Teaching kids to be robust so they can handle things, put things into perspective?
Must have been a generation that missed out on that. You know the generation that has it that a discussion document in a draw in a government office means that in a short number of years New Zealand will be an apartheid state, there'll be two equal Parliaments running the country and Maori will own most of the land.
The same generation which has it that we definitely won't be able to open our mouths for fear of being chucked in jail for "hate speech." Over something Dennis Frank quotes (below) from Russell Palmer:
"At this point it's not a law, it's not an act, it's not even a bill. Instead, it's a discussion document aimed at seeking opinions before the ministry comes up with a law change".
They are just sayings meaning roughly the same thing. ie. don't get hurty feelings…..a few people on this blog should take note.
" Like water off a ducks back" is another along the same lines as don't let it get to you.
As for the snowflake one and shattering, they're not meant to be taken too literally, else a saying like "ÿou can't have your cake and eat it too" is pretty useless. I can imagine you saying What's the point of having cake if you cant eat it !
Today Ms Bligh dismissed Mr Newman's reaction to what she called "bit of fun" while Treasurer Andrew Fraser told him to "have a cup of concrete" and harden up.
"At this point it's not a law, it's not an act, it's not even a bill. Instead, it's a discussion document aimed at seeking opinions before the ministry comes up with a law change".
"The Justice Ministry's discussion document largely focuses on the problems of the current laws and what the new laws aim to do, but – and this is perhaps one reason for the confusion – most of it largely does not give the specific wording of what is being proposed. This makes reading the document somewhat like having a set of directions without knowing where you're going to end up. However, in the second appendix is a chart which includes the six proposed changes to be made, what the current laws are like, and a section of notes on each proposal".
He then delineates the six with admirable precision. You may have wondered about the prospect of insults producing prosecutions. Kiwi males have long been in the habit of insulting aussie males & vice versa. Sadly the prospect of such legal entertainment seems dim. The two bunches of dimwits don't seem to hate each other. To get the police prosecutor & attorney general musing over the prospect, there would have to be a threat issued: `you guys come across the ditch, we'll give you a whack around the earhole'.
Discerning hatred will be the challenge: emotions can be evident to many, but the evidence is subjective. The only objective proof is if someone says/writes "I hate [this group]" where this group is identified by a generally-recognised cultural or ethnic label. Contempt & ridicule are mentioned. I don't hate suit-wearers, but I have viewed them with contempt since the 1960s and do express that view on a sporadic basis – but don't recall hating them since I was a teenager. Nor do I suggest that citizens eliminate the social problems they continue to cause by eliminating the offenders!
So prosecutions are likely to hinge on a combination of behaviours & attitudes becoming evident to the authorities mentioned above. "To be considered a hate crime, communication must intentionally incite/stir up, maintain or normalise hatred using abuse, insults or threats (including inciting violence) against at least one of the groups identified in proposal 1. For a successful prosecution, it would have to include all four of these things."
Yeah. While paranoia is understandable in the circumstances, it ain't reasonable. Folks ought to relax & take a balanced approach. Good law will only come from consideration of all sides of the issue, then careful deliberation.
Another not so academic consideration is that; if NZ signs up to international treaties, we are obliged to abide by them eventually.
But, lost in the din around the Incitement to Hatred and Discrimination discussion, is this complimentary discussion that I was barely aware of. It runs until the 6th of August too:
Aotearoa New Zealand is home to people from over 213 different ethnic groups, who speak over 150 languages, and belong to different faith communities. About a quarter of New Zealand’s population was born overseas and about a quarter identify as disabled. We are a superdiverse nation and over the next twenty years we are expected to become even more diverse…
Strengthening social cohesion involves changing attitudes and behaviours and is, therefore, a complex process. We need evidence-informed actions. The Government has a leadership role to play, but to make a real difference we will need to work collectively – individuals, communities and organisations across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors – from grassroots campaigns and community-led programmes right through to changes to wider policy settings and legislative safeguards. We all have a role to play.
Social cohesion is not about making all New Zealanders the same. We want our communities to value and welcome diversity, and to be able to share and discuss different points of view in a constructive and respectful way.
Yeah – that was just the page I happened to have open at the time; Sacha. I probably should have gone back a few levels for a better link.
It is mentioned on the discussion document government published page. But is easily skimmed past. I certainly wouldn't say that the last month since these discussions were opened to the public have been Aotearoa's most impressive display of social cohesion ever.
That's just another part of the problem. That judgement lies with Police.
Example: most rapes don't even get from Police to court, let alone conviction. And that's been on the books for a while.
So wait until they are to start making marginal calls about group 'incitement'. Then put it to Police Prosecutions, then Crown Law. Then a public jury of ordinary folks.
In that case, your comparison with rape is off, because rape doesn't involve freedom of speech issues. It should be at a low bar.
Setting hate speech at a higher bar is because there is an inherent conflict between the right to free speech and restricting speech that causes public harm (be it hate, porn, violence, incitement, etc).
That doesn't make it unenforceable. It just means that any prosecutions should be a slam dunk, because what was said was well over the line.
The group most hated in New Zealand since the 1993 legislation (which included no discrimination based on employment status) has been beneficiaries – which enabled the continuing poverty of the "brown" underclass. It also fed the 2005 election debate – across the board tax cuts (advantaging white men the most) or the WFF tax credits which helped poorer browner families (just not those on benefits).
Class-based hatred is so 19th century? Hating the rich has been a thing since then too, though. However calls for violence against them, not so much…
I do agree, however, that there's such a thing as institutionalised violence – mental, not physical, and beneficiaries were the target. Getting a court to accept such reasoning would be a fascinating legal challenge.
Institutionalised violence – where a majority use its determination of policy to oppress "weaker" groups. Maori from their land, middle class law and order managing the underclass (drug use offences so much higher for some than among the middle class). Those on benefits paying back grant money out of future benefits while those with student loans borrow their living costs but do not pay anything back until they find work.
Is public support of this institutionalised violence, hate speech, the National Party/ACT Party manifesto or social media comments by their support base?
"GCSB Minister Andrew Little said that the foreign intelligence agency has established links between Chinese state-sponsored actors known as Advanced Persistent Threat 40 (APT40) and malicious cyber activity in New Zealand. The GCSB had "worked through a robust technical attribution process" to establish its conclusions, Little said."
Well okay, but since the attacks happened in March, why this now?? Spooks don't take four months to report identification of source, do they? One would think tracking a virus normally takes hours or days, not weeks or months. Are the bureaucrats sitting on the reporting process? Or is it that the govt has known the source all these months and only just now issued its delayed reaction due to some obscure diplomatic coordination requirement emanating out of Five Eyes?? I don't get it.
China was suspected/blamed back in March. Now NATO-EU and Five Eyes have all concluded this was the case and said so at the same time.
The GCSB has worked through a "robust attribution process" and if the results were different to that derived by the others we would have said so and explained why they were wrong …
Presumably there is some signature identifying “APT40” known to the USA – whose own motive is to infer western tech vulnerability with use of Chinese suppliers (to broaden trade sanctions on security grounds).
When you've seen three key industries in your big brother Australia smashed by retaliatory trade tariffs, you'd pause, get your allies in order, and then front it.
We are now very likely to get a strong Chinese response that will affect our economy.
"Despite the strong language, there are no signs of fresh sanctions against China. In contrast, new sanctions were placed on Russia for the recent SolarWinds campaign which many experts believe was less serious than the Microsoft Exchange campaign linked to China."
That's the bit from the BBC report you linked that interests me. Why does the Biden administration believe punishing Putin and not Xi is a good idea?? Or perhaps they are simply giving Xi a window of opportunity to respond first.
So is there a proposal of wealth transfer from those who have worked all their lives to pay those 16 Billion we paid in Corporate welfare called housing equality because there is now no money for social housing?
Many of todays 50-60 year old have not had their first house until they were 30, but now they are being taxed to make sure the 18 year old gets their foot on the property ladder because successive governments have failed to maintain and build housing?
Another proposal from those who have never done a normal everyday wage job in their lives. How would they know what so many out there have to face. Having a government job with extended leave, sick leave, guarantied pension….hallo! I mean the majority has no such luxury. Paid for by the taxpayer no less! But they now have the audacity to espouse these theories that will affect the ones who actually contribute to the GDP of this country.
Really? Seriously? Are they living in another world or something? The wealth divide is created by the very same governments that pay them to come up with another idea how to get the remaining middle class into a dependant poor state. You will not lift anybody up by having everybody poor.
How about taxing those who have paid the dividends to the corporates financed curtesy of the taxpayer and will be an burden for at least 2 generations? There was some noise for a while that the fraudulent taking of the corporate support will be investigated, but no one actually believes that it will happen. Meanwhile we pay money meant for victims to the gangs. Build houses, get the money of the fraudsters and build houses for goodness sake.
Lets stop pretending everything is just a matter of milking more from those who work and we are fine.
That is the best idea here in an age,After '87 share market crash, Gordon McLaughlin I think did an in depth analysis and wrote a large essay (maybe North and South) not sure how to link but in the interweb somewhere.
Alternatively, you could argue that the rebuild cost plus a certain % should be the base value of any house. This would rectify the market very quickly as those houses build some 30 or more years ago would be not tradeable at 1 mil plus.
Trusts should be taxable at all levels. Its fraud by another name.
That's a tough area because although IRD can be called on to judge charitable purpose for donee organisations, mostly that's handled by DIA through the Charities Service. Important work though.
It's just a rehash of TOP policy (taxing equity in property ownership).
No government would apply it, because it has the perverse incentive of encouraging people to borrow against equity to buy more property to reduce their tax liability.
But the emotions dragged out of the home owning class at their doing anything to reduce growing inequality because of overvalued land values are just as concerning as poor policy proposals.
The problem is if the government devalues land, a lot of banks will demand their cash straight away.
To just have those who actually work and try to make it trough this jungle of deceit and lies pay for exactly that lot will change the next elections 100%.
Not during the term of the mortgage they won't – and if the person is making (and likely to remain doing so) the repayments they will renew. A bank flooding the market with homes for sale because of a valuation downturn would destroy itself.
You're talking about homeowners, not all workers mate.
Meanwhile we pay money meant for victims to the gangs.
Nice misleading headline and quite befitting this silly rant of yours. Don’t let facts get in the way of a good spin, inside your head. Feeling dizzy yet?
Gangs are just that. No other country in the world would recognize gangs as a legitimate source to deliver value for any taxpayer money spent. NONE. Good god, now we are entering the stage where the perpetrator becomes the victims keeper!
Yip,that's one of the reasons I'll never qualify as a leftie, anyone who is thick enough to think that someone who rises to the top of the fucking mongrel mob is not a dishonest ,violent selfserving low life is at best a gullible fool,
I am very much a social democrat but this government is not, despite their assertions. Justice would be one area that does not gel very well if we give money to gangs and/or billions to companies never to be paid back under the so called honor system.
Only naive people believe good intentions are all one needs and yet the freedom for those basics to have a framework for all has to be defended or fought for. Look at south Africa, Intentions good, outcome…not so much.
“A huge congress of the 'Socialist International' took place in 1951 in Frankfurt and the resultant declaration opposed any form of Bolshevik communism and Stalinism.”
The call for freedom, equality, justice and solidarity originates in old humanistic thoughts. It is central for the Christian idea of man, it has been the battle-cry of the French Revolution, it is reflected in the legal foundations of the United Nations, the UN's two Human Rights Covenants of 1966, and finally it also forms the core values of social democracy.
It is a dim-witted accusation and doubling down doesn’t it make it a better one. Do you take your cues from the same sources as Foreign Waka, by any chance, because it certainly looks that way?
Dimwitted ! Abuse is the last gasp of the losing side.
Na I did a bit of reading ,I get it that some in the police backed the idea ,plus others, and have decided all on my little lonesome that it's a fucking idiotic idea.
And it sure ain't making it easy being openly labour in my neck of the woods I tell ya.
Calling out your comment as dim-witted is not abuse, but if you’re that easily offended, I’d better back off from questioning your debatable reasoning and your dubious sources.
You’re entitled to your beliefs and opinions, which you seem to get straight from MSM headline writers and spin doctors who write the press releases and SM messages for National and ACT. I prefer critical analysis based on and informed by evidence although a good rant is necessary, from time to time.
You’re so close with your “the perpetrator becomes the victims [sic] keeper!”, yet so far.
Regardless of whether you see merit in the approach of financing the poacher to become gamekeepers it should be admitted that the optics of such a decision open up the advocates to serious questioning….and rightfully so imho
That would be a fair comment if the questioning were less partisan and more open-minded to what this is about. So far, it is mostly reflexive stereotyping and labelling with very little analysis. Very similar to many of the ‘debates’ we seem to be having nowadays, e.g., about (the) hate speech law. I get that most of those pundits have no interest in questioning let alone challenging their own engrained biases and therefore avoid genuine debate like a gang tangi. Lazy thinkers with regressive ideas.
And that is all bullshit…again….there must be numerous Iwi (or other) groups with less direct connections to the gangs that are crying out for that sort of funding to assist their communities.
While the likes of the Mongrel Mob and Black Power may be SMEs in comparison to the 501 influenced multi-nationals the fact remains their business model is drugs based and this is a braindead proposition in the wider publics eyes.
The fact this administration constantly creates sticks for its own back will be its undoing…not the competence of the opposing argument.
Sure, it is all BS again, which makes for a compelling and persuasive judgement.
I know that many law-abiding citizens view gangs as nothing but drug peddlers and sources of crime and misery. With such a blinkered view it is only logical and morally imperative to take a hard line on gangs, which means no State support for any gang associates and their affiliates and further demonising and excluding them from normative society. The same dim-witted thinking leaves no room for considering, even for a moment, that including gangs in approaches and strategies that could lead to better outcomes for all involved, i.e. for all society. I can understand all these things and yet not buy into the same thinking because it has not delivered much to write home about thus far except providing useful ammo for certain political ‘gangs’, their leaders, and their associates and affiliates. Maybe building a few more prisons is the right answer? Serco won’t mind 😉
What was the Human Rights Commissioner thinking when he gave a $200 koha?? Very bad optics; he must have lost his mind …
Agree Pat. Giving koha is different from being given $$$$ of Govt funds. I found nothing untoward about the HRC giving koha, in acceptance of a reciprocal concept of hosting.
As others say the optics, at the very least of giving a gang that has caused so much damage to society access to significant govt funds, are able to be questioned and I don't blame people for doing just this.
… there must be numerous Iwi (or other) groups with less direct connections to the gangs that are crying out for that sort of funding to assist their communities.
What a load of bullshit and ignorance. History and research proves this would only fuel the problems these ACT dickwits think they would solve! Perhaps if the party of selfish tax-dodgers and rorters paid their fair share of tax, NZ could seriously begin to deal to poverty – the real problem. The only surprise is that they aren't pushing gun rights to implement the Duterte solution (/sarc).
The greatest irony is that the announcement was made from the premises of a supplier of the county's most harmful drug!!!
The greatest irony is that the announcement was made from the premises of a supplier of the county's most harmful drug!!!
There is a bit or a lot of that 'taking battle with one's own agenda' going on these days either through non-consultation on issues that are deserving of consultation, both in central and local govt or disrupting events when brave souls want to consult.
Life's ironies abound. I suspect this undermining/battling of the ACT agenda was inadvertent.
Like? "Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me." — Casca
Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose?" — Mercutio
"So, again, good night. I must be cruel only to be kind. Thus bad begins and worse remains behind." — Hamlet
The game's afoot: follow your spirit, and upon this charge cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'" — King Henry V
It's posturing shiite – their existing policy is that anyone on Job Seeker Benefit goes onto an electronic (restricted spending) card after the first 4 weeks of cash benefit (eftpos card).
This government is a idiot for seeking to suppress further 1-off territory attacks, when lage, powerful armed terror groups like Mongrel Mob are growing unchecked and attacking in towns and cities at will.
Such misdirected nonsense from this government and Police on terror groups.
Where do you get your information from? Pretty dodgy to say the least.
From your comment, it sounds as thought there is only one gang in NZ and that they are armed to the gills and in the midst of a shooting war with all and sundry.
Hate to disabuse you of your fantasies but some reading suggests the 501 seeded gangs are more heavily armed (weapons arrive with drugs from South America) and NZ's numerous other gangs are no doubt just as lethal. It also seems you work on other very misguided assumptions that are not worth addressing as it is obvious you have more than a few mind-blocks.
By the way, when were you last terrorised by an armed Mongrel Mob Member? Was it when you didn't pay for the drugs you received or was it after you shot up their pad?
Odd you should mention this. Last night I was dealing with my disabled brother who has discovered a very recent bullet hole in his house. Police have told them they know who it was but no action can be taken.
About 20 years ago when some pissed prospects decide leave the party at the pad down the road and invite themselves into our flat and proceed to start smashing the place up.
Since Labour came into office in 2017 gangs have recruited 2660 new members, an increase of just under 50 per cent. We now have over 8,000 – that's equivalent to the entire town of Kawerau. All facts on the record.
Plenty of our small towns have gangs as the primary organising power of their society. Including places like Kawerau.
This is the product of the policy of Australia's Liberal coalition government, therefore the product of the people of Australia, and literally the product of Australian society.
Thousands of criminals, trained by Australia, have been exported to New Zealand in the last 6 years. With them they bring sophisticated networking, fundraising and recruitment practice, all nurtured in Australia. They also bring their anger, magnified.
NZ has become a dumping ground for the failures of a morally corrupt Australian society and this is the primary reason for an increase in organised crime violence here.
Add to this their export of real terrorism in the form of murderous white supremacy, which we have known bubbles away in Australia under the radar since its colonisation, by criminals.
Yes there's a wee bit of that. But they are our people doing this crime, our people are the criminals, and apart from the Comancheros they came back to fully formed gangs ready to expand – which they are doing big time.
And there's no way the Ardern government isn't responsible for effectively policing them.
You only have to look to some Latin American nations, Mexico leaps to mind, as to what happens when govts fail to police gangs.
Two years ago I had a very interesting Mexican colleague (I think I mentioned him here in a thread before) who explained to me in detail one night over dinner, how two of his business partners were in separate incidents, both kidnapped, ransomed and murdered. We’re talking legit, tech based, middle-class professionals – specifically targeted for purely monetary gain and no other reason. Needless to say this is also the reason why he now lives in Australia.
You will read this and feel nothing – having it retold by someone who lived through it first hand is deeply chilling. And if NZ imagines that it's immune to this kind of collapse of social moral structure it would be deluding itself.
Difficult for me to imagine a modern NZ government of any flavour being kind/friendly to individuals or groups that indulge in kidnapping or other serious crimes in NZ, but your imagination may be more 'vivid' than mine.
Suspect that the NZ police and MPs are concerned about the types and level of crimes carried out by gangs in NZ, from the Mongrel Mob to triad-type and white-supremacist gangs.
No it bloody doesn't. The fact of so many left wingers openly siding with criminal gangs who inflict nothing but misery on their own people is a testament to a dismal moral degeneracy I find very hard to understand.
A gun sick nation. USA a fourth-world nation and soon emulating Nigeria probably.
[second time removed the following text from user name: “Timely warning”]
I haven’t done anything to my user name – don’t know why it should be different. Thanks for adjusting incognito. I see now – will do. Very timely warning eh.
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The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
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As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
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Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
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I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
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New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
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From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
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As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
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Comment: The recent attack by Destiny Church front groups on a Drag science show at Te Atatū library crossed a line. This wasn’t the first time that Brian Tamaki, the multimillionaire self-appointed ‘apostle’, has ordered acts of aggression against the queer community. Last year, Drag Story Time events were targeted, ...
Martina Salmon is well versed in the fast-paced action on a netball court, but even she was caught by surprise with the speed at which her career changed tack last year.Staying in the fast lane is only part of her drive this season.Fresh off a nine-day camp in Sydney with ...
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Negotiating rights over freshwater in Treaty settlement negotiations could have extended negotiations a decade, a Ngāi Tahu leader says.Tribal leaders, and its umbrella body, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, have taken the Attorney-General to court in a bid to have the Crown recognise its rangatiratanga (chiefly authority) over wai māori ...
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Re harmful speech
https://twitter.com/glukianoff/status/1416737342421970945
Well yeah, life hurts it's hard sometimes people can be arseholes and sometimes shit goes wrong.
The saying is about teaching kids to be robust and not to worry or place to much wait on what people might say.
Teaching kids to be robust so they can handle things, put things into perspective?
Must have been a generation that missed out on that. You know the generation that has it that a discussion document in a draw in a government office means that in a short number of years New Zealand will be an apartheid state, there'll be two equal Parliaments running the country and Maori will own most of the land.
The same generation which has it that we definitely won't be able to open our mouths for fear of being chucked in jail for "hate speech." Over something Dennis Frank quotes (below) from Russell Palmer:
"At this point it's not a law, it's not an act, it's not even a bill. Instead, it's a discussion document aimed at seeking opinions before the ministry comes up with a law change".
It's a drawer, not a draw that you can paint any way you like.
A "short number of years" – you mean not while the current government is in office or any National successor.
Given most land is privately owned or public Crown land, there is no chance Maori iwi can own most of the land.
Well, that was an artful segue. /sarc
The new modern versions of "sticks and stones" seems to be either:
harden up snowflake or
have a cup of concrete
Err, if snowflakes were hard they would shatter. And still melt.
The concrete one sounds a wee bit weird.
They are just sayings meaning roughly the same thing. ie. don't get hurty feelings…..a few people on this blog should take note.
" Like water off a ducks back" is another along the same lines as don't let it get to you.
As for the snowflake one and shattering, they're not meant to be taken too literally, else a saying like "ÿou can't have your cake and eat it too" is pretty useless. I can imagine you saying What's the point of having cake if you cant eat it !
You've obviously been speaking with my dietician lol
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/have-a-cup-of-concrete-and-harden-up-fraser-tells-newman-20110526-1f5ds.html
Ah, the land of colourful phrases.
They really do have a knack for it.
Russell Palmer of RNZ has clarified the govt hate speech law proposals here: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/proposed-hate-speech-laws-what-you-need-to-know/MVWR2D7MNZXJCD7FEUUUDQCH4A/
"At this point it's not a law, it's not an act, it's not even a bill. Instead, it's a discussion document aimed at seeking opinions before the ministry comes up with a law change".
"The Justice Ministry's discussion document largely focuses on the problems of the current laws and what the new laws aim to do, but – and this is perhaps one reason for the confusion – most of it largely does not give the specific wording of what is being proposed. This makes reading the document somewhat like having a set of directions without knowing where you're going to end up. However, in the second appendix is a chart which includes the six proposed changes to be made, what the current laws are like, and a section of notes on each proposal".
He then delineates the six with admirable precision. You may have wondered about the prospect of insults producing prosecutions. Kiwi males have long been in the habit of insulting aussie males & vice versa. Sadly the prospect of such legal entertainment seems dim. The two bunches of dimwits don't seem to hate each other. To get the police prosecutor & attorney general musing over the prospect, there would have to be a threat issued: `you guys come across the ditch, we'll give you a whack around the earhole'.
Discerning hatred will be the challenge: emotions can be evident to many, but the evidence is subjective. The only objective proof is if someone says/writes "I hate [this group]" where this group is identified by a generally-recognised cultural or ethnic label. Contempt & ridicule are mentioned. I don't hate suit-wearers, but I have viewed them with contempt since the 1960s and do express that view on a sporadic basis – but don't recall hating them since I was a teenager. Nor do I suggest that citizens eliminate the social problems they continue to cause by eliminating the offenders!
So prosecutions are likely to hinge on a combination of behaviours & attitudes becoming evident to the authorities mentioned above. "To be considered a hate crime, communication must intentionally incite/stir up, maintain or normalise hatred using abuse, insults or threats (including inciting violence) against at least one of the groups identified in proposal 1. For a successful prosecution, it would have to include all four of these things."
Legal academic despairs.
https://twitter.com/Publicwrongs/status/1416930574002921475
Yeah. While paranoia is understandable in the circumstances, it ain't reasonable. Folks ought to relax & take a balanced approach. Good law will only come from consideration of all sides of the issue, then careful deliberation.
Another not so academic consideration is that; if NZ signs up to international treaties, we are obliged to abide by them eventually.
But, lost in the din around the Incitement to Hatred and Discrimination discussion, is this complimentary discussion that I was barely aware of. It runs until the 6th of August too:
https://social-cohesion.citizenspace.com/social-cohesion/public-consultation/consultation/subpage.2021-06-24.6598578873/
[fixed typo in user name]
So it's official despite the url. Interesting.
Yeah – that was just the page I happened to have open at the time; Sacha. I probably should have gone back a few levels for a better link.
It is mentioned on the discussion document government published page. But is easily skimmed past. I certainly wouldn't say that the last month since these discussions were opened to the public have been Aotearoa's most impressive display of social cohesion ever.
https://www.justice.govt.nz/justice-sector-policy/key-initiatives/proposals-against-incitement/#cohesion
It was at the bottom of that page. They have certainly kept it quiet.
If a law is going to be that hard to enforce, and even harder to prosecute and convict, it sets itself up as bad law from the outset.
It's it high bar so as not to waste time and resources chasing minor stuff.
That's just another part of the problem. That judgement lies with Police.
Example: most rapes don't even get from Police to court, let alone conviction. And that's been on the books for a while.
So wait until they are to start making marginal calls about group 'incitement'. Then put it to Police Prosecutions, then Crown Law. Then a public jury of ordinary folks.
Unenforceable law should not be law.
So a possible law change shouldn't be discussed if there might be marginal calls involved?
We're discussing just fine.
Fair call.
In that case, your comparison with rape is off, because rape doesn't involve freedom of speech issues. It should be at a low bar.
Setting hate speech at a higher bar is because there is an inherent conflict between the right to free speech and restricting speech that causes public harm (be it hate, porn, violence, incitement, etc).
That doesn't make it unenforceable. It just means that any prosecutions should be a slam dunk, because what was said was well over the line.
The group most hated in New Zealand since the 1993 legislation (which included no discrimination based on employment status) has been beneficiaries – which enabled the continuing poverty of the "brown" underclass. It also fed the 2005 election debate – across the board tax cuts (advantaging white men the most) or the WFF tax credits which helped poorer browner families (just not those on benefits).
But little about that in this legislation.
Class-based hatred is so 19th century? Hating the rich has been a thing since then too, though. However calls for violence against them, not so much…
I do agree, however, that there's such a thing as institutionalised violence – mental, not physical, and beneficiaries were the target. Getting a court to accept such reasoning would be a fascinating legal challenge.
Institutionalised violence – where a majority use its determination of policy to oppress "weaker" groups. Maori from their land, middle class law and order managing the underclass (drug use offences so much higher for some than among the middle class). Those on benefits paying back grant money out of future benefits while those with student loans borrow their living costs but do not pay anything back until they find work.
Is public support of this institutionalised violence, hate speech, the National Party/ACT Party manifesto or social media comments by their support base?
"GCSB Minister Andrew Little said that the foreign intelligence agency has established links between Chinese state-sponsored actors known as Advanced Persistent Threat 40 (APT40) and malicious cyber activity in New Zealand. The GCSB had "worked through a robust technical attribution process" to establish its conclusions, Little said."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/447239/government-points-finger-at-china-over-cyber-attacks
Well okay, but since the attacks happened in March, why this now?? Spooks don't take four months to report identification of source, do they? One would think tracking a virus normally takes hours or days, not weeks or months. Are the bureaucrats sitting on the reporting process? Or is it that the govt has known the source all these months and only just now issued its delayed reaction due to some obscure diplomatic coordination requirement emanating out of Five Eyes?? I don't get it.
China was suspected/blamed back in March. Now NATO-EU and Five Eyes have all concluded this was the case and said so at the same time.
The GCSB has worked through a "robust attribution process" and if the results were different to that derived by the others we would have said so and explained why they were wrong …
Presumably there is some signature identifying “APT40” known to the USA – whose own motive is to infer western tech vulnerability with use of Chinese suppliers (to broaden trade sanctions on security grounds).
When you've seen three key industries in your big brother Australia smashed by retaliatory trade tariffs, you'd pause, get your allies in order, and then front it.
We are now very likely to get a strong Chinese response that will affect our economy.
"Two hours ago, China expressed outrage at the accusations it paid criminal groups to carry out cyber hacks, including the Microsoft breach and ransomware attacks. Beijing called the claims "a huge lie," "slander" and "ridiculous," and threatened devastating consequences, according to a post in China's English-language Global Times." https://www.newsroom.co.nz/8things/furious-china-threatens-retaliation-as-nz-and-allies-blame-it-for-cyber-attacks
Whoopee! Perhaps a covert donation to Groundswell? With a bit of belt & road advice: "give them a belting, guys, send them down the road"…
Make fun all you like, but Biden is fronting this for allies, including ourselves, who have been attacked.
They are unified because this really is economic war — just minus the blood and body count.
A bit more context here.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57889981
"Despite the strong language, there are no signs of fresh sanctions against China. In contrast, new sanctions were placed on Russia for the recent SolarWinds campaign which many experts believe was less serious than the Microsoft Exchange campaign linked to China."
That's the bit from the BBC report you linked that interests me. Why does the Biden administration believe punishing Putin and not Xi is a good idea?? Or perhaps they are simply giving Xi a window of opportunity to respond first.
So is there a proposal of wealth transfer from those who have worked all their lives to pay those 16 Billion we paid in Corporate welfare called housing equality because there is now no money for social housing?
Many of todays 50-60 year old have not had their first house until they were 30, but now they are being taxed to make sure the 18 year old gets their foot on the property ladder because successive governments have failed to maintain and build housing?
Another proposal from those who have never done a normal everyday wage job in their lives. How would they know what so many out there have to face. Having a government job with extended leave, sick leave, guarantied pension….hallo! I mean the majority has no such luxury. Paid for by the taxpayer no less! But they now have the audacity to espouse these theories that will affect the ones who actually contribute to the GDP of this country.
Really? Seriously? Are they living in another world or something? The wealth divide is created by the very same governments that pay them to come up with another idea how to get the remaining middle class into a dependant poor state. You will not lift anybody up by having everybody poor.
How about taxing those who have paid the dividends to the corporates financed curtesy of the taxpayer and will be an burden for at least 2 generations? There was some noise for a while that the fraudulent taking of the corporate support will be investigated, but no one actually believes that it will happen. Meanwhile we pay money meant for victims to the gangs. Build houses, get the money of the fraudsters and build houses for goodness sake.
Lets stop pretending everything is just a matter of milking more from those who work and we are fine.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125796416/tax-on-all-housing-needed-to-fix-distortion-of-social-fabric
They are too late: the 10 year bright line test greatly decreases outing capital circulation other than for a handful.
St John et at should have concentrated on IRD powers to unwind trusts. That's where 90% of our private wealth is.
IRD are making some moves against faux charity trusts, but it's the tip of the iceberg.
Re: Trusts
That is the best idea here in an age,After '87 share market crash, Gordon McLaughlin I think did an in depth analysis and wrote a large essay (maybe North and South) not sure how to link but in the interweb somewhere.
Alternatively, you could argue that the rebuild cost plus a certain % should be the base value of any house. This would rectify the market very quickly as those houses build some 30 or more years ago would be not tradeable at 1 mil plus.
Trusts should be taxable at all levels. Its fraud by another name.
Trusts with a charitable purchase disbursing well are a strong societal good.
Arguably using a trust to protect family intergenerational wealth is also useful.
But so many are tax minimization instruments pure and simple. They need legal attack from the state.
Ad, can you please fix your name typo on next comment from same device
Yes apologies fat fingers
And arguably not. We did fine with an estate tax prior to 1991.
That's a tough area because although IRD can be called on to judge charitable purpose for donee organisations, mostly that's handled by DIA through the Charities Service. Important work though.
It's just a rehash of TOP policy (taxing equity in property ownership).
No government would apply it, because it has the perverse incentive of encouraging people to borrow against equity to buy more property to reduce their tax liability.
But the emotions dragged out of the home owning class at their doing anything to reduce growing inequality because of overvalued land values are just as concerning as poor policy proposals.
The problem is if the government devalues land, a lot of banks will demand their cash straight away.
To just have those who actually work and try to make it trough this jungle of deceit and lies pay for exactly that lot will change the next elections 100%.
Not during the term of the mortgage they won't – and if the person is making (and likely to remain doing so) the repayments they will renew. A bank flooding the market with homes for sale because of a valuation downturn would destroy itself.
You're talking about homeowners, not all workers mate.
Nice misleading headline and quite befitting this silly rant of yours. Don’t let facts get in the way of a good spin, inside your head. Feeling dizzy yet?
Gangs are just that. No other country in the world would recognize gangs as a legitimate source to deliver value for any taxpayer money spent. NONE. Good god, now we are entering the stage where the perpetrator becomes the victims keeper!
Yip,that's one of the reasons I'll never qualify as a leftie, anyone who is thick enough to think that someone who rises to the top of the fucking mongrel mob is not a dishonest ,violent selfserving low life is at best a gullible fool,
I am very much a social democrat but this government is not, despite their assertions. Justice would be one area that does not gel very well if we give money to gangs and/or billions to companies never to be paid back under the so called honor system.
Only naive people believe good intentions are all one needs and yet the freedom for those basics to have a framework for all has to be defended or fought for. Look at south Africa, Intentions good, outcome…not so much.
https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ghana/10519.pdf
“A huge congress of the 'Socialist International' took place in 1951 in Frankfurt and the resultant declaration opposed any form of Bolshevik communism and Stalinism.”
The call for freedom, equality, justice and solidarity originates in old humanistic thoughts. It is central for the Christian idea of man, it has been the battle-cry of the French Revolution, it is reflected in the legal foundations of the United Nations, the UN's two Human Rights Covenants of 1966, and finally it also forms the core values of social democracy.
What on Earth has self-ID as Lefty got to do with the price of fish?
What's fish got to do with me calling anyone a daft gullible leftie for thinking giving money to the mob is a good idea. ?
It is a dim-witted accusation and doubling down doesn’t it make it a better one. Do you take your cues from the same sources as Foreign Waka, by any chance, because it certainly looks that way?
Dimwitted ! Abuse is the last gasp of the losing side.
Na I did a bit of reading ,I get it that some in the police backed the idea ,plus others, and have decided all on my little lonesome that it's a fucking idiotic idea.
And it sure ain't making it easy being openly labour in my neck of the woods I tell ya.
Calling out your comment as dim-witted is not abuse, but if you’re that easily offended, I’d better back off from questioning your debatable reasoning and your dubious sources.
Iran – Hizbollah in Lebanon and the Shia militias in Iraq.
USA – countless groups many different nations (Mujahadeen, Contras etc)
You’re entitled to your beliefs and opinions, which you seem to get straight from MSM headline writers and spin doctors who write the press releases and SM messages for National and ACT. I prefer critical analysis based on and informed by evidence although a good rant is necessary, from time to time.
You’re so close with your “the perpetrator becomes the victims [sic] keeper!”, yet so far.
Regardless of whether you see merit in the approach of financing the poacher to become gamekeepers it should be admitted that the optics of such a decision open up the advocates to serious questioning….and rightfully so imho
That would be a fair comment if the questioning were less partisan and more open-minded to what this is about. So far, it is mostly reflexive stereotyping and labelling with very little analysis. Very similar to many of the ‘debates’ we seem to be having nowadays, e.g., about (the) hate speech law. I get that most of those pundits have no interest in questioning let alone challenging their own engrained biases and therefore avoid genuine debate like a gang tangi. Lazy thinkers with regressive ideas.
And that is all bullshit…again….there must be numerous Iwi (or other) groups with less direct connections to the gangs that are crying out for that sort of funding to assist their communities.
While the likes of the Mongrel Mob and Black Power may be SMEs in comparison to the 501 influenced multi-nationals the fact remains their business model is drugs based and this is a braindead proposition in the wider publics eyes.
The fact this administration constantly creates sticks for its own back will be its undoing…not the competence of the opposing argument.
Sure, it is all BS again, which makes for a compelling and persuasive judgement.
I know that many law-abiding citizens view gangs as nothing but drug peddlers and sources of crime and misery. With such a blinkered view it is only logical and morally imperative to take a hard line on gangs, which means no State support for any gang associates and their affiliates and further demonising and excluding them from normative society. The same dim-witted thinking leaves no room for considering, even for a moment, that including gangs in approaches and strategies that could lead to better outcomes for all involved, i.e. for all society. I can understand all these things and yet not buy into the same thinking because it has not delivered much to write home about thus far except providing useful ammo for certain political ‘gangs’, their leaders, and their associates and affiliates. Maybe building a few more prisons is the right answer? Serco won’t mind 😉
What was the Human Rights Commissioner thinking when he gave a $200 koha?? Very bad optics; he must have lost his mind …
Well I hope youre feeling happy in your superiority of thought….and therein lies the problem.
Meanwhile in the real world…
Agree Pat. Giving koha is different from being given $$$$ of Govt funds. I found nothing untoward about the HRC giving koha, in acceptance of a reciprocal concept of hosting.
As others say the optics, at the very least of giving a gang that has caused so much damage to society access to significant govt funds, are able to be questioned and I don't blame people for doing just this.
Possibly, in the ‘real world’, these do exist, I wouldn’t know, obviously. But they could perhaps read this: https://www.justice.govt.nz/justice-sector-policy/about-the-justice-sector/proceeds-of-crime-fund/. Or maybe they did and applied, but were not approved because they didn’t meet all criteria? Or maybe they applied too late, after the deadline closed? Or maybe they didn’t apply at all for funding and then started to throw rubber gumboots? Some must have been successful though: https://www.justice.govt.nz/justice-sector-policy/about-the-justice-sector/proceeds-of-crime-fund/#listofinitiatives.
But of course, it’s all bullshit, again 🙁
It's an envy tax. Read the comments on the article. It would be a very hard sell for any government.
Ugly spin
https://twitter.com/RyanSproull/status/1417224152365207577
War-tearing Palestinians off the lands they are living on sought by Israel for settling its citizens on, would be more accurate.
… and where shall we be when everyone has "cancelled" everything else?
When nobody can even talk about it!
There's always the RSA. Tears in the beers.
OH REALLY – https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/447264/act-proposes-limiting-gang-members-freedoms.
What a load of bullshit and ignorance. History and research proves this would only fuel the problems these ACT dickwits think they would solve! Perhaps if the party of selfish tax-dodgers and rorters paid their fair share of tax, NZ could seriously begin to deal to poverty – the real problem. The only surprise is that they aren't pushing gun rights to implement the Duterte solution (/sarc).
The greatest irony is that the announcement was made from the premises of a supplier of the county's most harmful drug!!!
There is a bit or a lot of that 'taking battle with one's own agenda' going on these days either through non-consultation on issues that are deserving of consultation, both in central and local govt or disrupting events when brave souls want to consult.
Life's ironies abound. I suspect this undermining/battling of the ACT agenda was inadvertent.
The ACT leader looks every day more like the mask for comedy on a theatrical stage, or the trickster in some Shakespearean play. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/60264/21-phrases-you-use-without-realizing-youre-quoting-shakespeare
Like? "Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me." — Casca
Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose?" — Mercutio
"So, again, good night. I must be cruel only to be kind. Thus bad begins and worse remains behind." — Hamlet
The game's afoot: follow your spirit, and upon this charge cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'" — King Henry V
It's posturing shiite – their existing policy is that anyone on Job Seeker Benefit goes onto an electronic (restricted spending) card after the first 4 weeks of cash benefit (eftpos card).
This government is a idiot for seeking to suppress further 1-off territory attacks, when lage, powerful armed terror groups like Mongrel Mob are growing unchecked and attacking in towns and cities at will.
Such misdirected nonsense from this government and Police on terror groups.
Where do you get your information from? Pretty dodgy to say the least.
From your comment, it sounds as thought there is only one gang in NZ and that they are armed to the gills and in the midst of a shooting war with all and sundry.
Hate to disabuse you of your fantasies but some reading suggests the 501 seeded gangs are more heavily armed (weapons arrive with drugs from South America) and NZ's numerous other gangs are no doubt just as lethal. It also seems you work on other very misguided assumptions that are not worth addressing as it is obvious you have more than a few mind-blocks.
By the way, when were you last terrorised by an armed Mongrel Mob Member? Was it when you didn't pay for the drugs you received or was it after you shot up their pad?
Odd you should mention this. Last night I was dealing with my disabled brother who has discovered a very recent bullet hole in his house. Police have told them they know who it was but no action can be taken.
I'm still trying to work out what this means.
About 20 years ago when some pissed prospects decide leave the party at the pad down the road and invite themselves into our flat and proceed to start smashing the place up.
You are just stupidly ignorant.
Auckland's SH1 motorway was shut down by a gang gun exchange on Thursday night.
More gang gun violence occurred in Massey yesterday.
At least 900 people joined a gang last year – an increase of 13% on the year before.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300193448/number-of-people-joining-gangs-increased-by-at-least-13-per-cent-this-year-police-data-shows
Since Labour came into office in 2017 gangs have recruited 2660 new members, an increase of just under 50 per cent. We now have over 8,000 – that's equivalent to the entire town of Kawerau. All facts on the record.
Plenty of our small towns have gangs as the primary organising power of their society. Including places like Kawerau.
Different reasons why:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/123699877/new-zealand-gangs-on-the-rise-why-young-kiwis-are-getting-patched
December last year there were two drive-by shootings from gangs within 24 hours – in Napier.
Police raids on gangs have increased this year, with huge hauls and Proceeds of Crime seizures.
They ride our streets in packs unimpeded. They are now so big that the governemnt has to employ them to manage the impact of the drugs they import.
Targeted assassinations by gangs, using firearms, are now much more prevalent.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/125565035/targeted-assassinations-becoming-more-prevalent-in-gang-scene
You want a discussion on the impact of terrorist groups in New Zealand, start with the armed terror groups that are embedded and expanding already.
Personally I regard them as outlaws. In the original sense of that word, and all that implies.
This is the product of the policy of Australia's Liberal coalition government, therefore the product of the people of Australia, and literally the product of Australian society.
Thousands of criminals, trained by Australia, have been exported to New Zealand in the last 6 years. With them they bring sophisticated networking, fundraising and recruitment practice, all nurtured in Australia. They also bring their anger, magnified.
NZ has become a dumping ground for the failures of a morally corrupt Australian society and this is the primary reason for an increase in organised crime violence here.
Add to this their export of real terrorism in the form of murderous white supremacy, which we have known bubbles away in Australia under the radar since its colonisation, by criminals.
Yes there's a wee bit of that. But they are our people doing this crime, our people are the criminals, and apart from the Comancheros they came back to fully formed gangs ready to expand – which they are doing big time.
And there's no way the Ardern government isn't responsible for effectively policing them.
You only have to look to some Latin American nations, Mexico leaps to mind, as to what happens when govts fail to police gangs.
Two years ago I had a very interesting Mexican colleague (I think I mentioned him here in a thread before) who explained to me in detail one night over dinner, how two of his business partners were in separate incidents, both kidnapped, ransomed and murdered. We’re talking legit, tech based, middle-class professionals – specifically targeted for purely monetary gain and no other reason. Needless to say this is also the reason why he now lives in Australia.
You will read this and feel nothing – having it retold by someone who lived through it first hand is deeply chilling. And if NZ imagines that it's immune to this kind of collapse of social moral structure it would be deluding itself.
Frightening and so true. But it seems that our government wants to make friends with gangs. I don't think being kind will be the preferred remedy.
Difficult for me to imagine a modern NZ government of any flavour being kind/friendly to individuals or groups that indulge in kidnapping or other serious crimes in NZ, but your imagination may be more 'vivid' than mine.
Four arrested face two kidnapping charges
Suspect that the NZ police and MPs are concerned about the types and level of crimes carried out by gangs in NZ, from the Mongrel Mob to triad-type and white-supremacist gangs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs_in_New_Zealand#Race-based_gangs
Imho those convicted of kidnapping in NZ should be made an example of – NZ kidnapping rates are too high compared to Australia.
https://knoema.com/atlas/New-Zealand/Kidnapping-rate
A clever, amusing title to brighten the day. It's about a serious subject but just a pause for a smile before reading further.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018804301/money-for-the-mob-and-hoha-over-koha
They get paid by the market to bring the drugs in, and paid by the public to mitigate the damage of drugs.
Pretty sweet deal.
That sums up a lot of business in NZ Ad.
No it bloody doesn't. The fact of so many left wingers openly siding with criminal gangs who inflict nothing but misery on their own people is a testament to a dismal moral degeneracy I find very hard to understand.
👏
Here's an extremely accurate description of our "inclusive" education system. The HRRT needs to fast-track hearing IHC's complaint:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/125796031/young-lives-up-in-smoke-more-special-education-help-is-needed-at-schools
'Murica
https://twitter.com/TheTNHoller/status/1416925524065148928
Well lets hope shooting incidents do not become that common and blase in NZ.
A gun sick nation. USA a fourth-world nation and soon emulating Nigeria probably.
[second time removed the following text from user name: “Timely warning”]
I haven’t done anything to my user name – don’t know why it should be different. Thanks for adjusting incognito. I see now – will do. Very timely warning eh.
Please correct your user name next time you comment, thanks.
Maybe some actual data would help with your comparisons.
The Auckland to Hamilton train had a bad day yesterday by the sounds of it.
Train wreck of a commute: 'Bits of the train were bouncing down the tracks' – NZ Herald
No worries, we'll get it fixed and it'll go like the clappers. In the meantime a bit of the old pioneer spirit needed, and patience.
[third and last time; removed the following text from user name: “Timely warning”]
See my note above. Will do.
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That's the last time they name a service after an extinct bird.
The front fell off.