I would say this against Biden or Trump or whoever team was running their show, but the State Department acting to shield Israel from investigation into breaches of the Geneva Conventions in Gaza is sickening.
Employers are looking for help in managing restructuring and redundancies at a rate not seen since the global financial crisis, the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) says.
Fired yesterday: 750 Filipino workers for recruiter ELE from 10 building sites
Likely more great monitoring by MBIE as well. I still don't know why Labour let such high volumes of workers in when local benefit numbers were still higher than before COVID. MBIE at times seemed to be working against the interests of New Zealanders.
Apparently Labour, under pressure from business opened up the taps, Immigration staff expressed concerns about the future mess that would result but MBIE bosses told them to process the migrants in as fast as possible with bare minimum checks, coz that is what the government wanted.
Unsurprisingly National are not making doing anything a priority coz they can just blame Labour for it all.
"Is Brazil a Spanish-speaking country? No, it’s not. But do Brazilians speak Spanish? Some of them! In fact, around 460,000 Brazilians speak Spanish, according to Ethnologue. The two languages are similar in many ways, though more in their written form than their pronunciation. As such, many Brazilians are able to understand Spanish, though they may not speak it fluently. "
The emerging consensus in international sport based on fair competition and community sport rules having provision for safety in contact sport meant this was a minor issue.
The coalition agreement states the new government would “ensure publicly funded sporting bodies support fair competition that is not compromised by rules relating to gender”.
Major sports bodies will continue to work on transgender inclusion guidelines, despite the agreement between National and New Zealand First which aims to remove transgender women from women’s sport.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Thursday that transgender New Zealanders would still be able to play sport under the new government, but “balance, fairness, inclusion and safety” were key. He said new sports minister Chris Bishop would “pick that up” in the new year.
“We want sporting organisations – and by and large many have been doing a fantastic job – working their way through what is quite a complex issue with a range of emotion on all sorts of sides, to say they are finding ways to balance safety, inclusion and fairness,” he said.
That said, it is obvious that emphasis has changed
NZ First took active steps to contact and listen to women* the same way they took active steps to contact and listen to anti-vaxxers. For political position and votes.
Well, no. You've personalised it and slighted a commenter here, and it's given Populuxe1 whiplash!
Muttonbird didn't do that.
Winston hoovered up the votes of the natural remedies people, the antivax people and quite possibly, the transphobic women, by speaking at their meetings or engaging with the leaders of those groups/movements. Do you believe politically-astute women, such as several who comment here, who could otherwise have given their vote to the New Zealand Women's Rights Party, would have attended a meeting for Winston, or voted for him because he represents their key issue? If so, why? I think Muttonbird is more likely to be correct in this instance.
Do you believe politically-astute women, such as several who comment here, who could otherwise have given their vote to the New Zealand Women's Rights Party, would have attended a meeting for Winston, or voted for him because he represents their key issue? If so, why?
Yes, I do. Because I actually listen to and talk with them. And because anyone who is voting strategically and is no longer committed to the left (there are many like this), voting NZF gives them political power.
Maybe it's a surprise to some that women's sex based rights are a primary, overarching political issue for many women.
Winston hoovered up the votes of the natural remedies people, the antivax people and quite possibly, the transphobic women, by speaking at their meetings or engaging with the leaders of those groups/movements
And how about the gender critical women in those communities who aren't transphobic?
Well, no. You've personalised it and slighted a commenter here, and it's given Populuxe1 whiplash!
Muttonbird didn't do that.
I made it personal to one person, MB made it personal to a number of people. His commented as pointed to Molly. He will know she is a gender critical woman, and while he didn't call her transphobic directly, he may as well have.
Besides, I was making a point about communication and politics. I didn't call MB a misogynist. I mirrored what he did in a way that would bring home both the problem with his communication on this topic, and the problem with his politics.
Well, yes, I see that you hold the view that "gender critical women" may have chosen to vote for Winston. I can see that Muttonbird holds the view that Winston would more likely have attracted "transphobic women" to vote for him, in light of the other groups he cultivated prior to the election. I favour Muttonbird's assessment, not because of any qualities "gender critical women" may have, but because of what I perceive to be Winston's strategies and the audience he seems to appeal to most. I guess there's no way to know for sure, the ideological makeup of the women who voted for Winston because of his expressed views on this issue, but my feeling is in line with Muttonbird's. That's without taking into account any previous comments made here on The Standard.
MB's politics on gender/sex mean that the term transphobic is almost meaningless. Does he mean women who hate trans people? What does hate mean there? JKR kind of hate, or KKK kind of hate, or something else?
Or does he also mean women who think women's sex based rights matter, that women have the right to single sex spaces (toilets, changing rooms) and single sex services (rape crisis, cervical screening) separate from males?
Peters is a grifter who play the gender wars like maestro violinist while the left wrung their hands wondering what was going on. But the prospective voters that Peters was courting still have agency, and aren't a hive mind. It was the women voters that MB called those women transphobic, as if any woman who had concerns and was interested in NZF's person was transphobic.
I see no evidence at all that the only women attracted to Peters' messaging were those that hate trans people.
I guess there's no way to know for sure, the ideological makeup of the women who voted for Winston because of his expressed views on this issue, but my feeling is in line with Muttonbird's.
Other than listening to and talking with such people.
Who could determine whether they were "gender critical" or"transphobic".
My point is that there's no way to know and therefore the guess that the Winston-magnet would draw reactionary, rather than reasonable thinkers, seems fair to me.
I know it’s the silly season, but that takes the Christmas cake lol
Who could determine whether they were “gender critical” or”transphobic”.
It’s not that hard. Many of us have been doing it for a long time. It’s not too different from any other political sphere, but it does require knowledge of the issues. What I see in this debate on TS is people often arguing from a place of relative ignorance. Calling JKR transphobic without understanding what her positions are would be an example.
My point is that there’s no way to know and therefore the guess that the Winston-magnet would draw reactionary, rather than reasonable thinkers, seems fair to me.
Whereas I think the people that chose to vote for Peters covers a range of people. My dad used to vote Peters, he wasn’t a reactionary. Besides, the dividing line wasn’t reactionary vs reasonable, it was transphobic vs gender critical. There seems to be an a priori implication here that anyone voting for Peters because of gender/sex is inherently transphobic/irrational. I can see the reasonable rationales for voting for Peters over gender even though I disagree with them. The reason I know this is because I had these conversations in the past year with women and men leaving the left over gender identity politics, and I talked and argued with them about the issues in voting on the right instead, and in that my position was to understand their positions, not simply pillory them.
NZF voters cover a range of people and politics. I know NZF voters who aren’t reactionaries.
On the specific issue of women voting for NZF over gender/sex, I have zero doubt that some of them are reactionaries and that you know some of those. I know some too. I’m not claiming I’ve talked to all NZF women voters, nor that I know all their motives, so I’m not sure how you got to that question, hence my comment about the silly season.
What I’m pointing to is a dynamic of former left wing voters, now not voting on the left, because of gender/sex policies. This is well known. I’ve been talking with those people for ages, and it’s not restricted to NZ. I’m not saying they are the only NZF voters, I’m pointing out that the characterisation of NZF women voters as inherently transphobic and/or reactionary is unfounded.
I’m less interested in establishing a narrative of which groups is the bigger number than I am in teasing out a more nuanced perspective, as well as straight up resisting the GI political approach of castigate and ostracise (for reasons I often talk about).
" I can see the reasonable rationales for voting for Peters over gender even though I disagree with them."
People may have voted for Peter's over gender, but now they are getting the rest of his political package; attacks on the media, Māori language, Te Trite, "woke" thinking etc.
The "natural health" crowd I'm familiar with, which overlaps the anti-tax crowd I also rub shoulders with, switched their support to Winston following his series of meetings up and down the country. I regard them as reactionaries who didn't look past their singular issue to see what they were supporting. Extrapolating out from that experience, I suspect that many of those who joined the NZFirst circus late in the piece, as a result of Winston's honeyed words, are similarly reactionary. Is that not a reasonable assumption to make?
Extrapolating out from that experience, I suspect that many of those who joined the NZFirst circus late in the piece, as a result of Winston’s honeyed words, are similarly reactionary. Is that not a reasonable assumption to make?
Tbh, I think it speaks more to your politics than theirs. I likewise move in the natural health crowd, although I don’t put scare quotes around that because I think it’s normal and natural 🙂 In that group I know people who fell hard down the rabbit hole, and I know people that are still the same thoughtful people they were before the pandemic even where we disagree on issues. I would never characterise a whole sub culture as reactionary, not least because it’s not been my experience of them.
Regarding gender identity politics, it’s not really a feature in my community yet, but it’s starting to become apparent. And the big problem we face is that because of TRA politics and the castigate/ostracise approach, few liberals and progressive will speak to the gender critical issues. Because they are afraid to. This is how reactionary politics comes to dominate.
(again, I don’t see that whole subculture as reactionary).
No Debate was an intentional strategy from pro-GI lobby groups esp in the UK, it was very successful for a long time in preventing progressives from talking through and resolving the conflicts between women’s rights and trans rights. That left a vacuum which the right and the reactionary alt cultures have filled. Own goal lefties. It serves TRA pol, because it’s much easier to ignore the feminists and continue with the narrative of good trans allies, bad everyone else who wants to talk about the issues they must be evil conservatives. But that narrative is simply, flat out wrong.
"I would never characterise a whole sub culture as reactionary…"
Nor I – I labeled those who committed their vote to Winston late in the piece, following his charm-offensive across the motu.
I have a question for you, weka. Do you know if any of the women who were planning to vote New Zealand Women's Rights Party, shifted their vote to Winston?
Cool, so we’ve narrowed it down to counter culture women who voted NZF after NZF adopted a GC policy.
I see no evidence that all or most of those women are reactionary, although obviously some are. Nor do I see any reason to draw the conclusion that they are, unless one is unaware of the range of positions within GC politics (or chooses to ignore them).
Do you know if any of the women who were planning to vote New Zealand Women’s Rights Party, shifted their vote to Winston?
Off the top of my head, no. I could ask around. I could ask on TS, but it’s not safe to do so /irony.
I can tell you that if I weren’t a committed deep green leftie, and I decided to vote based on women’s rights, I might choose NZF over NZWRP because voting NZF would increase the chances of a brake on GII being further rolled out in NZ policy, law and society. Voting NZWRP is the long game. The problem is that much damage can be done in the meantime.
Apparently, you (and Robert below) do too. Unless you just drag out the "transphobic" accusation for those who may hold a different perspective than you.
That's a fucking stupid article, why did you present it as something worth reading?
The probably updated headline reads,
Transgender athletes could be banned from publicly funded women’s sport under new Government policy
Why would transmen who are not using testosterone be banned from publicly funded women's sport? It's not about transgender atheletes, it's about male bodied people being allowed to compete in female bodied people's sport. Safety and fairness and plain old sexism are the core of the problem.
What is actually happening is that there is a push to set boundaries on participation in sport based on biological sex not gender. Anyone presenting this as a gender identity/bigotry issue is either ignorant or disingenuous.
Pro-gender lefties upset at NACTFirst sorting this issue out in a conservative frame should have thought about that when attacking gender critical people on the left that wanted good solutions for women and trans people /
It's more breathtaking to me that this is the issue that (mostly younger) lefties choose to rally around and protest about. And they can't see how offensive and unreasonable their behaviour is, and how it probably influenced the election.
If it influenced the election it was only because Winston exploited the inflamed who were gullible enough to believe he represented the issue that most inflamed them.
Firstly, that doesn't negate the wrongness of the government setting itself up as moral arbiter of an issue like this. Second, they have a democratic right to protest. Third, Spiked! is so ideologically suspect I wouldn't touch it with lead gloves.
. 1. That didn’t stop L/G from making an equivalent judgement, but you happened to agree with it
. 2. That wasn’t a protest it was a thug’s veto, the violence is well documented around the world, but ignored by craven NZ media
. 3. So you didn’t read the article and prefer to remain ignorant of the very real issues at play and the increasing degradation of women’s sports and violations of their safety
These aren’t simple black and white issues with goodies and baddies. But if the left continues to force this issue and prioritise male peccadilloes over women’s rights, then fair minded people will vote accordingly
(nb, this comment box markup is messing up numbered lists!)
. 1. That didn’t stop L/G from making an equivalent judgement, but you happened to agree with it
First of all, you're assuming I had an opinion in the first place, and second of all, when did Labour threaten to cut off contestable funding for groups unless they exclude certain demographics?
. 2. That wasn’t a protest it was a thug’s veto, the violence is well documented around the world, but ignored by craven NZ media
To paraphrase Blackadder, yes, it was awfully sharp tomato soup. And attacking the media is always the first stop of a fascist.
. 3. So you didn’t read the article and prefer to remain ignorant of the very real issues at play and the increasing degradation of women’s sports and violations of their safety
The article is woefully out of date and fails to take into account more recent medical research and the rules individual sporting organisations have put in place to endure fair competition. I realise some people do like to drag out the outliers and pretend its a conspiracy, but reality rarely works like that.
These aren’t simple black and white issues with goodies and baddies. But if the left continues to force this issue and prioritise male peccadilloes over women’s rights, then fair minded people will vote accordingly
No, but then I'm not the one treating them like "simple black and white issues with goodies and baddies" – that would be you and this government seeing everything as a nail when all you have is a hammer, and does nothing to address the issue of an entire demographic being excluded from the right to participate in organised sport.
That article is out of date on international sport.
The first position was transsexual status and hormone levels within the female norm. As it notes this was challenged because of the advantage of going through puberty as a male. It has already been determined (under fair competition rules) those who went through puberty as males are excluded (or are to be) from near all international sport.
Following on from that is the issue of player safety in community sport involving physical contact, if those who went through puberty as males are allowed to participate. That is on-going.
So why not let individual sports organisations make those decisions? How is this anything the government should be involving itself in?
Sure. And why not let sports organisations start discriminating against women in other ways? Why should we have Human Rights Legislation covering things like this?
Pro-gender lefties
Honestly, it's breathtaking how your language switches straight to right wing idioms when your hobbyhorse gets trundled out. I get whiplash.
Honestly, it's breathtaking how many lefties a) refuse to acknowledge the existence of the large number of left wing gender critical feminists and allies who were working on this for a good decade before the right jumped in.
Even more breathtaking is the implication that feminists can't think for themselves and might very well have reached their conclusions based on class analysis, feminism, and fairness.
Btw, your argument about letting sports organisations choose rather than having central government protections for women, is straight out of the RW play book. Very libertarian.
See how that works? I don't think you are RW/libertarian (I think you are ignorant as well as having chosen a side against women). But when we react from relative ignorance, we comes to stupid assumptions like the on you made about my language. Would it hurt you to learn the history of gender/sex politics and understand the various dynamics and groups involved?
I am quite familiar with the history of gender/sex politics, thanks, and you are not its pope. You're welcome to think for yourself. That's absolutely swell and grand. I just find it interesting how quickly you rush to embrace the authoritarian right whenever anyone disagrees with you on this particular topic, even though historically they'd prefer you stay in the kitchen.
I'd rather let sports organisations choose (and let's face it, you're more worried they'll choose to include trans people than you are about the libertarian right) because most of them operate at the community level.
Anyway, I'll leave it there. The straw people are giving me hay fever.
[please produce three examples of where I ‘rush to embrace the authoritarian right’ on GC politics. Examples need to be quotes of my words, links, and an explanation from yourself on what you think I am doing. This is mandatory.
You’ve been throwing out such statements generally in the past day, but when it comes to authors, you cannot misrepresent what we say. It’s not that you have a particular opinion about my or others’ politics, it’s that you are using slurs with zero evidence or argument to support your assertion. I won’t moderate for disagreement, I will moderate for disrespect to authors or moderators.
You can either present the evidence I have asked for, or clearly and genuinely withdraw the assertion, or risk a ban. You are in premod until the is resolved. Know that given the time of year, my patience is pretty thin. – weka]
You’d know all about straw, since you seem incapable of even acknowledging there is a legitimate clash of rights here. But you do you. Whitewashing and wallpapering over problems, and accusing people who complain of being hateful bigots, is a great recipe for the future 👍🏼
Actually I do agree that there is a legitimate clash of rights. The difference is I don't see a particularly good outcome in "solving" it by using state power and threats to funding in order to marginalise and excluding an entire class of people.
The problem here is that when someone says something like this,
My personal feeling is that while J K Rowling has become quite loathsome with her doubling down on being all chummy with outright fascists on social media, banning a harmless exhibition is the worst kind of superficial virtue signaling.
it's very hard to argue back politically. The slur is clear (JKR is chummy with outright fascists on SM), but there is not only no evidence provided for this, but the outright fascists aren't even named. So the casual slurring continues in a long running political war that is fraught with this kind of low level debate manipulation.
I've now shifted you from premod to the ban list until 6/1/24, because I'm on holiday.
You will be back in premod at the end of the ban. If you comment before the 6th the comment will go into Trash, but I will see it in the back end and can take it from there. Otherwise, please comment in the week starting the 6th
Please attend to the mod request above sooner rather than later, or I will ban you for a longer time just to get it off my workload. This is resolvable, it's simply a matter of establishing the boundaries here on what is ok and what isn't.
Administrators (often volunteers) are susceptible to coercion and funding directives. They can be excellent administrators for the sport, while being ignorant of the reasons behind any of the sports categories within their code.
They should – as responsible adults – maintain the categories within their sports codes – unless there is compelling evidence (which there is not) for removing those sports categories from their codes.
The principle most applicable here is Chesterton's Fence:
We maintain weight classes, and age categories for the same reasons of safety and fairness that sex categories exist.
However, the ill-considered erosion of the sex-category has already bled into age category infiltration. When the adults leave the room in this respect, they tend not to look back in case something bad happens:
"More recently, there’s the shameful case of the 50-year-old man — who identifies as a teenage girl — who was allowed to compete against young girls in a swim facility in Barrie, Ontario.
Apparently, no one in authority thought to protect the young girls who had to share a changeroom with that person. In this brave new world, no one had the courage or the common sense to tell him he should leave immediately or be thrown out."
I added that link, because it was the earlier news report on the government decision and should have been in the original post.
Fairness was already at the core, thus it is being decided that those who went through puberty as males are to be excluded from near all of international women's sport.
Safety was also already at the core, with community sports organisations able to make decisions on safety grounds, whether age, weight or sex.
The coalition agreement states the new government would “ensure publicly funded sporting bodies support fair competition that is not compromised by rules relating to gender”.
The real issue in community sport is safety. The National Party PM and Sports Minister get that
So while
Major sports bodies will continue to work on transgender inclusion guidelines, despite the agreement between National and New Zealand First which aims to remove transgender women from women’s sport.
There is this
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Thursday that transgender New Zealanders would still be able to play sport under the new government, but “balance, fairness, inclusion and safety” were key. He said new sports minister Chris Bishop would “pick that up” in the new year.
“We want sporting organisations – and by and large many have been doing a fantastic job – working their way through what is quite a complex issue with a range of emotion on all sorts of sides, to say they are finding ways to balance safety, inclusion and fairness,” he said.
PS I mentioned Fox News because its focus is on college/university sport (where the scholarships are an incentive for grifters and deprive women of opportunity or make for unfair competition – this is not where we are). And otherwise unbalanced reporting on this and other issues, leading to societal conflict for exploitation by the GOP/politicians.
I submitted to the Sports NZ consultation on this policy. I know that some women's organisations, and individual sportswomen also attempted to have their concerns addressed, but were not given access to the process other than as individual submitters.
You can look at the list of involved stakeholders to determine whether the policy was predetermined – despite the pretence of consultation:
Through consultation on the Guiding Principles for Transgender Inclusion in Community Sport, the sector identified a need for more resources to support understanding and awareness of rainbow communities more broadly. A working group was then formed with sector representatives from NZ Rugby, NZ Cricket, NZ Football, NZ Netball, Golf NZ, Swimming NZ, School Sport NZ, Waka Ama NZ and Aktive Auckland, whose help and expertise made this work possible.
We partnered with InsideOUT Kōaro, who are leading experts in inclusion of rainbow communities, to develop a suite of resources to support rainbow inclusion in community sport and recreation. Through this, InsideOUT consulted with many groups in Aotearoa that support members of various rainbow communities."
It's surprising no one has considered the option of Oz and other foreign based gangs, associated with organised crime, being banned from operating branches here.
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What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
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 The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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Luxon pronounces "te reo" incorrectly.
Will he have to re sit this course over summer?
He didn't attend the first time around – his wife did.
Nick Rockel points us to The White Man Behind a Desk's very funny lampoonery:
https://youtu.be/3BKH5jdXu6o
I would say this against Biden or Trump or whoever team was running their show, but the State Department acting to shield Israel from investigation into breaches of the Geneva Conventions in Gaza is sickening.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/un-security-council-us-block-accountability-international-gaza_n_6583338ce4b04da984257b9c
Israel must stop degrading its human rights to be as bad as everyone else in the Middle East.
IMO Israel hasn't changed it's modus operandi – what has changed is the volume of and coverage of their atrocities.
The Crown makes no defence, it admits total fault and wants the case to go away anyway.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/crown-opposes-urgent-waitangi-tribunal-claim-to-halt-disestablishment-of-maori-health-authority/TRTJOKVJPBAFBFGTFYKH2COSX4/
Has the migrant worker tap been turned off yet?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/301029438/record-level-of-employers-looking-for-help-laying-off-staff-ema
Didn't you get the memo , 5% + is the target unemployment rate to keep wages down and inflation in check.
There's obviously no one intelligent enough in government to fins a better way.
Can't read the article but:
Fired yesterday: 750 Filipino workers for recruiter ELE from 10 building sites
Likely more great monitoring by MBIE as well. I still don't know why Labour let such high volumes of workers in when local benefit numbers were still higher than before COVID. MBIE at times seemed to be working against the interests of New Zealanders.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/fired-yesterday-750-filipino-workers-for-recruiter-ele-from-10-building-sites/U54OHRRZWNHX3L72VGC2ULLGXU/
Apparently Labour, under pressure from business opened up the taps, Immigration staff expressed concerns about the future mess that would result but MBIE bosses told them to process the migrants in as fast as possible with bare minimum checks, coz that is what the government wanted.
Unsurprisingly National are not making doing anything a priority coz they can just blame Labour for it all.
Par for the course in my experience at INZ – quality mattered until time frames blew out, and then quality was suddenly optional.
Abby Martin Speech on Julian Assange at National Press Club
7 minute speech – well worth the watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pafy7yYuAfA
The Speaker wishes Ricardo Menéndez March, "Feliz Navidad" – classy 🙂
Does Brownlee speak Spanish?
Only at Christmas.
I thought it was a nice touch though.
He could have greeted Seymour in parseltongue, but so far as I saw, missed the opportunity.
I thought Ricardo was from…Brazil.
"Growing up in Tijuana, Mexico, Ricardo…"
https://www.greens.org.nz/ricardo_menendez_march
"Is Brazil a Spanish-speaking country? No, it’s not. But do Brazilians speak Spanish? Some of them! In fact, around 460,000 Brazilians speak Spanish, according to Ethnologue. The two languages are similar in many ways, though more in their written form than their pronunciation. As such, many Brazilians are able to understand Spanish, though they may not speak it fluently. "
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/which-languages-spoken-brazil-ofer-tirosh#
I've been watching Fox News and the three headed hydra confabulation has too.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/opinion-is-the-participation-of-transgender-women-really-the-biggest-issue-facing-nz-sport/PJTG5AYZ3BH27F2AE2KDAEX35Y/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlEaHjRNU_8
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/governments-tough-stance-on-transgender-sports-sparks-controversy/SUOGZO7QZBEJJDD267U4K7DXVA/
I understand that NZ First took active steps to contact and listen to women, when concerns were raised fairly early on in the campaign trail.
It's likely that informed their response rather than Fox News.
The emerging consensus in international sport based on fair competition and community sport rules having provision for safety in contact sport meant this was a minor issue.
That said, it is obvious that emphasis has changed
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/women-in-sport/301030897/sports-continue-with-transgender-inclusion-despite-coalition-agreement
NZ First took active steps to contact and listen to women* the same way they took active steps to contact and listen to anti-vaxxers. For political position and votes.
*By women, I think you mean transphobic women.
Wot Mutton said.
Says the misogynist.
See how that works?
Well, no. You've personalised it and slighted a commenter here, and it's given Populuxe1 whiplash!
Muttonbird didn't do that.
Winston hoovered up the votes of the natural remedies people, the antivax people and quite possibly, the transphobic women, by speaking at their meetings or engaging with the leaders of those groups/movements. Do you believe politically-astute women, such as several who comment here, who could otherwise have given their vote to the New Zealand Women's Rights Party, would have attended a meeting for Winston, or voted for him because he represents their key issue? If so, why? I think Muttonbird is more likely to be correct in this instance.
Yes, I do. Because I actually listen to and talk with them. And because anyone who is voting strategically and is no longer committed to the left (there are many like this), voting NZF gives them political power.
Maybe it's a surprise to some that women's sex based rights are a primary, overarching political issue for many women.
And how about the gender critical women in those communities who aren't transphobic?
I made it personal to one person, MB made it personal to a number of people. His commented as pointed to Molly. He will know she is a gender critical woman, and while he didn't call her transphobic directly, he may as well have.
Besides, I was making a point about communication and politics. I didn't call MB a misogynist. I mirrored what he did in a way that would bring home both the problem with his communication on this topic, and the problem with his politics.
Well, yes, I see that you hold the view that "gender critical women" may have chosen to vote for Winston. I can see that Muttonbird holds the view that Winston would more likely have attracted "transphobic women" to vote for him, in light of the other groups he cultivated prior to the election. I favour Muttonbird's assessment, not because of any qualities "gender critical women" may have, but because of what I perceive to be Winston's strategies and the audience he seems to appeal to most. I guess there's no way to know for sure, the ideological makeup of the women who voted for Winston because of his expressed views on this issue, but my feeling is in line with Muttonbird's. That's without taking into account any previous comments made here on The Standard.
MB's politics on gender/sex mean that the term transphobic is almost meaningless. Does he mean women who hate trans people? What does hate mean there? JKR kind of hate, or KKK kind of hate, or something else?
Or does he also mean women who think women's sex based rights matter, that women have the right to single sex spaces (toilets, changing rooms) and single sex services (rape crisis, cervical screening) separate from males?
Peters is a grifter who play the gender wars like maestro violinist while the left wrung their hands wondering what was going on. But the prospective voters that Peters was courting still have agency, and aren't a hive mind. It was the women voters that MB called those women transphobic, as if any woman who had concerns and was interested in NZF's person was transphobic.
I see no evidence at all that the only women attracted to Peters' messaging were those that hate trans people.
Other than listening to and talking with such people.
What, all of them?
How might you do that?
Who could determine whether they were "gender critical" or"transphobic".
My point is that there's no way to know and therefore the guess that the Winston-magnet would draw reactionary, rather than reasonable thinkers, seems fair to me.
I know it’s the silly season, but that takes the Christmas cake lol
It’s not that hard. Many of us have been doing it for a long time. It’s not too different from any other political sphere, but it does require knowledge of the issues. What I see in this debate on TS is people often arguing from a place of relative ignorance. Calling JKR transphobic without understanding what her positions are would be an example.
Whereas I think the people that chose to vote for Peters covers a range of people. My dad used to vote Peters, he wasn’t a reactionary. Besides, the dividing line wasn’t reactionary vs reasonable, it was transphobic vs gender critical. There seems to be an a priori implication here that anyone voting for Peters because of gender/sex is inherently transphobic/irrational. I can see the reasonable rationales for voting for Peters over gender even though I disagree with them. The reason I know this is because I had these conversations in the past year with women and men leaving the left over gender identity politics, and I talked and argued with them about the issues in voting on the right instead, and in that my position was to understand their positions, not simply pillory them.
You are confident, weka, that you can talk with all of the women who voted for NZFirst?
I remain puzzled, but am pleased to have earned my slice of Christmas cake.
well no.
NZF voters cover a range of people and politics. I know NZF voters who aren’t reactionaries.
On the specific issue of women voting for NZF over gender/sex, I have zero doubt that some of them are reactionaries and that you know some of those. I know some too. I’m not claiming I’ve talked to all NZF women voters, nor that I know all their motives, so I’m not sure how you got to that question, hence my comment about the silly season.
What I’m pointing to is a dynamic of former left wing voters, now not voting on the left, because of gender/sex policies. This is well known. I’ve been talking with those people for ages, and it’s not restricted to NZ. I’m not saying they are the only NZF voters, I’m pointing out that the characterisation of NZF women voters as inherently transphobic and/or reactionary is unfounded.
I’m less interested in establishing a narrative of which groups is the bigger number than I am in teasing out a more nuanced perspective, as well as straight up resisting the GI political approach of castigate and ostracise (for reasons I often talk about).
Weka wrote:
" I can see the reasonable rationales for voting for Peters over gender even though I disagree with them."
People may have voted for Peter's over gender, but now they are getting the rest of his political package; attacks on the media, Māori language, Te Trite, "woke" thinking etc.
The "natural health" crowd I'm familiar with, which overlaps the anti-tax crowd I also rub shoulders with, switched their support to Winston following his series of meetings up and down the country. I regard them as reactionaries who didn't look past their singular issue to see what they were supporting. Extrapolating out from that experience, I suspect that many of those who joined the NZFirst circus late in the piece, as a result of Winston's honeyed words, are similarly reactionary. Is that not a reasonable assumption to make?
Tbh, I think it speaks more to your politics than theirs. I likewise move in the natural health crowd, although I don’t put scare quotes around that because I think it’s normal and natural 🙂 In that group I know people who fell hard down the rabbit hole, and I know people that are still the same thoughtful people they were before the pandemic even where we disagree on issues. I would never characterise a whole sub culture as reactionary, not least because it’s not been my experience of them.
Regarding gender identity politics, it’s not really a feature in my community yet, but it’s starting to become apparent. And the big problem we face is that because of TRA politics and the castigate/ostracise approach, few liberals and progressive will speak to the gender critical issues. Because they are afraid to. This is how reactionary politics comes to dominate.
(again, I don’t see that whole subculture as reactionary).
No Debate was an intentional strategy from pro-GI lobby groups esp in the UK, it was very successful for a long time in preventing progressives from talking through and resolving the conflicts between women’s rights and trans rights. That left a vacuum which the right and the reactionary alt cultures have filled. Own goal lefties. It serves TRA pol, because it’s much easier to ignore the feminists and continue with the narrative of good trans allies, bad everyone else who wants to talk about the issues they must be evil conservatives. But that narrative is simply, flat out wrong.
"I would never characterise a whole sub culture as reactionary…"
Nor I – I labeled those who committed their vote to Winston late in the piece, following his charm-offensive across the motu.
I have a question for you, weka. Do you know if any of the women who were planning to vote New Zealand Women's Rights Party, shifted their vote to Winston?
Cool, so we’ve narrowed it down to counter culture women who voted NZF after NZF adopted a GC policy.
I see no evidence that all or most of those women are reactionary, although obviously some are. Nor do I see any reason to draw the conclusion that they are, unless one is unaware of the range of positions within GC politics (or chooses to ignore them).
Off the top of my head, no. I could ask around. I could ask on TS, but it’s not safe to do so /irony.
I can tell you that if I weren’t a committed deep green leftie, and I decided to vote based on women’s rights, I might choose NZF over NZWRP because voting NZF would increase the chances of a brake on GII being further rolled out in NZ policy, law and society. Voting NZWRP is the long game. The problem is that much damage can be done in the meantime.
Thanks, weka, that's what I was angling for.
Ow, my neck
Cool. I know who they consulted with.
Apparently, you (and Robert below) do too. Unless you just drag out the "transphobic" accusation for those who may hold a different perspective than you.
That's a fucking stupid article, why did you present it as something worth reading?
The probably updated headline reads,
Why would transmen who are not using testosterone be banned from publicly funded women's sport? It's not about transgender atheletes, it's about male bodied people being allowed to compete in female bodied people's sport. Safety and fairness and plain old sexism are the core of the problem.
What is actually happening is that there is a push to set boundaries on participation in sport based on biological sex not gender. Anyone presenting this as a gender identity/bigotry issue is either ignorant or disingenuous.
Pro-gender lefties upset at NACTFirst sorting this issue out in a conservative frame should have thought about that when attacking gender critical people on the left that wanted good solutions for women and trans people /
So why not let individual sports organisations make those decisions? How is this anything the government should be involving itself in?
Honestly, it's breathtaking how your language switches straight to right wing idioms when your hobbyhorse gets trundled out. I get whiplash.
It's more breathtaking to me that this is the issue that (mostly younger) lefties choose to rally around and protest about. And they can't see how offensive and unreasonable their behaviour is, and how it probably influenced the election.
#LetWomenSpeak
https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/12/14/the-trans-colonisation-of-womens-sports/
If it influenced the election it was only because Winston exploited the inflamed who were gullible enough to believe he represented the issue that most inflamed them.
Firstly, that doesn't negate the wrongness of the government setting itself up as moral arbiter of an issue like this. Second, they have a democratic right to protest. Third, Spiked! is so ideologically suspect I wouldn't touch it with lead gloves.
. 1. That didn’t stop L/G from making an equivalent judgement, but you happened to agree with it
. 2. That wasn’t a protest it was a thug’s veto, the violence is well documented around the world, but ignored by craven NZ media
. 3. So you didn’t read the article and prefer to remain ignorant of the very real issues at play and the increasing degradation of women’s sports and violations of their safety
These aren’t simple black and white issues with goodies and baddies. But if the left continues to force this issue and prioritise male peccadilloes over women’s rights, then fair minded people will vote accordingly
(nb, this comment box markup is messing up numbered lists!)
First of all, you're assuming I had an opinion in the first place, and second of all, when did Labour threaten to cut off contestable funding for groups unless they exclude certain demographics?
To paraphrase Blackadder, yes, it was awfully sharp tomato soup. And attacking the media is always the first stop of a fascist.
The article is woefully out of date and fails to take into account more recent medical research and the rules individual sporting organisations have put in place to endure fair competition. I realise some people do like to drag out the outliers and pretend its a conspiracy, but reality rarely works like that.
No, but then I'm not the one treating them like "simple black and white issues with goodies and baddies" – that would be you and this government seeing everything as a nail when all you have is a hammer, and does nothing to address the issue of an entire demographic being excluded from the right to participate in organised sport.
Your last comment is an outright falsehood–characteristic of that side of the debate. Males of any identity can compete with their natal sex class.
You realise this is right up there with saying Pasifika kids can't play sports with white kids because they're bigger, don't you?
That's a new one– women's rights = apartheid eh?
Yeah that's totes sane and reasonable. 🙄
@Populuxe1
"You realise this is right up there with saying Pasifika kids can't play sports with white kids because they're bigger, don't you?"
I hope after some reflection you realise how poor (and fundamentally racist) this comment is, without needing others to point it out.
Actually, a bit sexist as well given the context, implying that women and men have no significant difference in their biology.
Given the festive season, I'll link to a song to help you out on this:
https://youtu.be/dbk4zQttKyE?si=q4LfJld_XcgcTMmf
"this never happens"
https://www.shewon.org
That article is out of date on international sport.
The first position was transsexual status and hormone levels within the female norm. As it notes this was challenged because of the advantage of going through puberty as a male. It has already been determined (under fair competition rules) those who went through puberty as males are excluded (or are to be) from near all international sport.
Following on from that is the issue of player safety in community sport involving physical contact, if those who went through puberty as males are allowed to participate. That is on-going.
Sure. And why not let sports organisations start discriminating against women in other ways? Why should we have Human Rights Legislation covering things like this?
Honestly, it's breathtaking how many lefties a) refuse to acknowledge the existence of the large number of left wing gender critical feminists and allies who were working on this for a good decade before the right jumped in.
Even more breathtaking is the implication that feminists can't think for themselves and might very well have reached their conclusions based on class analysis, feminism, and fairness.
Btw, your argument about letting sports organisations choose rather than having central government protections for women, is straight out of the RW play book. Very libertarian.
See how that works? I don't think you are RW/libertarian (I think you are ignorant as well as having chosen a side against women). But when we react from relative ignorance, we comes to stupid assumptions like the on you made about my language. Would it hurt you to learn the history of gender/sex politics and understand the various dynamics and groups involved?
I am quite familiar with the history of gender/sex politics, thanks, and you are not its pope. You're welcome to think for yourself. That's absolutely swell and grand. I just find it interesting how quickly you rush to embrace the authoritarian right whenever anyone disagrees with you on this particular topic, even though historically they'd prefer you stay in the kitchen.
I'd rather let sports organisations choose (and let's face it, you're more worried they'll choose to include trans people than you are about the libertarian right) because most of them operate at the community level.
Anyway, I'll leave it there. The straw people are giving me hay fever.
[please produce three examples of where I ‘rush to embrace the authoritarian right’ on GC politics. Examples need to be quotes of my words, links, and an explanation from yourself on what you think I am doing. This is mandatory.
You’ve been throwing out such statements generally in the past day, but when it comes to authors, you cannot misrepresent what we say. It’s not that you have a particular opinion about my or others’ politics, it’s that you are using slurs with zero evidence or argument to support your assertion. I won’t moderate for disagreement, I will moderate for disrespect to authors or moderators.
You can either present the evidence I have asked for, or clearly and genuinely withdraw the assertion, or risk a ban. You are in premod until the is resolved. Know that given the time of year, my patience is pretty thin. – weka]
You’d know all about straw, since you seem incapable of even acknowledging there is a legitimate clash of rights here. But you do you. Whitewashing and wallpapering over problems, and accusing people who complain of being hateful bigots, is a great recipe for the future 👍🏼
Actually I do agree that there is a legitimate clash of rights. The difference is I don't see a particularly good outcome in "solving" it by using state power and threats to funding in order to marginalise and excluding an entire class of people.
mod note.
Additional notes: examples of where you have been making claims as slurs, without evidence.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-22-12-2023/#comment-1982111
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-22-12-2023/#comment-1982099
The problem here is that when someone says something like this,
it's very hard to argue back politically. The slur is clear (JKR is chummy with outright fascists on SM), but there is not only no evidence provided for this, but the outright fascists aren't even named. So the casual slurring continues in a long running political war that is fraught with this kind of low level debate manipulation.
I've now shifted you from premod to the ban list until 6/1/24, because I'm on holiday.
You will be back in premod at the end of the ban. If you comment before the 6th the comment will go into Trash, but I will see it in the back end and can take it from there. Otherwise, please comment in the week starting the 6th
Please attend to the mod request above sooner rather than later, or I will ban you for a longer time just to get it off my workload. This is resolvable, it's simply a matter of establishing the boundaries here on what is ok and what isn't.
Banned another 2 months because I'm sick of waiting. If you respond before then to moderation I will pick it up from Trash and take a look.
Administrators (often volunteers) are susceptible to coercion and funding directives. They can be excellent administrators for the sport, while being ignorant of the reasons behind any of the sports categories within their code.
They should – as responsible adults – maintain the categories within their sports codes – unless there is compelling evidence (which there is not) for removing those sports categories from their codes.
The principle most applicable here is Chesterton's Fence:
https://fs.blog/chestertons-fence/
We maintain weight classes, and age categories for the same reasons of safety and fairness that sex categories exist.
However, the ill-considered erosion of the sex-category has already bled into age category infiltration. When the adults leave the room in this respect, they tend not to look back in case something bad happens:
https://torontosun.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-will-no-one-stand-up-for-common-sense
I added that link, because it was the earlier news report on the government decision and should have been in the original post.
Fairness was already at the core, thus it is being decided that those who went through puberty as males are to be excluded from near all of international women's sport.
Safety was also already at the core, with community sports organisations able to make decisions on safety grounds, whether age, weight or sex.
What was
What now is
The real issue in community sport is safety. The National Party PM and Sports Minister get that
So while
There is this
PS I mentioned Fox News because its focus is on college/university sport (where the scholarships are an incentive for grifters and deprive women of opportunity or make for unfair competition – this is not where we are). And otherwise unbalanced reporting on this and other issues, leading to societal conflict for exploitation by the GOP/politicians.
I submitted to the Sports NZ consultation on this policy. I know that some women's organisations, and individual sportswomen also attempted to have their concerns addressed, but were not given access to the process other than as individual submitters.
You can look at the list of involved stakeholders to determine whether the policy was predetermined – despite the pretence of consultation:
https://sportnz.org.nz/diversity-equity-and-inclusion/transgender-and-rainbow-inclusion/
"How were these created?
It's surprising no one has considered the option of Oz and other foreign based gangs, associated with organised crime, being banned from operating branches here.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/12/21/analysis-the-govt-gets-tough-on-gangs-but-the-laws-already-exist/
Reti announces $50 million immunisation programme for Māori. Wonder if it includes a jab for smoking.
If only we had a Maori health authority set up and running, so this could be delivered easily!!
Delivered easily… perhaps.
Effectively and efficiently – may not have been in their bailiwick:
https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/pages/230505i-hmac-report-final.pdf
Maoriwashing (equivalent to greenwashing). It's a pretence.
Sincere question, (which seems to provoke accusations of racism), even though I can see it will be an individual perspective only for most:
How do you define the Māori demographic in NZ, in respect to these political conversations?
Is it by self-id, genetic ancestry, adherence to identified traditional cultural practices or something else?