Brown said he would be implementing the Local Water Done Well policy this year which was about working with councils and giving them "greater tools and opportunities to have ring-fenced, sufficient, water-service delivery funding and financing".
But councils would also have to provide their own plans to government, once the legislation was in place, he said.
He's made a lunge for aeshetic appeal: not only do fences not need to be rings, any true conservative would cling like hell to the straight line.
The minister said councils were responsible for water investment and he wanted to know whether the water rates they have been raising from ratepayers have been going directly back into water infrastructure.
Brown said he would be implementing the Local Water Done Well policy this year which was about working with councils and giving them "greater tools and opportunities to have ring-fenced, sufficient, water-service delivery funding and financing". But councils would also have to provide their own plans to government, once the legislation was in place, he said.
This idea that a policy ought to be followed by appropriate action seems guaranteed to win the wee fella a reputation as an extreme radical.
I have real skepticism that rural councils with high industrial dependence on water that don't have volumentric water charging will be courageous and face farmers down.
Minister Brown knows he is in the frame for it, but he needs a really big drought to focus everyone's mind.
If ordinary NZ residents used the same amount of water as our dairy farms, we would have a population of about 60 million people. Let's see if the same people as StopThreeWaters are prepared to roll over National for similar reasons.
Brown is being told by Infrastructure New Zealand that Local Water Done Well is no where enough.
Moroney said (water body) financial independence from councils will allow them to borrow to fund significant backlogs in asset renewal and replacement.
She said in the meantime it was likely that central government will need to consider credit wrapping council water services and providing bridging fundinguntil the new entities were established and self-sufficient.
Infrastructure NZ was also recommending volumetric water charges be explored so that, like other utilities such as telecommunications and electricity, consumer demand could be better managed and a direct service-related revenue stream created.
Perhaps I'm a lone voice on the left, but I don't think the Treaty arrangements will last the 2040 Bicentennary unless we are prepared to face some fresh legislation on how it's relevant now.
Black letter originalism will serve New Zealand about as well as it does in the United States.
We definitly need to find a way to have the conversation and modernize the treaty arrangements to better reflect society. The trick will be figuring out how the hell we do it.
Has seemed that way since I realised it 30 years ago but the response to Sir Geoffrey's reconstitutionalising campaign suggests that few kiwis are capable of intellectual progress. First off, everyone must factor in the equality demographics that put our 16% asian import group on parity with 16% Maori.
Labour & National remain dead keen on getting the Asians up & over that parity threshold – just another left/right collusion thing. However they both have failed to man up to the ethnic justice consequences of their immigration policies.
The normalcy of left/right paralysis is a key feature of our ongoing stasis. Folks do other stuff instead of noticing this phenomenon, so I only mention it in the spirit of public service. Better for everyone to get real about what's going on! The SJW syndrome has taken a beating in the public mind due to idiocy contagion but it remains an essential stance.
"First off, everyone must factor in the equality demographics that put our 16% asian import group on parity with 16% Maori."
Why? Makes no sense. All that means is that you can use immigration volumes to diminish the Maori voice and influence. Exactly what happened post treaty and how much of the land was stolen. Immigrant interests put ahead of Maori. The history of this is all there plain to see.
It is exactly why it has to be a partnership – a joint approach between Maori and the crown. It is why we need Maori seats in parliament, it is why we need Maori seats on councils and so on.
The thing is all those who seem to want a "discussion" seem opposed to the nature of a partnership are are fixated on individualistic approaches of one person one vote. This is capitalistic. The notion that a Maori voice could be larger than its sum of people is clearly a problem for some, but it must be so in a modern context of the treaty and the massive levels of immigration that has occurred since then.
Reminder too that much of the opposition to Maori was capitalism against their communistic tendencies e.g. collective ownership of land.
The treaty only had two parties to it. It is time they worked together as equals for the betterment of the country.
Only if you discount the civil rights of asians. However it's up to them to lobby for parity or complain about de facto discrimination.
I don't disagree with the rest of your comment but advise caution around the one-nation syndrome ACT are promoting – no suitable poll has measured belief in the holist/fundamentalist paradigm. It could come in around 30% of voters.
The sensible thing for the left & right to do is avoid measuring the public mind. Continue the fraudulent attempt to misrepresent it instead will be common ground Labour & National keep on colluding upon.
I see no difference between the civil rights of Asians and those of Europeans – we're all here because the Treaty allows it. We all vote in those to represent us.
(Appreciating the fact that previously European immigrants discriminated against Asians and other multitude of groups).
one-nation syndrome ACT are promoting
I don't even see how that was relevant to my comment. I'm clearly opposed to that being the only paradigm – in a democracy we elect people to look after not just the majority but also minorities and special interest groups. The tyranny of the majority is well purported to be evil.
Linked to that is also why I detest legislation passed under "urgency".
Really. Pretty much every person, family and otherwise, I am aware of kept their UK citizenship and passport, after emigrating here. Both old and recent. People like my father-in-law used to deliberately travel out on one passport and back on the other to sow confusion with government systems.
NZ allows dual citizenship. Given some of our immigration disasters we would likely have less immigrants from places like India if they had to give up their citizenship as India does not allow dual citizenship if living in India.
Anyway last census gave info about country of birth.
bwaghorn – my husband emigrated to Aotearoa N Z in 1962 as a $10 Pom which didn't necessitate him having a passport to enter. We travelled to UK in 1998, hubby on a UK passport. He has since let it lapse and is now a very proud Kiwi with citizenship and a A-NZ passport. I suppose he could reapply for a UK passport, but he has no intention of doing so and due to our 'mature' age we have no intention of travelling to UK or pretty much anywhere.
Like Jilly Bee's husband I'm entitled to a UK passport (by right of birth) and so is Obtrectatrix (by patriality). Neither of us has bothered to obtain or renew one this many decades (seen the cost of 'em lately?). All it ever gained us was a slightly quicker passage through Customs and Immigration at Heathrow.
One practical thing we can do this year as non-Maori is to join Maori at the local treaty signing celebrations to show that we are in this together. It seems to me over the years Maori place much, much greater importance on this at a local level – whereas pakeha seem content with just the national event at Waitangi to represent them.
Would be great to see a much larger non-European contingent at all events. A peaceful sort of protest and an acknowledgement to Maori that we value the treaty too.
Starmer thinks that NATO will be at war with Russia within 20 years.
Sir Keir Starmer has warned that "Russia is a constant threat" and that we must be "mindful of that threat from Russia to Europe." The Labour leader was speaking during a visit to British troops de…
It is more the (correct) accusation of him repeatedly invading and slaughtering his neighbours, that worries people.
Putin's initially offhand comment that "Russia's borders do not end anywhere", now repeated on official russian propaganda bill boards – I suppose means nothing.
A recent posting, to the Counterpunch website, concerning the origins of the cold war, seems to have a bearing on the Ukraine war.
Fleming’s testimony in the 1971 House hearings on “Cold War? Origins and Developments” gives us another way of thinking about the way the crisis in Ukraine might have been managed by the United States in 2022. A knowledge of Russian history might have given our leaders pause before acting on the idea of NATO expansion to that country’s borders, an obvious apple of discord for a people thrice traumatized by the invasions so vividly described by Fleming. If the goal of our policy in Ukraine had been peace and stability in that part of the world instead of the absorption of that country into our own system, we would have followed his recommendation in dealing with Russia, to show a good deal more diplomatic imagination and sensitivity than a militarized foreign policy allows.
Might be time to get those cannon back into their slots in Auckland's North Head fortifications? They went in originally due to general paranoia about the Tsar's imminent invasion, so Putin's just recycling imperial foreign policy.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia agreed on Friday to set up a common Baltic defense zone on their borders with Russia and Belarus amid growing security concerns.
The defense ministers of the three Baltic countries met on Friday in Riga to approve the construction of "anti-mobility defensive installations" on their eastern frontiers. They also agreed to develop missile-artillery cooperation.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur stressed the need for bunkers at the border, saying: “Russia's war in Ukraine has shown that in addition to equipment, ammunition and manpower, we also need physical defensive structures at the border from the first meter to protect Estonia."
Starmer has no credibility whatsoever when it comes to human rights. Kitty Laing summed him up precisely on LBC radio the other day. Her criticism stands, in spite of the groveling apology she was forced to make…
Laing also deleted her Instagram after using her account to call UK's Labour Party leader Keir Starmer a "total moral coward" for invoking Israel's “right to defend" itself on his LBC radio show.
Laing has apologized and stated, "With hindsight I realize how naïve I have been and that much of the information on social media surrounding the conflict is unsubstantiated and hurtful."
An actual war would be a failure of containment, the reason NATO exists was to prevent a war with the USSR/Soviet Union over borders.
George Kennan would have welcomed the end of the Warsaw Pact, with the end of the Communist Internationale aspect of Kremlin imperialism, while aware American hubris could result in a revival of an aggressive Russian nationalism.
And it is unlikely NATO will exist in its current form in 20 years time.
The greatest risk being American isolationism.
There is the chance of a EU having its own military and defence agreements with Russia and the remnant of NATO (UK/Norway/Canada and USA).
Equivalence being no American or Russian missiles in Turkey or Cuba (1962), no missiles in W and E Europe (198*) and no American or Russian forces in Europe (20**).
Russia gains the most from the change, though politicians lose the nationalism card and the importance of a strong military declines (part of their current status in the world).
RNZ National's coverage of international events is a continuing insult
Monday 22 January 2024
On the 7 a.m. news: the death toll in the latest "mowing of the lawn" in the Gaza concentration camp has exceeded 25,000. In a small but welcome change, the newsreader (Nicola Wright) did not add the usual propaganda provocation (almost certainly dictated by that notorious RNZ board) "according to the Hamas-run health authority."
However, that small sign of resistance by one of the poor souls forced to read this awful stuff was instantly negated when she read out her next sentence: "The conflict began in October when Hamas militants killed more than thirteen hundred people."
That's a lie. It's naked propaganda that might as well have come straight out of that blood-soaked regime in Tel Aviv. There was no acknowledgement in that "news report" that more than 300 of the people killed in the October 7 breakout were IOF soldiers. And there was no mention of the fact that a large number of the Israeli deaths were because their homes and cars were fired on by Israeli troops, who were ordered to follow the dictates of the disturbing "Hannibal directive" and kill everybody in the vicinity of an attacker, in order to prevent hostage-taking.
This distortion of reality passing for news has persisted, in respect to the slaughter in Gaza, for more than three months now. But it's not the only case where RNZ has shown contempt for its audience. The panicked reaction of its board after one journalist tried to put a little context into the station's coverage of the Ukraine proxy war was an occasion for international scorn and derision….
Thanks, Kay. I thought after I posted that it might have been Catriona McLeod. All of them are virtually indistinguishable, with their flat, carefully affectless tone reading out material they surely know is propaganda. Or maybe it just doesn't bother them.
I listened to Marama T'Pole read the 2 p.m. news today; for the first item she read for nearly a minute from a press release by ACT ninny David Seymour, then featured him speaking, or more precisely, rambling, for about fifteen seconds; for the second, she read out, again for an extended period, Mr. Netanyahu's attempt to justify his refusal to negotiate with the "monsters" of Hamas. In neither case was there any counter-argument reported.
Any dissent at all seems to have been eliminated at RNZ. It was a different story when someone of character and conscience, like Lloyd Scott, was there…
RNZ news this morn etc ; although i did notice they said " health ministry figures say"…….where as previously they invairyably read "Hammas controlled gaza health ministry figures "
If RNZ does change from a propaganda conduit to a real news outlet, tomorrow it will be running this latest report from Israel's most read publication, Yedioth Ahronoth. My bet, though, is that it will stick to its tried and untrue "experts" at CNN and the British state propaganda network.
In 2022, a TGI survey indicated that Israel Hayom, distributed for free, is Israel's most read newspaper, with a 31% weekday readership exposure, followed by Yedioth Ahronoth, with 23.9%, Haaretz with 4.7%, and Maariv with 3.5%
Also Simeon Brown is studiously neutral on CIAL's intent despite the government owning 25% of it.
With Luxon likely contaminated being an ex-AIRNZ CEO, the Minister of Finance conflicted out, and Simeon Brown silent, it makes it very hard for any future decision to be "called in" by a relevant Minister.
This political integration would also make special enabling legislation very difficult to propose in Cabinet let alone Parliament.
So that says this proposed new South Island airport is heading straight to Environment Court.
The business case decision will put unusual weight on the Canterbury Holding Company, worse than the Dunedin stadium decision did on their own holding company.
"We’re a bunch of part-timers, and you’re constantly fighting this negative force, a corporation with deep pockets, with people on huge salaries and bonuses…"
Story of the modern world.
"There’s also a proposal to dredge for gold in the Clutha River behind them, so Duxson says they feel pincered by industrialisation, and assaulted by pollution in a beautiful environment."
The airport’s 45 million dollars already spend signals their intent.
The protestations of vineyard owners in the area won't counter that.
Long ago, I stayed the night in a Rabbit Board house at Tarras. It's a bleak landscape, worn out, heavily exploited by gold seekers and farmers, now vinters, soon tourists.
The smell of aviation fuel though, eh! That'll do something to the ambience!
Destination Queenstown, Lake Wanaka Tourism, Queenstown Airport, QLDC Council, the bunches of academics already aligned against it, and they haven't got to how Fulton Hogan and the effect it will have on their masterplanned development on Lake Dunstan
You say the Government will adopt the 3Waters framework as constructed by Labour, so I guess you'll feel the same about the RMA replacement, likewise painstakingly built by Labour, which might impact upon your last sentence.
I guess if life necessitates reading the advice of a bureaucrat, stylistic critique is a suitable response. However public servants will see it as an affront: they have as much right to issue a political manifesto as any other stroppy citizen.
I expect Shane has got them in a tizz right now. They may even be bristling with indignation!
The insanity of US politics. Some of the economic indicators are good and it's not because whatever is happening is good, it's because Trump is going to be elected? What?
Americans as much as anywhere deserve the politicians they get.
The Handmaid's Tale has much closer analogue in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, African countries from Mali and Somalia upwards, most of India, all of China during the 1-child policy era (with leader and Party worship), and in a small-state form Tonga.
So, the weasel thinks his interpretation of the ToW is the correct one and the rest of NZ is wrong. He had better not come within spitting distance of me:
How he gets that from this is the mystery. He is not competent to lead any debate.
What does the Treaty say?
The Treaty has three articles.
In the English version, Māori cede the sovereignty of New Zealand to Britain;
Māori give the Crown an exclusive right to buy lands they wish to sell and, in return, are guaranteed full rights of ownership of their lands, forests, fisheries and other possessions;
and Māori are given the rights and privileges of British subjects.
The Treaty in Māori was deemed to convey the meaning of the English version, but there are important differences.
Maori version
Most significantly, in the Māori version the word ‘sovereignty’ was translated as ‘kawanatanga’ (governance).
Some Māori believed that the governor would have authority over the settlers alone; others thought that were giving up the government over their lands but retaining the right to manage their own affairs.
The English version guaranteed ‘undisturbed possession’ of all properties, but the Māori version guaranteed ‘tino rangatiratanga’ (full authority) over ‘taonga’ (treasures, which can be intangible).
The precise nature of the exchange within the Treaty of Waitangi is a matter of debate.
In recognition of his suddenly-important Maori heritage, I propose we rechristen the ACT party leader as Tewi Seymour. (Or "Rawiri", or any of the other equivalents to "David" that appear to exist in Te Reo.)
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own…”
Good lord, I finally read this piece by Trotter and I’m thinking the challenge is with the nominal left as well as the reactionary right. The politics of fear.
I said in a previous comment this could have been written by Hitler himself.
What I don't understand is how VUW lend their name to this hatred. Particularly when the Democracy Oligarchy Project's Bryce Edwards seeks and receives obscure funding and also runs a paid substack platform.
I don't think Trotter is like Hitler. He's more in the line of one of those self-satisfied, reactionary buffoons that infest the public discourse in the United States. The way that Trotter has behaved on RNZ's light talk show The Panel over the years—scolding people who spoke out against the Deep South jury that exonerated the killer of Trayvon Martin, mocking the suffering of a political prisoner, speaking with arch condescension about the problem of "Waitakere Man" and the "Jake the Muss vote"—is very much in the spirit of such mean-spirited drones as John Podhoretz, Bret Stephens, or John Kass.
Nah, just saying it reads like Hitler. The framing of Maori as dangerous to the nation is similar to the way Hitler described Jews. Here for instance he equates the government's de-Maorification program to the previous government's pandemic response, therefore equating Maori with a virus:
Like the rest of the country, Māori leaders would have observed the enormous difficulties experienced by the New Zealand Police in assembling sufficient non-lethal force to clear Parliament Grounds of anti-government protesters in March 2022. Were such occupations and disruptions to be replicated all over the country, the ability of the Police to both keep the peace and enforce the law – without recourse to deadly force – would be seriously compromised.
Once again, I can’t see how VUW want to be associated with this.
[I see that you ignored my earlier Mod note for you today. Never mind, this is your last warning.
You’re a one-trick pony and your MO is to take down or out third party players with your idiosyncratic vacuous smears that are often rooted in a distant past. As such, you contribute nothing but noise to this site.
My critique of Robert Ayson's comments were anything but "vacuous". They were a verbatim report of some extremely chilling comments he made, claiming that American killing of civilians was morally superior to that of other countries. The same applies to the wandery, timid remarks by his colleague Paul Sinclair.
As for being "rooted in a distant past", the same things are being done right now, and the same people are excusing them. Professor Ayson is one of the most rabid anti-Russian voices in academia, as anyone who has heard him on Radio NZ, where he continues to be used as an "expert", would understand.
Your first link was indeed one of your idiosyncratic ‘verbatim reports’ aka transcripts. There was no commentary from you. There was no ‘critique’. A transcript is not a critique.
Your second link was even worse. It contained some unhinged rambling about comedians and targeted a colleague of the person whom you did NOT critique in your first link, with only a mention of his name.
Here you double down on attacking two people employed by the same university and find them ‘guilty by osmosis’. There is no valid argument or critique – it is vacuous and moronic.
You claim that your first target continues to be used by Radio NZ as an “expert” and that he’s “one of the most rabid anti-Russian voices in academia”. You don’t provide a shred of evidence for these baseless and moronic accusations.
I googled the RNZ website and I could not find a single reference to that academic AND Russia in the last year.
Despite our collective efforts to encourage you to lift your game you keep wasting our time with your moronic comments. Take seven weeks off – Incognito]
There’s not a single mention in the written text of Russia. So, I wasted almost 7 minutes listening to the interview and there’s not a single mention of Russia in it either.
When I wrote “academic AND Russia”, I capitalised “AND”, which means both criteria had to be met in the Google search (it’s simple operator logic that’s used in advanced searching in search engines such as Google – yes, I know how to do internet searches).
You’ve now finally dredged up one measly RNZ link that doesn’t even support your unhinged accusations, e.g., “Professor Ayson is one of the most rabid anti-Russian voices in academia”.
You’re still wasting more of my time. You attack third-party people with your misplaced superiority and misguided rants. Your comments are not critiques, as you allege, and they are generally unhinged unsupported ramblings of a “moronic superhero”.
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Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
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. ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
By Repeka Nasiko in Suva “Justice has won,” says Fiji’s acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku following the sentencing of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho. Speaking to The Fiji Times, Rabuku said that while they welcomed the judgment by acting Chief Justice Salesi ...
The foreign affairs minister has landed in Solomon Islands for the first leg of his Pacific tour, and an audience with the newly elected Prime Minister. ...
PNG Post-Courier New Zealand High Commissioner Peter Zwart and PNG Defence Minister Dr Billy Joseph welcomed a C-130 Hercules to Port Moresby this week to support Papua New Guinea’s response to the March 24 earthquake and recent severe flooding. “Papua New Guinea has requested New Zealand’s assistance to transport emergency ...
Grub Street King Luxon rode through the streets Of King’s Landing, and was troubled By the sight of hungry urchins in the mud. “Who would be the best of my Lords To deal with this negative optic?” He pondered. The answer came to him instantly. “Seymour!” he said to himself. ...
“The Bill does not provide environmental protection, good quality decision making, certainty, public participation or speed. It should be withdrawn.” ...
RNZ News Television New Zealand has breached its collective agreement with the E tū union when deciding on discontinuing programmes, the Employment Relations Authority has ruled. It was announced in March that 68 staff members who work for news programmes Midday and Tonight, consumer justice programme Fair Go, current affairs ...
Asia Pacific Report Barangay New Zealand’s Rene Molina has interviewed the country’s first Filipino Green MP Francisco Hernandez who was sworn into Parliament yesterday as the party’s latest member. This is the first interview with Hernandez who replaces former Green Party co-leader James Shaw after his retirement from politics to ...
An Australian Strategic Policy Institute report says Pillar Two could raise the industry to state of the art capability - or "crush" it "under the weight of the globe's biggest player". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marlene Longbottom, Associate Professor, Indigenous Education & Research Centre, James Cook University ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the violence experienced by First Nations people in encounters with the Australian carceral system. It also contains references to ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
The New Zealand comedy legend takes us through her life in television, including the time she hugged Elton John and the unshakeable legacy of a girl named Lyn. In 1981, Ginette McDonald stood on the stage of Auckland’s St James Theatre and directly addressed Queen Elizabeth II. It was a ...
An essay by Lily Duval from the just-released anthology Otherhood: Essays on being childless, childfree and child adjacent.I was 22 when my friend Alice gave birth in the living room of our pokey Addington flat. She laboured in the blow-up pool for hours. Garish fish swam along the inflated ...
Ella Borrie on the best books about motherhood she’s come across so far. Over the past few years I’ve been drawn to books about motherhood. I’m fascinated by the joys and horrors of becoming a parent. The question of children also feels more pressing than it used to. It’s like ...
Out of gift ideas for mum? You can’t go wrong with a bottle of toilet cleaner and a new squeegee. Emily Writes is the writer and editor of Emily Writes Weekly. This week marks five years since I published a post on The Spinoff about Mother’s Day marketing titled ‘A ...
My husband is posted overseas for 12 months and I’m armed with an expensive, newfangled vibrator. Will I miss him? The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.A few days after my husband leaves, a new sex toy arrives at the front door. Nestled ...
Jaimie Baird’s new book Here Today Gone Tomorrow is a record of four decades of graffiti and street art in Wellington, told through more than 1,200 photographs. He spoke with Joel MacManus about what inspired the book. How did you first get interested in photographing street art? I remember ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at a busy week where food of all political leanings dominated. Sometimes you’re just going about your week thinking you’ve got a good handle on what might be coming as far as news topics and then someone (usually a politician) says something so ridiculous that ...
In a week of cold rain and frost, the climate in courtroom four upstairs at the Invercargill courthouse was simmering with restrained indignation. At times it felt like the famous Mexican standoff scene from Reservoir Dogs, or, as someone watching the proceedings described it, there was so much throwing of ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
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Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
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Melting permafrost is poisoning Alaska's rivers.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-alaskas-rivers-turning-orange/
If this doesn't scare you about about climate change, I don't know what would.
National are perfectly positioned to use Labour's comprehensive research work and legislative framing on water governance and management.
Pretty much everything minus the co-governance.
Looking forward to the nationwide debate on volumetric charging in the rural councils.
Are they perfectly positioned to meet the legal challenges from iwi as a result of "minus the co-governance"?
Any Waitangi Tribinal recommendations are just that, recommendations.
Radical conservative dudester sends signal:
He's made a lunge for aeshetic appeal: not only do fences not need to be rings, any true conservative would cling like hell to the straight line.
This idea that a policy ought to be followed by appropriate action seems guaranteed to win the wee fella a reputation as an extreme radical.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/507244/serious-concerns-about-councils-ability-to-manage-water-issues-minister
I have real skepticism that rural councils with high industrial dependence on water that don't have volumentric water charging will be courageous and face farmers down.
Minister Brown knows he is in the frame for it, but he needs a really big drought to focus everyone's mind.
If ordinary NZ residents used the same amount of water as our dairy farms, we would have a population of about 60 million people. Let's see if the same people as StopThreeWaters are prepared to roll over National for similar reasons.
Brown is being told by Infrastructure New Zealand that Local Water Done Well is no where enough.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/01/three-large-north-canterbury-fires-under-control-to-be-investigated.html?ref=ves-nextauto
Perhaps I'm a lone voice on the left, but I don't think the Treaty arrangements will last the 2040 Bicentennary unless we are prepared to face some fresh legislation on how it's relevant now.
Black letter originalism will serve New Zealand about as well as it does in the United States.
We definitly need to find a way to have the conversation and modernize the treaty arrangements to better reflect society. The trick will be figuring out how the hell we do it.
I agree it needs a massive revamp with all parties ,especially Maori at the table, but you just know that isn't where act are coming from!!
I beg to differ. I suspect that's exactly where ACT are coming from.
Has seemed that way since I realised it 30 years ago but the response to Sir Geoffrey's reconstitutionalising campaign suggests that few kiwis are capable of intellectual progress. First off, everyone must factor in the equality demographics that put our 16% asian import group on parity with 16% Maori.
Labour & National remain dead keen on getting the Asians up & over that parity threshold – just another left/right collusion thing. However they both have failed to man up to the ethnic justice consequences of their immigration policies.
The normalcy of left/right paralysis is a key feature of our ongoing stasis. Folks do other stuff instead of noticing this phenomenon, so I only mention it in the spirit of public service. Better for everyone to get real about what's going on! The SJW syndrome has taken a beating in the public mind due to idiocy contagion but it remains an essential stance.
"First off, everyone must factor in the equality demographics that put our 16% asian import group on parity with 16% Maori."
Why? Makes no sense. All that means is that you can use immigration volumes to diminish the Maori voice and influence. Exactly what happened post treaty and how much of the land was stolen. Immigrant interests put ahead of Maori. The history of this is all there plain to see.
It is exactly why it has to be a partnership – a joint approach between Maori and the crown. It is why we need Maori seats in parliament, it is why we need Maori seats on councils and so on.
The thing is all those who seem to want a "discussion" seem opposed to the nature of a partnership are are fixated on individualistic approaches of one person one vote. This is capitalistic. The notion that a Maori voice could be larger than its sum of people is clearly a problem for some, but it must be so in a modern context of the treaty and the massive levels of immigration that has occurred since then.
Reminder too that much of the opposition to Maori was capitalism against their communistic tendencies e.g. collective ownership of land.
The treaty only had two parties to it. It is time they worked together as equals for the betterment of the country.
Makes no sense
Only if you discount the civil rights of asians. However it's up to them to lobby for parity or complain about de facto discrimination.
I don't disagree with the rest of your comment but advise caution around the one-nation syndrome ACT are promoting – no suitable poll has measured belief in the holist/fundamentalist paradigm. It could come in around 30% of voters.
The sensible thing for the left & right to do is avoid measuring the public mind. Continue the fraudulent attempt to misrepresent it instead will be common ground Labour & National keep on colluding upon.
I see no difference between the civil rights of Asians and those of Europeans – we're all here because the Treaty allows it. We all vote in those to represent us.
(Appreciating the fact that previously European immigrants discriminated against Asians and other multitude of groups).
one-nation syndrome ACT are promoting
I don't even see how that was relevant to my comment. I'm clearly opposed to that being the only paradigm – in a democracy we elect people to look after not just the majority but also minorities and special interest groups. The tyranny of the majority is well purported to be evil.
Linked to that is also why I detest legislation passed under "urgency".
Most modern immigrants are dual citizenship holders(something I detest)
Where.as most euro kiwis on have 1 country to call home.
Really. Pretty much every person, family and otherwise, I am aware of kept their UK citizenship and passport, after emigrating here. Both old and recent. People like my father-in-law used to deliberately travel out on one passport and back on the other to sow confusion with government systems.
NZ allows dual citizenship. Given some of our immigration disasters we would likely have less immigrants from places like India if they had to give up their citizenship as India does not allow dual citizenship if living in India.
Anyway last census gave info about country of birth.
bwaghorn – my husband emigrated to Aotearoa N Z in 1962 as a $10 Pom which didn't necessitate him having a passport to enter. We travelled to UK in 1998, hubby on a UK passport. He has since let it lapse and is now a very proud Kiwi with citizenship and a A-NZ passport. I suppose he could reapply for a UK passport, but he has no intention of doing so and due to our 'mature' age we have no intention of travelling to UK or pretty much anywhere.
Like Jilly Bee's husband I'm entitled to a UK passport (by right of birth) and so is Obtrectatrix (by patriality). Neither of us has bothered to obtain or renew one this many decades (seen the cost of 'em lately?). All it ever gained us was a slightly quicker passage through Customs and Immigration at Heathrow.
One practical thing we can do this year as non-Maori is to join Maori at the local treaty signing celebrations to show that we are in this together. It seems to me over the years Maori place much, much greater importance on this at a local level – whereas pakeha seem content with just the national event at Waitangi to represent them.
Would be great to see a much larger non-European contingent at all events. A peaceful sort of protest and an acknowledgement to Maori that we value the treaty too.
Agreed.
I'm going to Te Rau Aroha Marae at Motupohue/Bluff, for the Te Waipounamu event.
Starmer thinks that NATO will be at war with Russia within 20 years.
Sir Keir Starmer has warned that "Russia is a constant threat" and that we must be "mindful of that threat from Russia to Europe." The Labour leader was speaking during a visit to British troops de…
And some accuse Putin of paranoia !!??
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350152552/nato-warns-all-out-war-russia-next-20-years
It is more the (correct) accusation of him repeatedly invading and slaughtering his neighbours, that worries people.
Putin's initially offhand comment that "Russia's borders do not end anywhere", now repeated on official russian propaganda bill boards – I suppose means nothing.
A recent posting, to the Counterpunch website, concerning the origins of the cold war, seems to have a bearing on the Ukraine war.
Fleming’s testimony in the 1971 House hearings on “Cold War? Origins and Developments” gives us another way of thinking about the way the crisis in Ukraine might have been managed by the United States in 2022. A knowledge of Russian history might have given our leaders pause before acting on the idea of NATO expansion to that country’s borders, an obvious apple of discord for a people thrice traumatized by the invasions so vividly described by Fleming. If the goal of our policy in Ukraine had been peace and stability in that part of the world instead of the absorption of that country into our own system, we would have followed his recommendation in dealing with Russia, to show a good deal more diplomatic imagination and sensitivity than a militarized foreign policy allows.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/01/19/d-f-flemings-and-arnold-toynbees-lessons-of-russian-history-as-a-way-of-understanding-the-war-in-ukraine/
Though not specifically about the Ukraine war, I think it is well worth a read.
Might be time to get those cannon back into their slots in Auckland's North Head fortifications? They went in originally due to general paranoia about the Tsar's imminent invasion, so Putin's just recycling imperial foreign policy.
The Balts know.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia agreed on Friday to set up a common Baltic defense zone on their borders with Russia and Belarus amid growing security concerns.
The defense ministers of the three Baltic countries met on Friday in Riga to approve the construction of "anti-mobility defensive installations" on their eastern frontiers. They also agreed to develop missile-artillery cooperation.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur stressed the need for bunkers at the border, saying: “Russia's war in Ukraine has shown that in addition to equipment, ammunition and manpower, we also need physical defensive structures at the border from the first meter to protect Estonia."
https://www.politico.eu/article/latvia-lithuania-estonia-common-defense-zone-russia-border-security-concerns/
You're confusing their blustering, violence-minded, Nazi-honoring politicians with their population.
https://thegrayzone.com/tag/baltic/
Starmer has no credibility whatsoever when it comes to human rights. Kitty Laing summed him up precisely on LBC radio the other day. Her criticism stands, in spite of the groveling apology she was forced to make…
An actual war would be a failure of containment, the reason NATO exists was to prevent a war with the USSR/Soviet Union over borders.
George Kennan would have welcomed the end of the Warsaw Pact, with the end of the Communist Internationale aspect of Kremlin imperialism, while aware American hubris could result in a revival of an aggressive Russian nationalism.
And it is unlikely NATO will exist in its current form in 20 years time.
The greatest risk being American isolationism.
There is the chance of a EU having its own military and defence agreements with Russia and the remnant of NATO (UK/Norway/Canada and USA).
Equivalence being no American or Russian missiles in Turkey or Cuba (1962), no missiles in W and E Europe (198*) and no American or Russian forces in Europe (20**).
Russia gains the most from the change, though politicians lose the nationalism card and the importance of a strong military declines (part of their current status in the world).
RNZ National's coverage of international events is a continuing insult
Monday 22 January 2024
On the 7 a.m. news: the death toll in the latest "mowing of the lawn" in the Gaza concentration camp has exceeded 25,000. In a small but welcome change, the newsreader (Nicola Wright) did not add the usual propaganda provocation (almost certainly dictated by that notorious RNZ board) "according to the Hamas-run health authority."
However, that small sign of resistance by one of the poor souls forced to read this awful stuff was instantly negated when she read out her next sentence: "The conflict began in October when Hamas militants killed more than thirteen hundred people."
That's a lie. It's naked propaganda that might as well have come straight out of that blood-soaked regime in Tel Aviv. There was no acknowledgement in that "news report" that more than 300 of the people killed in the October 7 breakout were IOF soldiers. And there was no mention of the fact that a large number of the Israeli deaths were because their homes and cars were fired on by Israeli troops, who were ordered to follow the dictates of the disturbing "Hannibal directive" and kill everybody in the vicinity of an attacker, in order to prevent hostage-taking.
This distortion of reality passing for news has persisted, in respect to the slaughter in Gaza, for more than three months now. But it's not the only case where RNZ has shown contempt for its audience. The panicked reaction of its board after one journalist tried to put a little context into the station's coverage of the Ukraine proxy war was an occasion for international scorn and derision….
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1669228835936632832.html
I look at Al Jazeera – just can't bear the bias and the shallowness of RNZ's reporting.
It's usually very good on Israel-Palestine. But its coverage of Syria is as bad and as biased as anything in the U.S. or Britain.
Nicola Wright wasn't the newsreader this morning. Karen McCarthy (IIRC)
Thanks, Kay. I thought after I posted that it might have been Catriona McLeod. All of them are virtually indistinguishable, with their flat, carefully affectless tone reading out material they surely know is propaganda. Or maybe it just doesn't bother them.
I listened to Marama T'Pole read the 2 p.m. news today; for the first item she read for nearly a minute from a press release by ACT ninny David Seymour, then featured him speaking, or more precisely, rambling, for about fifteen seconds; for the second, she read out, again for an extended period, Mr. Netanyahu's attempt to justify his refusal to negotiate with the "monsters" of Hamas. In neither case was there any counter-argument reported.
Any dissent at all seems to have been eliminated at RNZ. It was a different story when someone of character and conscience, like Lloyd Scott, was there…
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10052013/#comment-630836
RNZ news this morn etc ; although i did notice they said " health ministry figures say"…….where as previously they invairyably read "Hammas controlled gaza health ministry figures "
is that a shift ?
Let's hope so, my friend.
If RNZ does change from a propaganda conduit to a real news outlet, tomorrow it will be running this latest report from Israel's most read publication, Yedioth Ahronoth. My bet, though, is that it will stick to its tried and untrue "experts" at CNN and the British state propaganda network.
[link required]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspapers_in_Israel
Max Blumenthal got that wrong.
Thanks for that correction, my friend.
I hadn't realised this:
"… Finance Minister Nicola Willis's husband, Duncan Small, was a senior manager at Air NZ and has worked for CIAL on the Tarras airport project."
‘Bribery, bullshit and bullying’. Why plans for an international airport in Tarras have become so controversial. | The Post
Also Simeon Brown is studiously neutral on CIAL's intent despite the government owning 25% of it.
With Luxon likely contaminated being an ex-AIRNZ CEO, the Minister of Finance conflicted out, and Simeon Brown silent, it makes it very hard for any future decision to be "called in" by a relevant Minister.
This political integration would also make special enabling legislation very difficult to propose in Cabinet let alone Parliament.
So that says this proposed new South Island airport is heading straight to Environment Court.
The business case decision will put unusual weight on the Canterbury Holding Company, worse than the Dunedin stadium decision did on their own holding company.
I suspect this debate will grow this year.
"We’re a bunch of part-timers, and you’re constantly fighting this negative force, a corporation with deep pockets, with people on huge salaries and bonuses…"
Story of the modern world.
"There’s also a proposal to dredge for gold in the Clutha River behind them, so Duxson says they feel pincered by industrialisation, and assaulted by pollution in a beautiful environment."
As above…
The dredging proposal has been declined.
The 2021 peoposal to expand Wanaka Airport is dead.
Also the Lake Onslow Battery Dam proposal is dead.
No need to presume defeat in Tarras.
The airport’s 45 million dollars already spend signals their intent.
The protestations of vineyard owners in the area won't counter that.
Long ago, I stayed the night in a Rabbit Board house at Tarras. It's a bleak landscape, worn out, heavily exploited by gold seekers and farmers, now vinters, soon tourists.
The smell of aviation fuel though, eh! That'll do something to the ambience!
Oh sure, they've bought land. They have intent.
The others with intent include:
Destination Queenstown, Lake Wanaka Tourism, Queenstown Airport, QLDC Council, the bunches of academics already aligned against it, and they haven't got to how Fulton Hogan and the effect it will have on their masterplanned development on Lake Dunstan
https://ehq-production-australia.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/0247e594adc4b9d7d73f910fb11d162289aa0e0d/original/1678134994/6298970d7dfa86d5086b3a19297f9fd3_PC_21_Attachment_L_-_Hydrological_Assessment_-_e3Scientific_Limited.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4KKNQAKIOR7VAOP4%2F20240121%2Fap-southeast-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240121T212622Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=0fadc62a4eccceb4aa47be1c7d40b03d2285bf8f969a2b421b914c51c48cbfed
CIAL have no friends here, only the ones they've bought.
Odds on so far and with the current RMA in effect, is CIAL will lose.
You say the Government will adopt the 3Waters framework as constructed by Labour, so I guess you'll feel the same about the RMA replacement, likewise painstakingly built by Labour, which might impact upon your last sentence.
We don't have a replacement for the RMA. The Labour ones were repealed in December. There's no new consent process for Tarras Airport.
Nor is there even the start of a new draft replacement RMA from National.
I bet it doesn't occur this term.
National will find a way to fast track the Tarras consent.
It will be given consent, with no right of appeal to the Environment Court, before this parliament term ends.
One can suspect a torrent on Tor and tourettes on social media if that happens.
Though the parliamentary language constraint would result in an empty thhell echo as per the Tarrath tourihtth.
"The dredging proposal has been declined."
Just needs to be re-submitted. This Government will green-light it.
"The 2021 proposal to expand Wanaka Airport is dead."
Ditto.
"Also the Lake Onslow Battery Dam proposal is dead."
Out of spite, by this Government. If they'd thought of it, green light!
Shane smells a rat, yet doesn't seem to realise that the public service play was aimed at making Seymour look a fool (not all that hard).
I guess if life necessitates reading the advice of a bureaucrat, stylistic critique is a suitable response. However public servants will see it as an affront: they have as much right to issue a political manifesto as any other stroppy citizen.
I expect Shane has got them in a tizz right now. They may even be bristling with indignation!
The insanity of US politics. Some of the economic indicators are good and it's not because whatever is happening is good, it's because Trump is going to be elected? What?
Americans as much as anywhere deserve the politicians they get.
I always thought the handmaids tale wasn't all that far from a potential reality with the faith based divide it depicts in America.
The true believers are very committed to what they believe in be it orange45, god, guns etc
The Handmaid's Tale has much closer analogue in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, African countries from Mali and Somalia upwards, most of India, all of China during the 1-child policy era (with leader and Party worship), and in a small-state form Tonga.
So, the weasel thinks his interpretation of the ToW is the correct one and the rest of NZ is wrong. He had better not come within spitting distance of me:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/507272/te-tiriti-o-waitangi-partnership-a-misinterpretation-david-seymour-believes
What David Seymour says
How he gets that from this is the mystery. He is not competent to lead any debate.
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/treaty-faqs
In recognition of his suddenly-important Maori heritage, I propose we rechristen the ACT party leader as Tewi Seymour. (Or "Rawiri", or any of the other equivalents to "David" that appear to exist in Te Reo.)
How to get there (remix)
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own…”
Epictetus
Good lord, I finally read this piece by Trotter and I’m thinking the challenge is with the nominal left as well as the reactionary right. The politics of fear.
https://democracyproject.substack.com/p/when-push-comes-to-shove
I said in a previous comment this could have been written by Hitler himself.
What I don't understand is how VUW lend their name to this hatred. Particularly when the
DemocracyOligarchy Project's Bryce Edwards seeks and receives obscure funding and also runs a paid substack platform.Nothing democratic about it.
Well Good Lord again, I think saying his post is something Hitler could have written is also inflammatory and reactionary.
I don't think Trotter is like Hitler. He's more in the line of one of those self-satisfied, reactionary buffoons that infest the public discourse in the United States. The way that Trotter has behaved on RNZ's light talk show The Panel over the years—scolding people who spoke out against the Deep South jury that exonerated the killer of Trayvon Martin, mocking the suffering of a political prisoner, speaking with arch condescension about the problem of "Waitakere Man" and the "Jake the Muss vote"—is very much in the spirit of such mean-spirited drones as John Podhoretz, Bret Stephens, or John Kass.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19072013/#comment-664870
Nah, just saying it reads like Hitler. The framing of Maori as dangerous to the nation is similar to the way Hitler described Jews. Here for instance he equates the government's de-Maorification program to the previous government's pandemic response, therefore equating Maori with a virus:
Once again, I can’t see how VUW want to be associated with this.
VUW employs some extremely unsavoury people. Perhaps the most unsavoury of all are to be found in its splendidly titled School of Strategic Studies….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19112015/#comment-1097870
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06102016/#comment-1240595
[I see that you ignored my earlier Mod note for you today. Never mind, this is your last warning.
You’re a one-trick pony and your MO is to take down or out third party players with your idiosyncratic vacuous smears that are often rooted in a distant past. As such, you contribute nothing but noise to this site.
Lift your game – Incognito]
Mod note
My critique of Robert Ayson's comments were anything but "vacuous". They were a verbatim report of some extremely chilling comments he made, claiming that American killing of civilians was morally superior to that of other countries. The same applies to the wandery, timid remarks by his colleague Paul Sinclair.
As for being "rooted in a distant past", the same things are being done right now, and the same people are excusing them. Professor Ayson is one of the most rabid anti-Russian voices in academia, as anyone who has heard him on Radio NZ, where he continues to be used as an "expert", would understand.
[So, yesterday, when you embraced your moniker “moronic superhero” and implied that you were going to wear it as a badge of honour (https://thestandard.org.nz/labour-and-the-democrats/#comment-1985972) you weren’t joking.
Your first link was indeed one of your idiosyncratic ‘verbatim reports’ aka transcripts. There was no commentary from you. There was no ‘critique’. A transcript is not a critique.
Your second link was even worse. It contained some unhinged rambling about comedians and targeted a colleague of the person whom you did NOT critique in your first link, with only a mention of his name.
Here you double down on attacking two people employed by the same university and find them ‘guilty by osmosis’. There is no valid argument or critique – it is vacuous and moronic.
You claim that your first target continues to be used by Radio NZ as an “expert” and that he’s “one of the most rabid anti-Russian voices in academia”. You don’t provide a shred of evidence for these baseless and moronic accusations.
I googled the RNZ website and I could not find a single reference to that academic AND Russia in the last year.
Despite our collective efforts to encourage you to lift your game you keep wasting our time with your moronic comments. Take seven weeks off – Incognito]
Mod note
@ Morrissey,
FFS!
I clicked on this link: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018882476/analysis-white-house-official-s-trip-to-nz
There’s not a single mention in the written text of Russia. So, I wasted almost 7 minutes listening to the interview and there’s not a single mention of Russia in it either.
When I wrote “academic AND Russia”, I capitalised “AND”, which means both criteria had to be met in the Google search (it’s simple operator logic that’s used in advanced searching in search engines such as Google – yes, I know how to do internet searches).
You’ve now finally dredged up one measly RNZ link that doesn’t even support your unhinged accusations, e.g., “Professor Ayson is one of the most rabid anti-Russian voices in academia”.
You’re still wasting more of my time. You attack third-party people with your misplaced superiority and misguided rants. Your comments are not critiques, as you allege, and they are generally unhinged unsupported ramblings of a “moronic superhero”.
I’m tempted to double your current ban