national said a report on their culture was ready in back in April. At the time they said they would wait until the bullying report about parliament was released, then they would release their own report.
Now that the parliament report on bullying has been released, all of a sudden nationals report on their party culture is not ready……. why is that? Sounds dodgy as to me.
Something like ‘how to turn a white-wash into something that vaguely resembles a damning report that is more credible given the other report that has just been released’.
Edit: which impartial third party has put their name(s) on the National Party report?
Editing probably advisable inasmuch as the party folk who work in parliament participate in the toxic workplace culture reported by the Francis review. Their in-house culture review therefore has a parliamentary interface component, which will be illuminated by yesterday's news.
Plus we heard Mallard telling NatRad this morning that he's under the impression that rape has happened in parliament in recent years. He's encouraging any victims to report to that police, and giving reassurance complainants will be supported in doing so. Sufficiently serious to make the Nats want to check if any of their people are involved, eh? Reasonable to postpone release of their review pending that check…
Not mentioned on any NZ news source that I am aware of, as I said in my official complaint to RNZ, all we ask for is fair and balanced reporting…is that too much to ask for from at least one news source in NZ?, and especially our state broadcaster.
Massive May Day March in Defense of the Bolivarian Revolution.
Yep RNZ's a wierd scene alright adrian , free to air funded by us and yet run exactly along the lines of a fully commercial station .The only sources it seeks are uk and us based cnn ( which they apparently have playing in the office )and bbc .Odd and out of all perspective also is the number of interviews of americans who seemingly are first choice to consult on almost anything happening arround the world buggered if i know why !!
Yes weston it is a damn shame alright, even our beloved Kim Hill has over time turned into a real reactionary, and I used to so look forward to her political interviews, she was one of NZ's greats, but unfortunately no longer.
Bizarrely one of the few places in MSM media that I know of that offer a critique to a lot of these stories is Tucker Carlson on Fox (and believe me I am no fan of Fox)…what a crazy situation we have ended up in.
Yeah, he also did a piece in support of Bernie and AOC's bill to bring the credit card industry into line on their interest rates, all very strange, I would never have predicted that Fox would be one of the few place in US main stream media to find a bit (and to be fair it is only a bit) of fairness and balance in reporting, but all the same it says volumes about 'liberal' media today.
Weston 3.1: Odd and out of all perspective also is the number of interviews of americans who seemingly are first choice to consult on almost anything happening arround the world buggered if i know why !!
You lay it on the line westie – we have found out why and now know we are buggered!
In the last week Paddy Gower on newshub and Seymour and Wallis on Q&A have all claimed that we have a white supremacist and race problem in NZ which was exposed by the terrorist attack in Chch.
Pardon me, but the attack was carried out by a foreigner attacking New Zealanders. New Zealand was a victim, not the perpetrator.
There is no evidence to support the contention made by Gower, Seymour or Wallis.
Sure, there may be a problem in NZ with white and other supremacies and with racism, but there is no evidence linking those problems to the attacks. Those problems exist in most every country on the planet so the logic isn't there.
We were attacked by a foreigner. We were a victim. NZ was not a party to the attack, as Gower, Seymour and Wallis state.
You're right. A reality check often reveals that folks are being driven by perceptions only. In the aftermath of the massacre I made a few comments to similar effect: we know there's been a skinhead subculture in Chch for yonks, with white supremacist culture seemingly attached. Yet no media report connecting the shooter to it ever showed up – just media reporting a speculative connection.
I also queried the others arrested in the vicinity of the massacre on that day, media-linked to it, yet lack of follow-through by police suggests no link to the shooter. I commented at the time that they may just have been regular viewers of tv crime shows. Media reports of those arrests said they were carrying guns.
Raises the question of what percentage of any random selection of Chch locals carry guns, eh? Hollywood syndrome: gun glamour. Brainwashed followers acting out fantasies produced by the mystique…
he is right insofar that the perpetrator of the crime was a "foreigner' and australian.
but he is not right with white male supremacy. The western/white world actually has a big issue with predominantly white blokes that have an issue with the loss of privilege, the fact that women will not go back to the kitchen and endless pregnancies without a fight, and that people of color will also not go and sit at the back of the bus without a fight.
So the issue is our culture, our white western christian culture is breeding these guys, and thanks to our privilege he moved here without issues, bought guns legally without issues, and then one day decided to kill 50 people.
And he did so out of stated reason, but then, because Ms. Ardern said so we were not allowed an open discussion on these reasons. No we have to not name him, not talk about him and simply pretend it did not happen the way it happend, and now VTO comes along and is trying to whitewash history.
The 50 people got killed because they were brown, of a different religion and are currently the one group of people that every one can demonise with nary a slap one the hand.; Hence why only murder charges when terrorism charges would apply.
Its like some saying we must 'End Iran' cause Iran is doing shit we are actually doing but its easier to blame Iran and besides they are brown and muslim so there. Just much smaller on the scale of things.
Anything to have a crack at white men eh sabine. Grab at those wispy leaves blowing in the wind wont you, try and tie them into something with substance eh, leverage other memes off those weak knots then. You are predictable, tedious, offensive and lack credibility.
Some time ago you demanded I not respond to your posts. How about you do the same with mine.
ummm hey buddy Sabine actually answered your question – how about listening – you may eventually get the answer that agrees with what you already have decided to believe.
its not my fault that there are a shit load of white men behaving like utterly depraved people like that white middle class boy from Australia with lots o money from Grandpa who migrated to NZ because he knew that as a white boy its the easiest thing for him to – also did i mention he is from OZ"?, buy a few guns, get some target training in and then rock up on a Friday at a house of prayer and shoot 50 men women children in the back like the fucking coward he is.
so there go whinge some more about how men are hard done by especially the white ones.
btw, i didn't "whinge about how men are hard done by eespecially the white ones" but the fact you think I did also betrays you and your agenda
In addition this wee white-man-hating gem also betrays you and your agenda "there are a shit load of white men behaving like utterly depraved people ". Delusional.
you wanted me to stay away from you, which is easily done and has been done as you asked. I ask you to stay away from me too. But if you don't then expect your extreme claims to be confronted.
Detail, specifics and accuracy are not your fine points are they marty. That was clearly a whinge at sabine and her white-man-hating ways, not at how white men are hard done by.
Sabine, NZ has a problem with all races killing their babies and/or partners. Domestic violence is rife. Weapons are carried by gangs which are of all races. I don't want to state the obvious but I think you need to do a fact check before you make these statements.
It is true that the world we live in was and still is designed by the wealthy upper class, in the majority men but certainly not whites only. But brutality is carried out by those who are fanatically inclined or emotionally disturbed with many shades of one or the other in between. I view it as a complete failure of society,communities and governments to have allowed mentally disturbed people to be "treated" by using the label "community care"which means nothing more than medieval methods of denial of care. It is an abdication of responsibility to leave such vulnerable group to their own devices and too many are becoming victims or perpetrator. Whether or not a deranged person has wealthy parents is irrelevant unless policy of envy is at play.
my post was in response to vto who spoke about the white man who killed 50 brown and white people in their temple.
nothing to do with anything else but that.
And i, as a white person don't feel entitled to speak about the way others live their lifes, or how they choose to break the law. What i know is that a lot of the issues Maori have in NZ is due to the discrimination suffered at the hands of the colonials that came first, then by the subsequent governments who took their language, their rights of passage (moko), their land, and replaced it with white mens clothes and hairdoes, alcohol, poverty, hunger and war fare for that land.
so while i don't disagree with you i also don't see the point in regards to what the original post was about.
And agin, even the wealth of the murderer has little to do other then it enabled him to travel to meet up with white supremacist in europe, get indoctrinated, travel to nz ( i migrated here and thus now what it costs and it is not cheap by any means) find a flat, buy guns, pay a gun club fee and train to shoot 50 predominantly brown people – men women and children – in their temple of worship because as he himself stated, it was the easiest country for him to do so. And one reason it was so easy was because he is a white australian with money and they have no issue migrating here – because we consider australians our neighbors.
And us white people will start to have to look at what is and not what we want there to be. And white supremacism, a fear of 'being replaced', a fear of loss of privilege is there and it is causing a whole lot of trouble and death. We have had no issue demanding all sorts of answers from muslims when they had their young ones commit terrorism, and we should not shy away from asking us the same question. Why does a young, average looking man, healthy, with some wealth go and kill 50 people. People who had no intend on doing any harm to him, who had no intend of replacing him, people who Greeted him "Welcome Brother'.
Maybe we should think about that, rather then find excuses that are rather flimsy. And i stand by that.
You know what those taggers-on were doing on the day of the massacres and the several days following? Was intentionally not reported much methinks..
They were the camo'ed survivalist and other nutters of various shades who came out thinking this was the time. That armageddon was here. Weapons locked and loaded, camo on, out they came. Not white supremacists. The Papanui High couple were out to help the coppers.. We had one with a samurai sword in our suburb.. there were reports of others elsewhere around the country.
The thin veneer of civilisation was peeling back there for a moment for us to get a peek…
It has been explained a few times to you when you asked the same question before. Why not write a letter to Jacinda and see what she says – you might get in the paper again lol
I think if you were genuine and sincere in your inquiry you would have, by now, gone out and found the answer to this burning question that troubles you so. But instead you use the question to sow seeds of distrust and doubt.
But why not ask the leaders and get your answer, why not? cos you already know the answer.
yep insincere – time for your real agenda eh – time for game playing to be over eh, time for fronting up to your REAL issue eh, time for vto to put up eh.
Those local white supremacist losers have been talking about killing others for decades, here in NZ. All because the bulk of them lack the conviction to carry through with their evil doesn't mean they aren't here cheering the shit on and trying to recruit loose cannons.
They are all part of global networking now, and as such are (an even bigger) real and present danger to society.
The supremacist/extremist issue within wider society was acknowledged wtb, no problem. The problem is linking the attack to NZ – the only evidence being pointed to which could link the attack to NZ society is the extremist element within society and as already pointed out, those local extremists exist in every society – 'white', muslim, african, maori. So the logic is missing. You need something more specific to link it to NZ. Otherwise your evidence links it to every society and not specifically NZ.
You need something more specific to link it to NZ. Otherwise your evidence links it to every society and not specifically NZ.
The white supremacist's attack against and murdering of innocent people at prayer happened in New Zealand, in fact it happened in your city Christchurch. THAT is your link and your evidence.
Why is this an issue for you – why not answer that instead of beating around the bush as you like to do – don't be scared – what's your fucken issue son.
I thought it was because we have extremists here? That is the point above. You have introduced a new element.
In addition you are ignoring the fact that it was not a New Zealander, it was a foreigner. Was New Zealand fingered when the Rainbow Warrior was blown up and a man killed by foreigners who came here for that purpose?
There is no need to link the NZ attack to NZ, as it occurred in NZ…
I get your point but it is merely semantics and you can do much better than semantics – I've seen it.
Fact is we have a lot of white supremacists here. These are not just the bike clubs and skinheads, but the business class who associate with them, or worse, the secret societies.
I've met a white power enforcer who worked for businessmen in Invercargill. His job was to beat up black people who got uppity with their affairs. It's not worth my life to expose the pricks, that is the Police's job, except, they're probably in the police force too.
I wish it were not so. We've got some absolute dirtbags in this country.
Interestingly, in Christchurch, when my mate tuned up a few National Front members, they hired a Maori hitman to get us. White power – lolz!
If some New Zealanders had dumped a pig's head on the Rainbow Warrior, hurled abuse at the crew and talked about getting Greenpeace boats out of our waters all prior to the event, you can bet they would have been implicated.
Plenty harboured and expressed such ill will towards greenpeace back then, and continue to today. But NZ did not sink the Rainbow Warrior. The point remains.
vto The point is well made. People mutter and utter words of extremes – 'I'll kill you you little bastard' might be shouted by some parent with a lack of controlled language. But it is very unlikely to happen.
Tuhoe apparently used to voice angry threats, and practice martial arts; the police spied and read intention and invaded their village. But they hadn't done anything except use wild launguage and perhaps they were practising stuff they might have learned from being in our Defence Forces,
The USA Forces carry out maneouvres with our Forces, and other countries', on our soil regularly. We haven't been attacked yet, though there may be willingness and intention, but so far no action to point at, except the deaths of a soldier or two.
yes grey, and I believe it is one of the fundamentals to whole of the terror attacks matter.
The matter is too large and significant to let this particular fundamental take on a life of its own (that NZ society is responsible for and led to the terror attack), when there is no evidence for it (as outlined imo above).
I agree 100% vto. It particularly upsets me that the Oz has dumped this on us. However Jacinda has turned it round and used the attention of the world on it to try and make improvements. If it had happened in Australia it would have vanished without a trace? Or would they have been exposed as harbouring some nasty behaviours and been shamed into releasing the Manus Islanders? I hear they are contemplating suicide again after Labour managed to shoot themselves in the foot.
He never imagined he would 'get away' with it; he fully anticipated being caught and imprisoned for the rest of his life. The only reason why he switched to a local target was that he belatedly realised they would be easier.
Since 9/11 I had always thought NZ would make an excellent target for terrorist attack. Reason being that we are perceived as the safest place in the world so if people aren't safe here then they aren't safe anywhere – terrorism aim achieved.
and then it was a white boy that came and killed people en masse and not the advertised threat of brown muslim boy.
And that is the issue here VTO, if it would have been a brown muslim boy we would not stop discussing the religion of 'hate', how they are all out to get us, and such, and finally how to prevent it.
Instead we are told to not discuss it, we are told to not name the men who did it, we are told to not show is ugly mug, we are told to not read/discuss and disect his manifesto, and above all we are told to never discuss why on earth he would choose a. NZ (and white people find it relatively easy to migrate here especially people from OZ – and to be fair NZ'lers get easily into OZ), why he would choose Christchurch (yeah, a town with Ersatz Nazis and wanna be white supremacists) for his attack, rather then say live in South Auckland and try it there.
Fact is that there is a lot of terrorism that comes from white people. And us white people we now need to wonder and ask ourself and i have raised that question often, Why is a white boy, from one of the most desirable places on this planet, from a well to do family so hateful so fearful and so fucked up that he would migrate to a neighboring country ( he could have killed muslims in OZ) got himself plenty o guns and ammuniton, learned how to shoot real good, and then killed 50 people by shooting them in the back.
And that question we have repeatedly refused to ask, in fact we have been told by our PM to never ask to never speak about it. And that is also cowardice.
"The problem is linking the attack to NZ – the only evidence being pointed to which could link the attack to NZ society is the extremist element within society and as already pointed out, those local extremists exist in every society"
According to Gower's report, people from the Al Noor mosque believe the terrorist had help.
Probably best to wait for a completed investigation too before claiming New Zealand's innocence on this.
Maybe 'NZ' played no part in the 15 March acts of terrorism – maybe Muslims in places of worship in Christchurch are the (murder) victims of a foreign terrorist acting alone, and 'we' (wider NZ and all NZers other than the victims) are simply innocent, albeit naive, bystanders. Unfortunately, there are currently insufficient facts available to decide.
Maybe the terrorist plotted secretly in complete isolation and received no encouragement or assistance from any like-minded NZers. I fervently hope that's true, but agree with maui that it's prudent to at the very least suspend judgement on the complicity of any NZers, and (given the unprecedented seriousness of the events of 15 March) proceed with caution until the Royal Commission of Inquiry has reported.
The naivety of NZ's security and intelligence professionals regarding 'our' vulnerability to white supremacist terrorists was certainly a contributing factor.
This is the thing when you demand that a society does not discuss these things in public. You don't know what is, you leave lots of speculation and as we can see we already have apologists rock on up denying it was one of us, it was a Foreigner. Lol, cause Australians are foreigners. Yeah, right Tui.
The white first dudes of this planet are international, they meet, they greet they go to concerts, they go to readings/discussions etc.
Why do you think Bannon is hanging about in Europe? To sightsee?
The making any discussion of this criminal act essentially 'verboten' was so far – in my eyes – the single dumbest thing Labour and Ms. Ardern as PM could have done and they have done a few dumb things since they came to power.
But by essentially pretending it did not happen here, and this is not 'us' and such, they laid the groundwork for future deniers and also they laid the ground – most likely unwittingly (at least i hope this is the case) for it to happen again, cause we ain't learning and we still don't know – the public – with what we are dealing here.
Your comment @ 4 and Paddy Gower's claim "a white supremacist and race problem in NZ has been exposed by the Chch attack"…
I don't think he was suggesting a direct link with the perpetrator. Rather he is highlighting the fact that white supremacists and racists have been present in NZ for decades which is true because I knew a group of them.
They didn't roam the streets in leather jackets and boots waving swastika flags. Nor did they call themselves anything. It was back in the 1970s (and part of the 1980s) before social media was a thing and cell phones hadn't been invented. What they did do (among other things ) was roam around disrupting political gatherings and hoaxing individuals. Some of those hoaxes targeted persons of Catholic or Jewish persuasion and in the case of two of them… went on to have serious consequences for the targets and the political party they represented. That is, the Labour Party.
As a group they hated Maoris, they hated Jews and some of them hated Catholics. They hated Greenpeace and similar groups and they hated unions with a passion – at least in the case of two of them. If they were still around as a group today they would hate Muslims too. I see them now as the fore-runners to the alt right, white supremacists that exist throughout NZ today.
And here's the crunch: they were members of the Labour Party!
Yes, understand and appreciate all of that Anne and have seen them for years too. That is all explained in the points above re extremists like them in every society and how it interacts, or doesn't, with the terror attacks.
Want to know why the Aussie election went that way? It had nothing to do with Labour, or Liberals or any other party or any of their campaigns. It had nothing to do with the leaders and their charisma or lack of. It had nothing to do with the economy or the local factory or anything else.
The Aussie election went that way because western voters are now voting in preparation for conflict. And conservatives are where that voting goes.
That's it.
And the Christchurch terror attacks, perversely, would have pushed this along.
edit: this phenomenon has consequences for us in our elections next year…
The Liberal first preference tally actually fell by close to 1 per cent, according to Australian Electoral Commission counts posted at midday.
The Liberal vote was 3,293,099, a 0.91 per cent fall from the 2016 level. It’s barely moved over two years, and certainly was not a flood of support.
So it must have been a Labor decline that did it in. No so. Labor’s first preference vote fell even less than the Liberals’. The ALP had 4,016,676 primary votes, a drop of 0.87 per cent from 2016.
The lesson, as in all modern elections, is not how many votes a party gets, but where they are cast. The Liberals won 27.76 per cent of the primary vote and Labor 33.86 per cent. But we know who won the election.
Firstly, the polls indicated a Labour win, but that didn't eventuate. In other words, people were thinking left, but when push comes to shove and people have been put in fear, then they will vote along different lines – those of self-preservation. And there is plenty to put the people in fear – boat people, Trump NK and Iran etc, Chch.
Secondly, it is going on worldwide and has been for a few years now – brexit, trump, various euro elections, even the Ukraine comedian. It is a rising phenomenon.
But yes Red, the point made in your link above is also relevant. Next year's election here will be very interesting – maybe NZ is the last western holdout against the rising tide of conservatism and conflict.
True. I've repeatedly made the point that Australia electorate is not all that politically different to NZ, but their electoral system is. And this more than anything else has driven the result.
The Greens collected 10.04 per cent of the first preference vote, a total of 1,190,776. The Nationals had 4.89 per cent, or 579,457.
But the Nationals have won 10 seats and the Greens one. It depends where the votes land.
It was like that here, but it's the same or even worse, in the US, and the UK. Rural seats tend to be heavily favoured for conservative voters, and the "ruling class", whereas urban seats, with far greater numbers, get much less say in the electoral booth. It's not one person, one vote in such systems. The power of a vote in California, for instance, is only about 1/84 that of a vote in Wyoming.
Exactly. I guess what irks me more than a little is the rampant kiwi conceit that our Australian cousins are all six fingered redneck boofheads. No doubt some are, and there is a modest surplus of them in Queensland, but for the most part they're very much like us.
It's the quirks of their electoral system that make them look more conservative.
The OPCW in its final report refers to "experts" unnamed, rather than its own Fact Finding Team who visited the site
Newsworthy ,I would have thought.
The 15 page document is very thorough, and explores different scenarios, eventually concluding that the only plausible scenario was that the cylinders were manually placed rather than dropped by air
Could Putin and Assad have maliciously brain washed this senior, vastly experienced OPCW investigator?
Read the report yourself , it addresses elements of the Bellingcat findings (incidentally, unlike the OPCW engineering report,Bellingcat operatives did not visit the site. As always their investigation was conducted in front of a computer screen)
Yeah, but you would think that because you rate Consortium News above Bellingcat. Bellingcat have earned a reputation for finding out the truth by image analysis, Consortium News are just another Kremlin mirror site.
Have you read some of the columns allegedly written by Parry? They are not consistent with a PhD qualified native English speaking journalist. As of several years ago this site abandoned all pretense of journalistic integrity and became a purveyor of wildebeests of dubious provenance – your preferred kind of gnus.
Yet the conclusions are not robust. The report asserts that the gas cylinders were "more likely to have been placed than to have arrived by air". Ok – but open and shut, which would have required a stronger statement "could not have/were unlikely to have/did not arrive by air".
Nor, despite the use of OPCW forms, did this form the official report. These were minority views that were ultimately excluded.
Consortium News has recent form as a largely unreliable bunch of repeaters of proPutin bullshit. Bellingcat is open source – if moved to do so you can check their images and conclusions for yourself.
It may have been left out for good reason – lacking factual backing for instance. No surprise that a pack of Putin boosters like Consortium would dig it up and circulate it though – most "Independent News Sources" don't have agents in the OPCW however, and the question arises as to how an outfit as threadbare as Consortium manages to fund them.
"He said his reading of the report was that the offences were all committed by one person, and said he did not know who that person was. He admitted that having them tell their story over and over again was a problem with the court system, "which I know people are looking at, at the moment". "I'm not aware whether they're MPs or staff. Reading the report carefully I get the sense that the man is still on the premises … I don't know who it is, if I knew who it is I would tell the police.""
JLR triggered this, so many will assume he's the one. Ain't necessarily so. Lack of official rape complaints can be explained by perception that they are a bad career move, I guess. Confidentiality of the review process means crimes get disclosed, and all participants remain anonymous. Nonetheless, Mallard deserves credit for taking responsibility for his past parliamentary violence & trying to do what's right for current victims…
I don't know who it is, if I knew who it is I would tell the police.""
JLR triggered this, so many will assume he's the one.
You are crossing a line there imo – YOU may think that and I've never yet heard another person say it – own your shit dennis and it is shit – dirty and smelly.
Not sure what your problem is this time. If it's that you think I believe JLR is a rapist, you're dead wrong. He doesn't seem that kind of person. However, recalling what one of the women he had an affair with told the media last year, it's understandable some would jump to that conclusion.
So Marty, the shit is all in your mind! Wouldn't it be better to clean it out and dispose of it?? Projecting it onto others seems a waste of time and energy, eh?
There's absolutely no way any of us can own the comment made by that woman last year. Only she can do that. The impression formed in the minds of the readers of her comment is also theirs alone. Nothing to do with me whatsoever!!
You – i turned off game of thrones at the start – too full of american accents and isms.
BM – there was only 1 american actor in the first series
You – oh really? anyway, and so on
You've got opinions not based on reality and it behooves you not to extrapolate or tenuous connect too far because often you do so with little knowledge as you did with the tiny example I have given.
Reminding me that I'm just as human as everyone else isn't actually necessary, incredible though it may seem. My comment was about likely perceptions created in the minds of many, as the result of political developments. You tried to warp the thread into something about me, instead. Better to keep to the topic!
in case i'm wrong please put one link of anyone else saying what you said and implied – just one example of someone else and these 'likely perceptions in the minds of many' please.
Why? You believe other commentators on the Standard ought to do research for you? Why? Seems rather irrational. Isn't it obvious that we all have different values and priorities? Human nature!
Come on Rosemary, is there really any point in posing as simple-minded? You know that none of those women would have had affairs with him if they thought he was a rapist, don't you? Would any woman choose to have affair with someone they thought could be a rapist? Obviously they also believed "He doesn't seem that kind of person.
You are once again prattling on about things you know nothing about.
Did you know abused partners go back to an abusive spouse on average SEVEN TIMES before leaving for good.
"Would any woman choose to have affair with someone they thought could be a rapist?"
You are so ignorant it's incomprehensible you think you know stuff about this. Have something valid to contribute or just give it a rest for all the victims sake.
I struggled mightily not to hit you with strings of invective.
Your opinion about what you think I may or may not know is totally irrelevant to the political issues raised by the controversy. No, it is not all about me!! Why is that so hard for you to understand??
"Those women" aren't mind readers, and so might not have been able to determine ahead of time whether or not they were choosing to have an affair with a rapist.
Even some rapists might not be aware they would rape prior to first offense. 'Reckons' and 'seems' aren’t always on the money – it's not Rosemary who's being simple-minded.
So you're agreeing with me: people form impressions about the character of others, and identifying the rapist in parliament isn't a simple matter. Cool.
I agree with your contention that it's unlikely any of those women would have had entered into an affair with someone they thought could be a rapist.
"Would any woman choose to have affair with someone they thought could be a rapist?" – DF
Perhaps the nub of our disagreement is that you seem to believe that those women (and presumably, by extension, all women) can reliably identify a (potential) rapist prior to engaging in an affair (or whatever.) Now I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but wouldn’t that mean you think rape is the woman's fault, because she ignores the signals from her infallible ‘rapist radar‘, choosing to pursue the affair regardless!
If you believe something different then perhaps you should consider taking a course in Plain English! "Elliptical obfuscation" !! Praxis Dennis, praxis.
You're kidding! Why would anyone feel responsible for whatever impression someone else got?? Of course I don't have such unrealistic expectations of women! I have no idea why you hallucinated such a wacky notion…
Hi Dennis. Now I'm genuinely puzzled. English is my first language, but from your subsequent comments I am obviously misunderstanding the thrust of your comment @7.1.1.2.1.
Come on Rosemary, is there really any point in posing as simple-minded? You know that none of those women would have had affairs with him if they thought he was a rapist, don't you? Would any woman choose to have affair with someone they thought could be a rapist? Obviously they also believed "He doesn't seem that kind of person.
So it’s simply a matter of belief? You 'believe' that JLR isn't a rapist, and the evidence you cite in support of your belief is that it matches your view of the apparent belief of his multiple sexual partners (the ones we know about)? Is this really the sole basis of your belief?
Seems flimsy, but I bow to you superior reasoning and logic.
No, I would never claim "superior reasoning and logic". I don't recall claiming superiority ever, to be honest. And I too am puzzled. Beliefs about other people form in one's mind as the result of impressions they make. Doesn't everyone know that? Hardly contraversial, really! Reasoning doesn't even come into it. Just common knowledge about human nature.
'Would you enter into a business partnership with a person who you thought was a fraudster?'
I've never entered into a business partnership, but my (uninformed) answer to your hypothetical question is no. My answer might be representative, but I sincerely doubt it is universal.
P.S. Did I just believe/feel my potential business partner was a fraudster, or were my thoughts based on objective evidence? That would matter to me. If possible, I would prefer to have some objective evidence to support my thoughts/reckons/feels, but in the absence of such evidence I’d have no option but to follow DF’s lead and ‘go with my gut!
One in three women being sexually abused in some way in their lifetimes is met not with horror but with a stream of comments saying, “it’s more one in five!” or “What about men!” or “where do these stats come from?”
Every woman I know has been sexually harassed, abused, or assaulted. Every single one. If anything I think one in three is lower than the reality. We talk about victims, and how many attacks, because otherwise the question is:
Who is raping us?
The answer is your teacher, your mentor, the man whose book you kept next to your bed, your GP, your flatmate, your uncle, the police officer you asked for help, your dentist, your neighbour, your plumber, your best friend, your brother, your manager, your editor, the bouncer at your favourite club, the barista who makes your coffee, your Tinder date, a politician, the guy who fixed your sister’s computer, the bus driver, your cousin, your best friend’s brother, your ex-boyfriend, your husband, the waiter at that restaurant, your dad, your personal trainer …
That’s harder to ignore than:
A monster.
An evil man.
A guy who was “a bit off”.
Someone who was “not right”.
And ignoring the issue of sexual violence is what we do.
It’s estimated that 90% of sexual violence is committed by someone known to the victim. They didn’t see something off, because there wasn’t anything off. There wasn’t any indication. No early warning system. No alarm. No red flag.
a very small one actually. Maybe 5 – 10 % are rapists. I would also venture that rapists are repeat offender.
And because we don't actually treat rape as the crime that it is, and we still put the blame on women and girls and lets not even go to the fact that men have their own issues – re toxic masculinity – in reporting this crime, the fact that the police is only sometimes happy enough to actually do its job – often times only when the victim is so bad that they can't really not do anything these rapists get away and do it again and again and again.
But, and this is important RL, us women we don't know who is going to rape us. When i went to bed that night as a preteen – sharing the room with my 6 year old sister – i did not know that my stepfather would come and rape me that night. And frankly i am sure that i was not the only one, but just one of many.
and that is the issue. We don't know who is going to rape us. We don't know who is going to sexually assault us. We don't know until they do.
so to me know it is simple. So as long as i don't know the bloke, i am not going to accept drinks, not going to drive in his car, not going without a weapon of sorts alone in a carpark, tell my friends where i go, with whom, and i as billions of other women do have a whole scenario that i follow so as to not get raped, assaulted, mugged, killed.
but maybe you want to read this, and then you might want to answer me my question, what did you think i will tell you, and what do believe?
David Richards, 41, was sentenced to 12 years in jail on Thursday in Knox County Tennessee for raping his adoptive daughter – 60 years less than the maximum term sought by prosecutors. As he handed down the lenient sentence, Judge Steve Sword cited Richard’s work as a pastor and the Bible study he began in jail as mitigating factors. Richards was found guilty of rape, incest, and sexual battery by an authority figure for abusing his daughter, Amber Richards, for two years beginning when she was 14, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.
Rosemary About coffee on your laptop, not sure. But I dropped quite a bit on my keyboard once. Turned it upside down over a towel and let it drip out then dried off, using a cottonbud for awkward places, and it was fine. It liked the blend. Hope this is helpful.
DF Better not have referred to JLR at all don't you think. Gathering in possible suspects on innuendo is not what I thought a practical man with principles would do.
I've made the point about the relevance of political psychology many times: these situations emphasise how relevant it is! Some commenters here try to shoot the messenger, but who cares?? Mass psychology drives public perceptions of political events, regardless how many commenters try to be puerile.
You think reminding people of the political context of Mallard's impression isn't good?? Would you like to explain why you believe historical context is bad to include in political discussion? Or do you believe JLR's affairs didn't trigger the review. Or both??
That's the bit to which I can't see any good side, but it's also the only bit that adds any information. "reminding people of the political context" is just you being patronising.
You could just have easily said "JLR triggered this, so perhaps some good has come out of that entire tawdry series of events: exposing the toxic culture of parliament".
"Tory grandee Michael Heseltine has said he will not be supporting the Conservatives in the European election, and will instead vote Liberal Democrat. The former deputy prime minister and lifelong pro-European said the party has become “infected by the virus of extremism” and he cannot endorse its support for leaving the EU."
"In an article for The Sunday Times, he said: “The reason for my experiment with the Lib Dems is, of course, the government’s position on Brexit. I cannot, with a clear conscience, vote for my party when it is myopically focused on forcing through the biggest act of economic self-harm ever undertaken by a democratic government.” His call for the Tories to reclaim the political centre ground was echoed by former prime minister Sir John Major."
I think the study of history generally and that of politics should include the cycles that occur where countries and large groups go into a spasm of self-harming behaviour. Is it a default position to go for some apparently pure and uncompromising method when times get hard and a certain level of anxiety is reached? Many countries or large social entities are definitely suffering from 'spasms' at present.
Speaking of those self identified Christians and regarding abortion laws Chris Hedges has
a reasoned piece;
"Ignore the religious rhetoric and moral posturing about abortion. This debate is not about the sanctity of life. It is about corporate capitalists who desperately need more bodies and intend to coerce women to produce them"
With regards to this report on bullying at parliament this from RNZ
"Now it has been laid bare in the report by independent reviewer Debbie Francis but still the elected representatives guilty of grossly abusing their positions remain anonymous and will likely never be publicly identified."
We have a right to know who these individual MPs are after all they are responsible for their behaviour as elected and appointed individuals.
Oh come on mosa. Just getting the information was important to build the picture, and complainants and informants were promised that it would be kept private. We do know it goes on. We cannot afford to go into a 'spasm' of blame and punishment over past practice when our attention needs to be on CC and international machinations. And it has happened, so our lagging attention to the future mustn't be dragged away again from facing forward.
So no it is not a cop out, that's just ignoring facts:
Informants were promised privacy.
It would be disruptive of the uneasy balance in Parliament and its efficacy for its big job.
If the victims of serious harassment and rape want to bring an action they should be assisted in this but need to understand that others who don't want to bring it to the light of day will unwittingly be exposed to public gaze.
The Labour government will again be going further than its mandate of running the country well, in wanting to be ideologically pure, instead of being both principled and practical. That part will be in establishing a sleaze-free approach to what we have been told is a government process that can be very demeaning and bullying to those not part of the in-group.
greywarshark sensitivities aside what i am arguing is that if these MPs remain hidden then how can the public and those wanting a career in parliament have any confidence that the house of representatives is dealing with the culprits and that people will take responsibility for their actions.
When you choose to serve the public and be paid by them how you conduct yourself is important and should be transparent.
This from No right turn.
The report of course refuses to name those MPs, meaning that the independent reviewer is effectively part of this conspiracy of silence as well. Which is not acceptable. Naming names is the first step towards accountability, and that needs to happen if anything is to change.
It's a difficult one. People who err so arrogantly should be brought to account. They are getting away with nasty stuff.
But then there has been a pact of privacy. We know that stats say that much sexual misbehaviour and crime is not reported so can't be taken further and justice meted. So BAU if nothing is done from this report.
And one lack of justice does not excuse another lack of justice and respect – to those who came forward. The Witchhunter Generals' opinions that purity and sanctimony will prevail if the victims are burned along with their perpetrators will, I am absolutely sure, not be agreed with by those most affected who will feel persecuted.
Sometimes there is no easy answer to achieving probity. Back off WG's and pour cold water on your hot breaths of retribution; put your simplistic interference to one side to avoid adding further trauma to this unhappy revelation.
The leaked report – from engineering firm Beca to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment – said the narrow, glass-fronted block at 230 High Street has:
piles that are about 10 times too weak
a support column that is overloaded by five times
steel frame fixings that are not strong enough
inadequate foundations
The report also said calculations underestimated the earthquake loading by 25%.
The Korean engineer assures us it is quite okay. And I am sure that his credentials are also as we have good standards in NZ and good surveillance of those standards.
This am on Radionz there was a report on the use of a computer check on social welfare call centre responses. This check was designed by a person at AUT. I am wary of computer paradigms being the deciding factor of people's entitlements. But the check on the program would help to establish if there had been racial bias I think. So it was helpful to run calls past it to see how it registered. They looked at calls that had been passed on for action and calls that were recorded and not actioned, to see if this resulted in further calls indicating real need for action.
Kathryn speaks with Stanford University Associate Professor of Medicine, Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, who has evaluated the effectiveness of a predictive risk assessment tool developed by a New Zealand researcher and implemented for two years in the United States. The Ministry of Social development originally commissioned Professor Rhema Vaithianathan, Co-Director of the Centre for Social Data Analytics at AUT to develop the model. It uses data about children and their families to identify those at risk of physical, sexual or emotional abuse before the age of two. MSD stopped short of implementing the tool, but Allegheny County in Pittsburg, Pensylvania began using it in 2016, and commissioned Stanford University researchers to evaluate it.
Oranga Tamariki dispensed with this a year or so ago. I am concerned that we don't instead get into sanctimonious, pious territory of 'We know best' and judgmental rather than compassionate, appropriate support responses.
The rise of RW conservative women with an opinion of themselves as model cultural templates is noticeable, finding platforms such as anti-abortion and anything that is a change in societal norms. They adopt towards the precariat and women considered below their societal level, attitudes of derision, or patronising and officious power.
Their success in the anti-abortion measures in eight states of the USA will whet their appetite to fight here. The large response against the attempt to introduce a very mild euthanasia bill is an example of their reach and influence. A backgrounder on the citizen consultation held throughout NZ says that the 9 minute time allowed for oral submissions was applied for by thousands who often merely stated their disagreement. Nick Smith and Maggie Barry facilitated this process, though Ms Barry was accused of adopting a disrespectful tone to some.
The conservative religious, such as the conservative Catholic and conservative Pasifika congregations combined will be a force against rights that women hold dear. Choosing overseas people for appointments over NZs, may increase the type of conservative, neo-liberal official or CEO. We have Irish conservative Catholic Mrs Moss at Oranga Tamiriki for which a local person could easily have been found. We also have Dr Mary English who is conservative Catholic and has Pasifika roots, building relationships in health and welfare for Pasifika people. These are people in key roles. When the National Party stopped funding the suicide health line and gave the contract to Dr English's organisation, *The Daily Blog cried favouritism and nepotism for Bill English's wife. Many community organisations working at the coalface of welfare, with much experience have felt the cold winds of funding neglect. We need to watch where the funding goes, and that it is fairly distributed to those who do much with little, without much patronage.
Students strike today kia kaha it agree make it 0 carbon by 2040 moving the goal ahead by 10 years .
Banning sugary or big taxes is a know brainer it should have been implemented years ago the bad facts are all there to see WTF.
The big hole in the government balance sheat was created by joyce
Amanda that is a powerful tawhirimate in America tossing cars around like toys don global warming its staring you in the FACE.
Duncan Its good to see that you get it with the police chasers the people who are being chased are out of control.
The parents of these tamariki being chased could be working 2 jobs to survive with the low wages and high living cost take the glasses off Mark.
Geffory Rush I quite like the characters he has played its good to see him get JUSTICE.?????????????????????????????.
If the policys look like a Christian party it a Christian party why don't they run a Wahine up and lift Maori Wahine all Wahine mana up. Its good you want good changes. But I am protecting the left from the cheating rednecks who will strip the common persons wealth and give our powercompanys to the wealthy. I know who is pushing this I can see the consequences of your actions. I agree the housing situation is bad thanks to national this phenomenon has swept the western world I wonder why House less tangata. If this movement was logical and not emotional you would target the drugs that actually cause harm even target sugar.???????????
There you go judy a pauleen hanson you're views are very similar hence your toilet won't float in Aotearoa maybe you should go to Australia.
Don't compare Aotearoa to Venuzla it a total tug of war between the east and west that is tearing apart that country .
We should commit to reducing our carbon footprint as fast as possible.
Its the correct thing to do it is what humans have done for millions of years providing a better future for our tamariki.
What is happening now is not human or humane money is the root of these inhuman traits to rise to the top of humanity's way of doing things.
Some are totally focused on today and not on our mokopuna tomorrow's our futures well being the neanderthal are blinded by money they use this money to blind the common people of the world to believe there lies that are all about protecting the oil barons wealth and POWER.
Why you should take action on climate change
mpact on the environment because I want a future I can look forward to. And at the rate we're going, I know my hope is unrealistic, to say the least.
We are lucky, however, that we are so privileged to have the opportunity to stop it. We are the people who, in the future, will either be venerated for making the changes necessary to stop the full effects of climate change on the human race, or despised for ignoring the warning signs Ka kite ano links below
Humans causing shrinking of nature as larger animals die off
Average size of wild animals predicted to fall by a quarter in 100 years through extinctions
The researchers estimate that more than 1,000 larger species of mammals and birds will go extinct in the next century, from rhinos to eagles. They say this could lead to the collapse of ecosystems that humans rely on for food and clean water.
Humans have wiped out most large creatures from all inhabited continents apart from Africa over the last 125,000 years. This annihilation will accelerate rapidly in the coming years, according to the research.
The future extinctions can be avoided if radical action is taken to protect wildlife and restore habitats, and the scientists say the new work can help focus efforts on key species.
Animal populations have fallen by 60%since 1970, suggesting a sixth mass extinction of life on Earth is under way caused by the razing of wild areas, hunting and intensive farming. Scientists said this month that human society was in danger from the decline of the Earth’s natural life-support systems, with half of natural ecosystems now destroyed and a total of a million species at risk of extinction Ka kite ano links below
Thanks to Nanaia and the Provenance growth fund giving 50 million over 5 years to assist Maori farmer whanau in the development of there whenua in te taiwhiti.
Pee is a shocking poison its just as bad in te taiwhiti it is making a mess of te tangata
I think is a awesome idea to combine studying papatuanuku and getting the Kaumatua knowledge on the subjects
The Pacific music awards were on last night was very good Eco Maori loves his music ka kite ano
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Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week...
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk A banner on the International Energy Agency website spells it out in bold font: “The global oil industry is experiencing a shock like no other in its history.” As the response to the coronavirus pandemic upends the lives of billions of ...
The ownership of newspapers and televison channels is in turmoil, and they want to redisorganise public broadcasting. *Three years ago, I expressed concern in a column about the future of the (traditional) media. Nothing has happened since to reduce the concern. It was based on an earlier column which ...
Australia's High Court has ruled that the "palace letters" between the queen and then-Governor-General John Kerr are public records rather than private papers: Historian Jenny Hocking has won her High Court bid to access the letters exchanged between then governor-general Sir John Kerr and the Queen around the time of ...
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Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Matthew Parry, Dr Ayesha Verrall, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Martin Eichner (author details*)This blog details a recent modelling study we conducted. In it we estimated that it would take between 27 and 33 days of no new detected cases of COVID-19 for there to be ...
The 2015 Schol Bio paper included a question about a group of birds known as honeycreepers, specifically, the 56 species endemic to the Hawaiian islands. (Or, were endemic: 18, or perhaps 19, are still living; the others are extinct.) Students who’ve already had a look at this paper as part of ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... What a Week’s Disasters Tell Us About Climate and the PandemicExtreme weather presents an even bigger threat ...
Todd Muller has made a good start to his leadership, though it would obviously be pretty stupid to extrapolate too much from the first couple of days. Nevertheless, as a matter of speculation, it is interesting to think what success on his part might say about the preferences of the ...
A guest post by Hamish Price.“A leader is a dealer in hope.”— Napoléon BonaparteCatholics have a name for potential successors to a dead pope. Papabile. The small coterie of distinguished cardinals who have what it takes to step up. Todd Muller has always been one.I first met Muller at a National ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, May 17 through Sat, May 23, 2020Editor's ChoiceMore than 80 killed in India and Bangladesh as Cyclone Amphan heaps misery on coronavirus-hit areasA man salvages items from ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has described Labour's original COVID-19 commercial rent dispute proposal as "poorly targeted". Justice Minister Andrew Little hasannounced a temporary law changeto force commercial landlords and renters to consider COVID-19 in disputes over rent issues, almost two months after the Government first floated the idea. But ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First acknowledges that some small businesses have been struggling to meet fixed costs due to the loss of revenue by COVID-19. We also know some businesses are at greater risk of insolvency when they cannot come to a reasonable ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First is disappointed that the removal of the spousal deductions has had to be delayed by the Ministry fo Social Development, due to COVID19 workload pressures. “New Zealand First has always stood for fairness when it comes to superannuation ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First On the steps of Parliament today the Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters received a petition from registered nurse Anna Maria Coervers, requesting an amendment to the Protection for First Responders Bill which will ensure the legislation also include registered ...
It's been a busy seven days as we start to rebuild New Zealand together. From delivering extra support for small businesses, to investing in our artists and arts organisations, to cutting red tape on home DIY projects, we're rolling out our plan to get the economy and New Zealand moving ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says alert level 2 restrictions have to be discussed during today's Cabinet meeting. Thousands gathered across the country, including at Parliament, yesterday forBlack Lives Matter marcheswhere social distancing and mass gathering rules were flouted. Mr Peters said the breaching of Alert Level 2 rules at ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State Owned Enterprises KiwiRail’s Northland rail upgrade steps up another gear today and will help Northland recover from the impacts of COVID-19, State Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters says. The Government is investing $204.5 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to ...
“Today and every day we stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family, friends and community who feel pain and fear about his untimely death at the hands of Minneapolis police”, said Green Party Co-leader and Māori Development spokesperson Marama Davidson. ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation The West Coast forests of Mount Te Kinga at Kotuku Whakaoho/Lake Brunner are the latest predator free project to receive Government funding, announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
The Green Party says major freshwater reforms announced today provide the strongest ever protections of our waterways, to help ensure the next generation can swim in the rivers of Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party has begun the process for a Select Committee inquiry into student accommodation, which has been exposed during COVID-19 as an under-regulated sector that straddles students with unfair debt. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Hon Dr David Clark, Minister of Health Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods, and Health Minister David Clark today announced a COVID-19 vaccine strategy, ...
Budget 2020 is about rebuilding together, supporting jobs, getting business moving and the books back into the black. It’s an integral part of our COVID-19 economic response, and our plan to grow our economy and get New Zealand moving again.Here’s a quick look at the five top things you ...
The Green Party is pleased to reveal its candidate list for the upcoming election. With a mix of familiar faces and fresh new talent, this exceptional group of candidates are ready to lead the Greens back into Government. ...
The Coalition Government has approved $206 million in essential upgrades at Ōhakea Air Base. Defence Minister Ron Mark said the money would be spent on improving old infrastructure. He said safety issues would be addressed, as well as upgrades to taxiways, accommodation and fresh, storm and waste water systems. "This ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First “I am not persisting with this case just for myself, but for all people who have had their privacy breached. Privacy of information is a cornerstone of our country’s democracy. Without it our society truly faces a bleak future. We now ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones has introduced a Bill to Parliament that he says will "force more transparency, integrity and respect" for the domestic wood-processing sector through the registration of log traders and practice standards. The Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill had its first reading in ...
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman is joining over 300 lawmakers from around the world in calling on the big banks and the IMF to forgive the debt of developing countries, in the wake of the COVID crisis. ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones says concerns that carbon foresters are planting pine trees that will never be harvested are the result of "misinformation". "The billion tree strategy is an excellent idea, unfortunately from time to time it's tainted by misinformation spread by the National Party or their grandees, hiding in scattered ...
The Green Party welcomes funding in the budget to reunite more refugees with their families, ensuring they have the best chance at a new life in Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
A new-look Police graduation ceremony to take account of COVID19 health rules has marked the completion of training for 57 new constables. Police Minister Stuart Nash attended this afternoon's ceremony, where officers of Recruit Wing 337 were formally sworn in at the Royal New Zealand Police College without the normal support of ...
Mobile traders and truck shops must adhere to responsible lending requirements Interest rate cap on high-cost loans Lenders prohibited from offering further credit to an applicant who has taken two high-cost loans in the past 90 days The Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kris Faafoi, has signalled an end ...
94% of firms say wage subsidy had positive impact on cashflow 62% of firms say support helped to manage non-wage costs like rent A survey of business that have received the Government’s wage subsidy show it has played a significant role in saving jobs, and freed up cash flow to ...
New legislation introduced to Parliament today will support growth and assist businesses on the road to economic recovery, said Revenue Minister Stuart Nash. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2020-21, Feasibility Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Bill proposes that businesses can get tax deductions for ‘feasibility expenditure’ on new investments,” said Mr ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson has welcomed the first release of funds from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced as part of Budget 2020. Sport NZ has announced that $4.6 million in funding will go to the Wellington Phoenix, NZ Warriors, Super Rugby teams and the ANZ Premiership ...
An iconic New Zealand tourism attraction and the country’s 31 Regional Tourism Organisations are the first recipients of support from the $400 million Tourism Sector Recovery Plan, to help position the sector for recovery from COVID-19, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. The plan includes a Strategic Tourism Assets Protection ...
The Government will legislate to ensure businesses that suffered as a result of the COVID-19 response will get help to resolve disputes over commercial rent issues, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. A temporary amendment to the Property Law Act will insert a clause in commercial leases requiring a fair ...
The Minister for Small Business says new data from Xero highlights the urgency of prompt payment practices to small and medium enterprises as we move into economic recovery. Last month Government ministers wrote to significant private enterprises and the banking industry to request they join efforts by government agencies to ...
Young people in Waikato will be the first to have free access to period products in schools in another step to support children and young people in poverty,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. During term 3, the Ministry of Education will begin providing free period products to schools following the ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash has issued the following statement in response to charges filed against three Police officers this morning in the New Plymouth District Court. “Any incident involving a loss of life in Police custody is taken very seriously. The charges today reflect the gravity of the ...
$196 million for Crown Research Institutes $150 million for R&D loan scheme $33 million for Māori research and development opportunities $12 million for the Nationally Significant Collections and Databases $10 million to help maintain in-house capability at Callaghan Innovation New Zealand’s entrepreneurs, innovators and crown researchers will benefit from a ...
Further temporary changes to NCEA and University Entrance (UE) will support senior secondary school students whose teaching and learning have been disrupted by COVID-19. “The wellbeing of students and teachers is a priority. As we are all aware, COVID-19 has created massive disruption to the school system, and the Government ...
Minister for Racing Winston Peters today announced that the terms for the directors of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) have been extended to 30 June 2021. Due to the COVID-19 crisis the transition period has been extended to ensure that the Racing Industry Bill can complete its progress through ...
The deadline for landlords to include detailed information in their tenancy agreements about how their property meets the Healthy Homes Standards, so tenants can see the home they are renting is compliant, has been extended from 1 July 2020 to 1 December 2020. The Healthy Homes Standards became law on 1 July 2019. The Standards are ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little today announced details of further appointments to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. “I am pleased to announce Paula Rose QSO OStJ as Deputy Chief Commissioner for a term of five years commencing on 15 June 2020,” said Andrew Little. “I am also pleased to announce the ...
The Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) will pay costs of learners of all ages to undertake vocational education and training The fund will target support for areas of study and training that will give learners better employment prospects as New Zealand recovers from COVID-19 Apprentices working in all industries ...
The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will finally start to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas pollution as it was originally intended to, because of changes announced today by the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw. The changes include a limit on the total emissions allowed within the ETS, rules to ensure ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List provides an abundance of examples that Pacific people’s leadership capability is unquestionable in Aotearoa. “The work and the individuals we acknowledge this year highlights the kind of visionary examples and dedicated community leadership that we need ...
The Government is backing a new $27 million project aimed at boosting sustainable horticulture production and New Zealand’s COVID-19 recovery efforts, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Our horticulture sector has long been one of New Zealand’s export star performers, contributing around $6 billion a year to our economy. During and ...
Applications have opened for 2021 Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships, which will support more Māori and women to pursue careers in forestry science, says Forestry Minister Shane Jones. “I’m delighted Te Uru Rākau is offering Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships for the third year running. These ...
The Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List once again highlights the dedication by many to looking after our native plants and wildlife, including incredible work to restore the populations of critically endangered birds says Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. Anne Richardson of Hororata has been made an Officer of the New ...
The Government will invest $10 million from the One Billion Trees Fund for large-scale planting to provide jobs in communities and improve the environment, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and Forestry Minister Shane Jones have announced. New, more flexible funding criteria for applications will help up to 10 catchment groups plant ...
Organisations that support women are invited to apply to a new $1,000,000 fund as part of the Government’s COVID-19 response. “We know women, and organisations that support women, have been affected by COVID-19. This new money will ensure funding for groups that support women and women’s rights,” said Minister for ...
Healthier waterways are front and centre in a new project involving more than 300 King Country sheep, beef and dairy farmers. The Government is investing $844,000 in King Country River Care, a group that helps farmers to lift freshwater quality and farming practice, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “Yesterday ...
A major funding package for libraries will allow them to play a far greater role in supporting their communities and people seeking jobs as part of the economic recovery from COVID-19. “Budget 2020 contains over $60 million of funding to protect library services and to protect jobs,” says Internal Affairs ...
A jobseekers programme for the creative sector and four new funds have been set up by the Government to help our arts and music industry recover from the blow of COVID-19. Thousands of jobs will be supported through today’s $175 million package in a crucial economic boost to support the ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has welcomed the First Reading of a Bill that will make legislative changes to further improve the veterans’ support system. The Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill No 2, which will amend the Veterans’ Support Act 2014, passed First Reading today. The bill addresses a number of ...
Views sought on Order in Council to help fast track the reinstatement of the Christ Church Cathedral The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Hon Poto Williams, will be seeking public written comment, following Cabinet approving the drafting of an Order in Council aimed at fast-tracking the reinstatement of the ...
The law setting out New Zealanders’ basic civil and human rights is today one step towards being strengthened following the first reading of a Bill that requires Parliament to take action if a court says a statute undermines those rights. At present, a senior court can issue a ‘declaration of ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today reiterated the deep concern of the New Zealand Government following confirmation by China’s National People’s Congress of national security legislation relating to Hong Kong. “New Zealand shares the international community’s significant and long-standing stake in Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand ...
Thousands of artists and creatives at hundreds of cultural and heritage organisations have been given much-needed support to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern announced today. “The cultural sector was amongst the worst hit by the global pandemic,” Jacinda ...
Key New Zealand assets will be better protected from being sold to overseas owners in a way contrary to the national interest, with the passage of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Bill. The Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament today, also cuts unnecessary red tape to help attract ...
Setting higher health standards at swimming spots Requiring urban waterways to be cleaned up and new protections for urban streams Putting controls on higher-risk farm practices such as winter grazing and feed lots Setting stricter controls on nitrogen pollution and new bottom lines on other measures of waterway health Ensuring ...
The Government is on the verge of reaching its target of state sector boards and committees made up of at least 50 percent women, says Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter and Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa. For the first time, the Government stocktake measures the number of Māori, ...
The Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister and Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, has today announced the appointment of Tristan Gilbertson as the new Telecommunications Commissioner and member of the Commerce Commission. “Mr Gilbertson has considerable experience in the telecommunications industry and a strong reputation amongst his peers,” ...
The Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa have agreed to settle the pay equity claim for teacher aides, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This will see more than 22,000 teacher aides, mostly women, being valued and paid fairly for the work they do. “Teacher aides are frontline ...
Subcontractors will have greater certainty, more cashflow support and job security with new changes to retention payments under the Construction Contracts Act says Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa. A recent review of the retentions money regime showed that most of the building and construction sector is complying with ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have marked the first anniversary of the New Zealand-Singapore Enhanced Partnership with a virtual Leaders’ Meeting today. The Enhanced Partnership, signed on 17 May 2019, provides the framework for cooperation across the four main areas of trade, defence and ...
On 17 May 2019, New Zealand and Singapore established an Enhanced Partnership to elevate our relations. The Enhanced Partnership – based on the four pillars of trade and economics, security and defence, science, technology and innovation, and people-to-people links – has seen the long-standing relationship between our countries strengthen over the ...
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters has welcomed KiwiRail’s announcement that it is seeking a preferred shipyard to build two new rail-enabled ferries for the Cook Strait crossing. “This Government is committed to restoring rail to its rightful place in New Zealand. Bigger, better ships, with new technology are yet another ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When Ken Wyatt, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, last week effectively pronounced dead the prospect of a referendum on indigenous recognition being put to the people this parliamentary term, the demise of his hoped-for timetable ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Morrison government will significantly strengthen its scrutiny of foreign investment to protect sensitive national security technology and information and further ring fence the nation’s critical infrastructure. It will insert a new “national security test” ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Does National have any chance of winning the election in September? It’s looking very unlikely, especially after National’s change of leadership hasn’t exactly produced Mullermania in the first two weeks. Quite the opposite, in fact, as I summarised in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne When a newspaper with the authority of The New York Times chooses to publish a party-political essay calculated to further inflame the violence wracking cities across America, serious questions arise. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Mathematics, University of Canterbury There is now a 95% chance COVID-19 has been eliminated in New Zealand, according to our modelling, based on official Ministry of Health data. As of June 4, New Zealand has had 20 consecutive ...
In 2014, Duncan Greive was invited to interview Dan Carter on the back of the All Black’s spokesmodelling gig for Jockey underwear – a meeting that would eventually lead to Greive co-writing Carter’s autobiography, My Story. To celebrate today’s big Dan Carter news, we republish that original Metro story here.In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Household Finances, Grattan Institute Scott Morrison’s new housing stimulus package is straight-out retail politics. HomeBuilder offers homeowners (including first home buyers) a grant of A$25,000 to build a new home worth less than $750,000 or to spend between ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Rachel Taulelei, CEO of Kono.Demand for New Zealand produce overseas is currently up. ...
By Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie in Jakarta A panel of judges at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) has granted a lawsuit filed by civil society groups against the Indonesian government’s decision to impose an internet blackout during weeks of protests in Papua and West Papua provinces last year, declaring ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Mitchell, Professor of Nursing, University of Newcastle With coronavirus restrictions gradually lifting across the country, we’re now able to resume many of our regular activities. A lot of us might have been particularly keen to get back to the gym, which ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Perhaps at no point in Australia’s history has the demand for real-time figures been stronger than during the coronavirus crisis. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has stepped up its efforts to get data fast, to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Senior Lecturer, QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jolynna Sinanan, Research Fellow in Digital Media and Ethnography, University of Sydney Earlier this week, you might have seen your social media taken over by a stream of posts showing simple images of a black square. These posts, often tagged with #BlackoutTuesday, ...
A strong vote for sustainability would make the resulting Labour-Greens government a confident and ambitious reformer, having shed its NZ First handbrake ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick White, PhD Candidate in History and Politics, James Cook University Australia’s local governments breathed new life into embattled regional communities after the second world war. Today, this history reminds us of the role local councils and communities should play in plans ...
This bill proposes to provide for enhanced information disclosure requirements for the gas market and to ensure that settings around enforcement and penalties are suitably robust. The Gas (Information Disclosure and Penalties) Amendment Bill would do this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mick Broderick, Associate Professor of Media Analysis, Murdoch University Over successive Sunday nights, the ABC has premiered two important television programs recounting the history of nuclear testing in Australia – the documentary Maralinga Tjuratja and a six-drama series Operation Buffalo. Both explore ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marisa Paterson, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University When the COVID-19 restrictions came into force more than two months ago, it meant lights out for the country’s 200,000 poker machines. Now, the pokies are slowly turning on again across ...
With roughly 97% of New Zealand enterprises categorised as small businesses – that is, 20 or fewer employees – accounting software platform Xero’s newly released analysis provides a stark picture of the severe impact of Covid-19 throughout the sector.What exactly does the data show?Essentially, the data shows that year-on-year revenue ...
This week, on 1 June 2020, an interest rate cap on high-cost loans (over 50% interest per annum) was finally introduced in New Zealand. The introduction of an interest rate cap will help borrowers, like Sarah Newham, who presented to Select Committee ...
After hammering out a deal over commercial rents with Labour, New Zealand First is now publicly criticising some of the measures its coalition partner had been pushing for. ...
After hammering out a deal over commercial rents with Labour, New Zealand First is now publicly criticising some of the measures its coalition partner had been pushing for. ...
After hammering out a deal over commercial rents with Labour, New Zealand First is now publicly criticising some of the measures its coalition partner had been pushing for. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lee, Associate Professor of History , UNSW The Conversation is running a series of explainers on key figures in Australian political history, looking at the way they changed the nature of debate, its impact then, and it relevance to politics today. ...
Labour-hire workers are falling between the cracks because neither the agencies they are employed by nor the host companies they work for want to take responsibility for them, FIRST Union said today. Dozens of agency workers have been contacting the ...
CEAC annual review of National Party climate change policy, makes miserable reading, and supports Government for elevating clean ‘Rail Transport’ over truck transport, for moving more freight onto rail, thereby keeping our CO2 ‘climate emissions’ ...
The biggest danger facing New Zealand under level one will the border. Justin Giovannetti looks at what the government is doing to increase border defences and prevent another influx of Covid-19.As the elimination of coronavirus appears imminent in New Zealand, the country’s attention turns to the border and the conflicting ...
The Government’s 5.3% increase in road user charges (RUC) from 1 July is a kick in the guts to the trucking industry that kept the country moving during lockdown and must be cancelled says the National Road Carriers Association. “It is unacceptable,” ...
From the Minister of Tourism came an announcement on the distribution of $400 million. He was outdone by the Minister for Research, Science and Technology, whose announcement involved a sum of $401.3m. Much more bemusing was the announcement from the PM headed Free period products in schools to combat poverty. ...
The charging of three officers of the Central Police District with homicide confirms community fears of police violence. The announcement of the charges comes as the United States of America is crippled by nationwide protests against the murder of ...
The Government’s recently announced Action for Healthy Waterways package includes protections and funding to improve the quality of New Zealand’s rivers, lakes, streams, estuaries, and wetlands. The package introduces new rules and regulations ...
The images of Minnesota policeman Derek Chauvin kneeling on a dying African-American man’s neck have ricocheted around the world. From Auckland to London, Christchurch to cities across the US, tens of thousands have marched in opposition to what is perceived as systemic police violence against one race. Chauvin’s charges have ...
With Rhys Darby returning to our small screens with a travel series documenting his wild travels around Japan, Tara Ward rounds up some more TVNZ shows that will take you from your armchair to locales far and wide. Rhys Darby is world famous for bringing walk socks to New York on ...
Sir Jerry Mateparae is extending his life of service to the NZ community, moving into the role of chair of Chair of the Healthier Lives−He Oranga Hauora National Science Challenge. He says the research being done in preventing some of the country’s worst diseases as fitting neatly with his own ...
E tū is calling for a serious harm investigation into the case of two security guards who were injured when a staff member was attacked at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital. On 21 May, two security guards were stabbed with a pair of scissors when ...
Kiwi Rail CEO Greg Miller said he will not re-open the Gisborne rail service for freight and passenger services for the region, after eight years of closure even now after a yearlong PGF $600.000 study confirmed to the Government that the rail ...
Universal public compliance has been one of the major reasons why New Zealand has apparently been so successful in curbing the spread of the Covid19 virus. Fundamentally, people complied with the restrictions imposed during Alert Levels 4 and 3 because ...
Greenpeace wants New Zealand to become the first country in the world to ban plastic drinks bottles. Last year, after a huge public outcry, the NZ Government banned single use plastic bags. Now Greenpeace is launching a new campaign to "ban the bottle." ...
Pacific Media Centre A Papua New Guinea provincial governor has defending his actions for speaking up in Parliament yesterday on the government’s mooted proposal to extend the state of emergency (SoE) for two more months. Writing on social media, Governor Allan Bird of East Sepik cited instances of police abuse ...
Grey Power’s stance is that the global Covid-19 pandemic, as it has impinged on New Zealand, has highlighted existing problems within the Aged Care Sector and we suggest that if the promise by the Labour Party to fund an Aged Care Commissioner ...
New Zealanders have been re-discovering the many benefits of growing food at home over the Pandemic lock-down. Sustainable Living’s free learning guides on food growing have been this on-line community education programme’s most popular downloads. ...
From 1846 onwards, various militia came together to form the New Zealand Armed Constabulary Force, to ‘combat Māori hostiles and to keep civil order’. In 1885 they changed uniforms and became the New Zealand Police. We’re still feeling the effects of that whakapapa today, writes Emilie Rākete. America is burning, burning ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Carew, Lecturer, University of Melbourne During the coronavirus pandemic, have your kids been using headphones more than usual? Maybe for remote schooling, video chats with relatives, or for their favourite music and Netflix shows? We have to be careful about both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling When it comes to coronavirus cases, deaths and tests, Australia is performing better than many other countries with comparable populations and geographies, a new COVID-19 data visualisation reveals. Use the tool below, which uses data drawn ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joelle Gergis, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, Australian National University As we slowly emerge from lockdown, local adventures are high on people’s wish lists. You may be planning a trip to the ski fields, or even the nearby hills to revel in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Rickards, Associate Professor, Sustainability and Urban Planning, School of Global Urban and Social Studies; Co-leader, Climate Change and Resilience Research Program, Centre for Urban Studies, RMIT University This essay is based on an episode of the UTS podcast series “The New ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcus Luigi Spiller, Associate Professor (Urban Planning) – honorary , University of Melbourne Melbourne’s global reputation for liveability does not resonate with many Melburnians. Its economy has slipped into per capita recession a couple of times over the past decade. Population growth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Hamilton, Visiting Fellow, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University With the virus on the back foot, it’s tempting to declare victory. Provided we stay vigilant on the public health front, we do have a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Borland, Professor of Economics, University of Melbourne When it comes to the outlook for employment, there’s good news and bad news. To begin with the good news: with a bit of luck, the next few months will see the fastest expansion ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Vincent, Lecturer in Creative Industries, University of Melbourne There’s a long-running adage about working for free in the performing arts. “The problem with working for exposure,” it goes, “is you can die from exposure”. Only partly a joke, the saying is ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Decision coming soon on move to level one, housing market in a weird place, and manslaughter charges laid against officers after custody death. As has been the way with these moves, we got an announcement of what the new alert level ...
The embargo on this year’s list has just been lifted. Here are all the books in the running for a gong. Huge caveat: we are yet to read them all. We’re working on that, snarled-up postal system permitting. So please consider these initial thoughts.We’re very chuffed to see Our Toby ...
A tiny, tourism-focused village asks for help from its local authority which, unusually, is a government department. David Williams reports Queen’s Birthday weekend was bustling at Aoraki/Mt Cook Village as Kiwis swarmed in to support the struggling tourist hotspot, nestled in a national park straddling the South Island’s mountainous spine. ...
Tenants unable to pay rent on commercial leases have been given a lifeline after almost two months of negotiations between Labour and New Zealand First. ...
NZ is not beyond the issues of racial discrimination being protested in the US, but we should be mindful of the way we show our solidarity Over the long weekend, approximately 4000 protestors gathered in major centres around Aotearoa to protest against the killing of George Floyd in the US ...
Auckland writer Amy McDaid directs and stars in a film backgrounding her debut novel Fake Baby.Steve Braunias writes: Amy McDaid slaved away at writing her very inventive, very lively debut novel Fake Baby for three, nearly four years, and things were looking good, Penguin Random House had accepted it ...
Victoria University of Wellington's Richard Logan asks how we deal with the problem of being surprised by black swan events Is Covid-19 a ‘black swan’ event? Such an event being one that lies outside the realm of regular expectations, is rare, has extreme impact and is retrospectively predictable. In a complex ...
A maar at the centre of a controversy sits idle in the hands of receivers while Dunedin City Council seeks a valuation and works on purchase funding options While cogs slowly turn in the process for a public purchase of Foulden Maar, scientists are waiting to regain access to the site. ...
Employee-owned businesses tend to perform better than traditionally-owned ones. With Stuff and Countdown recently saying they'll embrace the model, Alex Sims looks at what share schemes look like for employees. Covid-19 has seen the rapid adoption of new ways of working, such as working from home and Zoom meetings. However, these ...
Anna Rawhiti-Connell tells herself to stop being a dick about domestic tourism and visits the Waitomo Caves I have never been a great one at heeding calls. Group participation is what my nightmares are made of. It’s not my own awkward response I worry about, it’s a specific anxiety that ...
As protests sparked by the death of George Floyd unfold across the US, David Mayeda has a message for NZ: 'For those of you who don’t experience racism, be publicly anti-racist - support those of us who do'. Monday evening in Washington D.C. shortly before a 7pm curfew and just before ...
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national said a report on their culture was ready in back in April. At the time they said they would wait until the bullying report about parliament was released, then they would release their own report.
Now that the parliament report on bullying has been released, all of a sudden nationals report on their party culture is not ready……. why is that? Sounds dodgy as to me.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/05/22/597817/mixed-messages-from-national-on-culture-review
Maybe it’s being ‘re-calibrated’ as we speak …
Some hurried editing, for sure.
Something like ‘how to turn a white-wash into something that vaguely resembles a damning report that is more credible given the other report that has just been released’.
Edit: which impartial third party has put their name(s) on the National Party report?
Editing probably advisable inasmuch as the party folk who work in parliament participate in the toxic workplace culture reported by the Francis review. Their in-house culture review therefore has a parliamentary interface component, which will be illuminated by yesterday's news.
Plus we heard Mallard telling NatRad this morning that he's under the impression that rape has happened in parliament in recent years. He's encouraging any victims to report to that police, and giving reassurance complainants will be supported in doing so. Sufficiently serious to make the Nats want to check if any of their people are involved, eh? Reasonable to postpone release of their review pending that check…
Gnat report red-acting?
They just have to pencil in a guarantee of anonymity, you know, to safeguard the victims.
I wonder if it's gone the same way that Labour's Youth Camp investigation went. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/08/labour-refuses-to-release-youth-camp-report.html
Not mentioned on any NZ news source that I am aware of, as I said in my official complaint to RNZ, all we ask for is fair and balanced reporting…is that too much to ask for from at least one news source in NZ?, and especially our state broadcaster.
Massive May Day March in Defense of the Bolivarian Revolution.
Yep RNZ's a wierd scene alright adrian , free to air funded by us and yet run exactly along the lines of a fully commercial station .The only sources it seeks are uk and us based cnn ( which they apparently have playing in the office )and bbc .Odd and out of all perspective also is the number of interviews of americans who seemingly are first choice to consult on almost anything happening arround the world buggered if i know why !!
Well, if you look between the lines… it's an old white boys club. Our news is the world according to old white boys.
Tokenism accepted begrudgingly.
@WeTheBleeple, You are right except is has now turned into more of a white boys and girls club I think…with tokenism accepted begrudgingly.
What we want is Tolkienism so the Hobbits get to be the centre of civilisation!
Yes weston it is a damn shame alright, even our beloved Kim Hill has over time turned into a real reactionary, and I used to so look forward to her political interviews, she was one of NZ's greats, but unfortunately no longer.
Bizarrely one of the few places in MSM media that I know of that offer a critique to a lot of these stories is Tucker Carlson on Fox (and believe me I am no fan of Fox)…what a crazy situation we have ended up in.
Tuckers reasoning as to why he'd block driverless trucks (to protect truck drivers jobs) is something I'm sure all lefties would agree on
Bipartisan anti-robot bias in the media? So what do we call this new syndrome – antiroboticism??
Yeah, he also did a piece in support of Bernie and AOC's bill to bring the credit card industry into line on their interest rates, all very strange, I would never have predicted that Fox would be one of the few place in US main stream media to find a bit (and to be fair it is only a bit) of fairness and balance in reporting, but all the same it says volumes about 'liberal' media today.
You can't trust johnny foreigner and his foreign jibberjabber to give the right facts westie.
I feel that we have a special deal with Voice of America for our news.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America
Weston 3.1: Odd and out of all perspective also is the number of interviews of americans who seemingly are first choice to consult on almost anything happening arround the world buggered if i know why !!
You lay it on the line westie – we have found out why and now know we are buggered!
In the last week Paddy Gower on newshub and Seymour and Wallis on Q&A have all claimed that we have a white supremacist and race problem in NZ which was exposed by the terrorist attack in Chch.
Pardon me, but the attack was carried out by a foreigner attacking New Zealanders. New Zealand was a victim, not the perpetrator.
There is no evidence to support the contention made by Gower, Seymour or Wallis.
Sure, there may be a problem in NZ with white and other supremacies and with racism, but there is no evidence linking those problems to the attacks. Those problems exist in most every country on the planet so the logic isn't there.
We were attacked by a foreigner. We were a victim. NZ was not a party to the attack, as Gower, Seymour and Wallis state.
You're right. A reality check often reveals that folks are being driven by perceptions only. In the aftermath of the massacre I made a few comments to similar effect: we know there's been a skinhead subculture in Chch for yonks, with white supremacist culture seemingly attached. Yet no media report connecting the shooter to it ever showed up – just media reporting a speculative connection.
I also queried the others arrested in the vicinity of the massacre on that day, media-linked to it, yet lack of follow-through by police suggests no link to the shooter. I commented at the time that they may just have been regular viewers of tv crime shows. Media reports of those arrests said they were carrying guns.
Raises the question of what percentage of any random selection of Chch locals carry guns, eh? Hollywood syndrome: gun glamour. Brainwashed followers acting out fantasies produced by the mystique…
he is right insofar that the perpetrator of the crime was a "foreigner' and australian.
but he is not right with white male supremacy. The western/white world actually has a big issue with predominantly white blokes that have an issue with the loss of privilege, the fact that women will not go back to the kitchen and endless pregnancies without a fight, and that people of color will also not go and sit at the back of the bus without a fight.
So the issue is our culture, our white western christian culture is breeding these guys, and thanks to our privilege he moved here without issues, bought guns legally without issues, and then one day decided to kill 50 people.
And he did so out of stated reason, but then, because Ms. Ardern said so we were not allowed an open discussion on these reasons. No we have to not name him, not talk about him and simply pretend it did not happen the way it happend, and now VTO comes along and is trying to whitewash history.
The 50 people got killed because they were brown, of a different religion and are currently the one group of people that every one can demonise with nary a slap one the hand.; Hence why only murder charges when terrorism charges would apply.
Its like some saying we must 'End Iran' cause Iran is doing shit we are actually doing but its easier to blame Iran and besides they are brown and muslim so there. Just much smaller on the scale of things.
Anything to have a crack at white men eh sabine. Grab at those wispy leaves blowing in the wind wont you, try and tie them into something with substance eh, leverage other memes off those weak knots then. You are predictable, tedious, offensive and lack credibility.
Some time ago you demanded I not respond to your posts. How about you do the same with mine.
ummm hey buddy Sabine actually answered your question – how about listening – you may eventually get the answer that agrees with what you already have decided to believe.
Sabine did not answer anything she just dropped a lot of stereo types and revealed her own bias
its not my fault that there are a shit load of white men behaving like utterly depraved people like that white middle class boy from Australia with lots o money from Grandpa who migrated to NZ because he knew that as a white boy its the easiest thing for him to – also did i mention he is from OZ"?, buy a few guns, get some target training in and then rock up on a Friday at a house of prayer and shoot 50 men women children in the back like the fucking coward he is.
so there go whinge some more about how men are hard done by especially the white ones.
your bitterness betrays you
btw, i didn't "whinge about how men are hard done by eespecially the white ones" but the fact you think I did also betrays you and your agenda
In addition this wee white-man-hating gem also betrays you and your agenda "there are a shit load of white men behaving like utterly depraved people ". Delusional.
you wanted me to stay away from you, which is easily done and has been done as you asked. I ask you to stay away from me too. But if you don't then expect your extreme claims to be confronted.
"Anything to have a crack at white men eh sabine"
that is what you said at 9.07am
"btw, i didn't "whinge about how men are hard done by eespecially the white ones" but the fact you think I did also betrays you and your agenda"
and then you said that at 12.59pm? looks like a whinge to me or have you forgotten what you wrote. Bit agenderary by you I fink.
Detail, specifics and accuracy are not your fine points are they marty. That was clearly a whinge at sabine and her white-man-hating ways, not at how white men are hard done by.
good grief, stop with the 'bitterness' bullshit. Seriously the one who is bitter is you.
I simply laid out the fact as they are. Nothing more nothing less.
And yes dear, you whinge a lot.
Sabine, NZ has a problem with all races killing their babies and/or partners. Domestic violence is rife. Weapons are carried by gangs which are of all races. I don't want to state the obvious but I think you need to do a fact check before you make these statements.
It is true that the world we live in was and still is designed by the wealthy upper class, in the majority men but certainly not whites only. But brutality is carried out by those who are fanatically inclined or emotionally disturbed with many shades of one or the other in between. I view it as a complete failure of society,communities and governments to have allowed mentally disturbed people to be "treated" by using the label "community care"which means nothing more than medieval methods of denial of care. It is an abdication of responsibility to leave such vulnerable group to their own devices and too many are becoming victims or perpetrator. Whether or not a deranged person has wealthy parents is irrelevant unless policy of envy is at play.
again, you miss the point.
my post was in response to vto who spoke about the white man who killed 50 brown and white people in their temple.
nothing to do with anything else but that.
And i, as a white person don't feel entitled to speak about the way others live their lifes, or how they choose to break the law. What i know is that a lot of the issues Maori have in NZ is due to the discrimination suffered at the hands of the colonials that came first, then by the subsequent governments who took their language, their rights of passage (moko), their land, and replaced it with white mens clothes and hairdoes, alcohol, poverty, hunger and war fare for that land.
so while i don't disagree with you i also don't see the point in regards to what the original post was about.
And agin, even the wealth of the murderer has little to do other then it enabled him to travel to meet up with white supremacist in europe, get indoctrinated, travel to nz ( i migrated here and thus now what it costs and it is not cheap by any means) find a flat, buy guns, pay a gun club fee and train to shoot 50 predominantly brown people – men women and children – in their temple of worship because as he himself stated, it was the easiest country for him to do so. And one reason it was so easy was because he is a white australian with money and they have no issue migrating here – because we consider australians our neighbors.
And us white people will start to have to look at what is and not what we want there to be. And white supremacism, a fear of 'being replaced', a fear of loss of privilege is there and it is causing a whole lot of trouble and death. We have had no issue demanding all sorts of answers from muslims when they had their young ones commit terrorism, and we should not shy away from asking us the same question. Why does a young, average looking man, healthy, with some wealth go and kill 50 people. People who had no intend on doing any harm to him, who had no intend of replacing him, people who Greeted him "Welcome Brother'.
Maybe we should think about that, rather then find excuses that are rather flimsy. And i stand by that.
You know what those taggers-on were doing on the day of the massacres and the several days following? Was intentionally not reported much methinks..
They were the camo'ed survivalist and other nutters of various shades who came out thinking this was the time. That armageddon was here. Weapons locked and loaded, camo on, out they came. Not white supremacists. The Papanui High couple were out to help the coppers.. We had one with a samurai sword in our suburb.. there were reports of others elsewhere around the country.
The thin veneer of civilisation was peeling back there for a moment for us to get a peek…
It has been explained a few times to you when you asked the same question before. Why not write a letter to Jacinda and see what she says – you might get in the paper again lol
no nothing was 'explained'. and certainly no evidence was provided. the question remains. despite your 'witty' one-liners again lol.
write the letter big boy and put the answer up BEFORE it makes the news – make sure you comb your hair before the TV people arrive lol
you love to make fun of people don't you.
is a poorly trait
I think if you were genuine and sincere in your inquiry you would have, by now, gone out and found the answer to this burning question that troubles you so. But instead you use the question to sow seeds of distrust and doubt.
But why not ask the leaders and get your answer, why not? cos you already know the answer.
too much muddle-headed assumption in there to waste more time
facts and evidence
so hard to keep to facts and evidence
yep insincere – time for your real agenda eh – time for game playing to be over eh, time for fronting up to your REAL issue eh, time for vto to put up eh.
answers
no
no
no
no
answer – bau
[Peace to both of you. Please calm it down – MS]
get off the drugs dickhead
[Peace to both of you. Please calm it down – MS]
Those local white supremacist losers have been talking about killing others for decades, here in NZ. All because the bulk of them lack the conviction to carry through with their evil doesn't mean they aren't here cheering the shit on and trying to recruit loose cannons.
They are all part of global networking now, and as such are (an even bigger) real and present danger to society.
You sir, are either ill informed or dishonest.
The supremacist/extremist issue within wider society was acknowledged wtb, no problem. The problem is linking the attack to NZ – the only evidence being pointed to which could link the attack to NZ society is the extremist element within society and as already pointed out, those local extremists exist in every society – 'white', muslim, african, maori. So the logic is missing. You need something more specific to link it to NZ. Otherwise your evidence links it to every society and not specifically NZ.
The white supremacist's attack against and murdering of innocent people at prayer happened in New Zealand, in fact it happened in your city Christchurch. THAT is your link and your evidence.
here is another if you care to read.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/05/revealed-how-white-supremacists-terrorised-new-zealand-for-decades.html
Why is this an issue for you – why not answer that instead of beating around the bush as you like to do – don't be scared – what's your fucken issue son.
"happened in New Zealand"
I thought it was because we have extremists here? That is the point above. You have introduced a new element.
In addition you are ignoring the fact that it was not a New Zealander, it was a foreigner. Was New Zealand fingered when the Rainbow Warrior was blown up and a man killed by foreigners who came here for that purpose?
Your evidence fails.
There is no need to link the NZ attack to NZ, as it occurred in NZ…
I get your point but it is merely semantics and you can do much better than semantics – I've seen it.
Fact is we have a lot of white supremacists here. These are not just the bike clubs and skinheads, but the business class who associate with them, or worse, the secret societies.
I've met a white power enforcer who worked for businessmen in Invercargill. His job was to beat up black people who got uppity with their affairs. It's not worth my life to expose the pricks, that is the Police's job, except, they're probably in the police force too.
I wish it were not so. We've got some absolute dirtbags in this country.
Interestingly, in Christchurch, when my mate tuned up a few National Front members, they hired a Maori hitman to get us. White power – lolz!
I dont consider the point 'semantics' at all – it is fundamental.
NZ society did not do this, despite having elements of the offending group in society.
In the same way NZ society did not sink the Rainbow Warrior, despite having elements of the offending group in society.
Plenty harboured and expressed such ill will towards greenpeace back then, and continue to today. But NZ did not sink the Rainbow Warrior. The point remains.
vto The point is well made. People mutter and utter words of extremes – 'I'll kill you you little bastard' might be shouted by some parent with a lack of controlled language. But it is very unlikely to happen.
Tuhoe apparently used to voice angry threats, and practice martial arts; the police spied and read intention and invaded their village. But they hadn't done anything except use wild launguage and perhaps they were practising stuff they might have learned from being in our Defence Forces,
The USA Forces carry out maneouvres with our Forces, and other countries', on our soil regularly. We haven't been attacked yet, though there may be willingness and intention, but so far no action to point at, except the deaths of a soldier or two.
yes grey, and I believe it is one of the fundamentals to whole of the terror attacks matter.
The matter is too large and significant to let this particular fundamental take on a life of its own (that NZ society is responsible for and led to the terror attack), when there is no evidence for it (as outlined imo above).
I agree 100% vto. It particularly upsets me that the Oz has dumped this on us. However Jacinda has turned it round and used the attention of the world on it to try and make improvements. If it had happened in Australia it would have vanished without a trace? Or would they have been exposed as harbouring some nasty behaviours and been shamed into releasing the Manus Islanders? I hear they are contemplating suicide again after Labour managed to shoot themselves in the foot.
You got to wonder why Shatpant thought he'd get away with it here don't you veety.
He never imagined he would 'get away' with it; he fully anticipated being caught and imprisoned for the rest of his life. The only reason why he switched to a local target was that he belatedly realised they would be easier.
I thought he'd anticipated being killed. Could be wrong but had the impression he failed in his plans when taken alive.
Well either way the notion of 'getting away with it because NZ just loves mass murderers’ seems a tad far fetched.
Since 9/11 I had always thought NZ would make an excellent target for terrorist attack. Reason being that we are perceived as the safest place in the world so if people aren't safe here then they aren't safe anywhere – terrorism aim achieved.
and then it was a white boy that came and killed people en masse and not the advertised threat of brown muslim boy.
And that is the issue here VTO, if it would have been a brown muslim boy we would not stop discussing the religion of 'hate', how they are all out to get us, and such, and finally how to prevent it.
Instead we are told to not discuss it, we are told to not name the men who did it, we are told to not show is ugly mug, we are told to not read/discuss and disect his manifesto, and above all we are told to never discuss why on earth he would choose a. NZ (and white people find it relatively easy to migrate here especially people from OZ – and to be fair NZ'lers get easily into OZ), why he would choose Christchurch (yeah, a town with Ersatz Nazis and wanna be white supremacists) for his attack, rather then say live in South Auckland and try it there.
Fact is that there is a lot of terrorism that comes from white people. And us white people we now need to wonder and ask ourself and i have raised that question often, Why is a white boy, from one of the most desirable places on this planet, from a well to do family so hateful so fearful and so fucked up that he would migrate to a neighboring country ( he could have killed muslims in OZ) got himself plenty o guns and ammuniton, learned how to shoot real good, and then killed 50 people by shooting them in the back.
And that question we have repeatedly refused to ask, in fact we have been told by our PM to never ask to never speak about it. And that is also cowardice.
yes the murderer of children, women and men knelt at prayer thought it through with cunning – a life behind bars is too easy imo
According to Gower's report, people from the Al Noor mosque believe the terrorist had help.
Probably best to wait for a completed investigation too before claiming New Zealand's innocence on this.
Maybe 'NZ' played no part in the 15 March acts of terrorism – maybe Muslims in places of worship in Christchurch are the (murder) victims of a foreign terrorist acting alone, and 'we' (wider NZ and all NZers other than the victims) are simply innocent, albeit naive, bystanders. Unfortunately, there are currently insufficient facts available to decide.
Maybe the terrorist plotted secretly in complete isolation and received no encouragement or assistance from any like-minded NZers. I fervently hope that's true, but agree with maui that it's prudent to at the very least suspend judgement on the complicity of any NZers, and (given the unprecedented seriousness of the events of 15 March) proceed with caution until the Royal Commission of Inquiry has reported.
The naivety of NZ's security and intelligence professionals regarding 'our' vulnerability to white supremacist terrorists was certainly a contributing factor.
This is the thing when you demand that a society does not discuss these things in public. You don't know what is, you leave lots of speculation and as we can see we already have apologists rock on up denying it was one of us, it was a Foreigner. Lol, cause Australians are foreigners. Yeah, right Tui.
The white first dudes of this planet are international, they meet, they greet they go to concerts, they go to readings/discussions etc.
Why do you think Bannon is hanging about in Europe? To sightsee?
The making any discussion of this criminal act essentially 'verboten' was so far – in my eyes – the single dumbest thing Labour and Ms. Ardern as PM could have done and they have done a few dumb things since they came to power.
But by essentially pretending it did not happen here, and this is not 'us' and such, they laid the groundwork for future deniers and also they laid the ground – most likely unwittingly (at least i hope this is the case) for it to happen again, cause we ain't learning and we still don't know – the public – with what we are dealing here.
But then we can't upset dear white people.
Disclaimer, i am a white person.
@ vto.
Your comment @ 4 and Paddy Gower's claim "a white supremacist and race problem in NZ has been exposed by the Chch attack"…
I don't think he was suggesting a direct link with the perpetrator. Rather he is highlighting the fact that white supremacists and racists have been present in NZ for decades which is true because I knew a group of them.
They didn't roam the streets in leather jackets and boots waving swastika flags. Nor did they call themselves anything. It was back in the 1970s (and part of the 1980s) before social media was a thing and cell phones hadn't been invented. What they did do (among other things ) was roam around disrupting political gatherings and hoaxing individuals. Some of those hoaxes targeted persons of Catholic or Jewish persuasion and in the case of two of them… went on to have serious consequences for the targets and the political party they represented. That is, the Labour Party.
As a group they hated Maoris, they hated Jews and some of them hated Catholics. They hated Greenpeace and similar groups and they hated unions with a passion – at least in the case of two of them. If they were still around as a group today they would hate Muslims too. I see them now as the fore-runners to the alt right, white supremacists that exist throughout NZ today.
And here's the crunch: they were members of the Labour Party!
Yes, understand and appreciate all of that Anne and have seen them for years too. That is all explained in the points above re extremists like them in every society and how it interacts, or doesn't, with the terror attacks.
I have been a guest at 3 Lions Club meetings in the last decade.
Granted they were small town clubs but the national anthem was only sung in English.
Felt and feels jarring.
I don't know if other clubs have different anthem 'policies'.
Who is Wallis? Is that a surname? I hope it isn't Wallace Chapman.
Louisa Wall, sorry Wall, not Wallis
Thanks – that fits with past behaviour of Wall and Wallace.
Aussie oi !
Want to know why the Aussie election went that way? It had nothing to do with Labour, or Liberals or any other party or any of their campaigns. It had nothing to do with the leaders and their charisma or lack of. It had nothing to do with the economy or the local factory or anything else.
The Aussie election went that way because western voters are now voting in preparation for conflict. And conservatives are where that voting goes.
That's it.
And the Christchurch terror attacks, perversely, would have pushed this along.
edit: this phenomenon has consequences for us in our elections next year…
Then there is this interesting analysis:
https://www.news.com.au/national/federal-election/raw-voting-figures-reveal-the-real-losers-in-saturdays-shock-election/news-story/8401c6ad677fae3ca6af0bd9a6ce161d
At the same time I’m not against the point your making; there is a real disquiet and the possibility conflict does tilt people towards being cautious.
A couple of things pointed to the point.
Firstly, the polls indicated a Labour win, but that didn't eventuate. In other words, people were thinking left, but when push comes to shove and people have been put in fear, then they will vote along different lines – those of self-preservation. And there is plenty to put the people in fear – boat people, Trump NK and Iran etc, Chch.
Secondly, it is going on worldwide and has been for a few years now – brexit, trump, various euro elections, even the Ukraine comedian. It is a rising phenomenon.
But yes Red, the point made in your link above is also relevant. Next year's election here will be very interesting – maybe NZ is the last western holdout against the rising tide of conservatism and conflict.
When's the wedding?
True. I've repeatedly made the point that Australia electorate is not all that politically different to NZ, but their electoral system is. And this more than anything else has driven the result.
Interesting statistics Red.
It was like that here, but it's the same or even worse, in the US, and the UK. Rural seats tend to be heavily favoured for conservative voters, and the "ruling class", whereas urban seats, with far greater numbers, get much less say in the electoral booth. It's not one person, one vote in such systems. The power of a vote in California, for instance, is only about 1/84 that of a vote in Wyoming.
Exactly. I guess what irks me more than a little is the rampant kiwi conceit that our Australian cousins are all six fingered redneck boofheads. No doubt some are, and there is a modest surplus of them in Queensland, but for the most part they're very much like us.
It's the quirks of their electoral system that make them look more conservative.
Aussies are mostly awesome, be prepared for mud slinging, fire it straight back. 😀
I now have a modest repertoire of sheep jokes for pre-emptive strikes; although sadly they seem to have gone out of fashion in recent times.
RL That points to an unsatisfactory Oz electoral system. A bit like the FPP that we changed to get a better measure of public sentiment.
Well Labour is cautious to the point of cowardice so they should be fine.
And still no mainstream coverage of the document leaked by OPCW staff to the group of UK academics who comprise The Syria Working Group
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/05/17/confirmed-chemical-weapons-assessment-contradicting-official-syria-narrative-is-authentic/
The OPCW in its final report refers to "experts" unnamed, rather than its own Fact Finding Team who visited the site
Newsworthy ,I would have thought.
The 15 page document is very thorough, and explores different scenarios, eventually concluding that the only plausible scenario was that the cylinders were manually placed rather than dropped by air
Could Putin and Assad have maliciously brain washed this senior, vastly experienced OPCW investigator?
Read the report yourself , it addresses elements of the Bellingcat findings (incidentally, unlike the OPCW engineering report,Bellingcat operatives did not visit the site. As always their investigation was conducted in front of a computer screen)
Yeah, but you would think that because you rate Consortium News above Bellingcat. Bellingcat have earned a reputation for finding out the truth by image analysis, Consortium News are just another Kremlin mirror site.
OK Stuart
Consortium news is out for you despite being founded and run until recently by an acclaimed US journalist , Robert Parry
Wikipedia ok for you ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Parry_(journalist)
Perhaps this source won't trigger you , it gets down to the nitty gritty.
https://opensociet.org/2019/05/19/truth-vanishes-beneath-a-cloud-of-poison-gas/
Have you read some of the columns allegedly written by Parry? They are not consistent with a PhD qualified native English speaking journalist. As of several years ago this site abandoned all pretense of journalistic integrity and became a purveyor of wildebeests of dubious provenance – your preferred kind of gnus.
Did you read the engineering assessment report by the OPCW ?
The conclusions (under multiple hypothesis analysis) suggest strongly the containers did not arrive from the air.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ayBv-nEOMTtIc-QOvejQBdCnZQXTuJ5z/view
Yet the conclusions are not robust. The report asserts that the gas cylinders were "more likely to have been placed than to have arrived by air". Ok – but open and shut, which would have required a stronger statement "could not have/were unlikely to have/did not arrive by air".
Nor, despite the use of OPCW forms, did this form the official report. These were minority views that were ultimately excluded.
Consortium News has recent form as a largely unreliable bunch of repeaters of proPutin bullshit. Bellingcat is open source – if moved to do so you can check their images and conclusions for yourself.
Its a probability analysis, it was not a binary problem.
It was an unpublished dissenting opinion.
It may have been left out for good reason – lacking factual backing for instance. No surprise that a pack of Putin boosters like Consortium would dig it up and circulate it though – most "Independent News Sources" don't have agents in the OPCW however, and the question arises as to how an outfit as threadbare as Consortium manages to fund them.
Seems you haven't read the links
OPCW staff leaked the report to The Syria Working Group, a group of UK academics who I predict you will say are deep in Putin and Assad's pocket
From there any media organisation was free to pick it up
Our very own Scoop did
Look I know you'll do absolutely anything to push Putin's lines. Why not cite Fancy Bear as evidence? They've attacked Bellingcat unsuccessfully too.
Strive to be evenhanded enough not to be dismissed for bias.
"Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard says it's his impression from the report on bullying at Parliament that people have been raped there, and he is urging the victims to go to police or support agencies." https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/389766/parliament-bullying-mallard-urges-rape-victims-to-seek-support
"He said his reading of the report was that the offences were all committed by one person, and said he did not know who that person was. He admitted that having them tell their story over and over again was a problem with the court system, "which I know people are looking at, at the moment". "I'm not aware whether they're MPs or staff. Reading the report carefully I get the sense that the man is still on the premises … I don't know who it is, if I knew who it is I would tell the police.""
JLR triggered this, so many will assume he's the one. Ain't necessarily so. Lack of official rape complaints can be explained by perception that they are a bad career move, I guess. Confidentiality of the review process means crimes get disclosed, and all participants remain anonymous. Nonetheless, Mallard deserves credit for taking responsibility for his past parliamentary violence & trying to do what's right for current victims…
You are crossing a line there imo – YOU may think that and I've never yet heard another person say it – own your shit dennis and it is shit – dirty and smelly.
Not sure what your problem is this time. If it's that you think I believe JLR is a rapist, you're dead wrong. He doesn't seem that kind of person. However, recalling what one of the women he had an affair with told the media last year, it's understandable some would jump to that conclusion.
So Marty, the shit is all in your mind! Wouldn't it be better to clean it out and dispose of it?? Projecting it onto others seems a waste of time and energy, eh?
it is not understandable at all – your mind thought that up – own it.
There's absolutely no way any of us can own the comment made by that woman last year. Only she can do that. The impression formed in the minds of the readers of her comment is also theirs alone. Nothing to do with me whatsoever!!
think on this
You – i turned off game of thrones at the start – too full of american accents and isms.
BM – there was only 1 american actor in the first series
You – oh really? anyway, and so on
You've got opinions not based on reality and it behooves you not to extrapolate or tenuous connect too far because often you do so with little knowledge as you did with the tiny example I have given.
Reminding me that I'm just as human as everyone else isn't actually necessary, incredible though it may seem. My comment was about likely perceptions created in the minds of many, as the result of political developments. You tried to warp the thread into something about me, instead. Better to keep to the topic!
in case i'm wrong please put one link of anyone else saying what you said and implied – just one example of someone else and these 'likely perceptions in the minds of many' please.
Why? You believe other commentators on the Standard ought to do research for you? Why? Seems rather irrational. Isn't it obvious that we all have different values and priorities? Human nature!
Yep – didn’t think I was wrong on this one. Thanks for the confirmation dennis.
He doesn't seem that kind of person.
Can anyone help with advice on removing the coffee sprayed on my laptop?
Pray tell, DF, what does a rapist look/sound like? Because if we knew, we wouldn't have to suspect all of you.
Come on Rosemary, is there really any point in posing as simple-minded? You know that none of those women would have had affairs with him if they thought he was a rapist, don't you? Would any woman choose to have affair with someone they thought could be a rapist? Obviously they also believed "He doesn't seem that kind of person.
You are once again prattling on about things you know nothing about.
Did you know abused partners go back to an abusive spouse on average SEVEN TIMES before leaving for good.
"Would any woman choose to have affair with someone they thought could be a rapist?"
You are so ignorant it's incomprehensible you think you know stuff about this. Have something valid to contribute or just give it a rest for all the victims sake.
I struggled mightily not to hit you with strings of invective.
But STFU!
Your opinion about what you think I may or may not know is totally irrelevant to the political issues raised by the controversy. No, it is not all about me!! Why is that so hard for you to understand??
"Those women" aren't mind readers, and so might not have been able to determine ahead of time whether or not they were choosing to have an affair with a rapist.
Even some rapists might not be aware they would rape prior to first offense. 'Reckons' and 'seems' aren’t always on the money – it's not Rosemary who's being simple-minded.
So you're agreeing with me: people form impressions about the character of others, and identifying the rapist in parliament isn't a simple matter. Cool.
So you're confirming how poor your comprehension is? Cool.
Oh, you intended a different meaning?? Perhaps delineating it explicitly could work better. Elliptical obfuscation only gets us so far…
I agree with your contention that it's unlikely any of those women would have had entered into an affair with someone they thought could be a rapist.
Perhaps the nub of our disagreement is that you seem to believe that those women (and presumably, by extension, all women) can reliably identify a (potential) rapist prior to engaging in an affair (or whatever.) Now I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but wouldn’t that mean you think rape is the woman's fault, because she ignores the signals from her infallible ‘rapist radar‘, choosing to pursue the affair regardless!
If you believe something different then perhaps you should consider taking a course in Plain English! "Elliptical obfuscation" !! Praxis Dennis, praxis.
You're kidding! Why would anyone feel responsible for whatever impression someone else got?? Of course I don't have such unrealistic expectations of women! I have no idea why you hallucinated such a wacky notion…
Hi Dennis. Now I'm genuinely puzzled. English is my first language, but from your subsequent comments I am obviously misunderstanding the thrust of your comment @7.1.1.2.1.
So it’s simply a matter of belief? You 'believe' that JLR isn't a rapist, and the evidence you cite in support of your belief is that it matches your view of the apparent belief of his multiple sexual partners (the ones we know about)? Is this really the sole basis of your belief?
Seems flimsy, but I bow to you superior reasoning and logic.
@DMK
'Would you enter into a business partnership with a person who you thought was a fraudster?'
I somehow doubt you have any trouble parsing this sentence.
No, I would never claim "superior reasoning and logic". I don't recall claiming superiority ever, to be honest. And I too am puzzled. Beliefs about other people form in one's mind as the result of impressions they make. Doesn't everyone know that? Hardly contraversial, really! Reasoning doesn't even come into it. Just common knowledge about human nature.
I've never entered into a business partnership, but my (uninformed) answer to your hypothetical question is no. My answer might be representative, but I sincerely doubt it is universal.
P.S. Did I just believe/feel my potential business partner was a fraudster, or were my thoughts based on objective evidence? That would matter to me. If possible, I would prefer to have some objective evidence to support my thoughts/reckons/feels, but in the absence of such evidence I’d have no option but to follow DF’s lead and ‘go with my gut!
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/30-01-2019/what-does-a-rapist-look-like/
@ Sabine
In your view what percentage men are rapists?
a very small one actually. Maybe 5 – 10 % are rapists. I would also venture that rapists are repeat offender.
And because we don't actually treat rape as the crime that it is, and we still put the blame on women and girls and lets not even go to the fact that men have their own issues – re toxic masculinity – in reporting this crime, the fact that the police is only sometimes happy enough to actually do its job – often times only when the victim is so bad that they can't really not do anything these rapists get away and do it again and again and again.
But, and this is important RL, us women we don't know who is going to rape us. When i went to bed that night as a preteen – sharing the room with my 6 year old sister – i did not know that my stepfather would come and rape me that night. And frankly i am sure that i was not the only one, but just one of many.
and that is the issue. We don't know who is going to rape us. We don't know who is going to sexually assault us. We don't know until they do.
so to me know it is simple. So as long as i don't know the bloke, i am not going to accept drinks, not going to drive in his car, not going without a weapon of sorts alone in a carpark, tell my friends where i go, with whom, and i as billions of other women do have a whole scenario that i follow so as to not get raped, assaulted, mugged, killed.
but maybe you want to read this, and then you might want to answer me my question, what did you think i will tell you, and what do believe?
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/13/pastor-raped-daughter-14-gets-light-prison-sentence-man-god-9515582/
she is just lucky he did not impregnate.
Rosemary About coffee on your laptop, not sure. But I dropped quite a bit on my keyboard once. Turned it upside down over a towel and let it drip out then dried off, using a cottonbud for awkward places, and it was fine. It liked the blend. Hope this is helpful.
DF Better not have referred to JLR at all don't you think. Gathering in possible suspects on innuendo is not what I thought a practical man with principles would do.
I've made the point about the relevance of political psychology many times: these situations emphasise how relevant it is! Some commenters here try to shoot the messenger, but who cares?? Mass psychology drives public perceptions of political events, regardless how many commenters try to be puerile.
Utter gobshite of a man.
If it's a conclusion that many people would make by themselves, your connection between the report and a specific individual would be redundant.
For those people who hadn't made that (extremely unreliable) association, you have now made it for them.
I'm not seeing a good side to that aspect of your comment.
You think reminding people of the political context of Mallard's impression isn't good?? Would you like to explain why you believe historical context is bad to include in political discussion? Or do you believe JLR's affairs didn't trigger the review. Or both??
That's the bit to which I can't see any good side, but it's also the only bit that adds any information. "reminding people of the political context" is just you being patronising.
You could just have easily said "JLR triggered this, so perhaps some good has come out of that entire tawdry series of events: exposing the toxic culture of parliament".
edit: Stuff reports it was a staffer anyway. Thanks for your concern.
Glad it wasn't him. No, my concern for him doesn't need thanks, & I ain't nobody's patron.
DF has that unremitting unrepentant side. Being a rational man, everything he says is rational, it just follows.
British aristocrat resorts to centrism: "Lord Heseltine made clear he would resist any attempt to force him out of the party over his stance on the election on 23 May." https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/european-elections-michael-heseltine-brexit-lib-dems-conservatives-a8920376.html
"Tory grandee Michael Heseltine has said he will not be supporting the Conservatives in the European election, and will instead vote Liberal Democrat. The former deputy prime minister and lifelong pro-European said the party has become “infected by the virus of extremism” and he cannot endorse its support for leaving the EU."
"In an article for The Sunday Times, he said: “The reason for my experiment with the Lib Dems is, of course, the government’s position on Brexit. I cannot, with a clear conscience, vote for my party when it is myopically focused on forcing through the biggest act of economic self-harm ever undertaken by a democratic government.” His call for the Tories to reclaim the political centre ground was echoed by former prime minister Sir John Major."
I think the study of history generally and that of politics should include the cycles that occur where countries and large groups go into a spasm of self-harming behaviour. Is it a default position to go for some apparently pure and uncompromising method when times get hard and a certain level of anxiety is reached? Many countries or large social entities are definitely suffering from 'spasms' at present.
Speaking of those self identified Christians and regarding abortion laws Chris Hedges has
a reasoned piece;
"Ignore the religious rhetoric and moral posturing about abortion. This debate is not about the sanctity of life. It is about corporate capitalists who desperately need more bodies and intend to coerce women to produce them"
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/americas-reproductive-slaves/
coercion – /kəʊˈəːʃ(ə)n/ noun
well that is a polite term to say – criminalise an act and remove it to the point were the only way to have an abortion is a self induced one.
but yes he is right.
With regards to this report on bullying at parliament this from RNZ
"Now it has been laid bare in the report by independent reviewer Debbie Francis but still the elected representatives guilty of grossly abusing their positions remain anonymous and will likely never be publicly identified."
We have a right to know who these individual MPs are after all they are responsible for their behaviour as elected and appointed individuals.
This is a cop out !
Oh come on mosa. Just getting the information was important to build the picture, and complainants and informants were promised that it would be kept private. We do know it goes on. We cannot afford to go into a 'spasm' of blame and punishment over past practice when our attention needs to be on CC and international machinations. And it has happened, so our lagging attention to the future mustn't be dragged away again from facing forward.
So no it is not a cop out, that's just ignoring facts:
greywarshark sensitivities aside what i am arguing is that if these MPs remain hidden then how can the public and those wanting a career in parliament have any confidence that the house of representatives is dealing with the culprits and that people will take responsibility for their actions.
When you choose to serve the public and be paid by them how you conduct yourself is important and should be transparent.
This from No right turn.
The report of course refuses to name those MPs, meaning that the independent reviewer is effectively part of this conspiracy of silence as well. Which is not acceptable. Naming names is the first step towards accountability, and that needs to happen if anything is to change.
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-toxic-workplace.html
It's a difficult one. People who err so arrogantly should be brought to account. They are getting away with nasty stuff.
But then there has been a pact of privacy. We know that stats say that much sexual misbehaviour and crime is not reported so can't be taken further and justice meted. So BAU if nothing is done from this report.
And one lack of justice does not excuse another lack of justice and respect – to those who came forward. The Witchhunter Generals' opinions that purity and sanctimony will prevail if the victims are burned along with their perpetrators will, I am absolutely sure, not be agreed with by those most affected who will feel persecuted.
Sometimes there is no easy answer to achieving probity. Back off WG's and pour cold water on your hot breaths of retribution; put your simplistic interference to one side to avoid adding further trauma to this unhappy revelation.
@greywarshark.
I've just had to drop EVERYTHING! Jesse had a bad experience in the RNZ lift.
(I'm thinking of the children of course – what IF the worst had happened? And fresh from going over some handlebars)
I really don't think I could cope
Huh. He should try commenting on TS. I've had and seen some bad experiences. What a wimp.
A new peril on high street.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/rnz/new-christchurch-building-has-serious-flaws-engineers
The leaked report – from engineering firm Beca to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment – said the narrow, glass-fronted block at 230 High Street has:
The report also said calculations underestimated the earthquake loading by 25%.
Time for some selective logging with council.
The Korean engineer assures us it is quite okay. And I am sure that his credentials are also as we have good standards in NZ and good surveillance of those standards.
This am on Radionz there was a report on the use of a computer check on social welfare call centre responses. This check was designed by a person at AUT. I am wary of computer paradigms being the deciding factor of people's entitlements. But the check on the program would help to establish if there had been racial bias I think. So it was helpful to run calls past it to see how it registered. They looked at calls that had been passed on for action and calls that were recorded and not actioned, to see if this resulted in further calls indicating real need for action.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018696159/can-a-computer-model-accurately-identify-kids-at-risk-of-abuse
Kathryn speaks with Stanford University Associate Professor of Medicine, Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, who has evaluated the effectiveness of a predictive risk assessment tool developed by a New Zealand researcher and implemented for two years in the United States. The Ministry of Social development originally commissioned Professor Rhema Vaithianathan, Co-Director of the Centre for Social Data Analytics at AUT to develop the model. It uses data about children and their families to identify those at risk of physical, sexual or emotional abuse before the age of two. MSD stopped short of implementing the tool, but Allegheny County in Pittsburg, Pensylvania began using it in 2016, and commissioned Stanford University researchers to evaluate it.
Oranga Tamariki dispensed with this a year or so ago. I am concerned that we don't instead get into sanctimonious, pious territory of 'We know best' and judgmental rather than compassionate, appropriate support responses.
The rise of RW conservative women with an opinion of themselves as model cultural templates is noticeable, finding platforms such as anti-abortion and anything that is a change in societal norms. They adopt towards the precariat and women considered below their societal level, attitudes of derision, or patronising and officious power.
Their success in the anti-abortion measures in eight states of the USA will whet their appetite to fight here. The large response against the attempt to introduce a very mild euthanasia bill is an example of their reach and influence. A backgrounder on the citizen consultation held throughout NZ says that the 9 minute time allowed for oral submissions was applied for by thousands who often merely stated their disagreement. Nick Smith and Maggie Barry facilitated this process, though Ms Barry was accused of adopting a disrespectful tone to some.
The conservative religious, such as the conservative Catholic and conservative Pasifika congregations combined will be a force against rights that women hold dear. Choosing overseas people for appointments over NZs, may increase the type of conservative, neo-liberal official or CEO. We have Irish conservative Catholic Mrs Moss at Oranga Tamiriki for which a local person could easily have been found. We also have Dr Mary English who is conservative Catholic and has Pasifika roots, building relationships in health and welfare for Pasifika people. These are people in key roles. When the National Party stopped funding the suicide health line and gave the contract to Dr English's organisation, *The Daily Blog cried favouritism and nepotism for Bill English's wife. Many community organisations working at the coalface of welfare, with much experience have felt the cold winds of funding neglect. We need to watch where the funding goes, and that it is fairly distributed to those who do much with little, without much patronage.
*https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/08/02/hold-on-national-cut-suicide-helpline-to-give-contract-to-bill-englishs-wife/
Kia ora The Am Show.
Students strike today kia kaha it agree make it 0 carbon by 2040 moving the goal ahead by 10 years .
Banning sugary or big taxes is a know brainer it should have been implemented years ago the bad facts are all there to see WTF.
The big hole in the government balance sheat was created by joyce
Amanda that is a powerful tawhirimate in America tossing cars around like toys don global warming its staring you in the FACE.
Duncan Its good to see that you get it with the police chasers the people who are being chased are out of control.
The parents of these tamariki being chased could be working 2 jobs to survive with the low wages and high living cost take the glasses off Mark.
Geffory Rush I quite like the characters he has played its good to see him get JUSTICE.?????????????????????????????.
If the policys look like a Christian party it a Christian party why don't they run a Wahine up and lift Maori Wahine all Wahine mana up. Its good you want good changes. But I am protecting the left from the cheating rednecks who will strip the common persons wealth and give our powercompanys to the wealthy. I know who is pushing this I can see the consequences of your actions. I agree the housing situation is bad thanks to national this phenomenon has swept the western world I wonder why House less tangata. If this movement was logical and not emotional you would target the drugs that actually cause harm even target sugar.???????????
There you go judy a pauleen hanson you're views are very similar hence your toilet won't float in Aotearoa maybe you should go to Australia.
Don't compare Aotearoa to Venuzla it a total tug of war between the east and west that is tearing apart that country .
I'm still suspicious of your polls
Ka kite ano
We should commit to reducing our carbon footprint as fast as possible.
Its the correct thing to do it is what humans have done for millions of years providing a better future for our tamariki.
What is happening now is not human or humane money is the root of these inhuman traits to rise to the top of humanity's way of doing things.
Some are totally focused on today and not on our mokopuna tomorrow's our futures well being the neanderthal are blinded by money they use this money to blind the common people of the world to believe there lies that are all about protecting the oil barons wealth and POWER.
Why you should take action on climate change
mpact on the environment because I want a future I can look forward to. And at the rate we're going, I know my hope is unrealistic, to say the least.
One million species are threatened with extinction. Make that one million and one – the human race should be on there. We are already seeing the direct consequences of climate change on real people as natural disasters are exacerbated by heat rise and people are made to flee their homes due to the damage done by these catastrophes. It's no secret that climate change is already showing its claws to the human race.
We are lucky, however, that we are so privileged to have the opportunity to stop it. We are the people who, in the future, will either be venerated for making the changes necessary to stop the full effects of climate change on the human race, or despised for ignoring the warning signs Ka kite ano links below
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/112939231/why-you-should-take-action-on-climate-change
Some Eco Maori music for the minute.
Humans causing shrinking of nature as larger animals die off
Average size of wild animals predicted to fall by a quarter in 100 years through extinctions
The researchers estimate that more than 1,000 larger species of mammals and birds will go extinct in the next century, from rhinos to eagles. They say this could lead to the collapse of ecosystems that humans rely on for food and clean water.
Humans have wiped out most large creatures from all inhabited continents apart from Africa over the last 125,000 years. This annihilation will accelerate rapidly in the coming years, according to the research.
The future extinctions can be avoided if radical action is taken to protect wildlife and restore habitats, and the scientists say the new work can help focus efforts on key species.
Animal populations have fallen by 60%since 1970, suggesting a sixth mass extinction of life on Earth is under way caused by the razing of wild areas, hunting and intensive farming. Scientists said this month that human society was in danger from the decline of the Earth’s natural life-support systems, with half of natural ecosystems now destroyed and a total of a million species at risk of extinction Ka kite ano links below
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/23/humans-causing-shrinking-of-nature-as-larger-animals-die-off
Some Eco Maori music for the minute.
It is cool that the environmentalist are being given honors and recognize for their hard work.
Environmental heroes: the environmental awards
On May 1, Princess Anne, patron of the Whitley Fund for Nature, presented the fund’s awards recognising community-based conservation projects
Ka kite ano links below. P.S I know one who deserves recognition.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2019/may/21/environmental-heroes-the-2019-whitley-award-winners
Kia ora Newshub
Kia kaha to the Students Strikes to much you give Eco Maori a sore face with the numbers that turn out today.
I say its good to make the banks hold more money in reserve for a 1 in 200 year financial crash the markets are all over the place .
Lloyd it doesn't look good for may .and it looks like the right necks have hacked the system again while the right and left were fighting.
It's a warm start to winter this year we have not even needed to light a fire yet that's usually for Vags
Mike I seen that Geffory Rush getting his JUSTICE he is a good actor.
I see the don through his toys out of his cot .
Ka kite ano
Kia ora te ao Maori news
Thanks to Nanaia and the Provenance growth fund giving 50 million over 5 years to assist Maori farmer whanau in the development of there whenua in te taiwhiti.
Pee is a shocking poison its just as bad in te taiwhiti it is making a mess of te tangata
I think is a awesome idea to combine studying papatuanuku and getting the Kaumatua knowledge on the subjects
The Pacific music awards were on last night was very good Eco Maori loves his music ka kite ano