Anyone have any useful inside word on why Robertson is taking so long to announce his house-price-cooling mechanisms?
After our emotional binge-purge cycle week of downer Christchurch earthquake and massacre commemorations, followed by Auckland's euphoria about winning the America's Cup, surely this government is now able to throw us some actual policy once more?
Just an opinion but wondering if the government is having to recalibrate its response having spent so much political capital on its handling of Auckland’s yo-yo lockdown and the likelihood of entering a double dip recession at the end of the month.
No – they'll stay the course because it has produced world-leading outcomes, has been very popular and also extremely resistant to being undermined by the "economy first" loons who try to use clever-sounding language like "yo-yo lockdowns" that are really just grotesque (and intentional) over-simplifications of the complexities of pandemic management. In short – "all good".
Well as I've repeatedly stated the reason why NZ tilted so far toward property investment is because the alternatives failed my generation. So when I read this:
Orr noted the need for people to look for “alternative places to invest”.
Given the ever changing situation I'd say they are waiting to see what happens now the rate of returnees and their foreign cash is slowing, and the money from the Covid wage and business support is drying up. Demand side might have had its throat cut.
They've shown they don't want to make decisions on this unless as a last resort because it scares the horses so much whenever anyone suggests tampering with the golden egg of property investment.
It's just Mums and Dads giving it a go, don't you know. They've worked so hard all their lives and deserve to not pay tax on property gains, just like the next man. This is New Zealand, after all.
an issue that is concerning me is the gender self I’d bill.
I think this will mean anyone can change their sex on their birth certificate, no questions asked. I get the process trans people have to go through is very difficult, but that is the nature of their predicament, ie they want to change sex because the sex they were born feels wrong for them.
but the gender self I’d bill opens up entry into women’s domains eg public toilets, for anyone and there is nothing to stop pedofiles, sex offenders and rapists changing their sex to become a woman. Of course these people can choose to transition and go through the process as it is the become a woman, but that in itself is somewhat protective against predictors using it to gain access to women and children.
I do think it is absurd that anyone can change their sex on their birth sex certificate no questions asked and I am interested to hear others views on this.
someone called Grace Miller posted a link with comments from trans activists the other day that showed comments from them saying kill all terfs, really nasty stuff. Grace if you are around can you let me know what country those trans activists were from? I am scared to talk about this issue (not on this forum where I can be anonymous, but in public because of the potential for threats of violence and vitriol
After a decade of being firmly informed that gender is nothing more than a 'social construct' and that human biology is of little to no importance – I must confess to watching the logical conclusion of this ideology being played out both confusing and sad.
if gender is a social construct (which I don’t believe), then that would surely mean that boys who are born male and brought upas boys would remain men, because it’s all socially constructed.
if we support diversity and I do, the men who transition to women are trans women. They have a very different experience and have different biology and still maintain an advantage of strength. The are different from women who are born women, have wombs female anatomy etc. trans women are different from women but different doesn’t mean inferior. It means different. Still worthy as people.
I'm really worried about this too. The idea of a male prisoner/or about to be convicted suddenly declaring himself female to take advantage of being placed with vulerable women turns my stomach as much as a newly identified woman being forced into a male prison. There needs to be a clear demarkation and a pieces of paper don't cut it.
one of the key points to get across to women in particular is that changing the law to make it easier for trans people will impact legally on women, but also socially. i.e. the culture will change as well as the legals. How women are allowed to set boundaries will be challenged. This is already happening overseas. It's complicated further by the push to allow non-binary people into women's spaces even if they are male.
I say get across to women, because most women are supportive of trans rights (rightfully so), and don't realise that there is a conflict of rights here that needs public discussion. And those women are the ones that need to be talking about it before the law changes.
The implications of the changes aren't well understood, in part because of the fast social changes that are happening that most people aren't keeping up with eg male bodied people identifying as women and doing no medical or even social transitioning. This means that any male person will be able to identify as a woman, or even as female, if they choose irrespective of if they are trans or not. It's not simply about official documents, this will be across society. The definition of trans is broadening too.
It's also not well understood because of the intense pressure to suppress debate. People lose their jobs, careers, family and friends over this in the US and the UK.
It's also important to look at the issue as a conflict of rights that needs a resolutio for *both sides. We can uphold the needs and rights of women and trans people, but only imo if we are allowed to talk about it.
Agree with 'look at the issue as a conflict of rights' and we need to be able to have these discussions without the shit-slinging that's been going on.
What really rips my proverbials are headlines like…
Clearly rubbish and fantasyland stuff. Simply calling yourself a man doth not make it true, especially if you choose to suspend the blockers and get pregnant. It seems that for this woman being a man was a lifestyle choice, a passing fad. Unbelievable that such a person could claim on one day to have been 'born into the wrong body'/'assigned the wrong sex at birth', then on a subsequent day employ that same 'wrong' body to do what nature intended of that 'assigned' sex.
We need to put in place protections for the words we use to describe biological sex (woman, female, girl, man, boy, male) and ensure that we all agree on the words that describe gender. And make damn sure that we know there's a difference between the two.
say that on social media and you will be schooled in why it is wrong, and if you persist you will be labelled a terf. If you're famous or have a large reach, you'll mostly likely experience some version of cancel culture. Otoh, the fact that you are a bloke will protect you somewhat. As Sabine said, nothing much has changed.
The bathroom thing gave it away, I would have thought. Some of these labels can be subgroups or included alongside other labels, and signs on toilet doors don't stop the door being used by someone who doesn't suit that sign (from whatever perspective).
Probably the best thing to go would be to make the current process easier. I would also have the birth gender listed on the birth certificate as well, bringing into line with name changes and the legal fiction of adoption.
I do not think changing gender/sex should be as simply as filling in a form online and using your credit/debit card.
Thanks for your perspective everyone. Weka, I know we have had different opinions at times, but I really appreciate your point of view on this issue.
yes women’s voices are being silenced by trans activists, with postings full of vitriol and death threats. In the 70s most men I knew heard our voices about the patriarchy and the impact on us.
so much of the women’s movement has been tied up with our biology. A woman’s right to choice, contraception, the cervical cancer enquiry, maternity leave. Rape of women by men, undervaluing of women’s sports, in part because we are physically weaker.
Mc flook, I take your point about toilets. However as someone who suffered an attempted rape in a public toilet, I am very uncomfortable with any person with male genitalia, male hormones, denser muscle mass and large height/frame being given freedom to enter female toilets. Public toilets are places where we are quite vulnerable.
I know a male friend of mine who is quite tall was told at some sort of men’s group, to be very aware of what it’s like for women who is walking alone. Subsequently he acts accordingly.
I would hope that men who are trans would also bare this in mind
I AM ASKING PEOPLE TO WRITE TO THEIR MPS TO REGISTER THEIR OPPOSITION TO THIS BILL
i have written. I am terrified that my name will be leaked and that I will face a huge backlash. I ll keep you all posted
yes, this is the conflict of rights and needs. In the UK where there are male and female toilets, the female toilets are being converted to gender neutral and the male toilets are being left as is. There's so much bullshit in that that cannot be be wiped away by asserting that trans women need safe spaces too. Obviously they do, but why are women's rights being eroded to do that? You can treat that as a rhetorical question and I'll just quote Sabine again "we are going to end up with two 'somethings' – Men and Others. And nothing much will change."
Most of the gender neutral toilet complaints seem to be that blocks have been divided into toilets vs urinals rather than gender, e.g. the old vic.
The argument seems to be that women can't use the urinals, so they only get 24 spaces vs the men having access to 42 (18 of those being urinals).
Sounds bad, until one reads that the number of toilets was doubled in that reno, and half a dozen of them aren't stuck in the gents.
Also saves front of house staff from trying to shut toilets to men for ten minutes to clear the queue outside the ladies (which was a thing that regularly had to happen at one venue I used to work.)
I mean, the world being what it is there might be places that just swapped the women's sign with "unisex" and left the men's as is. Didn't see any examples, though.
Come to think of it, the toilets in the theatre I'm involved with are unisex and wheelchair accessible. Little rooms with their own sink and door and toilet. No urinals whatsoever.
Great to see this issue getting an airing on here. I think the question is really the government's to answer. And it goes like this. We are being presented with self-id as a trifle. Nothing to worry about. A convenience for males who identify as women (and vice versa) to not have to go through the 'humilation' of having any criteria associated with their decision to be regarded as a woman. But looked at through my eyes is that the government is making the category of woman a contested category – based on a feeling when this has never been the case before.
If women who have had an ontological category to describe themselves – by sex – that has served to lessen and to measure discrimination and to fight for inclusion in mainstream society then how can it possibly be right that that category is nullified without any public discussion and consultation, risk or impact assessment.\? How can it be possible that making the category into a category of self-identification will have zero or inconsequential impacts? Well the answer is it doesn't. If sex as a category is nullifed then doing this without a public consultation or explaining why it's also great for women is surely a fundamental departure from the Bill of Rights Act. Luckily there is a likely solution David Parker is currently putting through legislation to make governments who act against the Bill of Rights subject to a legal remedy. I think women and them men who support them need to take a judicial review on this issue.
Thanks Jan. That sounds a bit more promising than I'd been thinking. Nice summing up too. I'd add that there are two issues here: one the changing of sex as a category and two the suppression of debate. If what's being proposed is such a great idea why can we not talk about it?
Women are beings with very particular 'side effects'. One is we are menstruating, then we fall pregnant and then we give birth.
So we are now 'people who menstruate'.
We are pregnant persons.
And then we go straight to Mum. Lol.
We are 'people, persons, Mums. We are never women. And if someone takes offense at say menstruating people being called people rather then women, they are called all sorts of things. And yet, only biological women will ever menstruate.
but one bit after one bit, the discriptive word of 'women' is replaces by 'people, persons, others, but we are no longer mentioned as women. This however is not happening to men. And that is an issue, and the reason to me is simply not to elevate trans men or trans women, but to disapear and muddle us into one group. That will be the other group of, women, trans, disabled, others. All with less rights then men of course.
In the french language men are “il” and women are ‘elle’. So a group of women doing something would be ‘Elles sont/font’ etc, and a group of men is Ils sont, Il font etc. But if there is one man in a group of women they suddenly become ‘ils’.
Funny how that always works out in eradicating women as a group of people with their own set of identifiers and needs.
i have not menstruated since my womb was cut out due to cancer, but i would still call myself a women. Is that what you are talking about? Or are you talking about transwomen? I would call them women too, but again, that is just me.
I really don't care about any such thing, if you want me to care about some stuff that some feminists or not feminists thought in the previous decades you must link to it for me to read so that i can understand where your thinking comes from, or else your comment is again just a wee little snark/reminder as to please define your view of women as a women and what consists of women. Besides, there are a heep of older women past meno pause who also don't bleed anymore, and i guess you would still call them women?
But the only people on this planet to menstruate, or get pregnant are still women. Not people, not persons, not anything else but biological women. So others maybe want to keep that in mind when they try to play gotcha games as to what is or is not a women. We are fairly easily identified.
I would. I cannot remember the whole reading list for the introductory Feminist Studies paper led by Rosemary Novitz at Canterbury University in the late 1980s but it was pretty comprehensive at the time. Some thinking seems to have done a 180 since.
i was told at fifteen that women will get married and have children and thus don't need education. 🙂 – very early 80s.
Nothing has changed. We are still where we were then. It is just that those that are women, disabled, queer, trans, of color, intersex, they/them etc are all now 'other/people/persons/'. Rather then their own thing.
And all the 'others' will have the same few rights they had before. Only as much as they are granted by the ruling class who really don't care what you and i identify as. We are either cost centres, or profit centers. And once we internalise and understand that we may actually get the conversation to where it needs to be, what it means to be human, Ein Mensch sein, erst, und dann die eigen gemachte Idenditaet.
"I remember feminists of past decades strongly resisting defining gender by biology."
Feminists have rightly resisted biological determinism, which is an ideology that says because (only) women can bear children this is what they are for, or must do (the GCF view is that gender is wholly a construct designed to control the reproductive labour of women for the purposes of power holding men. I don't agree fully with that, but their philosophy does bring things into start contrast).
Also, the word gender can mean sex or gender ID, I'm not sure which you meant.
Acknowledging the reality of biological sex isn't biological determinism. We don't have to define women solely by biology, but biology is a core component of being female. This is why my position is that trans women are trans women. I'm good with trans women defining themselves as a separate class from men, as well as understanding how they differ from women.
Gender never meant the same as sex when I studied. One was biological and the other socially constructed. It was the only useful way to describe the variety of ways women experienced different cultures around the world.
It intrigues me how you try to define this an issue between "women" and "them men who support them" (sic) presumably against the rest of men when there are many cis women feminists driving change. These discussions mostly present to me as a split within Feminism.
yes, there's definitely a split within feminism. And the left.
Jan was saying that the women who aren't ok with self-ID being introduced without even talking to women about it (and the men who support those women) will be able to take legal action.
"I think women and them men who support them need to take a judicial review on this issue."
Do you think Jan means literally all women, or that she means the women who object to self-ID? Because if you think the former, you're doing #notallwhatever, and that would just be naff.
it is actually. The GCF central position is that exactly (not sure where Jan fits into that specifically). This doesn't mean all women agree, but it's a coherent and consistent political argument. You can disagree with that (feel free to make the argument), but it's not helpful to misrepresent their views.
I think you are. Jan can say what she meant, but imo you are saying she is trying to obscure the fact that women/feminists are divided over the issue (I don't think she is, I think you are reading something that isn't there). You also said her framing was wrong, I disagree, I think her framing is consistent with GCFs views.
What is a cis woman? Who coined this term? I am a women. End of story.
I hear trans women saying they are real women. Guess what, I have never thought of my self as a real women. I am a women. I was born female because I had female sex genetalia, which is because I have XX chromosome. Men have an XY chromosome. There are some very rare exceptions.
By allowing any man to change their sexual identity on their birth certificate worries me greatly. Whoever the women who support this are, they have failed to understand that this will mean there is nothing to prevent, rapists, sex offenders and paedophiles from changing their birth certificate to say they are women. If you can't see this is a problem, then please re-think it through.
Women who support this change cannot be aware of the radical trans activists and the bullying that has been going on when women speak up on this issue in the UK and the US.
Men wanting to be women, isn't women's problem. We have enough to contend with as it is.
And by the way when I have met trans men or women I have always been pleasant and respectful as I do when I meet any new people.
Self-ID will give a legitimacy to men in women's spaces that doesn't currently exist. That men already abuse those boundaries is not a good reason to open the boundaries and give them a way to have a free pass. I don't think the issue is the birth certificate so much as the social/cultural change that is happening as legal self-ID is brought in. It's already getting hard for women to run women's only spaces. There are activists in the UK who want all sex based rights removed at the legal level. That's not only about trans people, that affects everyone. Men of course are generally less concerned about that change than women.
Self-ID will give a legitimacy to men in women's spaces that doesn't currently exist. That men already abuse those boundaries is not a good reason to open the boundaries and give them a way to have a free pass.
no, I'm saying that non-trans males will take advantage of self-ID.
There are additional issues around TW access to women's spaces that are segregated on the basis of sex not gender. And non-binary males, there seems to be this idea that they should have access to women's spaces too, which I've yet to see a good explanation for.
for example, there's a general increasing problem with men videoing women in changing rooms and toilets (as tech make this easier to do). In the UK department stores have started saying that men who ID as women can use the women's changing rooms. Do I really need to explain how this increases access for offenders?
that would be up to them. Where it conflicts with other groups' rights, then there needs to be discussion about how to manage that (rather than the the suppression of discussion that's been going on for years now).
I can see TW and women sharing some spaces for instance, and then each group also having sex segregated space. The problem currently is the dismissal of women's rights and needs and the dismissal of biological sex category as important.
Oh, so you are only disrespectful when you write online. Denying somebody's identity is about as disrespectful as it comes. There are good reasons why this subject generates anger.
I see the transgender thing as basically where the homosexual thing was forty years ago. Back then there was still a significant number of people who still believed that homosexuality did not really exist as sexuality and that it was only a fetish or a mental illness that needed therapy. Most people today accept the fact that some people are gay and that is just the way it is. When the likes of Brian Tamaki roll out that bigotry now most people roll their eyes, have a bit of a laugh, and carry on.
There is a lot more to human biology than genitals and chromosomes. Brains are also biological.
This latest restatement of old arguments over the last few days is very tiring. Been generally trying to limit my exposure this time, on the basis that it's the last blast before the legislation changes. It's the anti-smacking thing all over again, I'm hoping.
False equivalence mcflook and whoever suggested it the homosexual law (which I have always supported). I don’t think the majority of women have been consulted about this at all.
also from what I have seen women who have contested it get taken down with death threats and vitriol.
It’s a bit nearer, although not the same ifI decided I was a different ethnicity, say Maori. If I really felt that was my identity. I don’t think that would be accepted. My partner is Maori and while I am Whanau I am pakeha, definitely not part of the tribe.
Because trans activists don't get death threats and vitriol?
The other day a NZ trans woman I follow on twitter was talking about how a NZ "gender critical" organisation had linked to people doxxing her. So it goes both ways.
As for the level of consultation all around, keep telling yourself that – it's a common refrain for the less popular side. Don't worry, as the legislation nears, it's tailor made for the nats to go consulting all over the place. Get a really good rabble going. The Tamakis will do their part, too.
Then we'll see if "most" people still give a damn.
It means publicising someone's personal information, especially on a forum where the only reasonable expectation is harrassment of the person, their family, and their employer.
And no, I'm not going to name names, because that would:
A) simply continue the damage caused by that organisation's actions; and
B) be irrelevant to the main point that this stuff happens in both directions.
ironically, it's tedious as fuck having left wing men still and again telling women how to do our own politics. Calling us bigots might be new, but the lack of support when it doesn't suit the menz isn't. I guess what's also new is that it's so up front now, but it still beggars belief and I’d love to hear an explanation of the progressive philosophy that trans people are entitled to equity and justice but women suddenly aren’t.
I'd really encourage you to follow some of the left wing GCFs on twitter. I don't have a good sense of how this is going to play out in NZ, because we're very different than the UK, but the first thing to understand is that there are progressive women with strong class analysis who are saying, hang on, there are issues here. Many of them were previously very supportive of trans issues.
And yes, the right will play this like an easy fiddle. This is going to harm the left at time when we really can't afford it.
I follow one or two. But as soon as shit like "men dressed as women" comes out, the follow stops. Turns out that really thins the number of follows.
Sure, I've chosen a side. I made the best call I could. My own position has evolved. I've listened to trans women and trans men (like the ones mocked in this thread), I've read and reread the more considered responses of some GCFs. I've been to talks from paediatricians talking about how to engage with and treat trans youth. I've listened to the parents of trans kids, and their journey.
I'm not an expert, but neither is this just a trivial knee-jerk position I've taken with zero thought.
And I speak on the topic because it's been requested, as an indication they're not alone.
Ok, I was wanting to check that you didn't feel I had been mocking because that is not what I intend. I realise I probably don't have the right language for these discussions.
I think its fine for you to put your point of view across as a man. You have obviously put a lot of time into finding out stuff.
However, I think the voices of women need to be heard and prioritized.
I think Weka has framed it quite well. That Trans women and women who were born and raised as women and have internalized very different
messages about themselves and their identity need to be prioritized. You will never know what it's like to live with the fear that we face everyday and live with our bodies. That is our experience.
I also want to let you know how the language being used about women in some quarters, wherever it comes from, I find de humanizing. People with vaginas, people who are menstruaters, Terfs, Cis women.
Terfs is a perjorative term, meant to shut down and stigmatize women who have a different point of view.
You may have been going through this debate for some time, but I am knew to it. My main objection is the gender self id bill and the language being used about women with the xx chromosomes biology. As I said I find this dehumanizing and frankly insulting.
No, as far as I can see you haven't been mocking anyone at all.
I certainly have no idea about the extent of your lived experience. Just as I have no idea about the extent of the lived experiences of trans people who have been assaulted because of their trans status as well as those dangers that face their transitioned gender.
Some of the terms used are malicious or dismissive. I have tried to get away from using "terf", for example, even though the only term in the acronym that seems like it might be inappropriate in some instances is "radical". But that's the call and using that term isn't conducive to productive discussion, so it's an adaptation I need to make. "Gender critical", on the other hand, seems to me to be far to… sterile? It sort of reduces the position to an abstract debate on identity, rather than the desired outcome of stating who should use what door and the ability to confront and humiliate someone who doesn't seem to match the label.
I've always viewed "cis" as simply meaning "not queer" (i.e. non-LGBTQITFTvTs…). Mostly as a tool for describing my own perspective, what I have experience of and not. "Cis man" basically replaces a massive paragraph.
The thing about XX chromosome biology is that not every woman has it. Sure, dramatic cases might be very rare indeed, but they exist in NZ. Often having been crudely "corrected" by surgery as infants. I've met some of them. Making biological sex binary in order to debate transsexual issues is simply repeating the assumption that led to those surgeries. It strikes me as paradoxical to ignore someone else's existence in order to protect one's own identity.
I have a lot of time for you and Weka. I do try to take on board your comments, with possible exceptions if I'm tired/grumpy/having a stupid day (for those instances, I apologise).
yeah I find the men in dresses thing both bigoted and really unhelpful to discussion. Unfortunately the definition of trans being broadened so that it does now cover men in dresses (cross dressing men rather than say males with gender dysphoria or males with a strong sense of femaleness internally to the point of identity), or the male prisoners trying to ID their way out of male prisons or into women's prisons. I cut the GCFs some slack on this because on twitter shorthand is often a necessity, and many of those women tried for years to talk more evenhandedly and have given up. But there are plenty of bigots in GCF and GC twitter.
Especially confusing as trying to negotiate social mores can make transvesticism(sp?) as sort of "cover story" for someone who wishes to fully transition – Eddie Izzard comes to mind.
The prison thing is definitely a problem, but it's a security problem. If someone's a danger to other prisoners, as shown by their history, don't put them with vulnerable prisoners. Doesn't matter if they're in the same building.
Actually Solkta, I feel the gender self I’d proposed law disrespects my identity.
I am a woman. I have a woman’s body. I have XX chromosomes. I once menstruated, had children, have female hormones, went through menopause, am a smaller stature than men and this is all part. Of who I am. So too is my personality. I talk more than men, because overwhelmingly women use more words that men. I have been socialised to think more about relationships and be more empathetic. The proposed bill tells me that is irrelevant cause any man can be a woman. They don’t have to transition. AsJan said earlier that nullifies what being a woman is and I find that very hurtful.
What did I say that denied anyone’s identity? I know there are people who feel they are the wrong sex and want to transition.
Sacha why sex offenders might want to bothe changing their sex on their birth certificate so that when the go to prison, they go to a women’s prison. Or they get to be in a women’s ward in a hospital. Or can’t be challenged when they use female toilets, or get to go to female only workout areas in gyms, saunas, changing rooms. There would be a lot of secondary gain for these men.
but it’s not really the point. I feel my identity as a women is under attack. My biology is being reduced to being a menstruater or a person with a vagina. If I raise concerns about this I am called a reef. I am being told I am a cis woman. Where did this term come from? I didn’t agree to it. I have huge concerns that men will use the gender I’d bill for secondary gain. I read of the experience of women and lesbians overseas being canceled, losing their jobs, having the nastiest vitriol thrown at them. It’s happened here too, someone I know participated in an event stand up for women event and on her fb page someone wrote I hope you die.
I also experienced a very nasty assault on a public changing room. I want to preserve those spaces for women.
so no not a lot of peace for me.
And actually I feel for people who are transitioning. And people who are in men’s bodies who identify as women I will respect that when I come across them. But I don’t support the idea that they change the sex on their birth certificate. No questions asked.
I am taking your comment about my assault is genuine. Thank you.
"Your question "was it by a man?" I must say has a bit of a gotcha feel.
But anyway I will do my best to answer. The person who attempted to rape me was of male statute and had a male voice, wore male clothing. I assumed he was a man, although he wore a white mask with black line drawn on it. I am pretty sure he had male genitalia because when I tried to hit him in the balls, I felt what I think was his testicle. He then punched in me in the face. The adrenalin was really pumping in my body and so I tried to pull his mask off. That is when he panicked and struggled to keep it on. While that was happening I managed to escape.
The idea of people being able to self id as women, no questions asked,and legitimately be in a change room or womans toilet terrifies me. If you believe that some men who are sex offenders want try and do that and have legitimate access to women and girls getting changed then I don't think that is considering women.
I
If you think not having the gender self id bill will mean transitioning women can't change their birth certificate at some point, then that is incorrect too.
The tourism industry was the focus of two speeches by ministers yesterday, one a pathway to the future, and the other a cautionary tale from the recent past.
Resetting and rebuilding tourism to be more sustainable, as the industry cannot simply return to business as usual.
Ensuring Aotearoa is seen as one of the world’s most aspirational travel destinations.
Recognising that costs and negative impacts associated with tourism must be mitigated or priced into the visitor experience so ratepayers and taxpayers are not bearing the cost of hosting visitors
More partnership between the government and the tourism industry, including with businesses and workers.
Mr Nash said the industry could not return to the status quo, but that would not mean hard-hit communities would be left behind.
"Regions heavily reliant on international tourism, dare I say it overly reliant on international tourism, should have a range of alternatives, because we don’t want to be in this situation again," he said.
Probably not what a lot of operators who didn't see this disruption coming wanted to hear, especially those who had been appropriating the commons and domestic products to sell at profit to the highest payer. But also what many operators and communities have wanted to see for a long time.
Meanwhile Damien O'Conner was talking to farmers at the Field Day in Fielding. In it he presented a cautionary tale about not getting too cocky during the good times and then getting caught out in the inevitable downturn. Sounds like he was pretty blunt. He hits the nail on the head here.
Export sectors had to realise that they faced risks and needed to be humble, he said.
“While we had warning signals through Sars of the possibility of pandemics and interruptions to international travel, it probably wasn't built into their business models,”
The response from National's David Bennett was apoplectic
National's agriculture spokesman David Bennett, who was at the event, said O’Connor’s comments about the tourism industry were “disgusting”.
“The borders are closed through Government policy which they have no control over,” Bennett said.
“They have been asking for a bubble with Australia for months and the Government hasn't acted, and then he blames the sector for getting cocky, it's disgusting, it shows he has no regard for what business is like.”
Mr Bennett, businesses don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. Which is what happened to a lot in tourism. These comments typify the National approach to business planning, when things go wrong, Government handout. Seems rather strange that the pretty communists are now the party of individual and business responsibility.
Well looking at the panic last year, we can honestly state that the Government also failed to include any pandemic planning into their plans. Sadly the tax payer will always bail out the government and with it these Suits who in their life have no idea what the fuck they are actually talking about.
“While we had warning signals through Sars of the possibility of pandemics and interruptions to international travel, it probably wasn't built into their business models,”
This applies to the Government too.
Btw, so we let tourism industry die – unless its rich lister coming to a rich listers event paid for by tax dollars.
then we let the horticulturist die, after all i guess the minister can buy his fruit n wine from overseas, after all he is on a 200.000 dollar wage a year + perks and for that he don't have to do anything other then blame businesses for a locked up country and world.
Who next? Who next do we not need to help because they should have two years of wages, of leases, of taxes, of licensing fees, and other compliance costs tucked away?
I remember well over thirty years ago, taking leaflets from Uyghur activists, reading them and over the years wondering why the various New Zealand governments had never mentioned these poor people and their plight while we were all being encouraged to consume..no gorge ourselves on cheaply made goods of every description that we all well knew where often being manufactured in the most appalling of condition and often by children….from China our shining new trading partner…thanks Labour and Helen Clark!
…cut to 2021, China now is a world super power, many of it's children who for the past thirty years have been diligently studying at western universities throughout the world have now returned home, in the twinkling of an eye China now not only has the largest manufacturing capacity in the world, it now also has the trained intellectual power to exploit it, next minute China has 5G technology and all that implies.
And how has the west reacted to this new power base threatening their corporate monopolies, well one way it seems is to suddenly become aware of the plight of the Uyghur's, not because any western power base gives even the slightest flying fuck about the Uyghur's, no of course they have cynically co-opted this story only to whip up anti Chinese sentiment among their lazy thinking citizens.
Unfortunately for the Uyghur, their new allies will only in the end sully and muddy the waters in the fight for their rightful cause….as I have said many times here "if you lay down with dogs you get up with fleas", though that being said I have no idea how much control the Uyghur have over who represents them on the world stage?
This article make sobering reading….
The ‘Independent’ Report Claiming Uyghur Genocide
'It was brought to you by a sham university and neocon ideologues lobbying to punish China for U.S. interests.'
…reading Adrian's comment he doesn't seem to be questioning that abuse of Urghurs occurs..it reads to me more like an observation of what we are willing to ignore when it suits our wallet…and how the second our stock exchange and supposed intellectual superiority falters we're more than happy to listen to crazy homophobes on a mission from God…whos research is based on cherry picked spread sheets…good causes being co opted for the wrong reasons is always problematic, because you can be sure, should the tide change this issue (and the Urghurs) will be dropped like a hot potato…as for "independent journos and investigators" I absolutely agree..unfortunately I'm not sure there are any that would meet the particular requirements and agendas of our western world leaders..
"His widely-cited reports were not published in peer-reviewed journals overseen by academic institutions, but rather, by a D.C.-based CIA cut-out called the Jamestown Foundation and “The Journal of Political Risk,” a publication headed by former NATO and U.S. national security state operatives."..from Adrians link…in the unlikely event you didn't read it.
from wiki…"A 2019 article in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (a liberal-conservative German newspaper) described Zenz's research methods on Tibetans as unconventional and exciting little interest in the professional world."
Interesting how often it's decided that because we disagree with someone on one thing (eg their views on same sex relationships), we therefore conclude everything else they say must be wrong.
In other words leaping from 'Zenz is a bit of an extremist' to 'there isn't anything untoward happening in Xinjiang' is not an argument.
The entire matter can be readily settled as I implied above – open, trusted investigation.
"The entire matter can be readily settled as I implied above – open, trusted investigation."
Aahh yeah, that was the entire point of my comment… now that US/Western corporate/govts/media have got involved for all the wrong reasons (seriously, do you think any of them give a shit about the Uyghur people?), and that they, as the investigation I linked to above quite clearly shows, immediately muddy the waters using their modus operandi of misinformation, propaganda and half truths, so having a "open, trusted investigation" on this subject becomes more and more difficult.
Ultra-gammon and workplace bully, Jeremy Clarkson, underlines his own and his followers fading relevancy by revving up in The Sun about Meghan Markle.
So fragile are they, the belief is she is trying to take down the monarchy. This mirrors the complaints from the alt-right the world over. That any challenge to white patriarchal dominance is to be crushed.
I think she just wants to shine a light on the arcane structure of monarchistic Britain in the hope it will sometime get with the 21st Century.
In claiming Markle will soon be on a Playboy's yacht, Clarkson has Diana-ised her. Perhaps he wishes her dead in a high speed car crash too…
The YouGov poll data also says that since the interview Harry's overall favourability rating has gone negative for the first time ever. Suggesting that the UK public is probably more alt-right than you think and don't appreciate woke ideas infiltrating their institutions.
Major strawberry grower Perrys Berrys calls it quits amid labour shortage.
Sorry, Francie, you've had 12 months to come up with a plan to get your strawberries picked by locals. But you were waiting on the government to deliver foreign workers to you, cheap, like you always had.
Question is, why in your eyes are local workers not as good as foreign workers? Such a mystery…
Question is, why in your eyes are local workers not as good as foreign workers?
Perhaps the locals will still be around dealing with the rashes long after the harvest is done. I once did a stint at commercial strawberry picking. Wondered why some of the other pickers were wearing gloves and masks. Soon found out.
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
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 thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
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. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
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 ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Anyone have any useful inside word on why Robertson is taking so long to announce his house-price-cooling mechanisms?
After our emotional binge-purge cycle week of downer Christchurch earthquake and massacre commemorations, followed by Auckland's euphoria about winning the America's Cup, surely this government is now able to throw us some actual policy once more?
surely it is just a week away…..any day now.
Just an opinion but wondering if the government is having to recalibrate its response having spent so much political capital on its handling of Auckland’s yo-yo lockdown and the likelihood of entering a double dip recession at the end of the month.
No – they'll stay the course because it has produced world-leading outcomes, has been very popular and also extremely resistant to being undermined by the "economy first" loons who try to use clever-sounding language like "yo-yo lockdowns" that are really just grotesque (and intentional) over-simplifications of the complexities of pandemic management. In short – "all good".
… and after a bit of asking around, the announcements are this Tuesday. Its going to be quite a fast week in tax legislation sausage-making.
Well as I've repeatedly stated the reason why NZ tilted so far toward property investment is because the alternatives failed my generation. So when I read this:
I can't help but think that words are cheap.
First year out of school I blew my wages on 4,000 Equiticorp shares because they were going to take over BHP and rule the earth from there.
Lesson learned.
Snap – but I'd only bought Yates & Bisley's – Equiticorp swallowed them of course.
Its not inside info, nor does it inform as to why Robertson is sitting on his hands but it does indicate next week….finally.
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/109549/government-says-next-weeks-housing-policy-announcement-will-be-part-stick-part
Given the ever changing situation I'd say they are waiting to see what happens now the rate of returnees and their foreign cash is slowing, and the money from the Covid wage and business support is drying up. Demand side might have had its throat cut.
They've shown they don't want to make decisions on this unless as a last resort because it scares the horses so much whenever anyone suggests tampering with the golden egg of property investment.
It's just Mums and Dads giving it a go, don't you know. They've worked so hard all their lives and deserve to not pay tax on property gains, just like the next man. This is New Zealand, after all.
an issue that is concerning me is the gender self I’d bill.
I think this will mean anyone can change their sex on their birth certificate, no questions asked. I get the process trans people have to go through is very difficult, but that is the nature of their predicament, ie they want to change sex because the sex they were born feels wrong for them.
but the gender self I’d bill opens up entry into women’s domains eg public toilets, for anyone and there is nothing to stop pedofiles, sex offenders and rapists changing their sex to become a woman. Of course these people can choose to transition and go through the process as it is the become a woman, but that in itself is somewhat protective against predictors using it to gain access to women and children.
I do think it is absurd that anyone can change their sex on their birth sex certificate no questions asked and I am interested to hear others views on this.
someone called Grace Miller posted a link with comments from trans activists the other day that showed comments from them saying kill all terfs, really nasty stuff. Grace if you are around can you let me know what country those trans activists were from? I am scared to talk about this issue (not on this forum where I can be anonymous, but in public because of the potential for threats of violence and vitriol
After a decade of being firmly informed that gender is nothing more than a 'social construct' and that human biology is of little to no importance – I must confess to watching the logical conclusion of this ideology being played out both confusing and sad.
if gender is a social construct (which I don’t believe), then that would surely mean that boys who are born male and brought upas boys would remain men, because it’s all socially constructed.
if we support diversity and I do, the men who transition to women are trans women. They have a very different experience and have different biology and still maintain an advantage of strength. The are different from women who are born women, have wombs female anatomy etc. trans women are different from women but different doesn’t mean inferior. It means different. Still worthy as people.
Trans women are trans women. Trans men are trans men. Simple, really.
I'm really worried about this too. The idea of a male prisoner/or about to be convicted suddenly declaring himself female to take advantage of being placed with vulerable women turns my stomach as much as a newly identified woman being forced into a male prison. There needs to be a clear demarkation and a pieces of paper don't cut it.
one of the key points to get across to women in particular is that changing the law to make it easier for trans people will impact legally on women, but also socially. i.e. the culture will change as well as the legals. How women are allowed to set boundaries will be challenged. This is already happening overseas. It's complicated further by the push to allow non-binary people into women's spaces even if they are male.
I say get across to women, because most women are supportive of trans rights (rightfully so), and don't realise that there is a conflict of rights here that needs public discussion. And those women are the ones that need to be talking about it before the law changes.
The implications of the changes aren't well understood, in part because of the fast social changes that are happening that most people aren't keeping up with eg male bodied people identifying as women and doing no medical or even social transitioning. This means that any male person will be able to identify as a woman, or even as female, if they choose irrespective of if they are trans or not. It's not simply about official documents, this will be across society. The definition of trans is broadening too.
It's also not well understood because of the intense pressure to suppress debate. People lose their jobs, careers, family and friends over this in the US and the UK.
It's also important to look at the issue as a conflict of rights that needs a resolutio for *both sides. We can uphold the needs and rights of women and trans people, but only imo if we are allowed to talk about it.
Agree with 'look at the issue as a conflict of rights' and we need to be able to have these discussions without the shit-slinging that's been going on.
What really rips my proverbials are headlines like…
Man Gives Birth!!!
Clearly rubbish and fantasyland stuff. Simply calling yourself a man doth not make it true, especially if you choose to suspend the blockers and get pregnant. It seems that for this woman being a man was a lifestyle choice, a passing fad. Unbelievable that such a person could claim on one day to have been 'born into the wrong body'/'assigned the wrong sex at birth', then on a subsequent day employ that same 'wrong' body to do what nature intended of that 'assigned' sex.
We need to put in place protections for the words we use to describe biological sex (woman, female, girl, man, boy, male) and ensure that we all agree on the words that describe gender. And make damn sure that we know there's a difference between the two.
What really rips my proverbials are headlines like…
Underpants or knickers?
we are going to end up with two 'somethings' – Men and Others. And nothing much will change.
The current list, as far as I can see:
say that on social media and you will be schooled in why it is wrong, and if you persist you will be labelled a terf. If you're famous or have a large reach, you'll mostly likely experience some version of cancel culture. Otoh, the fact that you are a bloke will protect you somewhat. As Sabine said, nothing much has changed.
meh.
The bathroom thing gave it away, I would have thought. Some of these labels can be subgroups or included alongside other labels, and signs on toilet doors don't stop the door being used by someone who doesn't suit that sign (from whatever perspective).
Probably the best thing to go would be to make the current process easier. I would also have the birth gender listed on the birth certificate as well, bringing into line with name changes and the legal fiction of adoption.
I do not think changing gender/sex should be as simply as filling in a form online and using your credit/debit card.
yes women’s voices are being silenced by trans activists, with postings full of vitriol and death threats. In the 70s most men I knew heard our voices about the patriarchy and the impact on us.
so much of the women’s movement has been tied up with our biology. A woman’s right to choice, contraception, the cervical cancer enquiry, maternity leave. Rape of women by men, undervaluing of women’s sports, in part because we are physically weaker.
Mc flook, I take your point about toilets. However as someone who suffered an attempted rape in a public toilet, I am very uncomfortable with any person with male genitalia, male hormones, denser muscle mass and large height/frame being given freedom to enter female toilets. Public toilets are places where we are quite vulnerable.
I know a male friend of mine who is quite tall was told at some sort of men’s group, to be very aware of what it’s like for women who is walking alone. Subsequently he acts accordingly.
I would hope that men who are trans would also bare this in mind
I AM ASKING PEOPLE TO WRITE TO THEIR MPS TO REGISTER THEIR OPPOSITION TO THIS BILL
i have written. I am terrified that my name will be leaked and that I will face a huge backlash. I ll keep you all posted
That is also part of why trans women do not want to be forced to use male toilets.
yes, this is the conflict of rights and needs. In the UK where there are male and female toilets, the female toilets are being converted to gender neutral and the male toilets are being left as is. There's so much bullshit in that that cannot be be wiped away by asserting that trans women need safe spaces too. Obviously they do, but why are women's rights being eroded to do that? You can treat that as a rhetorical question and I'll just quote Sabine again "we are going to end up with two 'somethings' – Men and Others. And nothing much will change."
Most of the gender neutral toilet complaints seem to be that blocks have been divided into toilets vs urinals rather than gender, e.g. the old vic.
The argument seems to be that women can't use the urinals, so they only get 24 spaces vs the men having access to 42 (18 of those being urinals).
Sounds bad, until one reads that the number of toilets was doubled in that reno, and half a dozen of them aren't stuck in the gents.
Also saves front of house staff from trying to shut toilets to men for ten minutes to clear the queue outside the ladies (which was a thing that regularly had to happen at one venue I used to work.)
I mean, the world being what it is there might be places that just swapped the women's sign with "unisex" and left the men's as is. Didn't see any examples, though.
Come to think of it, the toilets in the theatre I'm involved with are unisex and wheelchair accessible. Little rooms with their own sink and door and toilet. No urinals whatsoever.
Great to see this issue getting an airing on here. I think the question is really the government's to answer. And it goes like this. We are being presented with self-id as a trifle. Nothing to worry about. A convenience for males who identify as women (and vice versa) to not have to go through the 'humilation' of having any criteria associated with their decision to be regarded as a woman. But looked at through my eyes is that the government is making the category of woman a contested category – based on a feeling when this has never been the case before.
If women who have had an ontological category to describe themselves – by sex – that has served to lessen and to measure discrimination and to fight for inclusion in mainstream society then how can it possibly be right that that category is nullified without any public discussion and consultation, risk or impact assessment.\? How can it be possible that making the category into a category of self-identification will have zero or inconsequential impacts? Well the answer is it doesn't. If sex as a category is nullifed then doing this without a public consultation or explaining why it's also great for women is surely a fundamental departure from the Bill of Rights Act. Luckily there is a likely solution David Parker is currently putting through legislation to make governments who act against the Bill of Rights subject to a legal remedy. I think women and them men who support them need to take a judicial review on this issue.
Thanks Jan. That sounds a bit more promising than I'd been thinking. Nice summing up too. I'd add that there are two issues here: one the changing of sex as a category and two the suppression of debate. If what's being proposed is such a great idea why can we not talk about it?
because it ain't great.
Women are beings with very particular 'side effects'. One is we are menstruating, then we fall pregnant and then we give birth.
So we are now 'people who menstruate'.
We are pregnant persons.
And then we go straight to Mum. Lol.
We are 'people, persons, Mums. We are never women. And if someone takes offense at say menstruating people being called people rather then women, they are called all sorts of things. And yet, only biological women will ever menstruate.
but one bit after one bit, the discriptive word of 'women' is replaces by 'people, persons, others, but we are no longer mentioned as women. This however is not happening to men. And that is an issue, and the reason to me is simply not to elevate trans men or trans women, but to disapear and muddle us into one group. That will be the other group of, women, trans, disabled, others. All with less rights then men of course.
In the french language men are “il” and women are ‘elle’. So a group of women doing something would be ‘Elles sont/font’ etc, and a group of men is Ils sont, Il font etc. But if there is one man in a group of women they suddenly become ‘ils’.
Funny how that always works out in eradicating women as a group of people with their own set of identifiers and needs.
,
What do you call females who do not menstruate?
i have not menstruated since my womb was cut out due to cancer, but i would still call myself a women. Is that what you are talking about? Or are you talking about transwomen? I would call them women too, but again, that is just me.
Yes, that is what I meant. I remember feminists of past decades strongly resisting defining gender by biology.
I really don't care about any such thing, if you want me to care about some stuff that some feminists or not feminists thought in the previous decades you must link to it for me to read so that i can understand where your thinking comes from, or else your comment is again just a wee little snark/reminder as to please define your view of women as a women and what consists of women. Besides, there are a heep of older women past meno pause who also don't bleed anymore, and i guess you would still call them women?
But the only people on this planet to menstruate, or get pregnant are still women. Not people, not persons, not anything else but biological women. So others maybe want to keep that in mind when they try to play gotcha games as to what is or is not a women. We are fairly easily identified.
Also i would call ‘females’ women. Just you know.
I would. I cannot remember the whole reading list for the introductory Feminist Studies paper led by Rosemary Novitz at Canterbury University in the late 1980s but it was pretty comprehensive at the time. Some thinking seems to have done a 180 since.
i was told at fifteen that women will get married and have children and thus don't need education. 🙂 – very early 80s.
Nothing has changed. We are still where we were then. It is just that those that are women, disabled, queer, trans, of color, intersex, they/them etc are all now 'other/people/persons/'. Rather then their own thing.
And all the 'others' will have the same few rights they had before. Only as much as they are granted by the ruling class who really don't care what you and i identify as. We are either cost centres, or profit centers. And once we internalise and understand that we may actually get the conversation to where it needs to be, what it means to be human, Ein Mensch sein, erst, und dann die eigen gemachte Idenditaet.
"I remember feminists of past decades strongly resisting defining gender by biology."
Feminists have rightly resisted biological determinism, which is an ideology that says because (only) women can bear children this is what they are for, or must do (the GCF view is that gender is wholly a construct designed to control the reproductive labour of women for the purposes of power holding men. I don't agree fully with that, but their philosophy does bring things into start contrast).
Also, the word gender can mean sex or gender ID, I'm not sure which you meant.
Acknowledging the reality of biological sex isn't biological determinism. We don't have to define women solely by biology, but biology is a core component of being female. This is why my position is that trans women are trans women. I'm good with trans women defining themselves as a separate class from men, as well as understanding how they differ from women.
Gender never meant the same as sex when I studied. One was biological and the other socially constructed. It was the only useful way to describe the variety of ways women experienced different cultures around the world.
would be nice if we could go back to that.
"What do you call females who do not menstruate?"
Women.
females who don't menstruate are females, women. If they are too young to menstruate they are girls.
agree about the language Sabine. It is ridiculous and it takes away part of what defines us as women.
Wow Jan, that is helpful to know. Thank you.
It intrigues me how you try to define this an issue between "women" and "them men who support them" (sic) presumably against the rest of men when there are many cis women feminists driving change. These discussions mostly present to me as a split within Feminism.
yes, there's definitely a split within feminism. And the left.
Jan was saying that the women who aren't ok with self-ID being introduced without even talking to women about it (and the men who support those women) will be able to take legal action.
Jan was saying that the women who aren't ok with self-ID
No that is not what she said. She just spoke of "women".
She is talking about cis women as though they are a cohesive group when they are not.
And she only made a vague assertion as to the relevance of the Bill of Rights. She didn't even say what section of the Act is applicable.
"I think women and them men who support them need to take a judicial review on this issue."
Do you think Jan means literally all women, or that she means the women who object to self-ID? Because if you think the former, you're doing #notallwhatever, and that would just be naff.
I think she is trying to frame the issue as women against the patriarchy when it is not.
it is actually. The GCF central position is that exactly (not sure where Jan fits into that specifically). This doesn't mean all women agree, but it's a coherent and consistent political argument. You can disagree with that (feel free to make the argument), but it's not helpful to misrepresent their views.
So am i misrepresenting her views or not? You seem to be saying i probably aren't but then telling me that i am.
I think you are. Jan can say what she meant, but imo you are saying she is trying to obscure the fact that women/feminists are divided over the issue (I don't think she is, I think you are reading something that isn't there). You also said her framing was wrong, I disagree, I think her framing is consistent with GCFs views.
What is a cis woman? Who coined this term? I am a women. End of story.
I hear trans women saying they are real women. Guess what, I have never thought of my self as a real women. I am a women. I was born female because I had female sex genetalia, which is because I have XX chromosome. Men have an XY chromosome. There are some very rare exceptions.
By allowing any man to change their sexual identity on their birth certificate worries me greatly. Whoever the women who support this are, they have failed to understand that this will mean there is nothing to prevent, rapists, sex offenders and paedophiles from changing their birth certificate to say they are women. If you can't see this is a problem, then please re-think it through.
Women who support this change cannot be aware of the radical trans activists and the bullying that has been going on when women speak up on this issue in the UK and the US.
Men wanting to be women, isn't women's problem. We have enough to contend with as it is.
And by the way when I have met trans men or women I have always been pleasant and respectful as I do when I meet any new people.
Why on earth would they bother? Being men is not stopping them.
Self-ID will give a legitimacy to men in women's spaces that doesn't currently exist. That men already abuse those boundaries is not a good reason to open the boundaries and give them a way to have a free pass. I don't think the issue is the birth certificate so much as the social/cultural change that is happening as legal self-ID is brought in. It's already getting hard for women to run women's only spaces. There are activists in the UK who want all sex based rights removed at the legal level. That's not only about trans people, that affects everyone. Men of course are generally less concerned about that change than women.
Are you saying that trans women are men?
no, I'm saying that non-trans males will take advantage of self-ID.
There are additional issues around TW access to women's spaces that are segregated on the basis of sex not gender. And non-binary males, there seems to be this idea that they should have access to women's spaces too, which I've yet to see a good explanation for.
for example, there's a general increasing problem with men videoing women in changing rooms and toilets (as tech make this easier to do). In the UK department stores have started saying that men who ID as women can use the women's changing rooms. Do I really need to explain how this increases access for offenders?
So trans men would be welcome in safe spaces defined by sex rather than gender?
that would be up to them. Where it conflicts with other groups' rights, then there needs to be discussion about how to manage that (rather than the the suppression of discussion that's been going on for years now).
I can see TW and women sharing some spaces for instance, and then each group also having sex segregated space. The problem currently is the dismissal of women's rights and needs and the dismissal of biological sex category as important.
Oh, so you are only disrespectful when you write online. Denying somebody's identity is about as disrespectful as it comes. There are good reasons why this subject generates anger.
I see the transgender thing as basically where the homosexual thing was forty years ago. Back then there was still a significant number of people who still believed that homosexuality did not really exist as sexuality and that it was only a fetish or a mental illness that needed therapy. Most people today accept the fact that some people are gay and that is just the way it is. When the likes of Brian Tamaki roll out that bigotry now most people roll their eyes, have a bit of a laugh, and carry on.
There is a lot more to human biology than genitals and chromosomes. Brains are also biological.
will you call a woman cis when she doesn't identify as that?
This latest restatement of old arguments over the last few days is very tiring. Been generally trying to limit my exposure this time, on the basis that it's the last blast before the legislation changes. It's the anti-smacking thing all over again, I'm hoping.
False equivalence mcflook and whoever suggested it the homosexual law (which I have always supported). I don’t think the majority of women have been consulted about this at all.
also from what I have seen women who have contested it get taken down with death threats and vitriol.
It’s a bit nearer, although not the same ifI decided I was a different ethnicity, say Maori. If I really felt that was my identity. I don’t think that would be accepted. My partner is Maori and while I am Whanau I am pakeha, definitely not part of the tribe.
Because trans activists don't get death threats and vitriol?
The other day a NZ trans woman I follow on twitter was talking about how a NZ "gender critical" organisation had linked to people doxxing her. So it goes both ways.
As for the level of consultation all around, keep telling yourself that – it's a common refrain for the less popular side. Don't worry, as the legislation nears, it's tailor made for the nats to go consulting all over the place. Get a really good rabble going. The Tamakis will do their part, too.
Then we'll see if "most" people still give a damn.
I am sorry to hear about this experience. Excuse my ignorance, but I don't know what doxxing means. Who were the gender critical organisation.?
It means publicising someone's personal information, especially on a forum where the only reasonable expectation is harrassment of the person, their family, and their employer.
And no, I'm not going to name names, because that would:
ironically, it's tedious as fuck having left wing men still and again telling women how to do our own politics. Calling us bigots might be new, but the lack of support when it doesn't suit the menz isn't. I guess what's also new is that it's so up front now, but it still beggars belief and I’d love to hear an explanation of the progressive philosophy that trans people are entitled to equity and justice but women suddenly aren’t.
I'd really encourage you to follow some of the left wing GCFs on twitter. I don't have a good sense of how this is going to play out in NZ, because we're very different than the UK, but the first thing to understand is that there are progressive women with strong class analysis who are saying, hang on, there are issues here. Many of them were previously very supportive of trans issues.
And yes, the right will play this like an easy fiddle. This is going to harm the left at time when we really can't afford it.
I follow one or two. But as soon as shit like "men dressed as women" comes out, the follow stops. Turns out that really thins the number of follows.
Sure, I've chosen a side. I made the best call I could. My own position has evolved. I've listened to trans women and trans men (like the ones mocked in this thread), I've read and reread the more considered responses of some GCFs. I've been to talks from paediatricians talking about how to engage with and treat trans youth. I've listened to the parents of trans kids, and their journey.
I'm not an expert, but neither is this just a trivial knee-jerk position I've taken with zero thought.
And I speak on the topic because it's been requested, as an indication they're not alone.
Who are the trans women and what was the mocking?
Who, specifically, have I listened to? yeah, nah. Not going to open them to harrassment or me to identification.
As for the mocking, this comment is dripping with it.
Ok, I was wanting to check that you didn't feel I had been mocking because that is not what I intend. I realise I probably don't have the right language for these discussions.
I think its fine for you to put your point of view across as a man. You have obviously put a lot of time into finding out stuff.
However, I think the voices of women need to be heard and prioritized.
I think Weka has framed it quite well. That Trans women and women who were born and raised as women and have internalized very different
messages about themselves and their identity need to be prioritized. You will never know what it's like to live with the fear that we face everyday and live with our bodies. That is our experience.
I also want to let you know how the language being used about women in some quarters, wherever it comes from, I find de humanizing. People with vaginas, people who are menstruaters, Terfs, Cis women.
Terfs is a perjorative term, meant to shut down and stigmatize women who have a different point of view.
You may have been going through this debate for some time, but I am knew to it. My main objection is the gender self id bill and the language being used about women with the xx chromosomes biology. As I said I find this dehumanizing and frankly insulting.
No, as far as I can see you haven't been mocking anyone at all.
I certainly have no idea about the extent of your lived experience. Just as I have no idea about the extent of the lived experiences of trans people who have been assaulted because of their trans status as well as those dangers that face their transitioned gender.
Some of the terms used are malicious or dismissive. I have tried to get away from using "terf", for example, even though the only term in the acronym that seems like it might be inappropriate in some instances is "radical". But that's the call and using that term isn't conducive to productive discussion, so it's an adaptation I need to make. "Gender critical", on the other hand, seems to me to be far to… sterile? It sort of reduces the position to an abstract debate on identity, rather than the desired outcome of stating who should use what door and the ability to confront and humiliate someone who doesn't seem to match the label.
I've always viewed "cis" as simply meaning "not queer" (i.e. non-LGBTQITFTvTs…). Mostly as a tool for describing my own perspective, what I have experience of and not. "Cis man" basically replaces a massive paragraph.
The thing about XX chromosome biology is that not every woman has it. Sure, dramatic cases might be very rare indeed, but they exist in NZ. Often having been crudely "corrected" by surgery as infants. I've met some of them. Making biological sex binary in order to debate transsexual issues is simply repeating the assumption that led to those surgeries. It strikes me as paradoxical to ignore someone else's existence in order to protect one's own identity.
I have a lot of time for you and Weka. I do try to take on board your comments, with possible exceptions if I'm tired/grumpy/having a stupid day (for those instances, I apologise).
yeah I find the men in dresses thing both bigoted and really unhelpful to discussion. Unfortunately the definition of trans being broadened so that it does now cover men in dresses (cross dressing men rather than say males with gender dysphoria or males with a strong sense of femaleness internally to the point of identity), or the male prisoners trying to ID their way out of male prisons or into women's prisons. I cut the GCFs some slack on this because on twitter shorthand is often a necessity, and many of those women tried for years to talk more evenhandedly and have given up. But there are plenty of bigots in GCF and GC twitter.
transsexual/gender vs transvestite?
Especially confusing as trying to negotiate social mores can make transvesticism(sp?) as sort of "cover story" for someone who wishes to fully transition – Eddie Izzard comes to mind.
The prison thing is definitely a problem, but it's a security problem. If someone's a danger to other prisoners, as shown by their history, don't put them with vulnerable prisoners. Doesn't matter if they're in the same building.
They are transitioning gender.
I hope you find peace without denying other people theirs.
That is a nice sentiment honestly it is Sascha.
but it’s not really the point. I feel my identity as a women is under attack. My biology is being reduced to being a menstruater or a person with a vagina. If I raise concerns about this I am called a reef. I am being told I am a cis woman. Where did this term come from? I didn’t agree to it. I have huge concerns that men will use the gender I’d bill for secondary gain. I read of the experience of women and lesbians overseas being canceled, losing their jobs, having the nastiest vitriol thrown at them. It’s happened here too, someone I know participated in an event stand up for women event and on her fb page someone wrote I hope you die.
I also experienced a very nasty assault on a public changing room. I want to preserve those spaces for women.
so no not a lot of peace for me.
And actually I feel for people who are transitioning. And people who are in men’s bodies who identify as women I will respect that when I come across them. But I don’t support the idea that they change the sex on their birth certificate. No questions asked.
But who is doing that? Does not seem to be trans women.
Sorry to hear that. Was it by a man?
I am taking your comment about my assault is genuine. Thank you.
"Your question "was it by a man?" I must say has a bit of a gotcha feel.
But anyway I will do my best to answer. The person who attempted to rape me was of male statute and had a male voice, wore male clothing. I assumed he was a man, although he wore a white mask with black line drawn on it. I am pretty sure he had male genitalia because when I tried to hit him in the balls, I felt what I think was his testicle. He then punched in me in the face. The adrenalin was really pumping in my body and so I tried to pull his mask off. That is when he panicked and struggled to keep it on. While that was happening I managed to escape.
The idea of people being able to self id as women, no questions asked,and legitimately be in a change room or womans toilet terrifies me. If you believe that some men who are sex offenders want try and do that and have legitimate access to women and girls getting changed then I don't think that is considering women.
I
If you think not having the gender self id bill will mean transitioning women can't change their birth certificate at some point, then that is incorrect too.
The tourism industry was the focus of two speeches by ministers yesterday, one a pathway to the future, and the other a cautionary tale from the recent past.
In Queenstown Stuart Nash outlined the Government's near future aspirations for the industry,
Probably not what a lot of operators who didn't see this disruption coming wanted to hear, especially those who had been appropriating the commons and domestic products to sell at profit to the highest payer. But also what many operators and communities have wanted to see for a long time.
Meanwhile Damien O'Conner was talking to farmers at the Field Day in Fielding. In it he presented a cautionary tale about not getting too cocky during the good times and then getting caught out in the inevitable downturn. Sounds like he was pretty blunt. He hits the nail on the head here.
The response from National's David Bennett was apoplectic
Mr Bennett, businesses don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. Which is what happened to a lot in tourism. These comments typify the National approach to business planning, when things go wrong, Government handout. Seems rather strange that the pretty communists are now the party of individual and business responsibility.
Well looking at the panic last year, we can honestly state that the Government also failed to include any pandemic planning into their plans. Sadly the tax payer will always bail out the government and with it these Suits who in their life have no idea what the fuck they are actually talking about.
“While we had warning signals through Sars of the possibility of pandemics and interruptions to international travel, it probably wasn't built into their business models,”
This applies to the Government too.
Btw, so we let tourism industry die – unless its rich lister coming to a rich listers event paid for by tax dollars.
then we let the horticulturist die, after all i guess the minister can buy his fruit n wine from overseas, after all he is on a 200.000 dollar wage a year + perks and for that he don't have to do anything other then blame businesses for a locked up country and world.
Who next? Who next do we not need to help because they should have two years of wages, of leases, of taxes, of licensing fees, and other compliance costs tucked away?
Who?
and who profits of this disaster capitalism?
I remember well over thirty years ago, taking leaflets from Uyghur activists, reading them and over the years wondering why the various New Zealand governments had never mentioned these poor people and their plight while we were all being encouraged to consume..no gorge ourselves on cheaply made goods of every description that we all well knew where often being manufactured in the most appalling of condition and often by children….from China our shining new trading partner…thanks Labour and Helen Clark!
…cut to 2021, China now is a world super power, many of it's children who for the past thirty years have been diligently studying at western universities throughout the world have now returned home, in the twinkling of an eye China now not only has the largest manufacturing capacity in the world, it now also has the trained intellectual power to exploit it, next minute China has 5G technology and all that implies.
And how has the west reacted to this new power base threatening their corporate monopolies, well one way it seems is to suddenly become aware of the plight of the Uyghur's, not because any western power base gives even the slightest flying fuck about the Uyghur's, no of course they have cynically co-opted this story only to whip up anti Chinese sentiment among their lazy thinking citizens.
Unfortunately for the Uyghur, their new allies will only in the end sully and muddy the waters in the fight for their rightful cause….as I have said many times here "if you lay down with dogs you get up with fleas", though that being said I have no idea how much control the Uyghur have over who represents them on the world stage?
This article make sobering reading….
The ‘Independent’ Report Claiming Uyghur Genocide
'It was brought to you by a sham university and neocon ideologues lobbying to punish China for U.S. interests.'
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/03/19/the-independent-report-claiming-uyghur-genocide/
Oh good. So no problem allowing independent journos and investigators into the region to have an extended and unfettered look about then. /sarc
…reading Adrian's comment he doesn't seem to be questioning that abuse of Urghurs occurs..it reads to me more like an observation of what we are willing to ignore when it suits our wallet…and how the second our stock exchange and supposed intellectual superiority falters we're more than happy to listen to crazy homophobes on a mission from God…whos research is based on cherry picked spread sheets…good causes being co opted for the wrong reasons is always problematic, because you can be sure, should the tide change this issue (and the Urghurs) will be dropped like a hot potato…as for "independent journos and investigators" I absolutely agree..unfortunately I'm not sure there are any that would meet the particular requirements and agendas of our western world leaders..
Is there any other issue we would rally behind when the accademic paper isn't peer reviewed…from a guy whos day job is "with the distance learning focused bible college Columbia International University where Zenz also serves as a lecturer."
Interesting how often it's decided that because we disagree with someone on one thing (eg their views on same sex relationships), we therefore conclude everything else they say must be wrong.
In other words leaping from 'Zenz is a bit of an extremist' to 'there isn't anything untoward happening in Xinjiang' is not an argument.
The entire matter can be readily settled as I implied above – open, trusted investigation.
short of repeating myself…you seem to not be understanding the points being made.
But sure, if what you take from our comments is…'there isn't anything untoward happening in Xinjiang'..go for it..
"The entire matter can be readily settled as I implied above – open, trusted investigation."
Aahh yeah, that was the entire point of my comment… now that US/Western corporate/govts/media have got involved for all the wrong reasons (seriously, do you think any of them give a shit about the Uyghur people?), and that they, as the investigation I linked to above quite clearly shows, immediately muddy the waters using their modus operandi of misinformation, propaganda and half truths, so having a "open, trusted investigation" on this subject becomes more and more difficult.
Ultra-gammon and workplace bully, Jeremy Clarkson, underlines his own and his followers fading relevancy by revving up in The Sun about Meghan Markle.
So fragile are they, the belief is she is trying to take down the monarchy. This mirrors the complaints from the alt-right the world over. That any challenge to white patriarchal dominance is to be crushed.
I think she just wants to shine a light on the arcane structure of monarchistic Britain in the hope it will sometime get with the 21st Century.
In claiming Markle will soon be on a Playboy's yacht, Clarkson has Diana-ised her. Perhaps he wishes her dead in a high speed car crash too…
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2021/03/jeremy-clarkson-unleashes-on-silly-little-meghan-markle-predicts-she-will-be-on-playboy-s-yacht-soon.html
The YouGov poll data also says that since the interview Harry's overall favourability rating has gone negative for the first time ever. Suggesting that the UK public is probably more alt-right than you think and don't appreciate woke ideas infiltrating their institutions.
Yet another facepalm moment.
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1372951027947864067
Yeah kind of sad and a bit pathetic when you watch this Biden ad first….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3UsWMbUpF4
He fractured his ankle a short while ago and its still a bit on the weak side. How dare he sustain a common-garden injury and then trip up on it.
Its the gallows for him. Nothing less. (sarc)
Sorry, Francie, you've had 12 months to come up with a plan to get your strawberries picked by locals. But you were waiting on the government to deliver foreign workers to you, cheap, like you always had.
Question is, why in your eyes are local workers not as good as foreign workers? Such a mystery…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/major-strawberry-grower-perrys-berrys-calls-it-quits-amid-labour-shortage/EVV3WCSJJQBJUGZ4FTKPAJ56QE/
Strawberries…yum.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/765478/Strawberry-growers-allay-spray-disquiet
https://www.choice.com.au/food-and-drink/food-warnings-and-safety/pesticides/articles/strawberries-test-reveals-health-concerns
https://ceres.co.nz/blog/dirty-dozen-the-most-pesticide-laden-produce-plus-clean-15-list/
Question is, why in your eyes are local workers not as good as foreign workers?
Perhaps the locals will still be around dealing with the rashes long after the harvest is done. I once did a stint at commercial strawberry picking. Wondered why some of the other pickers were wearing gloves and masks. Soon found out.
Couldn't happen to a nicer whinger.
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
I remember at the old Athletic Park, women regularly and cheerfully used the men's toilet.