Well, firstly, I try not who have sex with anyone who might make a complaint to police about it afterwards. So this involves me knowing them for a bit, making sure we're on the same page with what we want from the interaction, making sure they're not drunk/vulnerable/unconscious, that sort of thing.
Secondly, ongoing active consent is fun, not a legal excuse.
Thirdly, if someone wants to perjure themselves in order to invent a rape charge, the app isn't going to change anything in that regard. Every defensive tactic will just be attempted to be bypassed, just like rapists try to bypass every defensive tactic against rape.
The fact is that it always comes down to the specific circumstances of each situation. It's like asking how to defend oneself from a physical assault.
But it's not something you need to worry about immediately, which an assault is: act now or get thumped. You don't just have time to get an expert opinion, you can hire an expert to defend you: get a lawyer.
When the cops interview you, STFU. In an adversarial system, they are not your friend and anything you give them will only be used against you. Court is when you get to state your case.
But it's far more common to use that approach to introduce doubt about the fact that the consent was refused, rather than persuading beyond reasonable doubt that the consent (which had in reality been given) did not actually happen.
But the current situation in NZ is definitely weighted to being more problematic in one way (letting rapists pretend consent existed in order to avoid a guilty verdict or to avoid charges even being pressed) than the other (false complaints of rape resulting in an unjust rape conviction).
Fair enough, yet each one of those is essentially a form of contract, accompanied by a legal document. If I'm reading the above thread correctly – this has been explicitly rejected as 'mad'.
Not sure where this leaves us. Trials that hinge on 'he said, she said' are very unsatisfactory for all concerned. Yet when I read the entire article above
Fuller said his suggestion could gain popularity in time.
“To be honest with you, the app idea could be the worst idea I have in 2021, but the reality is in five years, perhaps it won’t be,” he said. “If you think about dating 10 years ago, this concept of single people swiping left and right was a term that we didn’t even know.”
The advice from McF above is perfectly fine if we could assume good faith, sound mind and good intentions – but people are not always like that.
Consent is an informal contract too. You don’t get to sign these contracts if you’re not sane of mind (or half-pissed or drugged), haven’t received or at least been offered professional advice, have not been properly informed (informed consent), and only in the presence of reliable witnesses who are also sane of mind and sober …
Oh, the signed piece of paper is kept in a safe place where it cannot be tempered with because it may be needed later, e.g. in Court …
Judith Collins tweets this morning "Our petition is working" which obviously refers to the petition she started a few days ago demanding that the "bubble" with Australia be opened immediately. I guess when you are polling as lowly as she is (and falling) you search for any crumb of comfort. The Government has been working continuously to find ways of safely opening the borders to Australians and Pacific Islanders. It would appear that the end of April could be a possibility but not certain. Sorry Judith, this would hardly signify "immediately".
I've noticed the nats have developed the ability to start demanding things that the government is going to do in the near future anyway? Then claim they had a win .
When your as fucking useless as they are(the nats that is) you gots to claim any little thing you can .
Asked what he would tell Mr Biden in response to his remarks, Mr Putin said: "I would tell him: 'Be well.' I wish him health, and I say that without any irony or joking."
Recalling his youth, Mr Putin said that he and his friends would respond to insults with the taunt: "The names you call are what you are yourself" — a Russian version of the childhood riposte, "I'm rubber, you're glue; what you say bounces off me and sticks to you."
"It's not just a rhymed childish joke; it has a deep psychological meaning: We see our own qualities in another person, we think he's like us and judge him accordingly," he added.
Thanks Francesca for trying to explain the point of what Putin said for some people not able to handle psychological subtleties. I think the Russians are winning this chess game. Next move Biden you nutmeister?
Calling all disabled people + those who love them. Time is running out to get your story in to hikoi4disabled@gmail. Stories will be read outside Parliment from 10:30am onwards on Tuesday 23rd March.
The purpose of this is to raise awareness of how systems such as welfare, health, housing, education are failing disabled people + highlight the lack of consultation which is still an issue.
Had the late Sir Owen's entire plan unfolded the scheme would have been extended to cover non injury/accident impairments. That would have been a step too far for ACC scheme and today we continue to have the obscene situation where a person disabled through absolutely no fault of their own has few rights and almost no entitlements compared to an ACC client (who in many cases knowingly took risks which led to their impairment).
Children born with spina bifida have no entitlement for MOH funding for supports, while the person paralysed as a result of a drunken car crash can claim entitlement to all manner of supports.
Today..the only real change for those not enjoying the entitlements of ACC is that now…and only after Te Virus struck…spouses and partners of someone with very high care needs (such as my partner with a C4/5 spinal injury) can be paid for the care we provide.
Just as well the extra $$$ are coming in from my wages, because we are now having to self- fund much more in the way of vital supplies and equipment.
Under the Ministry of Health…there is absolutely no entitlement whatsoever to receive Ministry funded supports/treatment. If they choose not to fund…there is little to no comeback.
The bastards keep disabled and their families in a constant state of insecurity.
Yes ACC could and should have been a great deal more ambitious than it has turned out.
We have an acquaintance here with significant head and upper body disabilities whose exact word to us were "NDIS has changed my life beyond all recognition". Another good friend who works professionally in this space describes it as a 'game changer'.
Again nothing is perfect, there will always be critics, but take another look at that link and consider if NZ couldn't do something like that. Or these kind of specialist housing options.
Everyone should feel included in our society and have access to opportunities. The Government has a responsibility to ensure disabled people can access their full and equal rights.
They can do this by setting up an independent regulatory body that is led and run by disabled people. This will enable a society where disabled people can be fully included to be able to fully participate.
There are many barriers disabled people face are because society is built inaccessibly. For too long disabled have been ignored and denied equitable access and it is long overdue to bring them in from the cold. If the Government was able to prioritise a Racing Ministry, why a regulatory body to oversee the rights and needs of disabled, led and run by disabled?
Please support our petition to help us gain full, non-disabling access to society. Remember disability is the only identity that does not discriminate.
Just as an aside – the first two units we built were done to a Universal Access standard, but when we tried to get HNZ interested at the time we just hit a brick wall.
Non-disabled tenants love them all the same, but it's one thing I've always been a bit disappointed about.
Needless to say we didn't go down the same path with the rest.
Good to read you actually built units to a Universal Access standard, and I just don't understand why all new builds (providing the site is suitable) are not thus constructed.
We've dealt with two builders over the past twenty regarding accessible build/renovation. An absolute bottomline, non negotiable condition is that all entrances are absolutely no-bump dead level. Sliding doors tracks do not have to sit proud of the floor…and twenty years ago we were able to sink those units into the slab. Just a few months ago we had to get quite stroppy with local joinery manufacturer in order to get the latest totally level entry profiles for our cottage renovation. Fellow was quite persistent that such a thing did not exist and was quite put out when I presented him with the opposition's pamphlet. Had he not been the builder's pet joinery supplier we would have told him to sling his hook. He simply had no desire to even think about meeting these access needs.
Even he was impressed with the results when the ranchslider units he had grudgingly made for us fitted perfectly and were fit for purpose. Hoping we helped raise his consciousness.
Tradies are like that; they tend to be good at what they know, and are often initially resistant to new things. Often for good reason, most new ideas turn out to be bad ones that cost them money.
Still if you can handhold them through the process like you did, it can work out just fine.
The idea of a National Disability Insurance Scheme was first raised at the Australia 2020 Summit in 2008. The following year, the Australian Government announced that the Productivity Commission would hold a public inquiry into a long term disability care and support scheme. The Commission handed down its report in 2011 which found that the disability system was underfunded, unfair, fragmented and inefficient and gave people with disability, their families and carers little choice and no certainty of access to appropriate supports (see Productivity Commission Report ).
In particular the principles are stated as:
The NDIS is a social insurance scheme, not a welfare system. The NDIS is based on the following four insurance principles:
the total annual funding base required by the NDIS is determined by an actuarial estimate of the reasonable and necessary support needs of the target population. The NDIS continually compares these estimates of utilisation and costs with actual experience and outcomes;
the NDIS takes a lifetime approach (i.e. seeks to minimise support costs over a participant's lifetime) by investing in people early to build their capacity to help them pursue their goals and aspirations resulting in greater outcomes later in life;
the NDIS will invest in research and encourage innovation; and
the NDIS has the ability to act at the systemic level, as well as fund individual support needs. This is especially important for people with disability who are not participants
Glad to see Marama Davidson has called out Nicola Willis on her recent remarks.
She took advantage of the murder of an English woman by a London cop and commented how she, too is afraid to walk around Central Wellington at night blah, blah blah.
What has the tragedy in London got to do with an entitled woman who would never need to walk any streets at nights, and then tries to blame her 'plight' on inner city emergency housing as if they're murderers and thieves:
Have to say I disagree Anne. Wellington use to feel really safe. Hospo industry was commenting recently how this has change. Same with at Te Aro park.
The inner city housing she may have been referring to was on the news one night and houses mostly people who are on probation. Wellington has also had problems with a gang called the nomads of late. Likely 501s play a roll.
I was glad Willis said something……………and I am absolutely no fan of Willis.
What is racist about what Nicola Willis said? She didn't mention any race did she? I think Marama needs to think before she speaks. Other than re-claiming the "C" word what has she achieved? Even the reporter asked if she had actually done any work in the last 5 months.
Not agreeing with you at all. Actually I think Marama Davison was opportunistic and tried the race card to get points from her supporters (whoever they are). This is a bully tactic. And all the while, just having meetings will not make a dent in the issue of homelessness. To have a reporter standing there with no answer to an important question of public interest, turning the back to them in arrogance is despicable. Perhaps we need to remind Mrs. Davidson who is paying her wages. Her position is not a right but a privilege. She was not voted in but appointed. Last time I looked, NZ was calling itself a democracy.
Where in the article does Willis say anything about race?
Pure dog whistle, cancel culture by Marama Davidson. She is hiding the fact that she has done absolutely sweet FA in here role and is been shown up as bloody useless.
She's using an incident in another country to ferment the racist tendencies of the law n' order brigade in NZ for political gain. Course she doesn't mention the word Maori, Pacific Islander, but the people she is talking to know what she is saying.
I would not walk along any inner city road at night on my own. Its common sense and goes without saying. So why did she say it?
By all means work to change things so that people can go walking at night and be safe, but tainting a whole race of people which is what she was snidely doing is not the way to go about it.
I would not walk along any inner city road at night on my own. Its common sense and goes without saying.
So. A person who walks along an inner city road at night on there own lacks common sense?
Hmmm. Victim blaming, much?
Davidson's reaction smacks of defensiveness. She damn well knows she's part of an administration that has done sweet FA to mitigate homelessness and the multitude of ills that accompany profound hopelessness.
Course she doesn't mention the word Maori, Pacific Islander, but the people she is talking to know what she is saying.
Interesting. We know Maori and Pasifika are over -represented in the homelessness stats and we all know that emergency housing seems to attract the negative attention of gangs who prey on vulnerable people. MSN has had numerous articles about this issue from Paihia to Auckland to Rotorua. Pointing out facts is not racist.
Davidson has again gone off at the mouth end without thinking first. She'd be better off putting her energies into fixing some of this shit.
Dog whistle: a subtly aimed political message which is intended for, and can only be understood by, a particular demographic group.
It seems you have things the wrong way around with your comment Pataua4life. Nicola Willis's comment appears to have been the dog whistle and Marama Davidson responded, presumably on the basis of demographic knowledge. Feel free to check out the facilities, establish the ethnicities of the people in the inner city emergency housing, then come back to provide evidence to prove Marama Davidson was wrong with her response.
aom……not a dog whistle but a real whistle in Wellington right now. I used to happily walk around Wellington Street in the city at night. Now,, not so much.
Glad if you now have a whistle to keep you safe in the city at night. Now all we have to worry about is you deafening some poor person who walks innocently past when you panic and blow it in their ear.
The primary purpose of housing the homeless is to improve the well-being of the homeless – it's not to make people like Willis feel safe. So she may simply be guilty of a sense of entitlement that places herself at the center of every calculation – scarcely a crime, but rather disqualifying in an aspiring politician.
Alternatively or additionally, she may be mischief-making. Trying to scare middle-class Wellingtonians into thinking the streets aren't safe and that they will be attacked by (it doesn't need spelling out) brown people. This would just be solid National Party 'laura norder' campaigning – a successful tactic with a long history. So nothing unexpected there.
Also – it's distinctly possible that homeless is making central Wellington objectively less safe. It's a bit on the nose for Willis, who belongs to a party that saw housing inequality and homelessness rise under their watch and now opposes any attempt to control the investor-driven demand side, to require an urgent solution. Arsonists don't get to call out the firemen – not even when the supposed firemen turn out to also be arsonists (as seems to be what is occurring)
Davidson's response is understandable because of this slather of entitlement, mischief-making and hypocrisy that surrounds what Willis is saying. But it's not helpful – because it takes the whole discussion into the swamp of unwinnable culture wars. Best to get on with trying to fix or reduce the core problem.
The primary reason for people to seek shelter is to be safe from the elements, have a safe place to sleep and live and raise our families in them.
The primary reason for a government to provide shelter/housing/food/social welfare etc for its citizen is to prevent social unrest.
So yes, it should be the primary reason for all of us to want others to be housed, well fed, well cared for so that we a;; can stay a peaceful nation that allows for all of us to be save and not scared of a mugging, assault, sexual assault or death.
And frankly we are doing a shitty job at housing us and preventing the resulting social unrest that comes with homelessness, hunger, poverty, and nothing to do all day long. And longterm that is going to be a problem for all of us, not just some women who works in Wellington and who does not feel safe anymore on her way home at night.
Davidson's response is understandable because of this slather of entitlement, mischief-making and hypocrisy that surrounds what Willis is saying. But it's not helpful – because it takes the whole discussion into the swamp of unwinnable culture wars. Best to get on with trying to fix or reduce the core problem.
Thank you AB, but fear it is a little too intelligent and insightful for the likes of P4l, David and Jimmy to comprehend.
Wow people…..A MP is talking about a real issue, i.e. not feeling safe walking in the CBD. The police report an increase in crime there (recent murder outside Te Papa) and hospo industry comment that they have never seen the levels in violence in the CBD like now. As a Wellington dweller I concur with this.
Talk about invalidation guys
Didn't appreciate your sarcasm, Aom, about me whistling at some innocent person. I was the victim of a nasty assault in a public place many years ago.
As I have said I don't have any time for Willis, but actually she is entitled to, I am entitled to and all women walking the streets in the CBD are entitled to feel safe……..otherwise what are we saying here? Too bad middle class women feel unsafe? Shame on all of you
As I have said I don't have any time for Willis, but actually she is entitled to, I am entitled to and all women walking the streets in the CBD are entitled to feel safe……..otherwise what are we saying here? Too bad middle class women feel unsafe? Shame on all of you
so good it had to be repeated. Thank you for pointing out that feeling safe has nothing to do with class, standing, race…………. Thanks.
Anker, if you read what I've actually said – including the initial comment which started this conversation – neither I or those who have effectively supported my claim are talking about the right of women to be safe in the streets. It goes without saying we all should be able to do so without fear.
We are talking about Willis using the occasion of a high profile murder case on the other side of the world to "dog whistle" for political gain.
AB puts it succinctly when he says:
The primary purpose of housing the homeless is to improve the well-being of the homeless – it's not to make people like Willis feel safe. So she may simply be guilty of a sense of entitlement that places herself at the center of every calculation – scarcely a crime, but rather disqualifying in an aspiring politician.
Alternatively or additionally, she may be mischief-making. Trying to scare middle-class Wellingtonians into thinking the streets aren't safe and that they will be attacked by (it doesn't need spelling out) brown people. This would just be solid National Party 'laura norder' campaigning – a successful tactic with a long history. So nothing unexpected there.
Personally I go with the latter but even if it was the former, it is bad form coming from an "aspiring to ultimate leadership" politician.
Marama Davidson was well within her rights to make the distinction and call Nicola Willis out.
Willis might have used the high profile case of the tragic murder in the UK. But actually many journos e.g. Rosemary McLeod and Verity Johnstone (I think that's her name) have written about that high profile case this week because sadly the situation where women feel unsafe is global. Can't think of anywhere in the world where women wouldn't share this fear.
Willis teamed that case up with violence in the CBD that seemed o.k. to me because there has been an increase in violence in Wellington, not just in the CBD but in a suburb not too far away from where I live in Wellington which is being attributed to a gang.
When I think of violence I always thing of men. And this is no difference.
I don't have much tolerance for violence whoever the perpertrator is. I appreciate the local MP raising it. It is her job to raise local issues and to challenge the Minister who I think has a portfolio around violence towards women……..
Marama is such an overworked MP as shown on the parliamentary website and perhaps a bit stressed, guess we have to cut her a bit of slack in her tweets shooting from the hip.
Compost has a good green sound about it so I don't think of waste from mining etc when I hear it mentioned. In Taranaki maybe I should. I think this is called 'greenwashing'.
It is seeking to renew consents to discharge to land, water and air, which lapsed about two years ago. It is still permitted to accept various waste at Uruti – including oil and gas drilling cuttings and drilling fluids – to either compost or use in worm farming.
"This has caused what's referred to in Remediation NZ's application as a 'legacy' issue, as they have been unable to sell this product off-site due to its association with drilling activities. "It also means that it has not produced any saleable compost from the site in the last 10 years, other than the vermicast."
Sarah Roberts from the environmental lobby group Taranaki Energy Watch was thankful the site stopped accepting oil and gas waste in December… "Conservatively 40,000 cubic metres of drilling materials came in, but for four or five years the council said there was very little record taking and so really the whole process of our submission is trying to find out what happened to it and what's going to happen to it?…
"I guess if you really looked at that drilling waste pile – more than 20,000 tonne – I guess you'd start to think this potentially looks more like a landfill than it does a composting facility.
Rare events, even so, but it does show how random buildings aren't entriely suited to quarantine facilities. There's the traffic/surface contacts, but also the quarantine rooms should really be negative-pressure environments instead of positive (i.e. draughts under doors, but the air is sucked out then filtered before release, rather than blown directly in and then sucked out of the hallway).
I know a government hotel system might be too much to ask in this era, but subsidising some hotels provided they meet MIQ adaptation standards could be an idea. This won't be the last time we have a global issue. Even if the country isn't fully cut off, having some quarantine beds for the next sars/ebola scare could be useful.
Agree with you on this one totally. Hotels located in urban areas are considerably less than ideal for the purpose. Quarantine stations used to be quite spartan affairs located well outside city or town boundaries.
Considering the on-going findings about Covid 19 and its possibility for return as later serious disease, the transmission of it should be a high concern to control. One idea that should be looked at is the closing of the lid of the toilet before flushing; the rush of water sprays up and there must be a small mix of droplets from the bowl. If there is some escape then it will hit at knee level not rise to the nose. It should be adopted as another limiting activity.
Well, it should be a concern for facility designers and operators. Not so much for anyone else (except, wear your masks).
The reason these instances don't have confirmed transmission avenues (it's a good hypothesis, maybe better than surface contact, but it's still not quite a slam dunk) is because their transmission avenue (no skin-skin contact or direct aerosol exposure) is relatively rare. It's big enough to be regularly attributable when we have hundreds or thousands of cases, but a few dozen cases at any one time? This form of transmission is not exactly a daily or weekly occurrence in NZ, and it's not frequent enough to keep an outbreak going by itself.
The main transmission avenues are sustained exposure in poorly venitlated and densely populated environments. Planes, bars, nightclubs, theatres, tour coachs, cruise ships, supermarkets, churches, schools.
The occasional case outside those areas is something to try to identify and eliminate, but not to the extent that normal folks lose sleep over it.
University of Canterbury education researcher David Pomeroy, who has done previous research on implicit racial bias in streaming of maths, was alarmed by the findings.
"I wanted to understand why students from different backgrounds – different ethnic, socioeconomic and gender backgrounds – seem to approach school subjects in such different ways and why we end up on such different paths depending on those backgrounds.
I wonder if he has been asking all the questions he needs to? Many of the young people might say they wanted to do what their friends and family do. In other words they choose to stay in a cohort that moves on together and does not wish to go on to more education other than a course aimed at immediate employment.
If parents don't see the advantages of further education, then that would mean less reason to consider it by the youngster. And the parents may feel they are being practical, that extra expense studying won't be met with a job in their area. Maybe study would take them away from their home area, and their family, and/or their friends and also the job, so they would break the family solidarity and mutual support.
I think that a package that a family signs up to, which would include a responsible employer in the district offering an apprenticeship to a young person who succeeded at a basic, starter course at 'tech and would then have proved their ability to learn and follow directions, and would be able to handle future block courses, would start more youngsters on the higher skills road.
And perhaps an adult course could be offered in computer use, reading and technical jargon, or cooking and health and exercise, for the parent would bring them into a learning circle, and more likely to think favourably of further training. The ideal would be to have a group of mothers and fathers from the area attending such courses, picked up by a small bus and dropped off home before school came out at no cost to them. Then whole families, even streets, could get into a different line of thinking; the tide would lift all boats sort of thing.
that extra expense studying won't be met with a job in their area
That's certainly been my experience – and I did read a paper on drivers of NZ suicide a while back, that pointed to chronic underemployment. I'm sure Stats are oblivious however. Stepping out of one's assigned class in a saturated job market not only won't get you a job, you'll get labeled a troublemaker.
What about the mothers. Where are our caring and responsible standards fro families especially mothers in NZ?? We are just a bunch of fudgers and liars I think. I'm so disappointed with this country and its attitudes that have deteriorated badly. Mothers particularly need more care so how about mother Jacinda?
Willis might have used the high profile case of the tragic murder in the UK. But actually many journos e.g. Rosemary McLeod and Verity Johnstone (I think that's her name) have written about that high profile case this week because sadly the situation where women feel unsafe is global. Can't think of anywhere in the world where women wouldn't share this fear.
Willis teamed that case up with violence in the CBD that seemed o.k. to me because there has been an increase in violence in Wellington, not just in the CBD but in a suburb not too far away from where I live in Wellington which is being attributed to a gang.
When I think of violence I always thing of men. And this is no difference.
I don't have much tolerance for violence whoever the perpetrator is. I appreciate the local MP raising it. It is her job to raise local issues and to challenge the Minister who I think has a portfolio around violence towards women……..
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TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
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What could possibly go wrong?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/300256453/australian-police-boss-suggests-app-to-prove-sexual-consent
unbelievably mad idea. Consent is not a contract.
Also how many abusers have access to/control over their victims phones?
yep.
Genuine question – how do you think people should go about establishing consent in a manner that will stand up in a Court?
Well, firstly, I try not who have sex with anyone who might make a complaint to police about it afterwards. So this involves me knowing them for a bit, making sure we're on the same page with what we want from the interaction, making sure they're not drunk/vulnerable/unconscious, that sort of thing.
Secondly, ongoing active consent is fun, not a legal excuse.
Thirdly, if someone wants to perjure themselves in order to invent a rape charge, the app isn't going to change anything in that regard. Every defensive tactic will just be attempted to be bypassed, just like rapists try to bypass every defensive tactic against rape.
Great advice to give to a 16yr old. But honestly I don't think it answers the question.
Well, it's an odd question.
The fact is that it always comes down to the specific circumstances of each situation. It's like asking how to defend oneself from a physical assault.
But it's not something you need to worry about immediately, which an assault is: act now or get thumped. You don't just have time to get an expert opinion, you can hire an expert to defend you: get a lawyer.
When the cops interview you, STFU. In an adversarial system, they are not your friend and anything you give them will only be used against you. Court is when you get to state your case.
But it's far more common to use that approach to introduce doubt about the fact that the consent was refused, rather than persuading beyond reasonable doubt that the consent (which had in reality been given) did not actually happen.
Yup … all kinds of problematic every way you look at it.
But the current situation in NZ is definitely weighted to being more problematic in one way (letting rapists pretend consent existed in order to avoid a guilty verdict or to avoid charges even being pressed) than the other (false complaints of rape resulting in an unjust rape conviction).
In the same way they get married, write a will, or apply for euthanasia. I think having sex is a more than appropriate fit with these.
Fair enough, yet each one of those is essentially a form of contract, accompanied by a legal document. If I'm reading the above thread correctly – this has been explicitly rejected as 'mad'.
Not sure where this leaves us. Trials that hinge on 'he said, she said' are very unsatisfactory for all concerned. Yet when I read the entire article above
The advice from McF above is perfectly fine if we could assume good faith, sound mind and good intentions – but people are not always like that.
Consent is an informal contract too. You don’t get to sign these contracts if you’re not sane of mind (or half-pissed or drugged), haven’t received or at least been offered professional advice, have not been properly informed (informed consent), and only in the presence of reliable witnesses who are also sane of mind and sober …
Oh, the signed piece of paper is kept in a safe place where it cannot be tempered with because it may be needed later, e.g. in Court …
You asked, I answered.
So… Cherry 2000 with apps instead of lawyers. Dude is repeating 35 year old tropes that were stupid at the time.
But congrats to him for making a 1980s hollywood vision of the future marginally less inaccurate.
Judith Collins tweets this morning "Our petition is working" which obviously refers to the petition she started a few days ago demanding that the "bubble" with Australia be opened immediately. I guess when you are polling as lowly as she is (and falling) you search for any crumb of comfort. The Government has been working continuously to find ways of safely opening the borders to Australians and Pacific Islanders. It would appear that the end of April could be a possibility but not certain. Sorry Judith, this would hardly signify "immediately".
I've noticed the nats have developed the ability to start demanding things that the government is going to do in the near future anyway? Then claim they had a win .
When your as fucking useless as they are(the nats that is) you gots to claim any little thing you can .
Biden in a deft move of deeply considered international diplomacy suggests "Putin has no Soul" and is a "Killer"…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xa0YVmXXXU
Putin responds by suggesting that Biden is projecting his inner self..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySix1puDlCQ
Both Correct!
Soon the anti-war activists will be saying 'bring back Trump!".
Well. Biden's first act was, bombing Syria.
@ Chris, So are you a pro-war activist, or are you just on the fence when it comes to war?
So Putin openly admits that he is a killer.
Except that's not what Putin actually said
Recalling his youth, Mr Putin said that he and his friends would respond to insults with the taunt: "The names you call are what you are yourself" — a Russian version of the childhood riposte, "I'm rubber, you're glue; what you say bounces off me and sticks to you."
"It's not just a rhymed childish joke; it has a deep psychological meaning: We see our own qualities in another person, we think he's like us and judge him accordingly," he added.
Typical to accept the western interpretation as the actual source
Thanks Francesca for trying to explain the point of what Putin said for some people not able to handle psychological subtleties. I think the Russians are winning this chess game. Next move Biden you nutmeister?
The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right names. Confucius
Calling all disabled people + those who love them. Time is running out to get your story in to hikoi4disabled@gmail. Stories will be read outside Parliment from 10:30am onwards on Tuesday 23rd March.
The purpose of this is to raise awareness of how systems such as welfare, health, housing, education are failing disabled people + highlight the lack of consultation which is still an issue.
This is one area where Australia seems well ahead of NZ.
While I'm sure like anything else it has it's critics, the Aussie NDIS scheme simply has no equivalent in NZ.
…the Aussie NDIS scheme simply has no equivalent in NZ.
It does have an equivalent here in NZ…and I recall the NDIS system was modeled on the same.
We call it the Accident Compensation Corporation.
Had the late Sir Owen's entire plan unfolded the scheme would have been extended to cover non injury/accident impairments. That would have been a step too far for ACC scheme and today we continue to have the obscene situation where a person disabled through absolutely no fault of their own has few rights and almost no entitlements compared to an ACC client (who in many cases knowingly took risks which led to their impairment).
Children born with spina bifida have no entitlement for MOH funding for supports, while the person paralysed as a result of a drunken car crash can claim entitlement to all manner of supports.
This 2013 paper, released after a joint ACC/Ministry of Health Spinal Cord impairment strategy compares ACC supports (and conditions for receiving them) with the paltry crumbs from MOH for the same disability.( Page 83 onwards for those bothered to read it.)
Today..the only real change for those not enjoying the entitlements of ACC is that now…and only after Te Virus struck…spouses and partners of someone with very high care needs (such as my partner with a C4/5 spinal injury) can be paid for the care we provide.
Just as well the extra $$$ are coming in from my wages, because we are now having to self- fund much more in the way of vital supplies and equipment.
Under the Ministry of Health…there is absolutely no entitlement whatsoever to receive Ministry funded supports/treatment. If they choose not to fund…there is little to no comeback.
The bastards keep disabled and their families in a constant state of insecurity.
Yes ACC could and should have been a great deal more ambitious than it has turned out.
We have an acquaintance here with significant head and upper body disabilities whose exact word to us were "NDIS has changed my life beyond all recognition". Another good friend who works professionally in this space describes it as a 'game changer'.
Again nothing is perfect, there will always be critics, but take another look at that link and consider if NZ couldn't do something like that. Or these kind of specialist housing options.
If you have a link to a press release I can put it up as a post. Or if someone has written about this and is happy for me to cross post to TS.
Hi Kay, thanks for reminiding us about this.
Here's the Action Station page which gives some more detail about the hikoi and the overall aims…
https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/disabled-people-deserve-their-full-equitable-rights-1?source=facebook-share-button&time=1615161007&utm_source=facebook&share=e9987f8b-c702-4663-9ed0-e6291e340573&fbclid=IwAR3hRt1-_3AKdoM0Gbb1H6oIRvbt6cxBchuhZkDhWrnhVQisUp15xz9v46I
Why is this important?
Everyone should feel included in our society and have access to opportunities. The Government has a responsibility to ensure disabled people can access their full and equal rights.
They can do this by setting up an independent regulatory body that is led and run by disabled people. This will enable a society where disabled people can be fully included to be able to fully participate.
There are many barriers disabled people face are because society is built inaccessibly. For too long disabled have been ignored and denied equitable access and it is long overdue to bring them in from the cold. If the Government was able to prioritise a Racing Ministry, why a regulatory body to oversee the rights and needs of disabled, led and run by disabled?
Please support our petition to help us gain full, non-disabling access to society. Remember disability is the only identity that does not discriminate.
Just as an aside – the first two units we built were done to a Universal Access standard, but when we tried to get HNZ interested at the time we just hit a brick wall.
Non-disabled tenants love them all the same, but it's one thing I've always been a bit disappointed about.
Needless to say we didn't go down the same path with the rest.
Good to read you actually built units to a Universal Access standard, and I just don't understand why all new builds (providing the site is suitable) are not thus constructed.
We've dealt with two builders over the past twenty regarding accessible build/renovation. An absolute bottomline, non negotiable condition is that all entrances are absolutely no-bump dead level. Sliding doors tracks do not have to sit proud of the floor…and twenty years ago we were able to sink those units into the slab. Just a few months ago we had to get quite stroppy with local joinery manufacturer in order to get the latest totally level entry profiles for our cottage renovation. Fellow was quite persistent that such a thing did not exist and was quite put out when I presented him with the opposition's pamphlet. Had he not been the builder's pet joinery supplier we would have told him to sling his hook. He simply had no desire to even think about meeting these access needs.
Even he was impressed with the results when the ranchslider units he had grudgingly made for us fitted perfectly and were fit for purpose. Hoping we helped raise his consciousness.
Now check this out.
Tradies are like that; they tend to be good at what they know, and are often initially resistant to new things. Often for good reason, most new ideas turn out to be bad ones that cost them money.
Still if you can handhold them through the process like you did, it can work out just fine.
Thanks! I forgot about the petition.
Sorry to keep banging on about the Australian NDIS but I strongly suggest NZ activists in this space take a closer look at it where it came from and the principles that motivate it:
In particular the principles are stated as:
The NDIS is a social insurance scheme, not a welfare system. The NDIS is based on the following four insurance principles:
Glad to see Marama Davidson has called out Nicola Willis on her recent remarks.
She took advantage of the murder of an English woman by a London cop and commented how she, too is afraid to walk around Central Wellington at night blah, blah blah.
What has the tragedy in London got to do with an entitled woman who would never need to walk any streets at nights, and then tries to blame her 'plight' on inner city emergency housing as if they're murderers and thieves:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/nationals-nicola-willis-and-greens-co-leader-marama-davidson-clash-over-racist-accusation/5T7FZ3JHMIBFEQJCERIUVYZIQQ/
Painting a picture of inner city criminal mayhem by the homeless in particular.
Yep. Its racism and classism. of the worst kind.
Have to say I disagree Anne. Wellington use to feel really safe. Hospo industry was commenting recently how this has change. Same with at Te Aro park.
The inner city housing she may have been referring to was on the news one night and houses mostly people who are on probation. Wellington has also had problems with a gang called the nomads of late. Likely 501s play a roll.
I was glad Willis said something……………and I am absolutely no fan of Willis.
I think the deflected was from Davison
What is racist about what Nicola Willis said? She didn't mention any race did she? I think Marama needs to think before she speaks. Other than re-claiming the "C" word what has she achieved? Even the reporter asked if she had actually done any work in the last 5 months.
Not agreeing with you at all. Actually I think Marama Davison was opportunistic and tried the race card to get points from her supporters (whoever they are). This is a bully tactic. And all the while, just having meetings will not make a dent in the issue of homelessness. To have a reporter standing there with no answer to an important question of public interest, turning the back to them in arrogance is despicable. Perhaps we need to remind Mrs. Davidson who is paying her wages. Her position is not a right but a privilege. She was not voted in but appointed. Last time I looked, NZ was calling itself a democracy.
Where in the article does Willis say anything about race?
Pure dog whistle, cancel culture by Marama Davidson. She is hiding the fact that she has done absolutely sweet FA in here role and is been shown up as bloody useless.
Agree. Deflect, deflect, deflect.
Willis is the one who is dog whistling.
She's using an incident in another country to ferment the racist tendencies of the law n' order brigade in NZ for political gain. Course she doesn't mention the word Maori, Pacific Islander, but the people she is talking to know what she is saying.
I would not walk along any inner city road at night on my own. Its common sense and goes without saying. So why did she say it?
By all means work to change things so that people can go walking at night and be safe, but tainting a whole race of people which is what she was snidely doing is not the way to go about it.
I would not walk along any inner city road at night on my own. Its common sense and goes without saying.
So. A person who walks along an inner city road at night on there own lacks common sense?
Hmmm. Victim blaming, much?
Davidson's reaction smacks of defensiveness. She damn well knows she's part of an administration that has done sweet FA to mitigate homelessness and the multitude of ills that accompany profound hopelessness.
Course she doesn't mention the word Maori, Pacific Islander, but the people she is talking to know what she is saying.
Interesting. We know Maori and Pasifika are over -represented in the homelessness stats and we all know that emergency housing seems to attract the negative attention of gangs who prey on vulnerable people. MSN has had numerous articles about this issue from Paihia to Auckland to Rotorua. Pointing out facts is not racist.
Davidson has again gone off at the mouth end without thinking first. She'd be better off putting her energies into fixing some of this shit.
Anne, I think you just try to justify the indefensible.
And I think you're not reading comments properly or you don't grasp the nuances Willis is using to create political mischief.
Dog whistle: a subtly aimed political message which is intended for, and can only be understood by, a particular demographic group.
It seems you have things the wrong way around with your comment Pataua4life. Nicola Willis's comment appears to have been the dog whistle and Marama Davidson responded, presumably on the basis of demographic knowledge. Feel free to check out the facilities, establish the ethnicities of the people in the inner city emergency housing, then come back to provide evidence to prove Marama Davidson was wrong with her response.
aom……not a dog whistle but a real whistle in Wellington right now. I used to happily walk around Wellington Street in the city at night. Now,, not so much.
Glad if you now have a whistle to keep you safe in the city at night. Now all we have to worry about is you deafening some poor person who walks innocently past when you panic and blow it in their ear.
@ aom
The primary purpose of housing the homeless is to improve the well-being of the homeless – it's not to make people like Willis feel safe. So she may simply be guilty of a sense of entitlement that places herself at the center of every calculation – scarcely a crime, but rather disqualifying in an aspiring politician.
Alternatively or additionally, she may be mischief-making. Trying to scare middle-class Wellingtonians into thinking the streets aren't safe and that they will be attacked by (it doesn't need spelling out) brown people. This would just be solid National Party 'laura norder' campaigning – a successful tactic with a long history. So nothing unexpected there.
Also – it's distinctly possible that homeless is making central Wellington objectively less safe. It's a bit on the nose for Willis, who belongs to a party that saw housing inequality and homelessness rise under their watch and now opposes any attempt to control the investor-driven demand side, to require an urgent solution. Arsonists don't get to call out the firemen – not even when the supposed firemen turn out to also be arsonists (as seems to be what is occurring)
Davidson's response is understandable because of this slather of entitlement, mischief-making and hypocrisy that surrounds what Willis is saying. But it's not helpful – because it takes the whole discussion into the swamp of unwinnable culture wars. Best to get on with trying to fix or reduce the core problem.
The primary reason for people to seek shelter is to be safe from the elements, have a safe place to sleep and live and raise our families in them.
The primary reason for a government to provide shelter/housing/food/social welfare etc for its citizen is to prevent social unrest.
So yes, it should be the primary reason for all of us to want others to be housed, well fed, well cared for so that we a;; can stay a peaceful nation that allows for all of us to be save and not scared of a mugging, assault, sexual assault or death.
And frankly we are doing a shitty job at housing us and preventing the resulting social unrest that comes with homelessness, hunger, poverty, and nothing to do all day long. And longterm that is going to be a problem for all of us, not just some women who works in Wellington and who does not feel safe anymore on her way home at night.
Thank you AB, but fear it is a little too intelligent and insightful for the likes of P4l, David and Jimmy to comprehend.
Wow people…..A MP is talking about a real issue, i.e. not feeling safe walking in the CBD. The police report an increase in crime there (recent murder outside Te Papa) and hospo industry comment that they have never seen the levels in violence in the CBD like now. As a Wellington dweller I concur with this.
Talk about invalidation guys
Didn't appreciate your sarcasm, Aom, about me whistling at some innocent person. I was the victim of a nasty assault in a public place many years ago.
so good it had to be repeated. Thank you for pointing out that feeling safe has nothing to do with class, standing, race…………. Thanks.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/the-story-i-couldnt-write-why-sarah-everards-death-shook-women-to-their-core/DPX5K7AMQLSZNG56NGNAX42J6M/
Thanks so much Sabine. An article about women feeling unsafe and it does refer to the woman who was murdered in the UK.
Anker, if you read what I've actually said – including the initial comment which started this conversation – neither I or those who have effectively supported my claim are talking about the right of women to be safe in the streets. It goes without saying we all should be able to do so without fear.
We are talking about Willis using the occasion of a high profile murder case on the other side of the world to "dog whistle" for political gain.
AB puts it succinctly when he says:
Personally I go with the latter but even if it was the former, it is bad form coming from an "aspiring to ultimate leadership" politician.
Marama Davidson was well within her rights to make the distinction and call Nicola Willis out.
Willis might have used the high profile case of the tragic murder in the UK. But actually many journos e.g. Rosemary McLeod and Verity Johnstone (I think that's her name) have written about that high profile case this week because sadly the situation where women feel unsafe is global. Can't think of anywhere in the world where women wouldn't share this fear.
Willis teamed that case up with violence in the CBD that seemed o.k. to me because there has been an increase in violence in Wellington, not just in the CBD but in a suburb not too far away from where I live in Wellington which is being attributed to a gang.
When I think of violence I always thing of men. And this is no difference.
I don't have much tolerance for violence whoever the perpertrator is. I appreciate the local MP raising it. It is her job to raise local issues and to challenge the Minister who I think has a portfolio around violence towards women……..
Marama is such an overworked MP as shown on the parliamentary website and perhaps a bit stressed, guess we have to cut her a bit of slack in her tweets shooting from the hip.
lol your angle a few hours didn't work, so now you're concerned. Deary me.
Huh???
Marama could never be accused of being the hardest working MP in Parliament!
You’re definitely not wrong there.
Compost has a good green sound about it so I don't think of waste from mining etc when I hear it mentioned. In Taranaki maybe I should. I think this is called 'greenwashing'.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/438713/compost-firm-stockpiles-20-000-tonnes-of-contaminated-waste
Remediation NZ is part of the Revital Group that produces compost and vermiculture products – many of them Biogro-certified.
It is seeking to renew consents to discharge to land, water and air, which lapsed about two years ago.
It is still permitted to accept various waste at Uruti – including oil and gas drilling cuttings and drilling fluids – to either compost or use in worm farming.
"This has caused what's referred to in Remediation NZ's application as a 'legacy' issue, as they have been unable to sell this product off-site due to its association with drilling activities.
"It also means that it has not produced any saleable compost from the site in the last 10 years, other than the vermicast."
Sarah Roberts from the environmental lobby group Taranaki Energy Watch was thankful the site stopped accepting oil and gas waste in December…
"Conservatively 40,000 cubic metres of drilling materials came in, but for four or five years the council said there was very little record taking and so really the whole process of our submission is trying to find out what happened to it and what's going to happen to it?…
"I guess if you really looked at that drilling waste pile – more than 20,000 tonne – I guess you'd start to think this potentially looks more like a landfill than it does a composting facility.
Interesting – the button/rubbish bin transmissions in MIQ might actually have been rare micro-aerosol transmission.
Rare events, even so, but it does show how random buildings aren't entriely suited to quarantine facilities. There's the traffic/surface contacts, but also the quarantine rooms should really be negative-pressure environments instead of positive (i.e. draughts under doors, but the air is sucked out then filtered before release, rather than blown directly in and then sucked out of the hallway).
I know a government hotel system might be too much to ask in this era, but subsidising some hotels provided they meet MIQ adaptation standards could be an idea. This won't be the last time we have a global issue. Even if the country isn't fully cut off, having some quarantine beds for the next sars/ebola scare could be useful.
Agree with you on this one totally. Hotels located in urban areas are considerably less than ideal for the purpose. Quarantine stations used to be quite spartan affairs located well outside city or town boundaries.
Northern Territories repurposed an unused mine camp with great success.
It's worked very well for them.
Considering the on-going findings about Covid 19 and its possibility for return as later serious disease, the transmission of it should be a high concern to control. One idea that should be looked at is the closing of the lid of the toilet before flushing; the rush of water sprays up and there must be a small mix of droplets from the bowl. If there is some escape then it will hit at knee level not rise to the nose. It should be adopted as another limiting activity.
Mar.11/21 https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/responder-stories/revealing-many-faces-covid19.html
Jul.9/20 https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/diagnostics/scientists-warn-of-potential-wave-of-covid-linked-brain-damage/76871205
Well, it should be a concern for facility designers and operators. Not so much for anyone else (except, wear your masks).
The reason these instances don't have confirmed transmission avenues (it's a good hypothesis, maybe better than surface contact, but it's still not quite a slam dunk) is because their transmission avenue (no skin-skin contact or direct aerosol exposure) is relatively rare. It's big enough to be regularly attributable when we have hundreds or thousands of cases, but a few dozen cases at any one time? This form of transmission is not exactly a daily or weekly occurrence in NZ, and it's not frequent enough to keep an outbreak going by itself.
The main transmission avenues are sustained exposure in poorly venitlated and densely populated environments. Planes, bars, nightclubs, theatres, tour coachs, cruise ships, supermarkets, churches, schools.
The occasional case outside those areas is something to try to identify and eliminate, but not to the extent that normal folks lose sleep over it.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/438727/teens-dreams-limited-by-gender-racial-stereotypes-study
University of Canterbury education researcher David Pomeroy, who has done previous research on implicit racial bias in streaming of maths, was alarmed by the findings.
"I wanted to understand why students from different backgrounds – different ethnic, socioeconomic and gender backgrounds – seem to approach school subjects in such different ways and why we end up on such different paths depending on those backgrounds.
I wonder if he has been asking all the questions he needs to? Many of the young people might say they wanted to do what their friends and family do. In other words they choose to stay in a cohort that moves on together and does not wish to go on to more education other than a course aimed at immediate employment.
If parents don't see the advantages of further education, then that would mean less reason to consider it by the youngster. And the parents may feel they are being practical, that extra expense studying won't be met with a job in their area. Maybe study would take them away from their home area, and their family, and/or their friends and also the job, so they would break the family solidarity and mutual support.
I think that a package that a family signs up to, which would include a responsible employer in the district offering an apprenticeship to a young person who succeeded at a basic, starter course at 'tech and would then have proved their ability to learn and follow directions, and would be able to handle future block courses, would start more youngsters on the higher skills road.
And perhaps an adult course could be offered in computer use, reading and technical jargon, or cooking and health and exercise, for the parent would bring them into a learning circle, and more likely to think favourably of further training. The ideal would be to have a group of mothers and fathers from the area attending such courses, picked up by a small bus and dropped off home before school came out at no cost to them. Then whole families, even streets, could get into a different line of thinking; the tide would lift all boats sort of thing.
that extra expense studying won't be met with a job in their area
That's certainly been my experience – and I did read a paper on drivers of NZ suicide a while back, that pointed to chronic underemployment. I'm sure Stats are oblivious however. Stepping out of one's assigned class in a saturated job market not only won't get you a job, you'll get labeled a troublemaker.
What about the mothers. Where are our caring and responsible standards fro families especially mothers in NZ?? We are just a bunch of fudgers and liars I think. I'm so disappointed with this country and its attitudes that have deteriorated badly. Mothers particularly need more care so how about mother Jacinda?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/438737/better-postnatal-care-petition-closes-with-55-000-signatures
Willis might have used the high profile case of the tragic murder in the UK. But actually many journos e.g. Rosemary McLeod and Verity Johnstone (I think that's her name) have written about that high profile case this week because sadly the situation where women feel unsafe is global. Can't think of anywhere in the world where women wouldn't share this fear.
Willis teamed that case up with violence in the CBD that seemed o.k. to me because there has been an increase in violence in Wellington, not just in the CBD but in a suburb not too far away from where I live in Wellington which is being attributed to a gang.
When I think of violence I always thing of men. And this is no difference.
I don't have much tolerance for violence whoever the perpetrator is. I appreciate the local MP raising it. It is her job to raise local issues and to challenge the Minister who I think has a portfolio around violence towards women……..
If I have misunderstood you I apologise