing maritime helicopters will be replaced to increase the defensive and offensive capability and surveillance range of New Zealand’s frigates, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. “The replacement of the Seasprite helicopters will also extend the Navy’s ability to support non-combat tasks such as humanitarian assistance and ...2 weeks ago
- Prime Minister congratulates Albanese and Wong
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has congratulated Anthony Albanese on winning the Australian Federal Election, and Lawrence Wong on winning the Singaporean election. “I have been in touch with both Mr Albanese and Mr Wong to offer my congratulations on retaining office,” Mr Luxon says. “When we spoke, Mr Albanese and ...2 weeks ago
- Hunting and Fishing Minister joins game bird season opening hunt
Hunting and Fishing Minister James Meager has joined the thousands of New Zealanders taking part in the annual game bird hunting season opening. He spent the morning at Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau / Sinclair Wetlands, a 315-hectare portion of the Lakes Waihola-Waipori wetland south of Dunedin, hosted by Fish & ...3 weeks ago
- Attendance dashboard shows early insights into term 2
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says that new up-to-date attendance data is helping provide fresh insights into student attendance. For example, data for the first week of term 2 shows the effect of wild weather and which regions were standouts. The average attendance across week 1 is 87.1 per cent. ...3 weeks ago
- New air ambulance helicopter for Auckland and Northland
A new air ambulance helicopter commissioned today will significantly enhance emergency medical response capabilities across Auckland and Northland, Associate Health Minister Hon Casey Costello and ACC Minister Scott Simpson announced today. “This state-of-the-art helicopter represents a major advancement in aeromedical service delivery, and we are pleased to see it become ...3 weeks ago
- Oranga Tamariki showing clear progress on key performance targets
Public reporting on key performance indicators for Oranga Tamariki show the Ministry is making strong progress on its most important goals. In its second public reporting on key performance indicators, Oranga Tamariki has made progress across all four key priority areas emphasised by Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “In 2024, ...3 weeks ago
- New Member appointed to Waitangi Tribunal
Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka today confirmed the appointment of Gerrard Albert of Whanganui, Ngā Paerangi, to the Waitangi Tribunal for a three-year term to fill a vacancy. Mr. Albert is the former Chair of Ngā Tāngata Tiaki o Whanganui, the post-settlement governance body for Te Awa Tupua. He has ...3 weeks ago
- Raising achievement & closing the equity gap at school
The Government is continuing to raise achievement and close the equity gap in schools across the country, so all Kiwi kids have the knowledge, skills and competencies they need to reach their full potential, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. The Governments’ ambitious changes reflect the responsibility we have to these ...3 weeks ago
- Developing a new Action Plan for unpaid carers
The Government is taking action to better support unpaid and informal carers, Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Penny Simmonds says. Every morning across New Zealand, unpaid carers are helping loved ones get ready for the day — preparing meals, arranging medication, assisting with transport, and offering vital support, ...3 weeks ago
- Deputy PM concludes constructive visit to New Caledonia
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has concluded a constructive and positive visit to New Caledonia - New Zealand’s closest geographical neighbour. Mr Peters met the French Minister for Overseas Territories, Manuel Valls, and the President of the Government of New Caledonia, Alcide Ponga. “We came to listen and ...3 weeks ago
- Third procedure room to expand endoscopy capacity in Hawke’s Bay
Endoscopy services at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital are set to expand, with the addition of a third procedure room, Health Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Improving New Zealand’s health infrastructure is a top priority for the Government, to ensure all Kiwis can access timely, high-quality healthcare,” Mr Brown says. ...3 weeks ago
- Government remains on track to ban full Farm-to-Forest conversions
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has confirmed that restrictions on full farm-to-forest conversions on LUC 1-6 farmland will be in place this year, and reaffirmed that they will take effect from 4 December 2024 - the date of the original announcement. Enabling legislation will be introduced to Parliament during ...3 weeks ago
- NSW is copping rain and flooding while parts of Australia are in drought. What’s going on?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew King, Associate Professor in Climate Science, ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather, The University of Melbourne Emergency crews were scrambling to rescue residents trapped by floodwaters on Wednesday as heavy rain pummelled the Mid North Coast of New South ...24 minutes ago - Counts in Bradfield and Calwell become clearer, while Jacqui Lambie faces a possible problem in the ...
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 Counting in several extremely close seats continues, but some results have become clearer. In Liberal-held Bradfield, Teal candidate Nicolette Boele has taken ...39 minutes ago
- Why do I procrastinate? And can I do anything about it?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Houlihan, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast Dima Berlin/Shutterstock Can you only start a boring admin task once your house is clean? Do you leave the trickiest emails to the end of the day? Delaying a ...39 minutes ago
- David Seymour defends $18m annual cost of Regulatory Standards Bill
David Seymour said the cost of policy work across the government was $870m a year, so the cost of the bill was about 2 percent of that. ...48 minutes ago - Privileges debate shortened: What was said so far?
The highly anticipated debate on the Privileges Committee report lasted just 25 minutes before it was adjourned. What has been said so far? ...1 hour ago
- Labour slams ‘big tax breaks’ for tech giants as government ditches digital levy
Labour says the government's decision to dump plans for a digital services tax is a tax break for tech giants like Facebook and Google. ...2 hours ago
- School building funds haven’t increased in 15 years – principal
Secondary school principals are unhappy the amount of money schools get to upgrade or replace their buildings has not changed in 15 years. ...2 hours ago
- A sculpture made from 80 tonnes of sand, Mirrorscape is remarkable – but too much is left unsaid
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Clarke, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Tasmania Mirrorscape (detail), 2025, Théo Mercier. Photo credit: Mona/Jesse Hunniford. Image courtesy of the artist and the Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. The first impulse is to kick it. ...2 hours ago
- Peters heckling: ‘It is absolutely a sackable offence’ – employment lawyer
A Wellington worker's heated exchange with Winston Peters at a public press conference has landed him hot water with his employer. ...2 hours ago
- NZNO Care And Support Workers At Parliament For Budget Day
NZNO care and support delegate Tash Greig says care and support workers were devastated by the changes. ...3 hours ago - Govt Dismantling Of Public Housing Confirmed With Kāinga Ora Axing A Net 620 Roles
"This is another shameful day for the Government which promised no cuts to frontline services - this is a lie which is being exposed every day across the public sector," said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association for ...3 hours ago
- What’s the obscure Australian online safety standard Elon Musk’s X is trying to dodge in court? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Cover, Professor of Digital Communication and Director of the RMIT Digital Ethnography Research Centre, RMIT University In its most recent battle with authorities in Australia, X (formerly Twitter) has launched legal action in the Federal Court, seeking an exemption from a ...3 hours ago
- Interest rates are coming down. Here’s what homeowners should know about refinancing
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ama Samarasinghe, Lecturer, Financial Planning and Tax, RMIT University doublelee/Shutterstock On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia cut the target cash rate by 0.25 percentage points. It now sits at 3.85% – the lowest since May 2023. Australia’s big four ...3 hours ago
- Auckland passing hat around to save popular public events
Money charged by Auckland Council to develop the city centre will be diverted and the mayoral office budget tapped to keep events in the city going this year.Public gatherings in a council list of being at risk of no funding include the ASB Classic tennis, Auckland Marathon, Sail GP and ...3 hours ago - EDITOR’S NOTE: New Podcast The Bradbury Group Launches in NZ
Editor’s Note: I’m pleased to say my old friend Martyn ‘Bomber’ Bradbury has launched his new programme and podcast titled The Bradbury Group. Martyn needs no introduction to New Zealanders. Under his handle ‘Bomber’ he’s been at the forefront of political debate, especially from a left perspective, for ...3 hours ago
- NZ ‘running out of patience’ – Peters lashes Israel over Gaza aid blockade
RNZ News New Zealand has joined 23 other countries calling out Israel and demanding a full supply of foreign aid be allowed into the territory. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told RNZ Morning Report today it was “intolerable” that Israel had blocked any aid reaching residents for many weeks. The ...4 hours ago
- ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for May 21, 2025
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on May 21, 2025. Australian para sport has issues everywhere – here’s what must be fixed ahead of the Brisbane ParalympicsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Raw, Lecturer, Sport Management, Swinburne University of Technology Bratislav ...5 hours ago
- Australian para sport has issues everywhere – here’s what must be fixed ahead of the Brisbane Pa...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Raw, Lecturer, Sport Management, Swinburne University of Technology Bratislav Kostic/Shutterstock Australia’s underwhelming performance at the 2024 Paris Paralympics has raised serious questions about how well our adaptive sport system is working. The Paris games returned our lowest medal tally since ...5 hours ago
- What’s the difference between skim milk and light milk?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Margaret Murray, Senior Lecturer, Nutrition, Swinburne University of Technology bodnar.photo/Shutterstock If you’re browsing the supermarket fridge for reduced-fat milk, it’s easy to be confused by the many different types. You can find options labelled skim, skimmed, skinny, no fat, extra light, ...5 hours ago
- The picture book helping kids heal from the pain of March 15
Alex Casey talks to Dr Maysoon Salama, author of The Heavenly Papa Giraffe. There’s a page in The Heavenly Papa Giraffe where a peaceful and closeknit family of giraffes are confronted with a snarling hyena on their walk across the savannah. “I hate giraffes, I hate giraffes,” he shouts as ...5 hours ago - Employer of man who heckled Winston Peters criticised after launching probe into ‘disruption&#...
The Free Speech Union says the incident had nothing to do with Tonkin + Taylor, and apologising set a 'dangerous precedent'. ...6 hours ago
- Gone By Lunchtime: House of C****
Reflections on haka-triggered bans and column-propelled C-bombs, and a couple of thoughts about the budget. A last-minute adjournment has kicked the debate around the punishments imposed upon Te Pāti Māori MPs down the road and past the budget, avoiding a possible burst of filibuster activity. All of that follows ...6 hours ago
- AI is now used for audio description. But it should be accurate and actually useful for people with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Locke, Associate Researcher in Digital Disability, Centre for Culture and Technology, Curtin University Chansom Pantip/Shutterstock Since the recent explosion of widely available generative artificial intelligence (AI), it now seems that a new AI tool emerges every week. With varying success, ...6 hours ago
- New Zealand Greens Posture As “Socialist” With Alternative Budget
The real target of these far-right denunciations is not the Greens, but the working class and young people, who are moving to the left in response to soaring social inequality, and the threat of fascism and world war, and are increasingly attracted ...6 hours ago
- Echo Chamber: Te Pāti Māori gets the last laugh – for now
Te Pāti Māori rises from the ashes of the government’s pride to get its say in the budget debates – before having to go back to the dog box. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter ...8 hours ago
- NZ Budget 2025: science investment must increase as a proportion of GDP for NZ to innovate and compe...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Gaston, Director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Shutterstock/Olivier Le Queinec A lack of strategy and research funding – by both the current and previous governments – has been well documented, ...8 hours ago
- Who pays when the budget cuts?
Underinvesting in early parenthood isn’t saving money, it’s just shifting the burden to justice, health and education systems down the line, writes E Tipu e Rea CEO Zoe Aroha Witika-Hawke. As Budget 2025 is unveiled this week, we expect fiscal responsibility and tightening public spending to dominate headlines. But for ...9 hours ago
- Travel Diary: A foodie trip to Italy and the test of a new relationship
Anna Rawhiti-Connell recalls a ‘very short, late-bloomers OE’. In August and September of 2016, I went to Europe to see and travel with my brother. By the time the trip came around, me and Troy, the man I ended up marrying, had been seeing each other for a few months. ...9 hours ago
- Starvation of Gaza – a distressing continuation of a decades-old plan
SPECIAL REPORT: By Jeremy Rose Reading an NBC News report a couple of days ago about a Trump administration plan to relocate 1 million Gazans to Libya reminded me of a conversation between the legendary Warsaw Ghetto leader Marek Edelman and fellow fighter and survivor Simcha Rotem that took place ...9 hours ago
- ‘An atrocious idea’ – outcry over taxpayer-funded octopus farming research
Octopus are wild and solitary. Plans to farm them are therefore cruel, say animal rights advocates. ...10 hours ago
- Spotify continues to change music. What’s next – will AI musicians replace music made by humans?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra Spotify was started, according to its official claims, because its founders “love music and piracy was killing it”. In Mood Machine, music journalist Liz Pelly argues this is ...10 hours ago
- Feats of the human body behind Tom Cruise’s stunts in Mission: Impossible movies
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Baumgardt, Senior Lecturer, School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol He’s leapt from cliffs, clung to planes mid-takeoff and held his breath underwater for as long as professional freedivers. Now, at 62, Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt for ...10 hours ago
- After another call with Putin, it looks like Trump has abandoned efforts to mediate peace in Ukraine
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham After a two-hour phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on May 19, US president Donald Trump took to social media to declare that Russia and Ukraine will “immediately start negotiations” towards a ...10 hours ago
- The public service has a much smaller gender pay gap than the private sector. It’s a big achieveme...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leonora Risse, Associate Professor in Economics, University of Canberra NDAB Creativity/Shutterstock After two years of publishing the gender pay gaps of Australia’s private-sector companies, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency has released public-sector employer data for the first time. The report shows ...10 hours ago
- From tikanga to ‘protocol’: Luxon’s war on the Māorification of Aotearoa
The prime minister insists his government is clamping down on the spread of Māori language and culture in the public sector. But beneath the tough talk, what’s really changing – and who is he trying to win over? Our government is halting the Māorification of Aotearoa. This isn’t an opinion, ...10 hours ago
- Winston Peters joins allies in demanding Israel allow aid into Gaza
The Foreign Affairs Minister says "intolerable" supplies into Gaza have been blocked for weeks: "We've just simply had enough of it". ...11 hours ago
- For making stars, it’s not just how much gas a galaxy has that matters – it’s where it’s hid...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Catinella, Professor and Senior Principal Research Fellow, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), The University of Western Australia One of the galaxies mapped by WALLABY: the red shade shows the atomic hydrogen gas content of the galaxy, overlaid on an ...11 hours ago
- The Queensland melioidosis outbreak is still growing. What’s keeping this deadly mud bug active?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University ap-studio/Shutterstock The outbreak of the deadly “mud bug” melioidosis in north Queensland has not yet abated since it began at the start of this year. So far there have been 221 cases ...11 hours ago
- ‘Outdated and irrelevant’: what do young Australians think of their schooling?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jun Eric Fu, Senior Research Fellow, Youth Research Collective, The University of Melbourne LBeddoe/Shutterstock Australia’s school system – and whether it is doing its job – is often under the microscope from politicians, experts and parents. The most recent ...11 hours ago
- Up for debate: Which party gains from haka privileges surprise?
Analysis - The government blindsided the opposition by postponinga debate about punishments for Te Pāti Māori, but the delay gives all sides time to plan. ...12 hours ago
China's official News outlet, Xinhua is reporting that the Rafah Crossing will open on Sunday local time. According to Egyptian security sources that spoke to Xinhua, 600 trucks are lined up at Rafah in preparation to enter Gaza.
In May the IDF occupied and closed the Rafah Crossing in defiance of the Camp David Accords
In other news relating to the ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says the ceasefire will not take place if Hamas does not provide Israel with the list of names of the 33 hostages due to be released.
P.
Netanyahu and co want to kill as many Palestinians and grab as much land as they can. They don't want peace.
@aljazeera.com
"We can expect ongoing efforts to goad and provoke the unravelling of this deal." Former Israeli negotiator Daniel Levy tells Al Jazeera that Israeli PM Netanyahu is likely to continue provocations to try to “upend” the Gaza ceasefire deal. 🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/lmgoxr
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2lofqead276vtc5647ye7sl2/post/3lfxd7si5t22z?
600 trucks sounds unbelievable but remember that pre genocide, in a non bombed state, Gaza still recieved 500 trucks per day.
Part of this siege has been the inability of Palestinians to stay warm and dry. Over the last few weeks of very cold and very wet, the death toll for new borns dying of hypothermia now stands at 8.
https://x.com/SecKermani/status/1880542638895677590
The Genocide is not over
Hours before ceasefire comes into force, the Israeli PM says his country reserves the right to resume the war in Gaza.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/18/israel-hamas-ceasefire-in-gaza-to-come-into-effect-sunday-morning
When the border crossing into Egypt from Rafah is reopened tens of thousands of Palestinians are likely to rush the opening in the border to escape the looming resumption of the genocide promised by Israeli PM Netanyahu at the end of Stage 1.
And "we will do it stronger than ever" Benjamin Netanyahu
Netanyahu says he will not abide by the conditions of Stage 2 to withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza or give up control of the Rafah Crossing to Egypt. Instead Netanyahu says he will increase the IDF presence on the border with Egypt and attack Gaza "stronger than ever"
Israel has right to restart fighting in Gaza after ceasefire, …
Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com › news › liveblog › live-israe…
5 hours ago — “We will increase our military presence there,” Netanyahu said, adding that Israel will not allow “the arrival of any weapons” for Hamas.
The ceasefire in Gaza is scheduled to start at 8.30am local time. 7.30pm NZ time.
From Al Jazeera:
Netanyahu has delayed the start of the ceasefire due to a technicality. Hamas have not yet released the names of the hostages to be released as per the agreement with Israel.
Hamas claim "field technicalities" prevent them collecting the names from the scattered sites where the hostages are located. Hamas communicate by means of field runners, the runners are vulnerable to being spotted and targeted by Israeli armed drones who are still above them. Not only could the runners be killed, but the location of the hostages could be revealed.
Leading to two possibilities, Israel may try and raid these locations to free the hostages by force. Two, Israel may yet invoke the Hannibal directive. A justifiable paranoia considering that Netanyahu may not want any returning hostages to refute accusations made that they were tortured or suffered sexual assault. Nor want any surviving hostages to provide witness testimony of Israeli hostages being killed by Israeli bombing,
Breaking News.
The humble runners hold the fate of the ceasefire. Israel blame Hamas for not providing the names of the hostages, Hamas blame Israel for not allowing the runners to communicate. Under the agreement, Israel was supposed to remove all surveillance drones above Gaza at the agreed time of 8.30am local time.
Hamas say they are still committed to the ceasefire and will hand over the names as soon as they can.
Will the runners be able to gather all the names?
Will their movements be tracked by Israel?
Everything depends on the courage and ingenuity of the runners to evade the Israeli drones.
Man vs. machine played out across an apocalyptic landscape.
Will the runners be able to get the hostages names without being detected?
Will the runners be able to get back to their leaders' hidden operations and command bunker with the names of the hostages without revealing its location for Israeli bunker busters?
They will make a film about this one day
Israel blames Hamas for not providing the names of the hostages to be released, this is not quite accurate. It seems that Hamas provided the full list of names of the 33 hostages to be released well beforehand.
At the last minute Israel demanded the specific names of the first three hostages to be released.
Also Israel did not meet its requirement to withdraw its surveillance drones, which had been agreed to, to allow Hamas to be able to move about and gather the hostages in safety, in preparation for their hand over. The continued presence of the Israeli drones in breach of this agreement, and the separation of the hostages made the collection of their names difficult for Hamas who rely on runners to pass on messages. Despite the huge risks involved, Hamas agreed to try and get the specific names of the first three hostages to be released.
Hamas has gathered the names of the three hostages they will release today
They are; Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher.
Due to a recent discovery by the ACT party of alternative facts, that there is no such thing as climate change, and that traffic congestion is a figment of Aucklanders' imagination.
In response to these hitherto undiscovered alternative facts, the government has decided to discourage public transport use for more environmentally friendly private cars, by raising public transport fares.
Another benefit of this far seeing plan, is a big improvement in Auckland air quality and liveability.
The only downside of this far sighted policy; excrement dropped on the heads of Aucklanders by pigs flying overhead.
Good time to get on a Bike….
As apart from your Physical/Mental Health and the Environmental aspects, your economic health will be much better too. Esp as fuel costs could soon be heading upwards..
I wonder if NAct1 will get shit about the fuel price ? Labour and Greens always did….
Bike free : )
I find it hard to believe that there's more bikes now than this pic..
https://canterburystories.nz/collections/archives/star/prints/1986/ccl-cs-1176
I bike to work 4 days a week
A picture paints a thousand bikes : )
Good on you .
Have heard of the Aotearoa Bike challenge? Starts soon….
Yes, wonderful if you can do it. There's a rather large group of us who can't drive, or cycle. In my case, medical ban, and too dangerous for the latter. The only alternatives being buses and taxis, many of them still running on petrol. And fuel increases always equal transport increases. I can see power prices raising the cost of electric vehicles.
My only 'perk' to all of this is qualifying for a Total Mobility card which offers substantial discounts on taxis. My CSC card is loaded onto all the bus cards I have for around the country, so I only pay 1/2 price, for now. It's only a matter of time before these discounts are revoked, leaving a lot of people stranded.
I miss cycling, I used to a lot.
Just one of the shameful things NAct1 did/is doing….
You are probably aware of all these but..maybe some info?
Good on you for having cycled and appreciate that.
Aye I've cycled all my life due to not being allowed to drive. The increase in cycle lanes has massively reduced the opening car door risk that has upended me a few times – also causing significant injury to the people opening the door and stepping out at the same time.
In fact I haven't had to dodge a car door for about three years now.
Dodging inattentive idiots overshooting intersections cycle lanes can't fix unless they move the lanes (effectively making them trails) right off the roads.
Well good on you for being lifetime Pedal Powered ! Im not up to your level…but I have biked a lot, I always bike into town (no parking problems, fuel stops, traffic jams : )
And as you probably aware its surprising what you can carry on a bike !
Know exactly what you mean re the flung open car door. One of the things Biking teaches.. situational awareness. Im always scanning ahead, particularly parked cars with a driver sitting in.
Our cycle lanes are to the right of the street car parks….means you have to carefully go around the idiot who has blithely opened door in front of you ! While also hoping no following car dumbass is going to sideswipe you…..
There is a safe way open car door that should be taught more…
Anyway keep up your Biking. Feb is also NZ Bike Month.
A very informative Observer article on UK racism which clearly defines concepts like implicit and unconscious bias, and discusses strategies to deal with embedded racism. Well written and packed full of important information.
Following on from this, Seymour is pushing the concept of 'colour blindness', where you do not consider someone's race. This Psychology Today article sums it up well:
"Research has shown that hearing colorblind messages predict negative outcomes among White people, such as greater racial bias and negative affect; likewise colorblind messages cause stress in people of color, resulting in decreased cognitive performance (Holoien et al., 2011)…The alternative to colorblindness is multiculturalism, an ideology that acknowledges, highlights, and celebrates ethnoracial differences. It recognizes that each tradition has something valuable to offer. It is not afraid to see how others have suffered as a result of racial conflict or differences."
Does Seymour have enough empathy to go into bat for minorities? Time will tell.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/19-03-2022/danyl-mclauchlan-on-too-much-m
Love that last cartoon. A well-thought out picture says a thousand words in an instant.
NZ Health and its Minister….Dr Cigareti looking to be shuffled..
Could it get any worse ?! fark….looks like it could
Shane will likely get shifted so when the outsourcing begins he's no longer minister as his private health interests are clearly a conflict too obvious even for our lazy owned MSM to not point out as a very bad look.
Isn't it all left to Lester Levy and his razor gang anyways ? So more arrogance up top required you could pick from any of those, medical experience is not required with Chopper Levy on the job as a well paid scapegoat should the proverbial hit the fan.
While Dr Cigareti was Health Minister, there was at least a faint semblance of Medicine involved. Even if more hypocritical than Hippocratic. Not too sure how he rationalised it, or even if he did…
However with one of these 3 in the gun seat ? A very clear and present danger….The mask is fully off.
Who voted for these NAct1 fucks?
Annnd. Its Simeon Brown. WTAF.
NZ's Health system…is toast.
What’s the rationale for replacing Dr Reti with Simeon Brown as health minister? Does Brown's conjoint Bachelor of Laws/Commerce degree, and his time at BNZ, make him a better fit with Levy?
Aye, the worst of both . Fiscally and Socially conservative. Mix with a religious fervour ? A real worry. Could take NZ back to some bad old days….
Luxatives got a major problem here. Health is already a major weakness for his government and could be about to get worse. Neither Reti or any replacement will improve health whilst Willis starves the health system in lieu of tax breaks for tobacco and landlords and borrows $12billion for tax cuts. Reti, as a health practitioner, brings respect with him, people at least respect him and his knowledge whilst acknowledging he is a weak minister. The named possible replacement – Simeon Brown, Goldsmith and Collins. Lord save us. Brown is a character people tend to quickly take a dislike to, big boastful talk. With him no health improvements but an easily disliked minister. Goldsmith is a decent administrator but has his limits, competent but no more. Collinshas been quiet and displaying the more likeable aspects of her personality lately but like Brown is someone the public easily dislikes. No magic bullets there for the COC. May as well leave "that nice man” Shane Reti there.
"Reti, as a health practitioner, brings respect with him…." So was coleman, both shafted the public system so IMO whatever respect he garners isnt from practicing health pro's.
The minister who bought back smoking and repurposed upgrade funds away from his local public hospital.
If Reti had the spine to very publicly blast the Govt over the tobacco policy and walk away from the party- and parliament- he would've had a hell of a lot more respect from most NZers and his medical peers. There might also be one more practicing GP somewhere, which is of way more benefit to society than a politician.
But, no. Which makes it pretty obvious the power is more important than his oath to 'do no harm.'
Hypocritic Oath.
interesting about Coleman, when Key retired Coleman stood for PM against English and said any tax cuts would be cancelled and money repurposed for health. Never a statement like that from reti. Teri is someone you can like whilst thinking he is a very weak minister
Pigs take flight over South Auckland
Work on the electrification of this part of the Auckland rail network appears to have stalled, with no update on the finish time being provided by AT.
They need to integrate the opening with the CRL timetable as well as freight.
Also there's 3 future stations on that line to integrate with masterplanned developments.
Don't worry its happening.
It (the Pukekohe/Papakura connection) may be happening, but not any time soon and certainly not Monday 3 February 2025 which AT still claim on their website.
Oh wonderful. I've been having to travel to Pukekohe a lot over the last couple of years and was stupidly getting my hopes up for getting a train back. Sometime, anytime. It's bus-train-bus from the airport, and for the last month 3x buses with the rail replacement. One bus and a train right through would be a hell of a lot easier.
His very own laundromat.
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President-elect Trump launched his own cryptocurrency overnight and swiftly appeared to make more than $25 billion on paper for himself and his companies.
https://archive.li/RvhMC (axios)
Simeon Brown as the new Minister of Health! Certainly possible, very scary.
Him and Seymour as associate health what could possibly go wrong.
Luxon must be a bit desperate to put Brown in, big mouth but little man, easily disliked by people and would Brown want to give up his precious roads?
Its not desperate at all, calculated as someone else now has to make sense of his under costed roads.
Couldn’t see him doing that !
Teachers pet gets to change subjects as his swift treatment of the wellington council probably won over many as having the 'right stuff'.
It's insulting to teenagers to call Simeon undeveloped.
Agree George….sounds like a government in panic mode. But putting Mr Smug and Nasty in charge of health is not going to help.
It’s also weird because Brown is up to his neck in the RONS mess….to take this off him now leaves somebody else to pick up the pieces. Chaos really.
smug, a good term to describe him, a smug big mouth
I just knew that it would be either petrol head Simeon or Seymour butts. He will probably want to bulldoze hospitals to make room for his roads, by-passes and tunnels.
I'm sure all health workers will feel so much more secure in their jobs with this announcement.
Interest.co.nz article on the history of US oligarchy, following Biden's exit speech.
'Abraham Lincoln helped to organise westerners against a government takeover by elite southern enslavers who argued that society advanced most efficiently when the capital produced by workers flowed to the top of society, where a few men would use it to develop the country for everyone. Lincoln warned that “crowned-kings, money-kings, and land-kings” would crush independent men, and he created a government that worked for ordinary men, a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” '
'Crowned-kings, money-kings and land-kings'
Lincoln’s meme becomes pertinant again, with Trump a crowned-king via the backdoor of propaganda.
The new 'Crowned-kings, money-kings and land-kings'.
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For a long time, Curtis Yarvin, a 51-year-old computer engineer, has written online about political theory in relative obscurity. His ideas were pretty extreme: that institutions at the heart of American intellectual life, like the mainstream media and academia, have been overrun by progressive groupthink and need to be dissolved. He believes that government bureaucracy should be radically gutted, and perhaps most provocative, he argues that American democracy should be replaced by what he calls a “monarchy” run by what he has called a “C.E.O.” — basically his friendlier term for a dictator. To support his arguments, Yarvin relies on what those sympathetic to his views might see as a helpful serving of historical references — and what others see as a highly distorting mix of gross oversimplification, cherry-picking and personal interpretation presented as fact.
https://archive.li/WHycw (nyt)
https://newrepublic.com/article/183971/jd-vance-weird-terrifying-techno-authoritarian-ideas
There is enough research on the attitudes of the rich and entitled, who develop justifications for their entrenched wealth. From Louis XIV and god-bestowed kinghood, to 'rich man in his castle, poor man at his gate'. And the self-made are not excluded.
The one I like is the science experiment where participants who think they are being tested for something else are left alone in a 'waiting-room' with a jar of lollies they have been told is to be distributed later to children. The richer the person, the more likely to steal from the jar.
Simeon Brown gets Health, Bishop gets Transport.
Lee out.
Crikey
Simeon Brown also gets State Owned Enterprises. Are the failed Crown Health Enterprises CHE of the 1990s coming back?
We in the South Island are very pissed off – ferries, Dunedin and Nelson hospitals etc. Oh look, we now have our own minister in James Meager!
I'm going to f******g RIOT!
Diversity takes a hit (Reti demoted; Lee out altogether).
Desperately looking for a single bright spot in the reshuffle, and the appointment of James Meager as Minister for the South Island is pretty much it.
Unlike a lot of the Nats he is involved in his electorate and Labour should have appointed a Minister for Te Wai Pounamu when they had the chance.
The biggest disaster is appointing Simeon Brown to Health – it's an absolutely insane decision.
It is patronising and senseless to appoint a Minister for the South Island.
It implies the SI has special needs, where in reality it should be part of the overall picture.
Having said that, surely the first thing an effective MOSI would do is to reinstate Labour's ferry deal.
The South Island does have special needs. Policy inevitably prioritises population, which is why the SI often lags being infrastructurally, which becomes an issue given its significance to the agricultural, tourism and energy sectors, and Christchurch is the second-largest city in the country.
Politics is perception, and the perception is that the SI is not a priority.
please fix your username on next comment.
My apologies, entirely the fault of my fat fingers. Happy for you to delete.
About as sane as appointing Dracula the head of a blood donor clinic.
I don't see Labour disestablishing it.
The South Island does have special needs. Policy inevitably prioritises population, which is why the SI often lags being infrastructurally, which becomes an issue given its significance to the agricultural, tourism and energy sectors, and Christchurch is the second-largest city in the country.
Politics is perception, and the perception is that the SI is not a priority.
I'll disagree with you here too. NZ is dominated by human population and that means NI gets more attention across the board.
The rural issues in healthcare alone says the SI needs Ministerial attention.
Are you saying to that Luxon will suddenly start listening to a newly appointed MOSI and because of this will reinstate the ferry deal and build the hospital he promised to build in Dunedin.
Dream on. It is a popularist appointment that pretends to take action on the SI where in reality nothing will change.
Which is why I said Labour should have instated it.
The poling must have been dire for National to suddenly think about Te Wai Pounamu. They certainly haven't given a toss up till now.
Lots of opportunity for the opposition to really take it to the Minister, every Question Time.
Possibly I have completely lost my mind, but Simon Watts being now Minister of Local Government and Energy as well as Minister of Climate Change, is not the worst possible combination of portfolios, not that I expect the coalition to do the right thing by emissions reduction at all.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/01/17/nz-sees-highest-annual-business-liquidation-count-in-10-years/
“Business liquidations have hit a 10-year high with 2500 companies folding last year, marking the highest annual figure since 2014 amid challenging conditions for construction and retail.”
Chatting with the local retailers, and tradies, it’s getting tougher out there all the time. Where the sparky and plumbers had 2-3 months of work. Now down to weeks or even days.
Vale in pacem Russell Marshall.
You made solid policy delivery in education and in conservation.
Thankyou.
Yes, and I bumped into Lange at a Labour do. I said teachers liked Russell Marshall as Minister of Ed. Lange sneered, and said "Hope you like what happens next" I said "We will if it is good for children". He paused, a slightly surprised look at that comeback, and he turned and strode away. School Boards, and himself as Minister of Education. No not great. Yes Rest in peace Russell, you were a good man, not driven by ego.
Russell Marshall showed a lot more true Christianity than the self styled Christian pretenders that comprise the present government.
Watch Crystia Freeland's excellent campaign ad embedded in the article. I'd vote for her after watching it and I'm not even Canadian.
Politics Joe's comic mash-up of Spice Girls × Trump x Putin here. 'Tell me what you want, what you really, really want…'
Made me giggle.
The risk is that the removal of Reti is because of his association with the private health sector and what they plan next is a Brown-Seymour axis to contract out the leasing of new hospital buildings on the PPP model.
Will the Minister for the South Island get the Dunedin or Nelson hospital builds done well? Will he protect the roads from truck damage by advocating for a successful future of rail enabled ferries. Or is this just PR because of all they have failed to do for the SI and want to avoid electoral consequence?